Drawings from Croatia

The study in Croatia was led by the researcher Mirjana Tomasevic Dancevic.

For the purposes of getting a good insight into personal interests of 15-18 year-old Croatian students, the sample of their art works was selected with the aim of obtaining diversity in representation. So, 164 artworks were collected from 150 pupils from seven schools (four different types of upper secondary schools/ programs) in six different towns. Six visual arts teachers, two teachers of History of Art and two non-art teachers were involved in the project. The researcher has also worked or at least was present in the classrooms with most (groups of) students, especially when collaborating with non-art teachers.

The students’ art works related to themes such as: feelings/emotions, identity, ways of seeing the world, war and peace, leisure, teenager problems, future expectations, urban life, ecological concerns, new technology, death and suicide, drugs, Art and aesthetics concerns.

The majority of art work consisted of figurative drawings or paintings. However, non-figurative drawings/paintings were included as well. A considerable number of the art works revealed elaborate preparation (vocational art schools). The influences from Western modernist artists as well as from the global teenager culture were observed in the drawings. The national symbols such as the water-tower in Vukovar and football arms/players were observed as local influences.