Form Drawing
"The lines and forms are visible signs of divine gestures. Learn to understand them and you will comprehend how God created the world.”
~ Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
"One of the many unique features of the Waldorf-Steiner Schools is the subject known as Form Drawing. Form Drawing is introduced in such a way as to show the young child that all shapes in the world are derived from the two-fold alphabet of form: straightness and roundness.
Form Drawing serves the student in at least six areas of education. Mathematics is prepared for on an intuitive level by the “measuring and weighing” of form ratios, proportions, and fractions.
The Science of form is observed and practiced through drawing many of the marvelous form patterns existing in nature. From the snowflake and the honeycomb to flower forms and water patterns, the incredible language of form opens up.
Humanities/History provides a cultural connection to visual designs from Indian and Norse mythology, Greek, Roman, and Medieval history.
Form Drawing directly helps children experience the symmetry in movement, which is essential for physical education. Moral Balance in the life of the individual is also constantly being worked on through Form Drawing. Again, on an intuitive level, the student experiences the artistic differences between “straight” and “crooked,” and “upright” and “bent.” Such gesture-meanings experienced through form drawing shape the ethical stature of the child." - From the article LANGUAGE OF THE LINE: a Reinvented Art-form of the Waldorf Schools by Van James
At Yellow Train we introduce Form Drawing at Grade 1 and we go straight upto Grade 10.
The form drawing teacher in the Middle and High School shares...
It is so refreshing to see children engrossed in their work. Form drawing has that quality of inwardness, of centering and of inner silence going with the flow.
When children ask ‘Why are we drawing these patterns Akka, is it only for better handwriting and control ?’ I think to myself ‘ It is to gather yourself !’
As a teacher what also becomes apparent is that the children who struggle with the outside and with themselves, also struggle with this work.
Form drawing is therapeutic and healing in nature. And in this online form of work, it has been a source of calm and collective energy.
