The paper draws on ongoing research using multiple methods of data collection and analysis for assessing preadolescents' (11-12 year olds) engagement with art in primary schools. This age is of particular interest to art researchers and practitioners because, as it is widely accepted, at this stage art activity is no longer spontaneous, pupils show greater awareness of realism, exhibit interest in details, are more self-conscious about their work and are more aware of their shortcomings in art. Failure to support pupils at this crucial stage can lead to low perceptions about their ability to engage meaningfully and creatively with art with immediate and, potentially, life-long effects for the way art is valued. This in turn is bound to have consequences for the way individuals engage with artistic activity as an important aspect for their all round development. This study is also placed within the context of promoting the diachronic value of art by challenging the widespread perception that exists in many educational contexts that considers art as a much- neglected area of the primary curriculum because of pressure to deliver what are regarded as core subjects. The data come from an ethnographic study carried out by means of in-depth interviewing a group of 11-12 year olds attending to the last grade of primary schools in Cyprus. The selection of pupils for interviews was based on the degree of confidence that they had exhibited for art making. Using the ASAES (Attitude Scale for Art Experienced in School) high and low confidence pupils were identified and were asked to talk individually about their art works and the process of making them. In the course of assessing not only the final outcome of their work but also the processes for achieving the end product interesting relationships were revealed among pupils' beliefs of competence, effort, value and achievement. There is strong evidence to support that perceived abilities are significant for shaping high or low confidence pupils' attitudes to art; pupils who feel confident in engaging with art, enjoy and value art a great deal, put more effort into their work, are more persistent, participate to lessons seriously and expect to succeed. On the contrary regarding low confidence pupils the consequences are often reversed. The analysis of the qualitative data suggests that actions should be taken by teachers towards a twofold goal. On the one hand there should be an attempt to break the 'belief cycle' of low confidence pupils and on the other to reconstruct it in such a way that would have direct positive implications for pupils' learning preferences. The implications of the present study connect to calls for upgrading the position of art in primary education not just for its educational value but for its contribution to the emotional and cognitive development of pre-adolescence.