Fill in the GAP

Fill in the GAP:

Games, Activities & Puzzles for teaching Aesthetics and Art Criticism

i

ii

FILL IN THE GAP Contents

Image List with thumbnails. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Aesthetics Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 I Spy with My Little Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Degrees of Beauty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Ugly or Beautiful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Handsome, Pretty, Beautiful . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 A Beautiful Place . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 I’ve Been Wondering . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 What-Is-Art?-Land . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Going. . .Going. . . Gone! Art Auction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Aesthetic Puzzles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Aesthetic Theories: Approaches to Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Puzzling About Aesthetics: Exercises in Critical Thinking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Aesthetic Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Views of Art Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Aesthetic Theories Posters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Beauty vs. Ugly Yahtzee! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Squash That Term! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Aesthetics—Personal Attitudes About Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Aesthetics: A Game of Judging Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Art Criticism Lessons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Art Criticism for Elementary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 Criticism for Kids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Art Criticism Games & Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Art Criticism Worksheet—Feldman & Pepper . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Art Criticism—A way to evaluate Art Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 Museum Activity Worksheet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Art Criticism Worksheet: Description, Analysis, Interpretation, Judgment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Art Criticism—The Art Critic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 Anderson Criticism Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Questions in Art Criticism—Barrett . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97 Making Meaning in Art: Artist’s Intent/ Viewer’s Interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Making Meaning in Art: Interpreting Art . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Making Meaning in Art: Artist’s Intent/ Viewer’s Interpretation/Artist’s Response . . . . . . . 100 Art Criticism: WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY Activities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101 Art Criticism—A Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 The Critical Eye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109

iii

iv

Image List with Thumbnails

Karl G. Ackerman The Blackbird that got into the Garden (1993)

Roman Andrus Cadmium Crest (1964)

Brad E. Aldridge A Line as the Endless Horizon (2001)

James R. Avati Honesty and Virtue at the Tax Table (1988)

Von Allen, Coast (1989) v

Wulf Barsch Toward Thebes (1985)

Robert Brackman Girl from the Village (1960)

Russell Cowles Farmer and the Raincloud (1963)

Cyrus Dallin Appeal to the Great Spirit (1912) James Calvin Christensen The Egg, the Owl, & the Fish (1970)

Cyrus Dallin Paul Revere (1899) SMA Jenni Christensen Blue Magnolias XVIII second state (1990) vi

Cyrus Dallin Paul Revere, Boston

Edwin Deakin Great Salt Lake near Black Rock: Garfield Pier and Pavilion (1883) John Owen Erickson Gethsemane: Self-Portrait (1986)

Lee Deffebach Zelda: Los Truches (1973)

Linda Etherington Calla Lilies (1996) (Lafayette) Maynard Dixon Calico Hills, Boulder Nevada (1933)

John B. Fairbanks The Great White Throne (1919)

(Armon) Valoy Eaton Below Zion (2002) vii

Dale Thompson Fletcher Abstract (1956)

(Michael) Clane Graves A Matter of Choice (1979)

Sharon P. Gray A Well-Red Individual (1978)

Dale Thompson Fletcher Design No. 7: Intruder (1955)

Neil Hadlock Africa (1986) Rick Nathan Graham Portrait of Miss Jayne Blair (1955) Right, Neil Hadlock Effron (1983) viii

Rose Iver He Said, She Said (1950) J. T. Harwood Italian Flower Girl (1890)

Kathe Kollwitz Rest in the Peace of His Hands (1936) (Not SMA)

J. T. Harwood All the World’s a Stage, Liberty Park (1893)

Leon Kroll Girls at the Exhibition (1964)

Michael Craig Hullet Fall (1999) ix

Jacqui Biggs Larsen Cottage Industry (1997)

Robert Marshall The Shroud (1983)

Ellenore Lawrence Entanglement (1985)

Frank McEntire Offering: An Assemblage Tableau Spirits in Prison Awaiting Deliverance (1997)

Robert Marshall Iridescence (1994)

Layne R. Meacham Reframing x

Bonnie Lee Blair Posselli Winter, Near Woodland, Utah (1998)

Joseph Ostraff Albino Trout (1989)

Frank P. Riggs Tohatchi (1990)

Harold Petersen Dan’s is Now Open Across the Street (1989)

Frederick Ferdinand Schafer Indian Encampment in the Wasatch Range, Utah (1891)

Denis Ray Phillips Evening (2000) xi

Ralph Schofield Yalu River Dead (1954)

David Smith-Harrison Cottonwoods (1994)

Alexander Dimitrovich Selytin Childhood Memories (2000)

Charles L. A. Smith Portrait of John Hafen (1910)

Veniamin Mikhailovich Sibirski, Greeting the Champions: Winners of the Five Year Plan (1963)

John Heber Stansfield Canadian Rockies (1926) xii

LeConte Stewart Farmington in Winter (1926) Rod J. Walker Acicula (1995)

Minerva B. Kohlhepp Teichert Indians: from story `Myrtle Ann’s task’ (1940)

Florence Ware Nature’s Embroidery (1945)

Everett Clarke Thorpe The White Halter (1953) Right, Mahonri Young Agriculture: The Farm Worker (1907) xiii

Quilt Examples:

Quilt 1 Handquilted Quilt 3 “Art Quilt”

Quilt 2 Machine Quilted

xiv

Aesthetics Lessons

Aesthetics is the branch of the visual arts that looks at questions such “What is art?” and “What is beauty?” The notions of what constitutes good art changes over the years and from culture to culture, although the aesthetics lessons in this packet look at aesthetics from a Western standpoint. In aesthetics, students can explore the ideas of various time periods and styles and learn to examine their own ideas, so that as consumers of art, they will be aware of the decisions they are making. In addition, having students discuss aesthetic ideas and find reasons for theirs or others’ judgments will help students learn to be self-aware and to use higher-order thinking skills. Another reason to study aesthetics is that it’s FUN! As you read through these lessons you will notice that not everyone uses exactly the same terms to discuss aesthetic theories—some have been simplified, and some are designed for high school students. Included in the packet is a CD with a wide variety of artworks that can be used for the lessons.

1

2

I SPY WITH MY LITTLE EYE class response or the class can be divided in “working groups” or as we call ourselves in our art room, “THINKING GROUPS.”

Aesthetics is a philosophical pursuit that demands observation skills and an expressive vocabulary with which to evaluate and describe our world before we can discuss the relative merits of beauty or lack thereof and delve into the more exciting elements of the aesthetic view.

I usually limit the guesses to 4 (I have 4 thinking groups in my classroom), that is one guess per group. This is a little different than other competitive games because the winner is the person who can give the best clues and gets the object guessed in the least number of guesses. Rather than trying to trick and mislead the other students, we want to give the best verbal clues so someone will guess on the first try. Or in other words, the winner is the student who can give the most specific, concise, and accurate description of the visual aspects of the object. The winner has the least amount of points although this game usually deteriorates into no one paying much attention to the score. The next person up is the person who guesses correctly.

Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of visual elements as aspects of their environment and an ability to articulate what they see by playing a very simple “Hints and Guessing” game. Process: One student at a time will look around the classroom (this can also be done outdoors) until he or she finds an object or place or a detail in the room the student wants to describe. Students will use formula vocabulary to emphasize the “correct” use of words.

After the first round of clues, the student will give another round of clues, this time giving a shape clue. After these guesses then a value clue, then a texture clue, and last is the color clue. Color goes last because it is the easiest to describe and the most obvious. The point here is to use the ELEMENTS of art as the descriptive vocabulary clues.

In this version of the game we will use the visual elements of Line, Shape, Texture, Value, and Color as descriptive clues. Have the student start by saying, “I spy with my little eye, something that is . . .” The student who is up first will start with naming and describing and giving “a quality” to a line that is part of the object being described, such as, “I spy with my little eye something that has jagged, pointed lines.” Students should not point when describing or when guessing. After the first student has given a descriptive line clue, then student groups will take turns guessing which object is being described. With four groups there should be four “line” guesses. After each guess, a little more clue can be added like, ‘the jagged, pointy, wiggly, wavy border lines. This can be done as a whole 3

We usually divide into four teams. Each player’s team will really struggle to guess, so they will guess sooner and have less points. Be aware that some young people are so acclimated to fudging and cheating that they will try to undermine the process just to win. My response is to stop keeping score and shaking the process up enough to make it impossible to have winners and losers. It is important to remember that the winner is the person giving the best clues . . . not the

person guessing correctly, but it is so much like brushing your cats hair backwards that most young students will not catch on at first.

A REAL SAMPLE DIALOGUE: (written down by Whitney, a sixth grader) Student One: “I spy with my little eye, something that has squiggly wiggly lines.

This is not a good game to throw in for a few minutes of free time. It works best when all five clues can be given. We have been keeping ongoing scores since last September.

Group One Guess: “The music mural on the back wall?” Student One: “No! I spy with my little eye, something that has squiggly wiggly lines with jagged pointed lines.”

If your students get good at guessing, then let each clue be a different element rather than repeating each element four times. Most students will need some help in developing descriptive words of lines, values, and textures, so we usually start by “brainstorming” descriptive words of specific visual elements and write them on the board. They can stay on the board during the game, especially for younger students.

Group Two Guess: “The print of the paper cut called “Beasts of the Sea”, by Henri Matisse in the middle of the wall by Mrs. Arringtion’s music class?” (guesses must also be specific) Student One: “No! I spy with my little eye something that has squiggly wiggly lines and has jagged pointed lines and thick fat lines.”

So we want to choose something that is obviously visible and easy to see and stands out among the other things in the room. The point is to have students become comfortable with using these kinds of words and it is O.K. to prompt them with new words. It is amazing the depth and quality of vocabulary that young students can develop if given a venue and a cultural setting in which explicit and specific descriptive words are valued. By now, some of my third grade students would give collage art majors a run for their money.

Group Three Guess: “The found object cardboard relief sculpture on the back wall next to music mural?” Student One: “No! I spy with my little eye, something that has squiggly wiggly lines with jagged pointed lines and thick fat lines and little tiny dotted lines going back and forth.” Group Four: “The little speaker place on the side of the TV where the sound comes out?”

Try using feelings and emotions or even stylist descriptions such as, “I see something that is happy” or “confusing.” Or use stylistic hints such as “. . . something that is pointillist” or “cubist” or “impressionistic.” You can also use media words such as “. . . something that is 3-D,” “sculptural,” “ made of clay” or “. . . something that is pen and ink,” or “a value study,” or “made with water colors.” The clue can be as simple as “. . . something that is a print of a famous painting,” or even “. . . something that is a print of a painting by Joan Miro.”

Student One: “No! I spy with my little eye something that has an “Irregular” shape.” (We use the term irregular rather than organic) Group One: “The large yellow shape in the music mural?” Student One: “No! I spy with my little eye something that has an irregular shape with dangling down skinny shapes at the bottom.” Group Two Guess: “The little cut out paper shape taped to the chalk board?”

4

Student One: “YES!” The image on this page is the object that the hints and guesses were about. It is a folded paper cut used as an example of an ongoing project the students are working on. This is a pretty long example but it only took two or three minutes to play. The next table would then send up their “Student One.” They all must take turns and this game lasts for weeks in my room. It is also a great filler project and after the students understand the subtleties of the game, it is very self contained and takes very little coaching from the teacher. After a while you may want to change the element to get past the lines and shapes. You may want to use the hinting element that you are currently using in your art lessons. This can be a quick little playtime game or a serious ongoing cumulative game. In the end the students will increase in their ability to describe what they see, observe more and more specific characteristics, and as guessers, they will learn to be more discriminating in identifying specifics in what might otherwise seem chaotic. Remember that the goal is to give the best hint with the least amount of guesses. 5

6

Degrees of Beauty Elementary Visual Arts

we want to avoid that thinking and allow students to extrapolate their opinions and focus more on the question, “What causes a thing to be beautiful?”

Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the aesthetic concept of “Degrees” by looking at a lineup of similar objects and determining their order of Ugliness to Beautiful.

Related Projects: Sometimes because of our own lack of aesthetic education and resistance to looking a little foolish to our students we Materials: • Any group of similar objects like rocks, avoid that which is a tad uncomfortable for sticks, leaves or nails or screws. Five or ourselves. If the subtleties of this project seem a little too much (no judgment intended) then Six or Seven objects will be enough. let us try the following one. Process: Line up the objects in no particular Take the same group of found objects and order and somewhere out of sight on the bottom of each object number them so you can line them up and give them titles (names). When you name something you imbue it keep the objects straight and identified. Have students either one at a time or in groups come with meaning, usually. Have students title to the table where the objects are displayed and the rocks or sticks, compare the titles, and discuss which is most appropriate and least organize the objects in order of their beauty appropriate. There will be disagreement. or ugly priority. Keep track of the order. Students should write either solo or as a group Controversy is not necessarily contention. The wider the disagreement, the wider the point of why each object is in it place on the “Beauty view and the larger the idea becomes. Puny Continuum.” Where they place an object is little rarefied ideas that everyone agrees on unimportant. Why they place it there is very are generally only a cliché of the larger, more important and how they write about it is of grandiose and insightful idea. greatest importance. Another simple way to alter this project is to use a continuum of “Interesting and Boring” rather than beauty and ugly. Still, the important idea here is the why. Push the question and a lot of wonderful answers will magically appear. This project could also be done by having students choose which is most handsome, most beautiful, most pretty and most ugly, boring or interesting and why. Remember that Handsome means built well, Pretty means looks good and Beautiful means is good. (see the examples on the following pages

Exhibit these objects and the writing in a prominent place in your room or in the school if you think the writing demonstrates an astuteness and an awareness of the subtleties of the aesthetic view in the visual world. Objects convey meaning. Remember there are no right or wrong points of view in this project. This is difficult for many teachers because our own “education training” taught us to teach to prescribed answers. We know something is correct because we have been told so. In this project 7

1

2



3





4

5

6

7

A bunch of lava rock numbering left to right 1 thru 7.

Examples: Aesthetic Writing:

Rebekah, third grade. #6 is the most beautiful because it is the most different of them all. The shape is different and the color is different and even the texture is not like the others. #5 is the ugliest because it is the only one with a normal triangle shape. It’s just kind of normal. It has a normal shape and a normal color and all the others have interesting irregular shapes.

Joseph B. third grade. This is hard because they are all kinda ugly. #3 is the ugliest to me because it has lots of big holes and dents in the top and it looks awkward and doesn’t even have a real shape. The most beautiful one is #4 because it has smaller bubble holes and it looks kind of like a pot and pottery is my favorite kind of art. Callie, third grade. That is easy. #4 is the ugliest because it is the biggest and the roundest and not a natural shape and it looks like somebody did something to it to give it a shape. #5 is the most beautiful. It has a natural triangle shape. It also has a very nice natural color of purplish gray and the others just have a dirty color of grayish. Joseph S. third grade. # 4 is the most beautiful because it has an interesting hole in the top. You could use it to put stuff in like other rocks or something to eat. It is beautiful because you could use it. The second most beautiful one is #5 because it is like a triangle and you could stack it neat with other triangle shapes and stack it up tall. The ugliest one is #3 because you could never skip it water and it is bumpy and you can’t stack it or use it for any thing. It is dirty. You would have to clean it before you could use it.

These are excerpts of longer writing projects. The only change in the original text is spelling. Students entered the writing in to the computer and the spell checker assisted. There are 136 third graders in 4 classes that I see daily. We took a survey and came up with these statistics: No one thought that rock 1 or 2 was the most beautiful, 8 thought that 3 was the most beautiful, 64 thought that 4 was most beautiful, 43 thought that 5 was most beautiful, 11 thought that 6 was most beautiful 10 thought that 7 was most beautiful and 7 students thought that no rock was ever beautiful. Remember that each student had to defend his or her choice in writing and that it was written primarily in a private mode not as a cooperative exercise. 8

Twenty three students thought that 1 was the ugliest, 8 thought that 2 was the most ugly, 0 thought that 3 was most ugly, 20 thought that 4 was most ugly, 16 thought that 6 was most ugly and 62 thought that 7 was ugliest. 7 students (probably the same as above) thought all rock were equally ugly. These are only numbers, but there are some interesting ideas as to the nature of ugly and beauty being expressed here. The point is, right or wrong, we should be expressing our impressions and ideas on these subjects.

9

10

Ugly or Beautiful? Elementary Visual Arts

Of course there are many more. I recommend some research in these ideas just to clarify you own thinking.

Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the aesthetic vocabulary of Ugly and Beautiful by observing, analyzing and writing their “Ugly” or “Beautiful” response to found objects.

