Waldorf pedagogy is concerned with what lies behind the actions we carry out; with the effects which sounds, colours, images, words, gestures and movements have on children’s souls.
We regard these souls not as empty vessels to be filled with information, but as entities, malleable as warm wax, upon which even subtle impressions leave formative imprints. This view guides our approach to Form Drawing.
The Point of Form Drawing
A child’s impressionable soul substance is shaped through a thoughtful curriculum, and that is the reason why the first Waldorf Class begins with Form Drawing.
If you are conventionally schooled, you may find this a puzzling subject and ask, “What are the children learning here? What can the drawing of lines possibly teach them?”
A very good question. So let us investigate what is being taught in the Form Drawing Main Lesson that begins Class 1.
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The first concepts we expose our youngest pupils to are neither the alphabet nor the numbers, but philosophical categories such as …
- Uprightness – both in its physical and moral sense
- Symmetry – the secret building plan of our body
- Sympathy + Antipathy – our soul’s main motivators
- Balance – harmony of left and right, inside and out
- Freedom – in self-positioning and self-direction
- Beauty – a guiding principle related to Goodness and Truth
These categories underpin the first Main Lesson block with fundamentals of the human condition. Not through words, but through the drawing of abstract forms do we touch on profound concepts in a way that is attuned to the mind of the six to seven-year-old child.
Children are sensitive to these qualities and, if presented in the right way, will absorb their importance.
Uprightness of the straight line connects the children with their innermost self – the very self that taught them earlier to walk upright in a uniquely human feat, linked to the powers of thought and speech. In the drawing of a curved line, the quality of not-straightness is experienced and expressed.
The duality of straight and curved makes up every conceivable shape in the universe, and this observation is shared with the class. The children want to verify if this is true, and now they look at the forms around them with a new awareness. Their eyes have been opened to a first artistic principle, and others will follow.
Symmetry has a definite rule that informs our next drawings of straight and curved lines. A vertical line creates two sides in one space, and what goes on to the left is mirrored to the right.
This is the formative principle that shapes the body of all vertebrates from lizard to human being. The spine is equal to the central line, and this observation might be talked about with Class 4 in the Main Lesson on Man and Animal, recalling their Form Drawing experience in Class 1.
Note: Horizontal and cross-axis symmetry will be explored in Class 3. Our Form Drawing exercises are linked to important steps of child development. Nothing is random, many aspects have particular therapeutic effects, and nothing at all can be gained by forging ahead.
Sympathy + Antipathy are other fundamental principles. “The two most important basic forces in the soul world are sympathy and antipathy,” Rudolf Steiner points out in his Theosophy. This is not mentioned to the children, but their experience is guided by these basic forces.
A nice German word for sympathy is Zuneigung, meaning ‘inclining towards’, whereas Abneigung means antipathy, ‘inclining away from’ – two soul gestures that can be expressed as lines that move towards or away from the golden central ray of uprightness.
Balance is practised in the drawing of vertical symmetry forms in various arrangements. At first these forms are given by the teacher. In the third term of Class 1, half-forms can be invented by the pupils themselves and exchanged with a friend’s invention to add the missing half, completing the form.
Thus balance is experienced by creating harmony in a drawing; experiencing this harmony means feeling in tune; and feeling in tune subtly supports the children’s health in body and soul.
Freedom is experienced in its challenging and exhilarating essence by approaching the drawing of forms without ruler and guiding lines. A few words of introduction and the teacher’s own drawing call forth an inner experience which the children translate freely onto a blank piece of paper.
Using a plain white sheet calls on their courage, trains spatial awareness and eye measurement, and their learning process is valued at least as much as the outcome.
Note: Form Drawings should not be presented with stories. The particular movement and character of each line is story enough. The children’s intuitive understanding of artistic principles is confused by story images that, like red herrings, distract their attention from the main point: a line’s intent to be straight, or curved, or an exciting combination of both.
Mundane analogies are to be avoided, such as using the image of a wheel or a pizza to introduce the circle. No such explanation is needed. The children’s understanding arises quite spontaneously as they accompany the will-imbued movement of their drawing hand with their feelings.
Teachers, trust the fascination of this process and learn to set it in motion without a lot of words.
Beauty is conveyed by guiding the children in the use of form and colour in such a way that their results, however imperfect, are appealing. Together with Truth and Goodness, Beauty is the most important aspect of Waldorf pedagogy across all subjects and activities.
It is also the reason why high-quality beeswax crayons in tasteful colours are used, not petroleum-based sticks of garish shades, and proper drawing paper with a grainy texture instead of smooth and flimsy pages.
Observing Class 1 as they engage with Form Drawing, we notice that the children are drawing with heart and soul. Their whole being is involved as they carry out what they have been shown to do, and this earnest engagement is precious.
We support it consciously because it is essential to the healthy formation of soul qualities and skills, and also to their enduring enjoyment of learning.
