be thought of as the ‘semantics’ of art. I consider the semantic aspect of child art to be
the content of a work of art, its subject matter, the denotations and connotations of
imagery, as well as the children’s interpretation of their own artwork (Pitri, 2007). The
semantic aspect of art making (the meanings in art) cannot be completely separated
from the syntactic aspects of art (the rules of art-making). Form and the techniques
required to achieve form, are tools for making meaning. For example, Eisner’s (1976)
interest in technique had “to do with the expansion of the child’s freedom to use
the arts as expressive vehicles.” Without the techniques required in mastering form,
“children’s thoughts, feelings and images,” according to Eisner, “are destined to remain
undeveloped” (p. 14).