After the terms have been made fresh in the students’ minds, have several or all choose an object and write a short statement as to the object’s level of beauty and ugliness. These should be short (3 or 4 sentences) about whether the object is ugly or beautiful and at least three reasons why.

Materials: • Pen • Paper • Found objects

After the first student is finished, she should find another student who disagrees and wants to write down at least three reasons why they think that an ugly thing is beautiful or that someone else’s beautiful object is ugly to them. Help students avoid the “CONTRARY” mode. That is, argument for argument’s sake because that point of view tends to undermine the veracity of one’s own opinion. We have all been there haven’t we!

Process: Have students bring “interesting” found objects from home. Having the students bring the lesson materials makes this project be more about the students than the teacher. Education is about learning, not about teaching. When a few objects are in the classroom have the students who brought them explain what they are or what they think they are and develop a label for each object just so you can use a common title for it. Display the objects in the room.

When the objects have been written about, exhibit them somewhere in the classroom, or even better, in the hall or library so all students can see. Make sure to post the aesthetic response to the objects with the piece. Students may wish to sign their opinions or not. Discuss this and why with the student.

Conduct some sessions in the class where you discuss the aesthetic vocabulary of beautiful and ugly and discuss some possible reasons for each. There several official philosophical stances that impact the perception of what constitutes BEAUTY. We will not worry too much here about standard names for these views but will list some reasons humans perceive beauty:

We are much less concerned with “right or wrong” than creative and innovative thinking in response to visual stimuli. The responses the students use will give you an idea of their level of “aesthetic maturity” and sensitivity and give a standard from which to teach and expand student awareness and sophistication concerning these issues of “What causes beauty and why is it O.K. that we don’t all agree?”

A thing is beautiful if it reminds you of something you like; if it represents something you aspire to; if it comes from a source you value; because it has positive memory associations. 11

Examples: The Wasp Nest



“This horse shoe is ugly because: It is all rusty and broken, It has dead bugs in it and it has dried dirt and bent nails. I don’t think this horse shoe is beautiful. Dirt can’t be beautiful. It’s just dirty!” Amy, age 9 “This horseshoe is very very beautiful because it was on a horse and I love horses. Once it was shiny. Once it helped the horse walk. It is meaningful to me. I love horses.” Brogan age 9

Wasp Nest Writing:

“This wasp nest is ugly because it is a broken up nest and has dead baby wasps in it. I also think it is ugly because it is sorta squashed and has webby type things on it. That’s why I think it’s ugly. sometimes broken things are ugly to me including smashed.” Kalin age 9

“I think this dirty old horse shoe is very beautiful. I like old things. My Mom and Dad are very old and so is Grandma and Grandpa and they love me and I love them and that is what beautiful is. Old things are beautiful just because they are old.” Sierra, age 9

“This wasp nest is beautiful because it has a few spider webs on it and I really like spiders. I have a pet tarantula. This nest also has an interesting texture. Also, it is beautiful because it has lots of holes in it and they make a very nice pattern.” Seth age 8

Related Projects: This does not have to be done with found objects it can be a great way to discuss art history and the famous artists and artworks that we are already teaching the students. If your time constraints are anything like mine, short, oral processes with intensified learning outcomes are valuable tools. Here is a short and easy project that we do as a warm up at the beginning of each class while we are in our Aesthetic Section of the curriculum. For third graders we use Trevor Southey’s “Bloom” and Lee Udall Bennion’s “Snow Queen” to discuss and write about which is more beautiful or more ugly. We will have a scribe and write the ideas on the board. The point here is to view publicly all the different reasons things can be beautiful or ugly and why it is all right to disagree. Notice that we are discussing these works relative to each other rather than in absolute terms.

The Old Horse Shoe

12

EXAMPLES:

Snow Queen, by Lee Udall Bennion More Related Projects: The aesthetic New Bloom, by Trevor Southey discussion of beauty and ugly need not pertain to visual art only. We have many assemblies at our school and have an ongoing tradition “Snow Queen” is beautiful because: It has of writing the principal a short letter listing more colors; you can see the shapes easier; it all of the reasons we thought the performance is easy to see details; you can tell where she is; was either beautiful or ugly. (knowing that she is a little kid just like me; she doesn’t have there are a lot of other descriptive words and wrinkles; she is wearing fancy cloths like from variations of these two ideas) Old Navy; nice complementary colors of red and green. The Jr. High Dance Assembly: “Bloom” is beautiful because: Lots of contrast between light and dark so it is easier to see; she looks a lot like my old Grandma who is nice to me; she looks more real; a lot more textures and other things to look at; lots of details like wrinkles that are hard to draw; many different values of light and dark; interesting details like the flying flower.

“I think the dance was beautiful because they were big kids and I like to look at big girls.” Jason, age 9 “I think the dance program was very ugly because when some of the dances were on you could see the girls underwear and that is just gross.” Steven, age 8 13

“I really loved the dance assembly because I want to be a dancer when I grow up and I think I learned some good cheer leading moves. My big sister was one of the dancers and she is beautiful. She is a cheer leader.” Dianna, age 9 “The dance was ugly. The whole assembly was ugly. My teacher got mad at me and made me stand up in the back behind the sixth graders. I hate sixth graders and my teacher and the ugly, ugly, ugly dancers.” Travis, age 8 “I thought the dance assembly was very beautiful. It was beautiful because the movement and the music went together like one big idea. I could tell different feelings from the music and the moving.” Courtney, age 9

John Held, Jr. Dancin’ in the Jazz Age 1920s SMA

“I don’t know if it was ugly but it was stupid. Dancing is for sissies but the Jr. High girls are cute and maybe I’ll like dancing some day but right now I think it stinks.” Justin, age 10 “The dancing was the most beautiful thing I ever saw. The kids all moved together and they all had the rhythm and the teachers talking made a lot of sense and now I want to be a dancer too.” Levi, age 9 “The dance assembly was beautiful because everyone was having fun and they were all smiling.” Whitney, age 8

14

Handsome, Pretty, Beautiful Elementary Visual Arts

traditional point of view, it also illuminates the problem of cliché in the discussion of aesthetic education. We should try to get past the obvious and move into the poignant and significant. Aesthetics is a discussion of meaning.

Objectives: Students will demonstrate an understanding of some primal terms in the aesthetic vocabulary by discussing Handsome, Pretty and Beautiful and bringing something for “show and tell” that represents at least one of these ideas.

Remember: Handsome= built or constructed well Pretty= looks good Beautiful= is good

Process: The objective here is to have students engage in a discussion of how to discriminate between something that is truly beautiful and something that is merely pretty. These terms are a little arbitrary and simplified somewhat for the sake of learning. A Kindergartner or a First Grader is not going to learn all that is available in the literature of Aesthetics, so we want to introduce simple, yet significant, ideas to these young students that they can build upon.



Some other issues and questions to address during show and tell might be: Can a girl be handsome? Can a horse be handsome? Can a house be handsome? Can something be handsome and ugly at the same time? Can a rock be pretty? Can a rock be beautiful? Can a thing be beautiful but not pretty? Can a thing or a person be pretty but not beautiful? Can a thing or person be pretty and beautiful at the same time? Can a thing be beautiful and ugly at the same time?

After some discussion of these three terms, invite students to bring an appropriate object or a story of something that represents the aesthetic idea to the next show and tell day. They should bring something that is either Handsome: something that is Built Well; or Pretty: something that Looks Good; or Beautiful: something that Is Good. I usually send notes home explaining to parents the nature of this project because this specific usage is usually new to the parents also, and I would rather the parents reinforce these ideas instead of arguing against them because they seem a little different. Some general misconceptions to watch for are the ideas that handsome relates only to the masculine and that pretty is feminine and that beautiful is quantitatively greater or more of pretty. While there is some justification for this

Look it up if you disagree.

Obviously, the big question is WHY? It is ok to have an opinion. Not all opinions have the same value, though, and what we all want to know is why one has that opinion. So, WHY needs to be asked and some attempt to explain needs to be made. Most young students will need some help with WHY. They have learned by example that “I DON’T KNOW!” is the traditional answer for most of these issues. When dealing with opinions and personal preferences,

15

I don’t know is unacceptable. Try to get young students not to shrug their shoulders and assume that they have answered a question.

Related Project: Students can use magazines to find and cut out pictures that represent these three ideas. The real point is to have them answer why or what is it in the picture or object or person that makes it beautiful or pretty or handsome. Students can find all three and compare and contrast or focus on just one and find the best example.

Rebekah says, “This is a beautiful photograph of a seagull. It is beautiful because when I look at it I think of the seagulls and the crickets and how the seagulls saved the pioneers from dying. I don’t think seagulls are pretty because they eat garbage from the dumpster behind the cafeteria, but they are beautiful when they save you from starving.”

Josh says, “This tree is handsome because it is built very well and looks so strong that even when it is dead it is still standing up tall and strong. I think I could put a tree house in it without it falling down. It is handsome.”

Left, Michael says, “This is a picture of a sunset. It is pretty because it looks pretty good with a lot of bright colors and blue and orange complementary colors. It is pretty.

16

A BEAUTIFUL PLACE Elementary Visual Arts

sense of beauty. The writing should be in age appropriate form using the goals and guidelines currently being developed by the educational collaborative groups throughout the state. If you will prepare the students with the “thinking” questions before they start, they can think about the aesthetics and how they can impact beauty as they work. A major part of this lesson is focused on, “What can I do as an artist to increase the level of beauty in my art work?” Remember that beautiful does not mean “pretty”.

Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of “sources of Beauty” and “Why?” by creating a value landscape of a place they think is “Beautiful” and writing a short statement answering several aesthetic questions. Materials: • Black Ball Point Pens (fine point, medium point and wide tip) • good “drawing” paper.

The Questions: Where and What is this place? Is it a beautiful place? Why? What did I do as an artist to make this artwork more beautiful?

Process: After a comprehensive discussion of Pretty and Beautiful (see previous lesson) students should discuss and brainstorm about “Beautiful Places” and what causes a place to be beautiful. A list of beautiful places should be listed on the board to help students start their own thinking process on this subject. When each student has decided on which landscape is beautiful to them (let each student develop his or her own aesthetic) students should then render the place as a value/texture landscape. Students should use at least five layers of landscape showing overlapping to create the perspective illusion of near and far. Students should be exposed to at least five ways to shade with a black ink pen: Flat shading, diagonal lines, stipple, cross hatch and scribble. When students have completed their landscape of a BEAUTIFUL PLACE, it is time to think about the aesthetics of this artwork. We need to discuss why we think this “place” is beautiful. What causes beauty? and what the artist did to give the “artwork” a

The Beautiful Sea, by Katey, age 8 17

Here are some examples of second grade art work and aesthetic writing:



So the students write a rough draft and then proof read; sometimes alone and sometimes with a partner and sometimes with the teacher. I always look at the writing before we publish or exhibit. After the students have a finished writing product they enter it into one of our computers, choose an interesting font, set up paragraphs and punctuation and check spelling. Because this is a dedicated art room we have a wall of computers (discards for other schools, homes and businesses) that we use to learn about graphics and publishing our writing projects. Nearly every art project has some kind of writing associated with it.

Rough Draft for Katey’s writing

There are many strategies for learning writing skills. Since most of the traditional core teachers have a structural (law and order) approach, I tend to use a more “creative thinking” approach. I understand that both are necessary and I always support the necessity of structural accuracy. However, when teaching intellectual strategies and problem solving I like to have the creative idea drive the writing rather the spelling, grammar and punctuation dominate the ideas being generated. I know both are important. Let students go through the same 6 step process that we use in thinking of and creating a work of art: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.



Desert Night, by Michelle Michelle’s rough draft writing

THINK (brainstorming) until you get an IDEA (see it in your mind) make a PLAN (thinking space sketches) DO IT (production) EVALUATE (self criticism and aesthetic writing) EXHIBIT (publish) 18

that is perspective. In this instance we did this work at home and did the writing in class. Again the questions were; 1. Where is this place? 2. Why is this place beautiful? 3. What did you do to your art work to make or increase its beauty? The assignment was to build a threedimensional place that the student thinks is beautiful. Build it in a box and try to add some beauty to it by the materials and techniques that you choose and use. A Beautiful Valley by Levi

Third Grade Examples:

Levi’s “published” writing

Under the Sea, by Tyler BEAUTIFUL LANDSCAPE EXAMPLES:

This place is under the sea. It is beautiful because it is a place a wish I could go and stay there.

Related Projects: Writing about beauty and what one did as an artist to add or increase the beauty in ones work can be applied to many kinds of projects. Here is one that lends easily to this approach to thinking about and producing works of art. We make dioramas as a way to create a personally specific landscape and to observe the technical and visual problems and questions inherent in trying to make a flat piece of paper appear to be three dimensional,

I helped make this one beautiful by putting aquarium plants and plastic models so it would look realistic.

19

This is the ocean. It is beautiful because you can fish in it and sail on it and surf. These are fun. I made it more beautiful by using analogous colors for the water and complementary ones for the fish.

This place is Fish and Waves, by Nicole

Lost at Sea, by William This is a sinking ship in the middle of the ocean. This place is ugly and beautiful because some people died and some people were heroes. I made it more beautiful by using real pictures from the internet of Titanic, a real sinking ship and I used cotton to look like real fog and real waves 20

I’ve Been Wondering. . . Elementary Visual Arts

issues discussed according to your needs or schedule). One of the difficulties with younger children is their lack of sophistication in trying to defend a point of view they don’t actually subscribe to. I guess this might be a form of honesty, but the ability to put oneself on the other side of an issue is a strategy that allows students to be more tolerant of discussion and differing opinions. It also helps us solidify our own opinion, and it may even help us change our opinion occasionally, which is another way to say “Learn something new.”

Objective: Students will demonstrate an understanding of aesthetics as a discussion of “points of view” by defining important aesthetic questions in the arts and discussing the issues in small groups and presenting the conclusions (pro and con) to the class. Process: This is a lesson I saw demonstrated years ago at an arts networking conference. I was so impressed with the students demonstrating it that I wrote down the process and questions and brought it straight back to my third grade classroom. This is sophisticated for third graders, and I found that if I did not start them on these ideas in Kindergarten and First Grade, they were not ready to deal with these issues in third grade. I also tried teaching this process to my University beginning Ceramics students and easily 90% could not engage in a discussion on these simple aesthetic ideas. They had never been exposed even though some of them had been high school art majors. If this seems too difficult for your students, try helping them learn some of the more basic approaches to the world of aesthetics.

So here are some questions; feel free to invent your own. Make the questions and issues be a product or your own classroom and the arts curriculum you have been teaching.

I’ve been wondering...

Do we all have to agree on what is beautiful and what is not? or Is there only one right point of view and everyone else is wrong? Can a thing be both beautiful and ugly? or Are the ideas of beauty and ugliness mutually exclusive?

Divide your students into small (intimate) groups to discuss one point of view concerning an aesthetic issue or question. After discussion, each group should present to the entire group the persuasive reasons to support the group’s position. After one side of an issue is presented, another group of students should present the opposing view. From each pair of questions below, assign the first question to one group and the second question to another (feel free to adapt the number of

Does an artist have a responsibility to the public? or Is an artist’s responsibility only to himself?

21

What if a city buys a sculpture to place in a city park and the citizens who use the park hate it? Do the citizens have the right to demand that the sculpture be removed? or What if the people who use the park want the sculpture painted a different color than the color chosen by the artist? If the city now owns the sculpture, can the city council have it repainted? Neil Hadlock, Effron 1983 Is censorship appropriate if a work of art is shocking and upsetting to a community? or Should artists have the freedom to present anything they wish to the public? Is art an object? or Can the idea be art? How can someone know if she/he is an artist or not? or Can anyone be an artist? Does someone have to have special training to be an artist? Have you noticed that the questions are increasing in complexity and to some extent increasing in ambiguity? These questions can be used for upper grade students or jr. and high school students or teachers. Try this in the next faculty meeting while they are addressing the State Legislature’s mandate in the Core Curriculum! This IS part of the Core Curriculum. . . in Visual Arts! Can someone today fully appreciate works of art from another culture without an understanding of the cultural context in which the work was created? or Is it appropriate to evaluate an object from a non-Western culture in contemporary terms of elements and principles of design?

22

Southwest, Navajo people Classic Serape-style Wearing Blanket, 1875 www.umfa.utah.edu/index. php?id=MTc&media_id=127 What if the maker and original culture from which an object emerged did not consider the object to be art, but it is in an art museum? Is it Art now, even if it wasn’t art then? or Do viewers of the object have any obligation to learn about the culture that produced a work of art? Who decides what is art and what isn’t? Can people disagree about their definitions of art?

