빛과 그림자를 이용하여 공간속에 실루엣의 이미지들을 투사하는 방식의 예술양식인 그림자놀이는 거의 모든 문명에 걸쳐 세계적으로 나타난다. 그 중에서도 이에 관한 최초 기록들을 동양에서 찾아 볼 수 있는데, 중국 한(漢) 무제(武帝)때인 기원전 121년에 이미 그림자놀이에 관한 기록이 나타난다(진중권, 2005: 99). 본 연구에서는 동양에서부터 기원한 전통 그림자놀이를 역사적으로 고찰하고, 빛과 형의 조형요소에 대한 동양미학의 사상적 접근을 시도하여 미술교육적 시사점을 도출하고자 한다.
This study attempts to search for the way to expand the contents and methods of traditional art education by teaching Shadow Play based on oriental aesthetics. The historical literature manifests that the screen in Shadow Play creates the space filled with light and at the same time empty with nothing. Thus, it is a conceptual space in which symbolic objects can appear, act, and disappear. These artistic elements embody the oriental aesthetics that values emptiness, spirituality, and transparency in traditional art. In order to extend this historical and aesthetic investigation, this study presents the concrete way to utilize tradition Shadow Play in art education. The process of making the screen and objects for Shadow Play is elaborated so as to visualize how Shadow Play can be taught as means of teaching the value and meanings of traditional art. As conclusion, the art educational implication of Shadow Play is discussed in two aspects. First, Shadow Play can be a significant method in art education because it connects life with art, tradition with contemporary, and the oriental with the western. Second, by utilizing Shadow Play, art teachers can make traditional art more familiar and interesting to students who may feel tradition as remote and eccentric.