Related Projects: Aesthetics is primarily an intellectual pursuit based on language. It, of course, has visual results in the work of artists who embrace the “aesthetic discussion.” For another approach to the “aesthetic questions,” have students write down their personal opinion of the questions above. Have them write in complete and specific sentences and paragraphs. If you are looking for a good topic in your writing curriculum, try this one. If you really want to push the topic, have students bring real-life examples of these objects or issues and explain how the example reinforces their “point of view.” Their writing can be exhibited with their examples or photos and drawings of their examples. It is always good to have students make art about art and art ideas. It is a way to clarify the concept.

Leon Kroll, Girls at the Exhibition (1964)

Is art the thing you look at? or Is art the way you look at the thing? There are of course many questions to be included in this learning approach. Some questions are very simple and some very complex. Make up your own questions based on the arts lessons you have been teaching and stretch a little out into the big wide wonderful world of AESTHETICS!

23

24

“WHAT-IS-ART?-LAND!” 3rd–6th Grade Visual Arts Objective: Students will form opinions as to what they consider to be art through playing a game modeled after Candy Land. Materials: • laminated colored sheets of construction paper • 3 x 5 index cards (to create playing cards) • scissors and glue stick • an assortment of artworks of varying media, subject matter, size, and meaning • other objects that could be used for this debate (objects around the classroom work well, such as: a chair, a marker, a stapler, a bulletin board, a stuffed animal, an article of clothing, etc.) Instructions for the game: 1. The teacher will need to place the colored sheets of laminated paper around the room to form a path. The colored pieces of paper should be repeated in a pattern (i.e., red, blue, orange, green, yellow, purple, brown, red, blue, orange, green….) 2. The teacher will also need to create playing cards by using small square swatches of each of the colors used in the “path.” Glue one square swatch of a color on each notecard, making several cards of each color (just like the cards used in the game Candy Land). Also, choose about four artworks to color copy and insert into the path randomly, while also creating a notecard for each of these images. 25

3. Divide the class into four teams. Each team will need to choose one member to act as the team’s game piece (or the teacher could use this as a ‘reward’ for something else done that week). All of the game pieces need to start at one end of the path. 4. To take a turn, a team member needs to draw a notecard from the top of the stack. The color on that swatch indicates where that team’s gamepiece will get to move (for instance, if the student picks a notecard with a blue swatch, then the student will get to move to the next blue space on the path. If the student chooses a notecard that has an artwork on it, the student has to move to that space on the path, whether it takes the student further ahead or sends him or her farther back). 5. However, in order to move, the teacher needs to hold up one of the artworks or other items and have that student answer whether or not he or she thinks the piece is art or not, and then give some reasons. There are no right answers, but teacher should use the student’s response to generate a little discussion as to what qualities make something art or not art. The goal is not to come up with right and wrong answers as to what art is, the goal is to allow the students to share their opinions, and to debate back and forth as to why something could or couldn’t be considered art. 6. After the student answers, the team gets to move the “gamepiece” team member to the space indicated by the swatch on the card (so in this example, the next blue space on the path).

7. The team that reaches the finish line of the path wins. Assessment: This game can be played just for fun, or the teacher may choose to have the students write a quick journal entry at the end with their personal definition of what art is to them. Or, they could do this before and after to the game, to see how their opinions had changed. The journal entry could be graded by simply checking off whether or not the student completed it.

26

GOING… GOING… GONE! ART AUCTION! 4th–6th Grade Visual Art

will determine how much money they will get (i.e., all the #1’s get $500, #2’s get $800, and Objective: #3’s get $1,000). Distribute money accordingly Students will be able to participate in an to each student. art auction and then engage in a follow-up discussion to answer aesthetics questions *ART PRODUCTION EXTENSION: pertaining to the monetary value of art. Using printmaking techniques, have the students each come up with a simple Materials: design to print to make their own money. A • Various art prints and a small amount fast and easy technique is to use pencils to of background info on each piece (about carve a design onto Styrofoam plates. Then, two sentences, if there is info on the use brayers (rollers) and ink (some types of back of the print, that will usually be tempera paint might work also) to ink the enough) plate, and then press onto a piece of paper to create a print. Remind the students that words • numbered auction signs (popsicle sticks will have to be written backwards in order to glued to paper plates work well) come out correctly. • play money or printmaking materials for making “money” (see ART PRODUCTION EXTENSION below)

3. Hold an art auction with art prints and posters. (Students don’t actually get to keep these if they come from a school set, it is meant to be a hypothetical activity, but maybe they could keep it by their desk for the day, or the teacher could provide them with postcard versions of the piece that they could keep.) The auctioneer should provide a short background on the piece before putting it up for auction, 1-2 sentences is fine and will probably already be on the back of the print or poster.

• a gavel and a podium (or desk) are a fun touch! Instructions for the Activity: 1. Each student needs to create an auction sign with a number written large and clear on the front. (You can glue popsicle sticks or tongue depressors to paper plates to make these. The students can decorate them, but their numbers need to remain very clear so the teacher or “auctioneer” can read them.) 2. Not all students will have the same amount of “money.” To determine how much each student gets, decide on three amounts (like $500, $800, and $1,000, or whatever will best correspond to the money you are using). Have the students draw a number out of a hat that

27

4. Afterwards, ask the students some Aesthetics questions to get them thinking about the philosophies behind the purchase and value of artworks. Some questions to ask are: • Why did you bid for a certain artwork? Did the background information influence which pieces you liked?

•

Did you choose pieces for the subject matter depicted, for how famous the artist was, for the estimated value, because your friends liked it, or because you thought it would look good in your room? What makes an artwork worth more than another? What if nobody had bid on an artwork, does that make the artist unsuccessful or ‘bad’ at what he or she does? What if everybody tried to bid on the same artwork, does that make it seem to be more successful or that it should be worth more?

•

What does this activity tell us about the ‘real world’—Who decides who the ‘best’ artists are? What factors do you think lead to the success of an artist? Does an artist need to become well known in order for their artwork to be valued? Could you have sold one of your artworks in this class auction? Why?

• ART PRODUCTION EXTENSION QUESTIONS: If the students made their own money, ask them if that made their money seem more valuable than if the teacher had just given them play money. Did it change what art they bid on, or how much they were willing to spend? If you trade money that you made through an artistic process for an artwork, does that make them the same value? If one student didn’t spend much time making his money, is he or she more willing to part with it to bid on a piece of art? Likewise, if another student spent a lot of time creating his or her money, was that student more hesitant to trade it for the artworks? There are a lot of questions that could be asked, and there are many directions the discussion could lead. That’s the great part about Aesthetics—it is a universal discipline that applies to so many areas of life because it brings up questions about values and ethics. Use this activity as a springboard for any other subject area to create interdisciplinary connections. Assessment: Students can easily be assessed using a 1-3 rating scale for each part of the activity (1 = lowest, 3 = highest), with a 0 if the student did not participate in a certain part of the activity at all. Categories may include: Participation in Art Auction, Participation in Class Discussion, Journal Entry (if the teacher chooses to have the students answer this way), and Money Printmaking Activity (if the teacher chooses to have the students make their own).

28

Aesthetic Puzzles the sculpture. However, it took 40 years and 6 different models of possible sculptures before the model shown here was finally accepted by the committee. It took 18 more years and some of Dallin’s own money to get the finished sculpture installed in Boston.

The following are a group of “puzzles” or problems about aesthetics ideas. They are intended to provoke thought and discussion— there are no “right” answers. Do make sure students consider the reasons for the choices they make and expect them to defend those choices with specific reasons.

Ask students to consider the following questions and give reasons for their answers: • Having won the competition, should Cyrus Dallin have been allowed to decide what the final sculpture would look like? • If the artist doesn’t make all the decisions about an artwork, is he still the artist, or are the people who helped make the decision also part of the artistic process? Should they also get some credit for the monument? • Paul Revere is a public monument: it is displayed in public and commemorates a public event and person. Should the public have a voice in what a public monument looks like?

Public Monuments Show the class the images of Cyrus E. Dallin’s sculpture, Paul Revere. Give the students the following background information: In 1883, Cyrus Dallin submitted an artwork to a competition to create a statue commemorating Paul Revere and his historic ride (give the students a little background, if they do not know about Revere’s ride to warn settlers that the British troops were coming). No artwork from the competition was chosen, but Dallin didn’t give up. Two years later, the committee accepted a new design of his for

• Like many sculptures, the sculpture of Paul Revere was first modeled in clay and then cast in bronze. The artists get the credit for the artwork and not the individuals who cast the piece in bronze— is that fair? Who would you credit?

29

Assessment: Assess students’ participation using a check list with a – for little or poorquality participation, a √ for adequate participation, and a + for particularly thoughtful participation.

Quality vs. Originality Read the students the following made-up scenario: You work for a museum that owns a fairly famous painting by a local artist. Another museum in the area owns a painting presumed to be a copy of your painting. The copied painting is of inferior quality and is seldom exhibited. Last week, a historian found some letters that indicate that the poor-quality painting is actually the original painting, and the high-quality painting is the copy.

Historical References Show the class the image of the painting Yalu River Dead.

Does the fact that your museum’s painting is a copy of an earlier work make it less valuable than art experts said it was before anyone knew it was a copy?

Ask the students the following questions:

• What do you think the painting is about? What if no one had ever found out your • How does the painting make you feel? • Can you appreciate the painting even museum’s painting was a copy? though you don’t know exactly what it’s Which matters most, quality or originality? about? Tell the students that during the Korean War, US and Allied forces near the Yalu River, which separates China and North Korea (show map), were overrun by Chinese troops, and a terrible battle took place at the Chosin Reservoir. It was so cold the soldiers called themselves “The Frozen Chosin.” Many soldiers were killed. Those who lived had to find their way back to the other troops through the mountains and a lot died of the cold or the lack of food. • Now that you know what the painting is about, does that information change how you see and what you feel when you look at the painting? • We are now fighting a very different war in Iraq. Does this painting say anything about the war in Iraq? • Are photographs of war scenes art? • Why do artists make art about war? Assessment: Use a checklist–see previous lesson 30

What is Art? Show the students the image of the painting Zelda: Los Truches, by Lee Deffebach. Tell students that they should imagine they work at a local museum. This artwork, Zelda: Los Truches, is part of one of the exhibits. One of the visitors to the museum angrily tells you that the painting is not art: she claims her daughter does better art and that anyone could make a

painting like Zelda by simply splashing some paint on a canvas.

may want to increase the diversity of artworks in your collection because of specific needs in the population, or you may want to maintain • What could you tell the visitor that might the focus of your collection) change her mind? • What aesthetic stance would you use? • Which artwork should your museum • What other artworks could you use to acquire? support your position? • What values did you use to support your • Where else could you find information decision? that might add to your argument? • How will the painting you chose match • How do you feel–is Zelda: Los Truches those values? art? Teacher: you may want to help students set up the values for their museum by assigning them a specific museum orientation. You could have any of the following: 1. A museum with a focus on Utah Art 2. A museum on a university campus, dedicated to serving the needs of the students 3. A museum that has a collection of very traditional artwork 4. A museum that owns very few works by women 5. A museum that has the goal of providing art Art and Other Values experiences for school children Show the class the images of Florence Ware’s Jingyi Wang, Branch with Blossoms painting Nature’s Embroidery and a traditional www.lib.byu.edu/dlib/moa/ Put in Wang as search Japanese or Chinese flower painting such as term A Single Bird on Lotus Stem, 1971 ca. by Jingyi Wang, byu.edu. Divide the students into small Feminist Theory groups Tell the students they should imagine that each group is the board of a museum.. The feminist theory of aesthetics values items The museum has been offered both artworks traditionally handmade by women. Included by separate art dealers. The museum can only in the feminist area are quilts, which may be add one to the museum’s collection. As groups, regarded as art pieces, even though the quilts decide which painting to acquire, basing your were originally made to put on beds. A local decision on values of the museum or the popu- museum has had a quilt exhibition for many lation the museum serves. (For example, you years. The quilt show originally had only 31

hand-quilted work. Recently, however, many quilters have begun to have their quilts machine quilted. Another change is that more and more of the quilts are small and are designed to be hung on walls, not used on beds. Among the quilts intended for display as artworks are quilts that are often called “art quilts’ and which have designs similar to paintings rather than the traditional quilt designs that use repeated or similar elements to make an overall design. Show the class the three quilt examples.

deal with the changes that are taking place in quilting? Temporary Art Tell the students the following background information:

Thomas Demand is a German photographer. Originally a sculptor, he took up photography to record images of his delicate paper sculptures. Then he began to make his sculptures, • Which are better art, hand-quilted quilts or which were generally assemblages, for the machine-quilted quilts? purpose of photographing them. After photo • Are the quilts that look like paintings graphing them, he destroys the assemblages, better art than those with traditional quilt and the photograph becomes the artwork. designs? Other contemporary artists such as Sandy • Should all quilts be allowed in regular art Skoglund and Andy Goldsworthy do similar exhibits (not just quilt shows)? Should just things. “Art Quilts” be allowed? • How should the art world (and museums) • Can something temporary be art? • How long does it have to last to be art? • Which is really the artwork— the assemblage or the photograph? In January 2006, a visitor to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, fell down the stairs and into three large vases, smashing the vases. The oriental vases were from the 1700s and were some of the most important artifacts the museum owned. Thomas Demand photographed the pieces of the vases, lying on the shelf and landing of the museum. • How is the photograph art? • Are photographs of real incidents art? http://www.absolutearts.com/cgi-bin/ news/arts-news-elaborate.cgi?output_ number=20&find=8942

Jenny Lee Snow, Labyrinth of Solitude Springville Museum of Art Quilt Show 32

Choosing Art Divide the students into small groups, and present the following imaginary scenario: Your school has a school carnival every year that raises a lot of money. The school has decided that it will use some of the money from the carnival each year to purchase an artwork to display in the school. The question now is who should decide what artwork to purchase. You know that a lot of the teachers and administrators at the school don’t really know much about art; neither do a lot of the students. Come up with a plan for choosing each year’s purchased artwork that will, in your view, be fair, but will also help ensure that the artworks purchased are high quality. Write a description of your plan. Assessment: Evaluate the students for participation in the group plan. Evaluate the plan using criteria you have established as a class.

ing the blanket in a museum and having the artworld call it a work of art, has not changed the blanket, and it should not be considered an artwork. It should be classified as a beautiful example of weaving and an important cultural artifact, and displayed in a museum of Cultures and Peoples. The other half of the groups will take the position that displaying the blanket in an art museum separates the blanket from its cultural context and makes it possible for viewers to see it as a beautiful example of abstract design. By displaying it in a reputable museum, the artworld has conferred the status of “artwork” on the blanket.

For older students, have the groups prepare a proposal for the (pretend) school that will convince the school their plan is the best way to choose the artworks. Institutionalist Theory Show the class an image of a Native American blanket such as the Serape-style wearing blanket, from www.umfa.utah.edu/index. php?id=MTc&media_id=127. Give the students some history of the blanket. Students should understand that the blanket was made as a utilitarian object—it was meant to be worn. Based on the Institutionalist Theory of Aesthetics*, the blanket, which is displayed in the museum, is now considered an artwork. However, a similar blanket, displayed in a museum of Cultures and Peoples, would be considered a cultural artifact.

The students must come up with reasons for their positions and make a list of those reasons. You may provide the students with background information that could support each position. When the students have completed their lists, pair the groups up and let them debate their positions. Students may want to add or change items on their list as they debate together.

Divide the class into small groups. Half of the groups must take the position that hang33

Have the class choose two groups to debate in front of the class. Assessment: Student groups will self-assess their participation in the group work. They will assess the number and quality of their arguments on their list. As a teacher, assess the lists, providing a number of points that correlate with the way you assess other assignments. You may want to give bonus points for exceptional ideas. * The Institutionalist Theory says that a utilitarian object, taken out of its cultural context and displayed in a museum, becomes an artwork, valued for its intrinsic beauty and workmanship. Variation: Use a cultural item from a culture your class is studying in Social Studies. You can find images from many cultures using the Google Image Search or another search engine. Aztec mask of Xiuhtecuhtli, c. 1500, of Mixtec-Aztec provenance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mask

34

AESTHETIC THEORIES: APPROACHES TO ART Following is an overview of various aesthetic theories, or approaches to defining art. These theories can be used with any image and can be used collectively or as individual theories. Some theories are more appropriate for certain images and/or ages. Background Information on Aesthetics Explain to the students that there are various approaches to art and that some artists intend for their artwork to look one way and others intend for theirs to look another way. One approach is not better than any other; they are just varying views of how the artists perceive what they think art should be. Stress that there are varying views or perceptions on what art should be and that these views change often. The branch of philosophy that tries to define these varying views or approaches to art is called aesthetics.

This artwork depicts a series of objects realistically. Is presenting those objects as they actually look the artist’s main purpose? How can you tell?

Aesthetic theories are developed to help define “What is Art?” or sometimes, “When is it Art?” Aesthetics does not decide if art is “good,” as that is what Art Criticism does. Usually artworks do not fit entirely into one aesthetic stance, rather the can include combinations of several views. Following are simplifies definitions of several prominent aesthetic theories or approaches to art:

2. Expressive: Art should communicate strong feelings, ideas, moods, or emotions of the artist. It can be ugly because it is based on a truth. Quality is based on the ability to arouse the greatest emotions. It can use symbols.

These views hold that an object is considered to be art when it meets the following criteria: 1. Realistic (Mimetic, Imitationalist): Art should look real or life-like. It imitates, mimics or copies the real object. Quality is judged by faithfulness to the model. Originally, artworks were idealized; later included accurate or realistic representations of nature or life.

3. Pleasure (Hedonist): Art is valued for its ability to give individual pleasure. It is based on the idea that pleasure is good and pain is bad. Quality is based on degree of individual pleasure achieved, not on how much everyone gains pleasure from it. It usually presents an idealized view. 35

4. Formalist: Artworks are mainly concerned

with the portraying the elements and principles (i.e., line, color, shape, balance, unity). Quality is based on degree of coordination between all parts. It doesn’t rely on subject matter or viewer’s past experiences.

Students: • Should learn how to present reasons or arguments in support of their view • Must Try to respond to what someone else says • Should be allowed to stray from the original decision

5. Feminist: Art should be interpreted through a woman’s point of view. Quality is based on aspects of being a woman. There should be less distinction between art and craft. The economic, class, gender, ethnic, and social context of an artwork should be considered. 6. Institutionalist: Objects become art because they are exhibited, displayed or promoted. An institute (gallery, museum, or publication) calls it art, therefore it is art. Quality is based on status or recognition of the institute.

Teachers: • Clarify what has been said • Encourage everyone to be involved in some way • Ask questions, present varying views or opposition • Summarize arguments, positions, and develop closure • Remind students that aesthetics is not a defined science, and is therefore open to change.

7. Instrumentatlist: Art should serve a social purpose. Art is an instrument to produce effects and should portray vivid and extensive experiences or purposes.

ART AESTHETICS DISCUSSION QUESTIONS 1. Who can make art? Animals? Nature? Children? Laymen? Craftsmen? Artists? What makes an artist? Is he appointed by his peers? The critics? Him/herself? Museum goers? The public? The curator?

These are several other theories (e.g., sociological, neo-rationalist) that are not discussed. There are also new theories that are being developed to help define “ new” aspects of art. The field of aesthetics is constantly evolving. Encourage the students to have their “views” of art evolve too.

2. What makes something a work of art? Is it art if: It takes a long time to make? It costs a lot to produce? It required great skill to produce? It required extensive training and thought? It has great historical value? It looks similar to well-known artworks?

For a general aesthetic activity, have the students decide which theory or approach fits various artworks. Use a variety (i.e., art forms, media, cultures, gender, subject matter, purposes or functions) and encourage the students to determine the “degree” that the artwork fits a theory. For example, an artwork might be 60% realistic but have 30% expressive concepts and 10% instrumentalist.

3. When is something art? When it is something of beauty? Does it have to be beautiful? Can it be ugly? What makes something ugly or beautiful?

In aesthetic discussions encourage the following behaviors:

36



When an artist says it is? When an expert says it is? When a critic says it is? When it carries a price? When it is sold? If so, then for how much?

4. Where is something art? When it is on display in an art gallery? When it is on a billboard? When it is in a magazine? When it is on television? When it is in a book? 5. Why is there art? Is it because of a desire to: Communicate visually? Record people, places or events? Express ideas, thoughts or feelings? Stimulate thinking or reasoning? Imitate real objects? Abstract real objects? Make a mark on society? Illicit change in society? Stimulate the senses of sight or touch?

Graffiti, Barcelona Photo: Magdalena Urbanska http://blogs.ihes.com/spanish/?cat=47

37

Puzzling about Aesthetics: Exercises in Critical Thinking in the Visual Arts 7th–12th Grade Visual Arts

4. Meaning and Interpretation: Should the intent of the artist change the way we extract meaning from an artwork? How does the way we interpret a work of art change the way we see or talk about it? How do we know the true meaning of a work of art without the artist being present, or is it important to have the artist present? Can we derive meaning based on knowledge of the artist or on the historical importance of the artwork? 5. Critical Judgment (The Value): Is aesthetic judgment up to the person evaluating the artwork? Or can we debate those evaluations? How much should our personal likes and dislikes affect the judgment of a work of art? Is it important for the work of art to be relevant to the time it is being judged? Does the artwork need to make a statement to be important? Who decides how we judge a work of art? What are the criteria?

Standard Four: Contextualizing Students will find meaning in works of art through settings and other modes of learning. Learning Target (Objective): Students will explore the ideas and concepts of aesthetic questions through critical thinking puzzles or activities. Materials: -Read different scenarios from Puzzles about Art: An Aesthetic Casebook or read through some puzzles on http://www.arts.arizona. edu/are476/files/aesCat.htm (which are collage student examples, and a good reference on aesthetic theory) -Examples of different questions (read lesson: a list of questions for display) -Paper, and Pencils (Brainstorm) Background Information: (Information compiled and simplified from the Puzzles about Art: An Aesthetics Casebook and on-line at http://www.arts.arizona.edu/ are476/files/aesCat.htm) Aesthetic Categories and Questions: 1. Art and Artwork: What is art? What is an artwork? Who is an artist? 2. Beauty and Ugliness: Who defines beauty? Who defines what is ugly? 3. Aesthetic Experience ( phenomenon ): Can you only get an aesthetic experience from a work of art? If a work of art does not give you an aesthetic experience is it still art? 38

Resources: Puzzles about Art: An Aesthetics Casebook (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989) http://www.arts.arizona.edu/are476/files/ aesCat.htm http://www.art.unt.edu/ntieva/artcurr/aes/ aes2.html Procedures: 1. Introductory Activity: Take an ordinary object from your room, anything will do (I like using a roll of tape), and make a museum tag for that object. Example: Title, Artist, Date, Size, and Museum

where the “artwork” is displayed. Place the object in the front of the room without the tag and ask your students if they think the object is art. Now place the museum tag next to it, and set the scene that the object is in a museum and was picked or created by an artist. Now, ask your students whether the object is art. Start the discussion about who decides that this object is art. Is it art because it is created or found by an artist? Or is the object art because it is in a museum or because your art teacher is telling you that it is? Talk about why it is important to discuss the idea of aesthetics.

3. Activity: Puzzles: Read the students an example of an Aesthetic Puzzle (I like chapter one, page 1 in the Puzzles about Art: An Aesthetics Casebook, “The Chimpanzee.”) or use one found online, and emphasize the use of the questions that relate to the puzzle. Still in their small groups, have the students come up with an aesthetic puzzle of their own. 4. Brainstorm: (Setting up a story/ scenario as a problem with questions.) Have some aesthetic questions on the board for class members to either use or to help them come up with one of their own. On a sheet of paper for the small group, have group members pick one or two questions.

2. Warm-up activity for the students working in small groups: Each small group will get questions about different ideas in art. Here is an example of a question, or you can go to http://www.art.unt.edu/ntieva/artcurr/aes/ aes2.html for a list of more questions.

5. Now have them outline a plot or theme for the scenerio or story that relates to the questions they picked or created, and then write a short paragraph or two on the scenario. Have the students list the questions that relate to their scenario under the paragraph. In the small groups, have them pick a spokesperson to share their scenario with the class. 6. Now have the students present their scenarios to the class to see if there are any problems understanding what the scenarios are about. Then have all of the groups switch their scenarios and discuss what they think about the questions that are presented. Then have each student write a short answer about what the student’s response was to the scenario and why it is important to talk about aesthetics.

A painting by the chimpanzee Congo www.painterskeys.com/clickbacks/majorwoolly.asp accessed Mar 2, 2007

(Other ideas: Have the groups create a comic strip about the scenario. Have the students go home and talk about their scenario to their family. Ask students to consider what other classes at school (science, English, etc.) involve critical thinking questions?)

- Is art a skill to be learned? Or, can art only come from a natural, “untrained,” talented person? -Can it be called art if the person who made it did not consider it art? Or, can an artist call something art just because he or she is an artist?

image of chimpanzee painting from www.lxxl.pt/aswarm/aswarm2.html accessed March 2, 2007 39

40

AESTHETIC ACTIVITIES Elementary—High School

that theory. You could then use a second set of images to have the students review the theories. You may also want to start with just 3 or 4 of the theories.) For an advanced review, have the students place the word strip along a continuum (on a scale from 1 to 10) below the images to decide to what degree an artwork represents that view.

Introduction and motivation Place several of the following objects into a box: a dollar bill, a small plastic bowl, a photograph from a magazine advertisement, a decorated object (i.e., hot pad, dish towel), and a small toy figure. Have the students choose an object from the box and decide whether or not the object is art. Emphasize the following concepts: the dollar bill is a print, the plastic bowl is similar to a painting, and the small figure is a type of sculpture. Have the students try to define the objects as art, but allow the students to discuss the many possibilities.

Introduction to aesthetic theories Explain that there are various approaches to art and that some artists intend for their artwork to look realistic and others intend for theirs to be more expressive. Neither of these approaches is better than the other; they are just varying views of how the artists perceive what they think art should be. Stress that there are various views or perceptions of what art should be. Introduce the realistic and expressive views or approaches to art by summarizing from the following background information:

Tell the students that trying to define “What is art?” And “When is it art?” It is not easy, and that the views of art discussed in class (i.e., realistic, expressive, hedonist, formalist, feminist, instrumentalist or institutionalist) are the result of the same decision-making process they experienced with the objects in the box. Show the class the following posters or other appropriate artworks: Cyrus E. Dallin, Paul Revere, Portrait of John Hancock, Dallin w/ Massasoit, Sacajawea; Douglas Snow, Cockscomb, Near Teasdale; John Hafen, The Mountain Stream; Donald Olsen, Chelsea VI; Jeanne Clarke, Entertaining Favorite Ladies II; Mahonri Young, The Factory Worker.

• 1. Realistic: Also called the Mimetic or Imitationalist theory. This view holds that art should imitate or mimic nature, and that it should accurately represent nature and life. Therefore, quality is proportionate to the artwork’s faithfulness to the model. The artist should aim for the essence or real character of things. The objects and events are represented so they will be understood by the beholder; therefore, interpretations of the artwork are objective or factual rather than subjective or personal. Originally society and artists thought nature had to idealized, but later, both society and artists switched to a more accurate or true representation.

Have the students review the various views of art by using word strips with each of the following aesthetic theories on it. The word strips can be placed on the images that represent those particular views. (If your class has very young or inexperienced students, you will probably need to define each theory, and then as a class identify artworks that fit 41

• 2. Expressive: Also called Emotionalist theory. This view holds that art should communicate ideas, feelings, moods or emotions, and that these should be communicated forcefully and with conviction. Quality is based on the degree of arousal of the viewer’s emotions. The artist should aim for the depth to which the work expresses the emotions of its creator. This theory holds that art can be ugly because it’s based on a truth or reality. The technical or formal elements are subordinate to the expression of ideas, moods, and feelings; therefore, interpretations of the artwork are subjective or personal rather than objective or factual. This art form can use symbols. More contemporary approaches (i.e., NeoExpressionism) stress crudity of rendering and subject matter that deals with the negative aspects of life (e.g., vulgarities, violence, cynicism, and brutality).

who enjoy the artwork. Instead, quality is found in the amount of enjoyment that artwork gives to those people who are discriminating enough to enjoy it. This view holds that one person’s feelings cannot be the same as another’s and that feelings are radically individualistic. Symbols can be used. The beholders are so absorbed in the object that they forget themselves as the experience is merged into one pleasant whole. The artwork is liked or disliked for itself. Explain that because the hedonist theory deals with personal interpretation of beauty and what is pleasurable, it can and will change from time to time and from individual to individual. Further explain that there may be some concepts or images that most people think of as beautiful (i.e., a sunset, the ocean, flowers, a mother and child), but usually concepts of beauty are varied and divergent. Tell the students that as their experiences change, so will their aesthetic perceptions. Have the students find their favorite (Hedonist) artwork and describe why it gives them so much pleasure. Provide resources for the students to preview a variety of images. You can use the images from the CD from this packet as well as posters or postcards. Emphasize to the students that, generally, everyone has different (or divergent) views of what they personally like or dislike in artworks.

Draw a line on the chalkboard with “Realistic” written at one end and “Expressive” written on the other end. Have the students arrange a wide variety of portraits along the continuum. Make sure students understand that artwork has various degrees of realistic and expressive qualities and some artwork might fit right in the middle or may not even be on the continuum.

Formalist Theory Explain that artists who make art based on the formalist theory were not trying to make their art look real or imitate real objects. Many of their artworks were non-objective or nonrepresentational. The artists were mainly concerned with the aspects of color, line, shape, texture, or value. This approach to art became known as the formalist approach because the artists were emphasizing the formal properties

• Hedonist: Also called pleasure theory. This view is based on the premise that pleasure is good and pain is bad. Quality is based on the degree of individual pleasure that is achieved by the viewer, and that quality has nothing to do with the number of people 42

of art. List the formal properties (i.e., elements of line, shape, color, space, texture, value, and form; and the principles of design). Introduce the formalist theory using the following background information:

Show examples of artwork that emphasize a formalist approach. Use some images of African sculpture and include Picasso http:// www.picasso.com/life/index.html, Kandinsky http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/ paint/auth/kandinsky/, Albers, www.allposters.com/-sp/Study-forHomage-to-the-Square-Posters_i315966_.htm (The Albers images are not big images, but because they’re simple shapes, the images can be blown up) also, www.artnet.com/Galleries/ Artists_detail.asp?gid=115716&aid=1335 Riley, www.mishabittleston.com/artists/ bridget_riley/ and/or Mondrian www.ibiblio.org/wm/ paint/auth/mondrian/. From CD: Deffebach, Riggs, Walker. SMA Posters: Donald Olsen, Chelsea VI; Raymond Jonas, Abstract Configuration; The students might find further examples from their cultures or from the styles of Fauvism, Constructivism, Suprematism, Futurism, and Minimalism. These examples could be put on a cross grid that shows realistic, expressive, hedonist, and formalist. The students could then determine to what degree the images reflect these attributes. There could be numerous combinations and degrees represented with the cross grid. For example, a work could be a combination of realistic and formalist; another might be expressive and formalist. If the work is more expressive than formalist, then place it closer to the word expressive along the line between the two characteristics. Following is an example of a cross grid:

• Formalist: Also called objectivist or organistic theories. This view is based on formal qualities (elements and principles of art), stressing design and how the various parts of the composition relate to each other. Quality is based on the degree of coordination between all parts. Interpretation is not necessary because art does not rely on subject matter or viewer’s past experiences, but on whether or not the viewer can perceive the relationships among the visual elements. What is on the canvas is important, not what it represents.

Formalist Expressive Realistic Frank Riggs, Tohatchi (1990) 43



Hedonist

• Feminist: This view is based on the theory that women’s experiences differ from men’s and this concept must be taken into account when critiquing a work of art by a woman. Quality is based on the consideration of what it means to be female in the culture. The artwork must be understood in the context of what was possible for women at the time the object was created (i.e., cultural attitudes, beliefs, and politics). Class, economic, gender, ethnic, and social considerations are important. This view also holds that art should be interpreted through a woman’s point of view and there should be less distinction between art and craft.

Quilt from the 2004 Quilt Show, SMA Women Artists and Issues Explain to the students that within cultures there are art forms that are traditionally related to gender. For example, in some African cultures, weaving is considered to be the responsibility of men only, while in most Native American cultures, weaving is the woman’s responsibility. These definitions of roles are usually very well defined within certain societies, but may change from one society to another within the same culture. In most Western societies, particular art forms tend to be gender-related. Have the students list those art forms that are mainly womenrelated (i.e., quilting, weaving, textiles, and basketry). Have the students then list art forms that tend to be men-related. Emphasize that, generally speaking, most art forms are open to both genders. AESTHETICS:

Feminist Theory

Inform the students that the increased awareness of the issues that center on women has led to another view of art, called the feminist theory. Introduce the feminist theory from the following concepts regarding this theory: 44

Oaxacan Lizard, UMFA Collection www.umfa.utah.edu/index.php?id=NTY0 Institutionalist Theory Explain to the students that as art historians have tried to document the context of art forms, many institutes have evolved that aid in the research and preservation of art. Often these institutes will remove the art works from their original context and place them in museums and galleries so that more people can view and study them. When art museums place artifacts in their exhibits, this act changes the context of the artwork. Many of the artifacts and functional items from various cultures are put into museums where they become classified as art, rather than as artifacts. This concept of creating art by placing it in a museum became known as the Institutionalist theory. The following information explains the background of the Institutionalist theory:

• Institutionalist: This view is based on the assumption that a work of art is made by the act of exhibiting it; therefore, placing the work on display, rather than the design of the work, makes it art. Quality is based on the status or recognition of the institute that displays or promotes the artwork. Art museums, galleries, art publications, and publishers can confer the status of art on an object. This view stresses the role of social practices and institutions.

more vivid the experience, and the more extensive and rich its quality, then the greater the aesthetic value. Have the students complete Views of Art, at the end of the lesson. This handout reinforces some of the concepts related to the Institutionalist and Instrumentalist theories. Display definitions of the theories and have the students determine which theory or theories are best represented in the examples. Following are the examples from the handout: • 1. A Native American rug is hung on the wall in a museum display. • 2. A painting by Picasso depicts the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War. • 3. An Islamic mosque lamp is critiqued in Art News magazine. • 4. A stack of tires are removed from a service station and installed in an exhibit called “Stacks of Trash-An Environmental Issue.” • 5. Diego Rivera paints a mural for The Detroit Institute of Art entitled Detroit Industry. • 6. Walter de Maria filled a New York gallery with 220,000 pounds of dirt. The de Menil family of Texas bought the entire building in which the installation had been made in order to keep the exhibit there permanently. • 7. A religious painting by Rubens is borrowed from the Vatican for an exhibit at University of Utah’s Museum of Art. • 8. McGraw-Hill published a book on Andy Warhol’s collection of cookie jars. • 9. A polychrome vessel from the Mayan preclassic era was purchased from The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. • 10. One of Faith Ringgold’s story quilts was purchased at a prestigious New York gallery. The quilt was placed on a bed in the owner’s guest bedroom. • 11. During the Kamakura period (11851333) in Japan the military government

Aleksei Alexandrovich Vasilev They are Writing about us in Pravda Instrumentalist Theory Explain to the students that another view of art also deals with the context or circumstances surrounding an artwork. This view is called the Instrumentalist theory. Following is background information regarding the Instrumentalist theory: • Instrumentalist: Also called the contextualist or pragmatist theory. This view is based on the concept that art is an instrument to produce effects, usually for social, political, moral, or economic purposes. Quality is based on the greatness of its purpose and on the depth or intensity of communicating that purpose. This view holds that art should advance the interests of humanity and is the servant of mankind. Art should portray the context or circumstances of human needs. The 45

commissioned realistic portraits of their warriors.

Explain to the students that these theories are rarely completely definitive. They raise combinations of solutions and problems. The study of aesthetics should cause the students to question, answer, and question again. One area that is exciting to explore with students is the concept of “When does an object become art?” Encourage the students to discover or invent situations similar to those presented above to help them define the many aspects of art. Role of an Aesthetician

The answers to the above situations are as follows: Situations 1, 3, 6, 8, and 9 are Institutionalist. These situations emphasize that museums, galleries, art publications, and publishers can convey the status of art. Situation 8 poises some intrigue because the fact that they published the book does not mean that Andy Warhol’s cookie jars are art. Also, Situation 9 emphasizes that the object went from artifact to art. According to the Institutionalist theory, placing the object in a museum does not make it art, but an art museum conveys status. Ask the student what would happen if the natural history museum in Mexico re-purchased the object. Situations 2, 7, and 11 are Instrumentalist, although case 11 raises some concern because the Instrumentalist theory is a Western theory that was developed around 1900. This raises the question whether ancient non-Western art forms can be classified according to Western contemporary theory. Situation 7 poises as an Instrumentalist view because the image serves religious purposes, but does the view change to Institutionalist when the art is used in a nonreligious setting of a museum gallery.

Scape Martinez, Art Plans keepmykhakiscreased.blogspot.com/2005_10_ 01_keepmykhakiscreased_archive.html

Situations 4, 5, 9, and 10 all pose a combination of theories. Situation 4 begins to be an Institutionalist approach, but because the tires were displayed in an exhibit which had social and political ramifications it can be Instrumentalist also. Situation 5 is a combination also because the theme of the art work is Instrumentalist with social and political overtones, but it was commissioned and placed in The Detroit Institute of Art. Ask the students if their classification would change if the mural were painted on a freeway overpass in Phoenix. Situation 10 might be called a reverse-institutionalist, because the object started out of art and then its function was changed to utilitarian.

After the students have reviewed the aesthetic views of art, explain that these views were developed by Western and European philosophers to help define developments in Western art. Remind the students that some of these approaches might help describe characteristics of non-Western art, but they were developed to explain characteristics of Western art. These philosophical approaches were designed to help define “What is art?” and sometimes “When is it art?” As art forms changed to address new concerns and approaches, like abstraction and exaggeration, philosophers had to find new definitions for what would 46

be called art. These philosophers are called aestheticians and they study the philosophy of aesthetics.

notes were art, or just notes. Tell the students they are the aestheticians. Have the students write their opinions on a sheet of paper without discussing the case study with other students. They should answer the following:

Tell the students that they are going to work as aestheticians. Present the following case for the students: • Last week, a prominent artist from Los Angeles was contemplating on a new project she was about to begin. As she thought about the project, she started to take notes to define the processes or concepts she was planning on using in her art work. She took copious notes and even drew detailed diagrams showing exactly what the art work would be like.



• Are the notes art? • If so, then what would they call their view of art, and what would be the criteria that would define why the notes would be considered art? • If the notes are not art, what is the student’s reasoning? After the students have written their decisions, allow the students to discuss these questions and see if they can come to a consensus. Remind them that aesthetic theories do not require a complete agreement. In fact, many aesthetic theories were developed because of disagreement with existing theories.

Most of the art works she completed were large, sculptural pieces that required several technicians to help her complete the work. She would give the technicians the detailed drawings and notes and they would construct the art work. The artist had become so skillful in her descriptions that the completed projects needed no modifications or adjustments from her original notes.

Explain to the students that the aspects described in the artist case study are currently considered an art form or style. It is called conceptual art or process art, and it asserts that creativity or art is in the describing of the concepts and processes, not in the actualization. Have the students continue to define their new view of art. Emphasize that aesthetics is a changing science not a definitive one. Allow the students to disagree and discuss.

As she sat and thought she realized that the majority of the creation of the art work was in her descriptions of the processes or concepts. She felt that the construction of the art work was secondary, and that the true creative aspect of the work was in the notes. Therefore, she called her agent and told him she had completed her latest project and would he come and take it to the gallery. The agent was amused when the artist handed over her notes and drawings and told him to display them, as they were the true artistic creation. She said that anyone with the least degree of intelligence could see or visualize the concepts she had described in her notes. The agent was perplexed and decided to take the notes to a group of aestheticians to see if they could help him decide if the

Purposes of Art Explain to the students that while most aesthetic views were developed for Western and European art forms, there are several universal aspects which address world-wide purposes for art. The purpose or reason that art is created is different than the approach to art. For example, an art work can represent a realistic approach or view, but the reason it was created was for religious purposes. Explain to the students that when they decide the 47

purpose of art creation they are deciding why art is created and what its function or use in society is. Have the students list purposes of art creation. The major purposes of art are: • Religious: every culture has art forms that have a philosophical or moral basis. Some uses are ritual, magic, or adoration. • Political: most cultures have art forms which reflect the position of leadership or politics. Some uses are promotion or prestige, propaganda, or patriotism. • Social: most cultures have art forms that help in the socialization of their societies. Some are closely related to the political or economical aspects of the society. Some uses are educational, documentation of history, narrative (story telling), advertising (commercial), and entertainment or amusement. • Decoration: most cultures use art as decoration for functional objects. Many cultures’ earliest art works were for decorative purposes. • Self-expression: most cultures, especially Western cultures, use art as a means of selfexpression. There are some cultures that have recently developed methods of selfexpression through art.

Robert T. Barrett, Christ Figure (2002) SMA

The students can then classify artworks according to their purpose(s). Emphasize that many cultures determine if an object is art by it’s purpose and the object’s aesthetic value is also determined by its purpose.

Meissen Vase with Snake Handles 1900 ca. byu.edu 48

VIEWS OF ART NAME _______________________________________

PERIOD________

DATE _________

Based on the definitions of the Institutionalist and Instrumentalist aesthetic theories, identify which theory best matches the following situations: (Some situations may match both theories. Briefly explain the reasons for your choices.) 1. A Native American rug is hung on the wall in a museum display. 2. A painting by Picasso depicts the atrocities of the Spanish Civil War. 3. An Islamic mosque lamp is critiqued in Art News magazine. 4. A stack of tires are removed from a service station and installed in an exhibit called “Stacks of Trash-An Environmental Issue.” 5. Diego Rivera paints a mural for The Detroit Institute of Art entitled Detroit Industry. 6. Walter de Maria filled a New York gallery with 220,000 pounds of dirt. The de Menil family of Texas bought the entire building in which the installation had been made in order to keep the exhibit there permanently. 7. A religious painting by Rubens is borrowed from the Vatican for an exhibit at University of Utah’s Museum of Art. 8. McGraw-Hill published a book on Andy Warhol’s collection of cookie jars. 9. A polychrome vessel from the Mayan preclassic era was purchased from The National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. 10. One of Faith Ringgold’s story quilts was purchased at a prestigious New York gallery. The quilt was placed on a bed in the owner’s guest bedroom. 11. During the Kamakura period (1185-1333) in Japan the military government commissioned realistic portraits of their warriors.

49

REALISTIC Art should look real or life-like. It imitates, mimics or copies the real object. Quality is judged by faithfulness to the model. Originally, artworks idealized; later, realistic representations of nature or life. 50

EXPRESSIVE Communicates strong feelings, ideas, moods, or emotions of the artist. Can be ugly, because it’s based on a truth. Quality is based on the ability to arouse the greatest emotions. Can use symbols. 51

HEDONIST “I like the artwork, it gives me pleasure.” Based on the idea that pleasure is good and pain is bad. Quality is based on degree of individual pleasure achieved. Idealized view. 52

FORMALIST Mainly concerned with elements and principles (line, color, shape, etc.). Quality based on degree of coordination between all parts. Doesn’t rely on subject matter or viewer’s past experiences. 53

FEMINIST Interpreted through a woman’s point of view. Quality based on a woman. Less distinction between art and craft. Considers economic, class, gender, ethnic, and social context. 54

INSTITUTIONALIST It is art because it is exhibited or displayed. An institute (gallery, museum, or publication) has called this art. Quality based on status or recognition. Stresses role of social practices and institutions. 55

INSTRUMENTALIST Serves a social, political, moral or economic purpose. Quality based on the greatness of its purpose. Art is an instrument to produce effects. Vivid and extensive experiences or purposes. 56

VALUE SYSTEM This art reflects the value systems of its culture (i.e., sociological, economical, moral, or political). Quality is based on degree of integration of those values within the artwork. 57

NEO-RATIONALIST Follows a standard guide as a masterpiece. Evaluation determined by rational rules defining masterpieces. Quality based on degree of adherence to objective criteria. 58

SOCIOLOGICAL Displays strong social ideas or values. Similar to Instrumentalist, but has stronger social determination. Used to force revolutionary ideas. Quality based on deep social or political values. 59

60

BEAUTY vs. UGLY YAHTZEE! 6th–8th Grade Visual Art

indicates what category they will be addressing about the artwork: the artist, the subject matter, the time period, the medium, and the elements and principles (plus a free space, where they can choose any category for their answer). For example, say a student rolls all three dice and comes up a “4,” “Beautiful,” and “artist.” He could say “this artwork is beautiful because the artist struggled finding her talent as a child and finally painted something that brought attention to her skills.” If that was an acceptable answer for the piece, then the teacher could give that team the full 4 points (or move 4 spaces, if the teacher wants to use a board game).

Objective: Students will be able to discuss how an artwork could be perceived as being beautiful and also ugly at the same time, and that these two terms do not have to necessarily be opposites. Materials: -various art prints with some background information on each -cardstock copies of each die pattern on the following pages -a cup for rolling all the dice at once (optional)

Or, if the student had rolled a “4,” “artist,” and “Ugly,” his answer could have been: “this artwork is ugly because the artist changed her style in order to become a more popular artist instead of sticking with her own personal style.

Instructions for the Game: 1. Copy the images of the dice onto cardstock. Fold and tape so that each becomes a die. 2. Divide the class into teams, with 3 or 4 students to a team.

Students can work together with their teammates to come up with an answer. The teacher should choose artworks that have a good amount of information about them, yet they do not need to know everything about the piece in order for the game to be played. The game is meant to generate students to see both sides of something, and to think about how an artwork (or something else) can have a duality of both “beauty” and “ugly.” It is not meant to answer strictly factual questions about the artwork, but to use the background information to springboard into aesthetic discussions.

3. Display one of the artworks and give the background of the piece. Explain to the students that they may want to take a few notes since they will not be able to ask questions about the background later. 4. After explaining an artwork, have one member from the first team roll all three dice (you may want to use a large cup to help do this effectively). The standard die indicates how many points they can score if they give a good answer. The “Beautiful or Ugly” die indicates whether they will have to come up with an answer for why the artwork is beautiful or why it is ugly. The other die

5. After all of the teams have answered one question about an artwork, choose a different 61

artwork to explain, and start another round of the game. Alternate which teams get to go first. The game is won by the team who reaches a given point total first, or, if using a board game, reaches the finish. Assessment: Students could be checked off for their participation in the game. This game could also be easily follow-up by a journal entry. The ideas talked about and skills used in the game could contribute to new understanding in other subject areas, such as literature or current events.



62

63

64

SQUASH THAT TERM! 5th–12th Grade Visual Art

teacher read one of the definitions or sample quotations of the aesthetic philosophies. The first student to ‘swat’ the correct philosophy on the board will score a point for his or her team.

Objective: Students will be able to learn the definitions and attitudes associated with five aesthetic philosophies.

Realism-Art that looks real, or that interprets nature as the artist sees it. -“That painting of the mountain is the best because it looks just like the photograph.”

Materials: • two fly swatters • a whiteboard or chalkboard or large sheet of butcher paper and something to write with • various art prints (the Springville Museum of Art High School Poster Set works well) • masking tape

Expressivism-Art that expresses the feelings, emotions, or ideas of the artist. -“This artwork is successful because the dull colors make the viewer feel calm.”

Instructions for the Activity: 1. The teacher should write the following words randomly spread out on the board: Realism, Expressivism, Instrumentalism, Feminism, and Hedonism.

Instrumentalism-Art that makes a social, political, moral, or economic statement. -“This artwork is well done because it makes the viewer think about what he or she believse.”

2. As a class, briefly go through the definitions of these terms (given below) one by one to learn them. If posters or prints are available, display them and have the students identify which artworks they think are successful, based on each of the aesthetic views.

Feminism-Art made by a woman, or making a statement about women in some way. -“That is a painting of quilts, flowers, and vases, so it is clearly about women.” Hedonism-Art that makes the viewer feel good. Viewing the art can elicit an aesthetic response -“I like that work of art because it is pretty.”

3. Divide the class into two teams. 4. With the masking tape, mark off a line about 8 feet from the board (putting this line too far back from the board encourages all out running and possibly violent contact, so don’t put this line too far away, and be sure to warn the students to be careful). Hand one person from each team a fly swatter. While standing behind the line, the students will listen to the

65

5. After the game, discuss with the students how these same philosophies are used to judge more than just art. Ask students about other situations in which people judge something based on these views. Is there a view that they feel best describes what they

believe to be successful art? Do they also use this perspective when they judge literature, television, music on the radio, symphonies, ballets, movies, or plays? Assessment: Students could be checked off for taking their turn and participating in the game, or the teacher could develop a short matching quiz using the given terms and definitions for the students to take following the game. This could also be a fun way to just offer extra credit as incentive for the winning team.

66

Aesthetics—Personal Attitudes About Art Middle Level Visual Arts

a little more. Aesthetics is the philosophical part of art. It deals with how you personally respond to, and set limits on, what you think fits into visual art. It’s not something I can just give you. I can’t open your head and pour it in. It’s something you acquire through personal experience.

Objectives: Students will explore personal influences, attitudes, and experiences that allow them to establish their personal ideas and definition of visual arts. Introduction: Aesthetics seems to be the least concrete concept of Discipline-Based Art Education; the other art products and concepts are more tangible. Aesthetics is rather ethereal and students may have a hard time nailing down the whole aesthetic experience, which is abstract in nature, with concrete examples and experiences. What follows are a few approaches that have worked for my middle school students.

Aesthetics is like that. If I can share some experiences and ideas with you, perhaps you will understand and expand your personal ideas and definition of visual arts. We may not all become famous artists and produce great art, but we all are influenced by visual art and respond to it in some way every day. ACTIVITIES:

Teacher: Can someone tell me what “Aesthetics” is?

Significant Adults May Influence Artistic Preferences

Response: Isn’t it something that makes you stop hurting or puts you to sleep? Teacher: I think you mean anesthetic. It sounds similar but means something quite different. Anyone else? Response: No clue. Teacher: Has anyone ever seen or heard the word before? It is spelled a-e-s-t-h-e-t-i-c-s Response: Never heard of it before. Response: It’s that big orange word on the bulletin board by the door. Teacher: Yes it is. (Pointing towards the classroom door.) Let me see if I can help you

67

Before students arrive in class, have 4 art prints from various art styles set up and labeled with the name of the painting and the name of the artist. I used Guernica by Picasso, Girl with a Watering Can by Renoir, Vega-Nor by Vasarely, and Young Artists by Carol Sideman. You can use any from the Springville Museum of Art prints, Shorewood prints, or others you may have available. Just be sure they are good quality. (Sources: Guernica—www.stcronan.org/guernica/index. html; Girl with a Watering Can—www.ibiblio.org/ wm/paint/auth/renoir/ Vega–Nor—www.sjmusart.org/content/ exhibitions/exhibition_infoDetail.phtml?itemI D=618&eventID=314

Young Artists— www.susq-town.org/gsmith/ About%20Art%20Class.htm

by the choices and preferences of significant adults in our lives, and it is fun and interesting to reflect on how much we are aware of those preferences. As we grow older we begin and continue to establish our own feelings and preferences toward art.

From this packet, you can use the following artworks: Yalu River Dead, Ralph Schofield Iridescence, Robert Marshall Italian Flower Girl, J. T. Harwood Kesege, Victor Vasarely (Op & POP) Or, use any 4 images of a variety of styles and subject matter, including those from SMA ‘s Poster sets—also UMFA’s and BYU’s MOA’s.

Many Ways to Judge and Value “Good” Art Before students arrive in class, have 4 art prints from various art styles set up and labeled with the name of the painting and the name of the artist. Try and select at least one picture that you think represents or expresses unity, normality, pleasure, and intensity. Ask for 4 student volunteers. Pass out 4 scripted descriptions of ways to judge and value “good”art—unity, normality, pleasure, and intensity. (See attached worksheet.)

Have the students read or paraphrase the script they have and then choose a work of art that they think best meets the requirements As students enter the classroom, have each of they have described and tell why that was their them pick up a white paper square from a table choice. The rest of the class members can make at the front of the room and take it with him/ their own choice based on the description. A her to their table or desk. After students are guided discussion can follow. The opinions settled, introduce or review what aesthetics is. expressed by students do not have to Have students then take the white square in agree with the teacher’s. It is the student’s their hands. Ask them to look at the 4 prints. explanation and justification that makes the Tell them the name of the print and the name selection valid. of the artist. Then ask, “If your mother (father, grandparent, significant adult) could choose Help students understand that if there were one of these paintings which one would they only one way to judge and value good art, choose?” In an orderly manner, have students everything would look exactly the same. place their white squares in front of the picture they think their mother (father, grandparent, Making Personal Choices significant adult) would select. When they return to their seats, let them volunteer to share which print they selected and why they think that person would have made that selection. After an open discussion, explain that as children we are often influenced 68

with Explantion

Before students arrive in class, have 4 art prints from various art styles set up and labeled with the name of the painting and the name of the artist.

As students enter the classroom, have them pick up 4 different colored squares (red, yellow green, and blue) from a table at the front of the room and take them to their tables or desks.

squares are not in front of one picture. There are usually 3 or 4 colors in front of all pictures.

Tell them the name of the print and the name of the artist. Have students then take the colored squares in their hands. Ask them to look at the 4 prints. Tell them that they are going to make personal selections from these four prints. They are to place the blue square in front on their first choice, red by their second choice, yellow by their third choice, and green by their last choice.

Use this time to explain that they each had personal reasons for making the choices they did. There is not just one right answer, but this is an opportunity to share their thoughts, reasons, and explanations, as well as to listen to others do the same. The result can be a broader understanding of art and individual perceptions.

Other Activities Find interesting examples in Puzzles about Art: An Aesthetics Casebook by Margaret P. Battin, John Fisher, Ronald Moore, Anita Silvers

Give the students a moment to think and decide and then have them place their squares according to instructions.

Bring in ongoing articles from magazines, newspapers, or the Internet about current events and decisions being made relative to visual art.

When they return to the seats, ask for volunteers to share where they put their blue squares and why that was their first choice. Accept their choices and take as many responses as there are volunteers. Then ask where they put their green squares and why that was their last choice. Again, accept their choices and take as many responses as there are volunteers. After students have shared their choices and reasons, point out or have them look to see how the colored squares were placed in front of the pictures. In most cases, all the blue 69

AESTHETICS A Game of Judging Art We will assume that there are four main ways to look at value in works of art. We can judge an artwork to be good because of the PLEASURE it gives us; we can value art that provides an INTENSITY of experience; we can judge quality in art that has a high degree of UNITY; or we can insist that art is good only if it provides NORMALITY. PLEASURE—This view holds that:

The best art has the capacity to give us the most pleasure. It delights our senses and deals with topics that we enjoy, avoiding unpleasant aspects of life. The art can, however, be very complex and require the viewer to put forth effort to achieve pleasure. INTENSITY—this view holds that:

The best art causes us to respond intensely. It makes experience vivid and often deals with the conflicts of life. The full range of human experience is fit subject for art, but it must be presented with intensity and strong emotion. UNITY—this view holds that:

Regardless of the subject, the best art is well organized so that each part relates to every other part. Every part of the work is essential and nothing is superfluous. It has formal unity and is internally consistent, exhibiting good craftsmanship by the artist. NORMALITY—this view holds that:

The best art is that which normal people can respond to. It deals with topics that are within the normal range of experience and can be easily understood by ordinary people. Neither the topic for art nor the art style should be “far out.” © 1987 Michael Day Used by permission

70

Art Criticism Lessons

Art Criticism, at its most basic level, is simply talking or writing about art. Not everyone agrees on how to talk about art, so the packet contains a variety of lessons and worksheets. The lessons in this packet suggest various ways to discuss art and to lead student discussions and help the students to have thoughtful and knowledgable discussions. Also included are worksheets. The CD contains a wide variety of images for use in the lessons. Posters also work well for these discussions. If the students are working in small groups, they can easily use postcard-sized reproductions of artworks.

71

72

Art Criticism for Elementary Objectives

• What ideas and emotions do you think this work of art expresses?

• Students will identify basic elements in a piece of art through speaking and • writing. • Students will enhance their observation skills.

Do you have a sense of how the artist might have felt when he or she made this work of art? Does it make you feel one way or another?

Materials: • Art work (reproductions, or their own works)

• Journals

Procedure: 1. This lesson works wonderfully with young children; simply hold a discussion. With older students, hold a discussion or ask them to write responses to the following questions: • Look carefully at the work of art in front of you. What colors do you see in it? List the specific colors that you see. • What objects do you see in the work of art in front of you? List the objects that you see.

John Owen Erickson Gethsemane: Self-Portrait (1986)

• What is going on in this work of art? Mention whatever you see happening, no matter how small. 2. If the class is looking at more than one piece, you can ask: • Does anything you have noticed in this work of art so far (colors, objects, or • Take a look at the other works of art events) remind you of something in displayed around this one. Do they look your own life? alike? What is similar about the way they look ( e.g. objects, events, feelings, • Is this work of art true-to-life? How real the way they are made)? What is has the artist made things look? different? 73

•

What would you have called this work of art if you had made it yourself? Does the title of the work, if there is one, make sense to you?

3. Have students reflect on their observations. •

Think back on your previous observations. What have you discovered from looking at this work of art? Have you learned anything about yourself or others?

•

Do you like this work of art? Why or why not? Has your reaction to the work changed? Do you like it more or less than you did in the beginning? Why?

See this website for a rubric: http://www. goshen.edu/art/ed/rubric3.html

Douglas Snow Desert Landscape (1959)

 

74

Criticism for Kids Not only can children engage in dialogues of criticism but they should. Such discussions help children to articulate their feelings and thoughts about art and its value. Activities in criticism give children voices filled with art terminology, interpretative views, and critical judgments. These higher-level skills help children give structure to their ever-changing feelings and thoughts about art and how it fits in their life. The following activities in criticism are geared from youngest to oldest and are meant to help the educator lead a constructive conversation with children about art and art forms. The questions to be asked by educators are in bold, the different components of criticism are underlined, and desired responses are in italics.

Bonnie Lee Blair Posselli Winter, Near Woodland, Utah (1998)

Look and Look Again Description

Analysis

Look, tell me what you see.

Look again, what part of the artwork do you see first? Why?

Usually the child will describe or list the objects within the work (e.g., house, trees, people) and then the child might include some of the more evident elements (e.g., color, shapes, textures). Some children will answer with the subject matter of the work (e.g., landscape, portrait, still life) and older children might describe the art form or media (e.g., painting, sculpture, print). Any of these responses is appropriate, but encourage the child to use descriptive terms by asking extending questions such as “Tell me more about the flowers, what colors are they?” Note: if the artwork is nonobjective, encourage the child to describe the element(s), art form or media.

Encourage the children to analyze why they see a certain part of the artwork first (this is the center of interest or emphasis). See if the child can identify the main element(s) that help achieve this principle. Another principle that most children can recognize is balance. See if the child can determine what element(s) help achieve balance. You can move on to other principles such as movement or repetition, but choose a principle that is prominent within the work.

75

Interpretation

It’s important that the child feels free to express his or her likes or dislikes regarding the work but encourage the child to determine why. Help the child validate her feelings about the work in her statement(e.g., I don’t like this work because it looks messy). Also help the child to make a judgment according to the quality of the work, regardless of his personal feelings about the work. It helps to determine quality according to a specific criteria (e.g., looks real, expresses emotion, or emphasizes an element. See aesthetics lessons). Introduce a rating scale so the child can determine the degree to which an artwork “works.”

Look again and tell me how this artwork makes you feel or, Look again. What do you think the artist is trying to tell us with this artwork? This step requires that the child put into words what feelings or moods he or she is perceiving from the artwork. Encourage the child to interpret symbols or symbolic uses of elements (i.e., color choice). Most of the time, children will interpret the work using their personal background of knowledge. Encourage the children to discover new or alternative meanings as well as this will help them to understand that art can have many meanings, all valid. Have older children determine what might be the main intent of the artist (e.g., to make the objects look real, to express feelings, to focus on a particular element.)

Critical Poetry on Art Have the child write a short poem responding to an artwork. The child should determine a title for his poem and follow the outline below: • Initial Response: One or two words describing her first impression of the work • Description: Two or three words describing the objects or elements within the work

Harold Petersen Dan’s is Now Open Across the Street (1989)

• Interpretation: Four words interpreting the meaning or feelings portrayed within the work or the artist’s intent

Judgment

• Judgment: Four words evaluating the work

Look once more and tell me if you like the work. Why/why not? Personal preference Look once more and tell me how well you think the artist did. Informed preference

• Speculation: One to six words summarizing or speculating on the artwork’s context or value 76

Get on Your Mark - A Criticism Game Description Tell the students they are going to play a game dealing with looking at artworks. Arrange teams of 5 or 6 students each and have one of the students on each team be assigned as a scribe. The scribe will make a list from all the information that other team members tell them. The only other directions they are given at this time is that they are going to describe what they see, and the scribe will make a list of their descriptions. Provide an image for this assignment. You can either project the image, use a large print, or have the same print in a smaller format for each team. Generally, for this activity, any print can be used; however, for younger learners use an image with many objects or symbols. An excellent example of these qualities are evident in the image I and My Village, by the artist Marc Chagall. Or use the SMA poster, Entertaining Favorite Ladies II, by Jeanne Clarke, or an image from the CD, such as Farmer and the Raincloud, by Russell Cowles.

Lee Greene Richards Sunflowers byu.edu Following is an example:

Allow the students 5 to 10 minutes to make their list from what they see. After the allotted time, have the scribes count up the items on their lists. Have the team with the most items read its list to the whole class. Inform the other students to listen carefully as the list is read. Remind the students of the original instructions—to describe what they see. As the list is read, encourage the students to define what things can be seen. Students from other teams can request that items be deleted from the list if they feel that they are inappropriate. Help students question items on the list that deal with emotions, feelings, or moods. While these concepts might be alluded to, they cannot be seen. The aspects of moods, symbols, and feelings will be discussed later when interpretation is discussed. Other aspects to eliminate from the list are principles of design (e.g., balance, movement, center of interest,

Nature’s Bounty Visually stimulating Bright, sun-drenched colors Reflect nature’s finest moments Van Gogh’s best to offer Would his life was so bright -reflections on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers

77

After the list is read, have other teams state items on their list that might not have been mentioned on the first list. Rewards can be given to the team that has the most complete list after reviewing and editing the lists. After the list has been completed and approved, explain to the students that they have just completed the first step of criticism. Explain that the first step of criticism is description; remind the students that they described what they saw, not what they felt. Emphasize that providing a description of the artwork is something that critics do when they complete a critique. Analysis



Group

Explain that the next step in art criticism is often analysis. In this step, the students will, as critics, analyze an artwork. Help the students define the term analysis. Explain that with analysis the critic tries to analyze how the various parts of the picture are arranged so that certain principles are achieved. Tell the students they have already listed the parts. Have them list the parts of line, color, shape, space, texture, value, and form (i.e., elements). Now, the students need to determine how those various parts are used in the artwork to achieve various principles of design (i.e., balance, variety, unity, movement, rhythm, emphasis, contrast and/or repetition).

1

ellow soft y e soft f o s Lot e colors ar s th nal line o g All a i d s of pattern e Lot e l t t i l y a can se u o Onl y e ks lik ure Loo into the pict k bac

Help the students choose an evident element and discuss how that element is used to achieve a particular principle. Some of the most evident principles are balance and center of interest. For example, you might discuss how the element of shape is used to achieve the principle of balance; or how the element of color is used to achieve the principle of variety. You do not need to go through every element and principle, but you should decide on the most evident ones found within the art work you have chosen. It is also important to note that not every element and principle will be evident in every artwork. Explain that the

variation), as these aspects are outcomes of using the elements and will be discussed in the analysis portion of this criticism model. Encourage items on the list that deal with the elements of art (i.e., line, color, shape, value, texture, space, and/or form) or actual objects. In addition to listing the elements of art, the list can include descriptive terms such as wavy lines, complementary colors, geometric shapes, dark red. 78

students are trying to analyze the ones found within the artwork they are critiquing.

knowledge. The critic has had to describe, analyze, and interpret the artwork, and is now in a position to judge it. The following aspects need to be discussed regarding judgment:

Interpretation Note: background information on Chagall follows this lesson

There can be a pre-judgment or gut-feeling judgment that happens when a person first encounters an artwork. This is not an informed preference, because the critic has to “work through” the other stages of description, analysis, and interpretation in order to become informed. There is also a judgment that is based on personal preference rather than informed preference. Even if an artwork is not successful according to an aspect or criteria, it might still be valued personally.

Explain that after the critic analyzes an art work he/she will often interpret the meaning of it. This stage is called interpretation and often involves the critic’s personal experiences. Emphasize that as critics the students will also interpret the artwork according to their personal experiences, but there are several other aids that can assist in their interpretation. Some of these aids are listed as follows: • Symbols used within the artwork

When arriving at a judgment, the critic should be able to support her evaluation (i.e., state the reasons why she has come to that conclusion).

• Title of the artwork • Name of the artist • Background of the art work - where, when, and why it was created • Feelings or emotions that might be expressed in the artwork • Familiarity with traditions or customs illustrated in the artwork Using these aids, assist the students to interpret the artwork. Some artworks are going to display very evident meaning, while in other works the meaning might not be as evident. Allow the students to use their personal experiences to aid in interpreting. They should also use information about the artist, the artist’s style, etc. Direct them to achieve various interpretations, stressing that interpretations will vary among individuals. Judgment Explain that the final stage of criticism is judgment. Emphasize that this stage is usually at the end because it allows the critic to come to the judgment portion with information and 79

Encourage the students to distinguish what kind of judgment they are making (i.e., prejudging, informed preference and/or personal preference). The students should also be encouraged to state the reasoning behind their evaluation (e.g., I don’t like the artwork because it is too abstract for my personal tastes, or the artwork is an exceptional example of an expressive work because it conveys strong feelings through its use of symbols and colors). Background Information on Marc Chagall Chagall, born in 1887 and the oldest of nine children, grew up in the ghetto of Vitebsk in Russia. His father, who changed the family name from Segal to Chagall, packed herring into barrels for a living. Chagall was not exposed to art because his parents were devout Hasidic Jews who followed the commandment against graven images. He saw a schoolmate copying a magazine drawing and was so astonished that he, too, began copying. The schoolmate so praised Chagall’s attempts that he toyed with the idea of art as a career. His parents apprenticed him to a photographer, but he didn’t like it and later talked his parents into

Vitebsk, Belarus (Russia) 1910 http://www.jewishgen.org/belarus/shtetls/pictures/ vitebsk_df_1.jpg letting him study at art schools, first in Vitebsk and later in St. Petersburg. A St. Petersburg lawyer, who liked Chagall’s works, sent him to Paris in 1910. In 1911 he painted I and My Village, which includes many of the images that he would repeat throughout his art. In his autobiography, My Life, the artist recalled that in Vitebsk “all about us were churches, fences, shops, synagogues-simple and eternal like the buildings in Giotto frescoes.” Russian Christianity also influenced Chagall. His work echoes the flat, blankly staring saints of Russian icons, the mystical Eastern images that he once said he loved because “they are magical and unreal.” Chagall returned to Russia in 1914 and married his childhood sweetheart, Bella, in 1915. They lived in St. Petersburg for two years. Following the 1917 Bolshevik seizure of power, Chagall was appointed minister of culture for Vitebsk. The Communists took a dim view of his art, and he finally left town under pressure. In 80

Moscow he designed sets and painted murals for the Kamerny Jewish Theater, but there, too, his work was frowned upon. Finally, in 1922, he left Russia for Paris and did not return to visit his homeland until the early 1960s. He and Bella moved to New York in 1940 after the Nazis invaded France. In New York he not only worked on mosaics and stained glass windows but also designed ballet sets and costumes in Mexico City and New York. Three years after the war ended, Chagall returned to France where he lived until his death in 1985.

Optional:

Criticism Questions

What is the subject matter of this work?

These questions can assist children evaluate (critique) a work of art.

What is the art form of this work?

What? Description

What is the media of this work?

What are the objects you see?

What are some of the skills or techniques used in this work?

What are the dominant colors in this work? How would you describe them? Where are the dominant lines in this work? How would you describes them?

How? Analysis Where is the center of interest? What element(s) help create the center?

Where are the dominant shapes in this work: How would you describe them?

What type of balance is used in this work? What element(s) are used to create balance?

How would you describe the textures you see in this work (both implied and actual)?

Where is emphasis or contrast used? What element(s) are used to achieve it?

What is the main value (degree of lightness/ darkness) of the work? What is the range of value displayed in this work?

Choose any other dominant principle and ask how that principle is achieved. Why? Interpretation

How would you describe the use of space in this work?

What is this about? What feelings or moods are evident within this work?

How would you describe the threedimensional quality (form) displayed in this work?

What do you think the artist is trying to tell us with this work? What symbol(s) are evident in this work? How do they help/hinder your interpretation of this work? What do you think was the main intent of the artist with this work? Realism? Expressionism? Formalism? Other?

Image, left Marc Chagall, Photograph by Carl Van Vechten, 1941 LoC http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image: Marc_Chagall_1941.jpg

What background information (title, artist, context of work) do know about this work? Why would this information help/hinder your interpretation of this work? 81

Decisions! Judgment Rank this work according to how well you think the artist achieved their intent (e.g., realism, expressionism, formalism, other). Support your choice with evidence (critical information) Rank this work according to how well you like this work personally. Support your choice with valid explanations. Optional: What changes would you make to this work? Has your opinion of this work changed throughout this criticism process? If so, how or why?

82

ART CRITICISM GAMES & ACTIVITIES DRAMA ACTIVITIES FOR ART CRITICISM: Interpretation of works of art may extend to dramatic presentations through reader’s theater (students write dialogue for the people in an artwork, then perform the parts with different voices), “living paintings” or tableaux, and sound symphonies (students act out the sounds that are suggested by the artwork). A variety of approaches will lead students to enter and interpret many works of art from multiple perspectives.

Each group should choose a group recorder to write for the group. Students brainstorm words that relate to the image. Words can relate to subject matter, media, meaning, and general critical observations. The recorder writes the words on Post-It Notes as they are generated and attaches them around the edges of the study print. Students then look at the vocabulary they have generated and divide the words into parts of speech (nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs). The group then works together to write a summative sentence or paragraph about the work of art. All vocabulary generated does not have to be used and other words may be added as needed. When all are finished, each group identifies and displays its image and reads aloud its sentence or paragraph to the entire class.

With Entire Class: Display a print or project a slide or image so that it can be seen by all the students. Have students brainstorm words that relate to the Howell Rosenbaum work. As students call out their responses, the Children at Play in Mantua teacher or a student writes the response words DESCRIPTIVE WRITING USING POST-IT on large Post-It Notes or index cards and NOTES: places them below or around the art image. The words can then be reviewed and grouped With Small Groups: in a variety of ways to initiate discussion Assign students to groups of three or four. Give or writing activities. Students can write each group a study print (or let each group summative sentences or paragraphs about the choose an image) and a pad of Post-It Notes reproduction. Complexity of vocabulary will (the smallest size available). Ask students to vary according to the level of the students. use only the visual evidence in the work for this study. 83

Procedure 1. Distribute writing paper and ask each student to write one complete sentence about the image. 2. Tape the “Fact” sign to one side of the reproduction and the “Opinion” sign to the other. 3. Ask each student to read aloud the sentence that has been written then classify the sentence as a fact or opinion.

COMPARE/CONTRAST TWO WORKS OF ART WITH A VENN DIAGRAM

4. Tape the sentence under either the Fact or Opinion sign, depending on the category that has been chosen by the writer.

Comparing and contrasting art works is a useful strategy for art criticism. Choose two art works that share a common theme or subject, or two works by the same artist. In the open area of the circle on the left, write words that are true only of artwork #1. In the open area of the circle on the right, write words that are only true of artwork #2. Where the two circles overlap, write words that are true of both. On a separate paper, use your words to write a compare/contrast paragraph.

5. In collaborative groups, students decide if the sentence has been correctly classified. Require justified reasons for placement in either category. 6. When most students agree and have given valid reasons for the placement of the statement, continue until all other sentences have been read, sorted, and justified as fact or opinion.

DECIPHERING FACT AND OPINION Materials 3” x 5” paper for writing pencils a poster-size art reproduction masking tape one large sign that reads “Fact” and one large sign that reads “Opinion”

7. Ask students to re-evaluate individual sentences. Determine if each sentence is a fact or an opinion or if any sentences should be moved to the opposing category. 8. Divide students into two collaborative groups, a Fact Group and an Opinion Group. Students whose sentences comprise the Fact Group compile their work to create a descriptive paragraph about the image. Typical information in this group could include the title and date of the work of art, the name of the artist, materials used, where the image is now located, its country of origin, or other fact-based critical chronicles. Students whose sentences make up the Opinion Group combine their work to write a paragraph indicating judgments

Motivation Display an art image so all students can see it. Allow a few moments for careful, silent observation of the work. Briefly discuss the difference between a fact and an opinion. A fact is properly defined as something that is true or real, actually exists, or has occurred. An opinion falls short of absolute knowledge and is a conclusion or judgment that cannot be proven to be true.

84

about the image such as the artist’s craftsmanship, effective use of the elements of art and principles of design, or if the image is liked or disliked. Characteristic information should lead the reader towards interpretation, the artist’s intent, or viewer perception of the work of art.

UMFA, or BYU MOA websites. Incidentally, any lesson that invites students to talk about art is helpful with ESL kids as they apply the new vocabulary directly to the image being discussed.

METAPHOR

ART CRITICISM: PARTNER RESPONSE Working with a partner, use postcards as a prompt to describe (either verbally or in writing) the work of art (do not let your partner see the actual image). While the description is going on, the partner draws his/her interpretation of the artwork. When drawing is complete, then the actual image can be shown and compared (comparison should not be based on drawing skills, but on inclusion of drawing skills).

Students Have a “Write” to Art: CLUSTERING

The procedure is similar to “webbing,” or “clustering,” a method familiar to elementary/ middle schoolteachers. Demonstrate the procedure to the entire class by placing a selected artwork on the chalkboard and asking a student to give it a one-word or brief title; write it on the board. Ask another to elaborate that title with a further word or short phrase.

DIAMANTE

A diamante is a diamond-shaped seven line poem that goes from one idea to its opposite. The first line is one word, a noun. Line 2 is two adjectives describing the noun. Line 3 is three verbs ending in –ed or –ing which relate to the first noun. Line 4 has four nouns—two are related to the first line and two suggest the change to line 7. Line 5 has three verbs ending in –ed or –ing but the words are related to line 7. Line 6 is two adjectives describing line 7. Line 7 is a noun opposite to the first noun.

As students volunteer more words, attach them to the key word, or, when they open a new idea, begin a new cluster. After half a dozen related clusters have been formed, ask a student to build a sentence using the words in one group, then another and another, as in topic and support sentences in a paragraph. Encourage the use of vivid adjectives and action verbs. As you can see, this process leads into descriptive and imaginative paragraphs that can become a story or a “composition about a composition.”

Example:

Day Bright, cheerful Shining, warming, blazing Daybreak, sun, shadows, sunsets Cooling, darkening, ending Mysterious, dark Night

As students become familiar with this procedure they can build their own individual clusters from small reproductions, independently, or they can work in pairs or small groups, cooperatively. They can read their rough drafts to the class and then write them up in polished form to post next to the reproductions on the bulletin board. Some pictures that work especially well are paintings by Henri Rousseau, Marc Chagall, Jacob Lawrence, and Winslow Homer, but don’t overlook the poster sets from SMA, UMFA, and BYU as well as works on the SMA,

Prewriting: List topics explored by an artist, which could be used for a diamante. Write a diamante together as a class. 85

Writing: Write a diamante about a work of art of your choice that shows opposites in some way. Revising: Can you think of any words that would be more vivid? Is there a change from one topic to another? Editing: Check for any errors. Write your final diamante clearly on an index card and try to show the SHAPE of the poem. Display your poem on the bulletin board next to the artwork you have written about. If you have chosen a work of your own, be sure to bring a Xeroxed copy to display with your poem. THE ART POEM Directions: Follow the directions below to write a poem about your favorite work of art. LINE 1. Begin with the words It is LINE 2. Write three nouns that are related to the painting. Begin each with a capital letter. LINE #. Write a complete sentence about two things the painting makes you visualize. LINE 4. Begin with three nouns that describe qualities reflected in the painting; end the sentence with a verb and phrase of your choice. Capitalize each noun. LINE 5. Write a sentence containing a thought or feeling prompted by the painting; or, express a dichotomy. The sentence can tell what you find of value in this painting. LINE 6,7. Use these two sentences to contrast something in the painting. The word “but” may be used in the second sentence to link the two thoughts. 86

LINES 8,9,10 Each line is a short sentence or phrase relating to a sensory impression inspired by the painting. For example, sentences may begin with “I feel. . .” “I hear. . .” “I see. . .” LINE 11 End with the artist’s name and the title of the painting or artwork. You may also add anything else you feel is relevant. NOTE: I have numbered the lines in my poem so you can follow the pattern. (Do not number the lines in your poem). 1 It is 2 Motion, Life, Sky 3 Swirling stars sweep and soar while specks dot the village below. 4 Passion, Exuberance, and Emotion flood rampant in this textured tapestry. 5 I feel a violent energy, a creative cosmos, an eternal cycle. 6 No simple village resting peacefully at night 7 But a writhing turmoil of gushing spontaneity. 8 Noisy stars. 9 Singing steeple, cypress 10 Passioned painting 11 Van Gogh’s Starry Night. Cindy Clark

Quotes about ART CRITICISM: •

"The true work of a critic is not to make his hearer believe him, but agree with him." John Ruskin (1819-1900), English critic.

•

"I don't know anything about art, but I know what I like." Gelett Burgess (1866-1951).

•

"What distinguishes modern art from the art of other ages is criticism." Octavio Paz (1914-), Mexican poet.

•

"The more minimal the art, the more maximum the explanation." Hilton Kramer (1928-), The New York Times art critic, in the late 1960s, referring to minimalist art, which was in vogue at the time. See art critic and text.

•

"Without the meditative background that is criticism, works become isolated gestures, historical accidents, soon forgotten." Milan Kundera (1929-), Czech author, critic. “On Criticism, Aesthetics, and Europe,” in Review of Contemporary Fiction (Summer 1989; originally from Kundera’s introduction to François Ricard, La Littérature Contre Elle-Même).

•

"Don't everlastingly read messages into paintings — there's the Daisy — you Don't rave over or read messages into it — you just look at that bully little Flower — isn't that enough?" John Marin (1872-1953), American modernist painter. See modernism.

•

"The least of things with a meaning is worth more in life than the greatest of things without it." Carl Jung (1875-1961), Austrian psychiatrist. Modern Man in Search of a Soul, 1933.

•

"Human life itself may be almost pure chaos, but the work of the artist — the only thing he's good for — is to take these handfuls of confusion and disparate things, things that seem to be irreconcilable, and put them together in a frame to give them some kind of shape and meaning. Even if it's only his view of a meaning. That's what he's for — to give his view of life." Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980), American short-story writer, novelist. Interview in Writers at Work, Second Series, edited by George Plimpton, 1963. See chaos.

•

"Today, each artist must undertake to invent himself, a lifelong act of creation that constitutes the essential content of the artist's work. The meaning of art in our time flows from this function of self-creation. Art is the laboratory for making new men." Harold Rosenberg (1906-1978), American art critic, author. Discovering the Present, part 4, chapter 24, 1973. See art critic.

•

"Just as all thought, and primarily that of nonsignification, signifies something, so there is no art that has no signification." Albert Camus (1913-1960), French-Algerian philosopher, author. The Rebel, part 4, 1951; translated 1953. See existentialism.

•

"In interpretation, understanding does not become something different. It becomes itself . . . . Nor is interpretation the acquiring of information about what is understood: it is rather the working out of possibilities projected in understanding.” [italics in the original] Martin Heidegger (1889-1976), German existentialist philosopher.  Being and Time, Macquarrie trans., 1962, pp. 189-190.

“All photographs are there to remind us of what we forget. In this — as in other ways — they are the opposite of paintings. Paintings record what the painter remembers. Because each one of us forgets different things, a photo more than a painting may change its meaning according to who is looking at it.” John Berger (1926-), British novelist, critic. Keeping a Rendezvous, “How Fast Does It Go?”, 1992.

Image, left, Vincent van Gogh, The Starry Night 1889 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File: VanGogh-starry_night_ballance1.jpg public domain

References Barrett, Terry (1994, Summer). Critics on criticism. Journal of Aesthetic Education, Volume 28, Number 2. University of Illinois Press.

87

Barrett, Terry, editor (1994). Lessons for Teaching Art Criticism. ERIC, Getty Center for Education in the Arts. Burton, David (2004) Art criticism. Visual Art Education Association Newsletter. Retrieved 2/6/04 from http:// www.vaea.org. Cartwright, Lisa and Sturken, Marita (2001). Practices of Looking. Oxford University Press. Costantino, Tracie E.(2001). Philosophical heurmeneutics as a theoretical framework for understanding works of art. University of Illinois.  Retrieved 2/29/2004 from http:// www. edtech.connect. msu.edu Cromer, Jim (1990). Criticism - History, Theory and Practice of Art Criticism in Art Education. National Art Education Association Dawtrey, Liz and Jackson, Toby and Masterton. Mary and Meecham, Pam, Editors (1996). Critical Studies and Modern Art. The Open University. Edwards, Dorothy (1989). Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. G.P.Putnam’s Sons. Jackson, Phillip K.(1998). John Dewey and the Lessons of Art. Yale University Press. Mirzoeff, Nicholas (1999). An Introduction to Visual Culture. Routledge. North Texas Institute for Educators on the Visual Arts (2004). Art Criticism. Retrieved 2/6/2004 from http://www.art.unt.edu. Ragans, Rosalind (2000). Art Talk. Glenco/McGraw-Hill. Sayre, Henry M.(2002). Writing About Art, Edition 4. Prentice Hall, New Jersey. Watts, Michelle (2004). Practice of art criticism. Charles Stuart University. Retrieved 2/6/2004 from http:// hsc.csu.edu.au/visual_arts Winebrenner, Susan (1992). Teaching Gifted Kids in the Regular Classroom. Free Spirit Publishing, Inc. Wyman, Marilyn (2003). Looking and Writing. Pearson Education, Inc., New Jersey.  

 

88

Name_____________________

Period_________________

Art Criticism Criticism is responding to, describing, interpreting, and making judgments concerning the properties and qualities that exist in an artwork.

Step One: Description (What do you see?)

Artist:____________________________________________________________ Title:_____________________________________________________________ Medium:_________________________________________________________ Size:_____________________________________________________________ Subject:__________________________________________________________ Mode: (painting, drawing, photo, print, sculpture. . .)_______________ Description of what you see, facts only:

Step Two: Analysis (How is the work organized?) This is there you look for the elements of art organized by the principles of design

(balance, unity, variety, proportion, emphasis, repetition, etc.), center of interest, size relationships, color relationships, value relationships, etc.

Step Three: Interpretation (Why?) What meaning does the work have? What single large idea or concept sums up or unifies the message of the artwork? What is the artist trying to say?

Step Four: Informed Preference or Judgment What do you think about the artwork and WHY? Does the artwork have value? How does it make you feel? Does it express an emotion you can share? Does it provide a specific purpose? Can you apply a major aesthetic theory to the artwork?

Adapted from E. Feldman, and S Pepper, Principles of Art Appreciation, pp. 298-301

89

Art Criticism—A way to evaluate art I. Description: describe what you see in a work of art (elements and objects) 1. Lines __sharp __thick __heavy __jagged __thin/light __vertical __horizontal __diagonal __fuzzy

__curved __smooth __straight __choppy

2. Colors __bright __dull __strong __bold __weak __light __pastel __neutral __warm __cool __opposite

3. Shapes __circle __rectangle __curved __soft-edged __squares __triangles __angular __organic __hard-edged

4. Textures __rough __smooth __shiny __soft __hard __dull __grainy

5. Value __dark __light __medium __varied

6. Space __crowded __shallow __deep __vast __flat

7. Form __flat __rounded __full __cutout __lifelike

8. Objects __people __buildings __animals __trees __sky __water __food

II. Analysis: analyze how parts (elements) are used to achieve principles What element is most dominant? (i.e. line, color) What principle is created because of the use of that element? For example: lines were used to achieve movement, or color was used to create balance. Balance: What type? Asymmetrical (each side different) or symmetrical (each side same) or Other. Center of Interest: Where is the center of interest, emphasis or contrast? Unity or harmony: Where is unity/harmony evident? Variety: Where is variety within the artwork? Movement/rhythm: Where is movement/rhythm evident? III. Interpretation: interpret the meaning or content of a work of art Which words describe what you think is the meaning or content of the work? What is the title of the work? What does the title tell you about its meaning? Who is the artist or what culture did the artwork come from? What do you know about the artist or culture that might help you in determining the meaning? What symbols are evident within the work? What do the symbols represent? What is the general mood or feeling displayed within the work? IV. Judgment: judge the artwork according to informed and personal preferences Informed Preference Determine the major intent evident within the work and then judge to what degree the artist was successful in achieving that intent or purpose. a. To imitate or show a likeness (imitationalism, mimetic) b. To express an emotion or feeling (expressionism) c. To show relationships between the parts or focuses on the elements/principles (formalism) d. Other Personal Preference (hedonism) Do you like the work? Tell why or why not. 90

MUSEUM ACTIVITY Step 1. Select a work of art from the museum collection or the CD. Step 2. Record below the following information. Title________________________________________________ Date___________________________ Artist_______________________________________________ Media_________________________ Country of Origin_____________________________________ Step 3. Which one of the following descriptors best “fits” this work of art?

a. Imitational/Representational b. Imagination/Fantasy c. Formalism (emphasis on design) d. Religious e. Political f. Functional/Decorative g. Other

Step 4. Write below the reasons you selected this work of art.

Step 5. Using as much of your new art vocabulary as possible, describe this work below.

Step 6. Describe below the personal “gut” feelings/responses you have about this work.

Step 7. Is the present context (a museum in Utah) different from the context at the time it was created? If yes, please explain.

Step 8. List below aesthetic questions or issues that this work causes you to consider.  

91

92

3. Interpretation Interpret the meaning or content of a work or art

1. Description Describe what you see in a work of art (elements and objects)

Place image here

4. Judgment Judge the artwork according to informed and personal preferences

2. Analysis Analyze how parts (elements) are used to achieve principles

Name ______________________________________________

Art Criticism Background for the teacher: What is ART CRITICISM? Art criticism is responding to, interpreting meaning, and making critical judgments about specific works of art. Usually, art criticism focuses on individual works of art. Many people associate the word “criticism” with destructive talk. This is understandable; the first definition given for criticism in Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary is “the act of criticizing, usually unfavorably.” Yet Webster’s second definition is more appropriate for art criticism: “the art of evaluating or analyzing works of art.” Art criticism, in practice, generally is positive. Art criticism can include praise, comparison, description, explanation, and conjecture. Feldman writes that art criticism is “spoken or written ‘talk’ about art” and that “the central task of criticism” is interpretation. Feldman developed a widely used sequential approach to art criticism based on description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment. Stephen Dobbs states that, through art criticism, people “look at art, analyze the forms, offer multiple interpretations of meaning, make critical judgments, and talk or write about what they see, think, and feel.” Terry Barrett, author of Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary, bases his approach to art criticism on the four activities of describing, interpreting, judging, and theorizing about art. Barrett suggests that, although all four overlap, “Interpretation is the most important activity of criticism, and probably the most complex.” Though interwoven with description, analysis, and judgment, interpretation of the meaning of individual works of art is of foremost concern in contemporary art criticism.

James R. Avati Honesty and Virtue at the Tax Table (1988)

Benefits of ART CRITICISM:

• Perfects the power to perceive

•

Provides a way to exercise higher order thinking skills while investigating and critiquing one’s own or other’s works of art

• Expands works of art through the critic’s experience • Provides viewers with the full import of works of art • Informs, explains, and enlightens regarding art • Helps viewers understand their own responses to work of art 93

We live in an increasingly visual world where visual literacy is essential to daily success. Art criticism is writing about the aesthetic experiences in the visual world. As students become engaged in composing their responses to art criticism, they are practicing the writing process, exemplifying good writing traits, practicing higher order thinking skills, and accessing cognitive domains that will enrich learning and functioning inside and outside the classroom. Imagine the possibilities for future success if problem solving and decisionmaking skills are properly practiced and honed. Critical writing demands proficiency in these areas.

In both journalistic and scholarly art criticism, the viewer, according to Feldman, “confronts works of art and determines what they mean, whether they are any good, and, if so, why.”

Important art critics:

Art Critic Clement Greenberg Photo: Eleanore Lazare http://www.sharecom.ca/greenberg/

The Art Critic An art critic may be a newspaper reporter assigned to the art beat, a scholar writing for professional journals or texts, or an artist writing about other artists. 94

•

John Ruskin (English, 1819-1900)

•

Charles Baudelaire (French, 1821-1867)

•

Roger Fry (English, 1866-1934)

•

Guillaume Apollinaire (French, 1880-1918)

•

Walter Benjamin (German, 1892-1940)

•

Harold Rosenberg (American, 1906-1978). Also see Abstract Expressionism.

•

Clement Greenberg (American, 1909-1994). Among the greatest art critics of the 20th century, Greenberg was also one of the most vilified. Here is a site containing essays by and about the man and his work. Also see Abstract Expressionism and kitsch.

•

Ernst H. Gombrich (English, 1909-2001)

•

Michel Tapié (French, 1909-1987)

•

Roland Barthes (French, 1915-1980)

•

Thomas B. Hess (American, 1920-1978)

•

Michel Foucault (French, 1926-1984)

•

Hilton Kramer (American, 1928-)

•

Jean Baudrillard (French, 1929-)

•

Milan Kundera (1929-)

•

Pierre Restany (French, 1930-2003)

•

Henry Geldzahler (Belgian, 1935-1994)

•

Lucy R. Lippard (American, 1937-)

•

Robert Hughes (Australian-American, 1938-)

•

Germano Celant (Italian, 1940-)

•

Peter Schjeldahl (American, 1942-)

•

Rosalind Krauss (American, contemporary)

•

Kathy Acker (American, 1947-1997)

•

Douglas Crimp (American, contemporary)

•

Hal Foster (American, contemporary)

•

Michael Kimmelman (American, contemporary)

•

Arthur C. Danto (American, contemporary)

•

Donald B. Kuspit (American, contemporary)

•

Martha Rosler (American, contemporary)

Barrett’s Principles of Interpretation

• Artworks have "aboutness" and demand interpretation. • Interpretations are persuasive arguments. • Some interpretations are better than others.

Art Criticism in the Classroom

• Good interpretations of art tell more about the artwork than they tell about the critic.

The work of art itself should guide the approach to inquiry.

• Feelings are guides to interpretations.

Ideally, “Critic’s descriptions are lively. Critics write to be read, and they must capture their readers’ attention and engage their readers’ imaginations. Critics want to persuade their readers to see a work of art as they do. If they are enthused, they try to communicate their enthusiasm through their choice of descriptors and how they put them together in a sentence, a paragraph, and an article.” --Terry Barrett, Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary. Written art criticism can be thought of as persuasive writing, with interpretations of meaning supported by reasoned judgments. Terry Barrett calls for “good, lively, interpretive writing about art” that may take many forms in the classroom. Similarly, Feldman states that words are virtually indispensable for communicating a critic’s understanding and that “words enable us to build bridges between sensory impressions, prior experience, logical inferences, and the tasks of interpretation and explanation.”

• There can be different, competing, and contradictory interpretations of the same artwork. • Interpretations are often based on a world view. • Interpretations are not so much absolutely right, but more or less reasonable, convincing, enlightening, and informative. • Interpretations can be judged by coherence, correspondence, and inclusiveness. • An artwork is not necessarily about what the artist wanted it to be about. • A critic ought not to be the spokesperson for the artist. • Interpretations ought to present the work in its best rather than its weakest light.

References Barrett, Terry. (1994) Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield Publishing Company.

• The objects of interpretation are artworks, not artists. • All art is in part about the world in which it emerged.

Dobbs, Stephen Mark. (1992) The DBAE Handbook: An Overview of Discipline-Based Art Education. Santa Monica, CA: The Getty Center for Education in the Arts.

• All art is in part about other art.

Feldman, Edmund Burke. (1994) Practical Art Criticism. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

• No single interpretation is exhaustive of the meaning of an artwork. 95

ANDERSON CRITICISM MODEL Three major questions: 1. What is it? (Description) 2. What does it mean? (Interpretation) 3. What is its significance? (Judgment) All criticism MUST include evaluation or judgment because no human thought can be value neutral. Judgments may be emotional, intellectual, or both, but they cannot be avoided. Since valued judgments underlie all criticism, criticism is “an act of persuasion.” The purpose of art criticism is to understand and appreciate works of art. Stages: 1. REACTION—an initial, intuitive, “gut reaction.” 2. Perceptual Analysis (DESCRIPTION) a. Representation: theme, subject, elements, medium, techniques b. Formal Analysis: a deeper stage of description—relationships including principles of design c. Formal Characterization: taking the qualities that appear significant and giving them personal qualities (identify something it reminds you of) i.e. using figurative language such as similes and metaphors. 3. INTERPRETATION a. PERSONAL INTERPRETATION i. Brings personal associative experience to bear ii. Meaning from a synthesis of reaction and perceptual analysis b. CONTEXTUAL EXAMINATION i. Contextual and historical information ii. Information gained about the work rather than from it 4. SYNTHESIS (JUDGMENT) a. RESOLUTION i. Development of a personal argument for meaning based on all evidence ii. Beginnings of aesthetic inquiry b. EVALUATION i. Justifying the work based on aesthetic theory ii. Statements of judgment based on sound criteria and observable evidence Adapted from Anderson, T. (1993) “Designing and Structuring Art Criticism for Education” Studies in Art Education, pp 129-208.

96

ART CRITICISM Questions In Art Criticism* 1. Description: What do I see? ( feel, hear, smell, taste)? 1. Subject Matter: Does the artwork depict anything? If so, what? 2. Medium: What tools, materials, or processes did the art maker use? 3. Form: What elements did the maker choose and how did the maker organize the elements?

2. Interpretation: What is the artwork about? 1. Interpretive Statement: Can I express what I think the artwork is about in one sentence? 2. Evidence: What evidence inside or outside the artwork supports my interpretation?

  3. Judgment: Is it a good artwork? 1. Criteria: What criteria do I think are most appropriate for judging the artwork? 2. Evidence: What evidence inside or outside the artwork relates to each criterion? 3. Judgment: Based on the criteria and evidence, what is my judgment about the quality of the artwork?

* based roughly on Terry Barrett’s Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary, Mountain View, CA: 1994.

97

Meaning Making in Art

Artist’s Intent / Viewer’s Interpretation Artist: Write what you meant to express through your artwork.

Viewer: Without looking at what the artist wrote, write what you think the artwork is about and what it means to you.

Artist and Viewer: Based on what each of you wrote, have a conversation about the artwork. Then share your ideas with the rest of the class.

Now fold back the paper so that what you have written cannot be seen. 98

Meaning Making in Art Interpreting Art

Name__________________

Directions: Answer these questions about the artwork you are viewing. If you are working with other students, choose one student to write down what the group decides. Then discuss the artwork as a group.

What do you see?

What does it mean?

How do you know? What does it mean??

99

Meaning Making in Art

Artist’s Intent, Viewer’s Interpretation, Artist’s Response Artist: Write what you meant to express through your artwork.

Viewer: Without looking at what the artist wrote, write what you think this work is about and what it means to you.

Artist: Read the viewer’s comments and think about them carefully. If you then would want to change your artwork to improve it and better communicate your intent, write notes about what you would do.

Now fold back the paper so that what you have written cannot be seen. 100

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY? Art Criticism: The WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY Activity Just as in writing, some basic questions can help direct students’ discussions of art. Students can look at WHO WHAT WHERE HOW and WHY about any given artwork. The following cards can be printed out and given to students. The cards can be used in a variety of ways. First, show the class a large image of an artwork. Then complete one of the activities about that artwork. 1. Pass out a card to each student. The students can use the space below the question to write a brief answer. Then students take turns sharing their answers with the class. Discuss. 2. As above, have students write a response to WHO made this artwork? the questions. Then, shuffle the cards and pass them out again. Each student must write on the back whether he or she agrees with the original dents must answer the question and then find the other one or two students with the same writer and why or why not. Discuss. question. They have 3 minutes to discuss their answers. Then have the students take turns 3. Divide students into small groups and give using the image of the artwork and explaining each group several cards. As a group, they their answers. The same process can be repeatmust come up with answers to the questions. Groups then share their answers. Give the class ed with the other areas: Who? Where? How? and Why? You may want to spend several class time to discuss their reactions to the different periods completing this activity. group’s presentations (answers). 4. Give each student in the class one of the cards as well as a quarter sheet of 8-1/2” x 11” paper. Students have 5 minutes to draw a response to their question. Post the questions and the responses where students can see them. Have a discussion about the experience. Ask students what they discovered trying to respond visually to the questions. 5. Make copies of questions 1–7, enough so each student in the class has a question. Stu-

6. Divide the students into small groups. Give each group a copy of the cards and an image of an artwork. Allow the students a specific amount of time to answer each question. Then the groups will take turns showing their images and sharing their responses with the class.

7. As an evaluation of students’ understanding of art criticsm, pass out a copy of the cards to each student and have the students write brief responses. 101

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 1. What colors do you see?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 6. What objects do you see?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 2. What lines do you see?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 7. What kind of space is used?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 3. What shapes do you see?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 8. What kind of balance is used?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 4. What textures do you see?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 9. What do you see repeated?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 5. What values do you see?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 10. What is the first thing you see?

102

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 11. Where do you see movement?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 16. What principle is dominant?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 12. Where do you see rhythm?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 17. Where is the center of interest?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 13. Where do you see variety?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 18. What is the title?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 14. How is unity achieved?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 19. When was it made?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 15. What element is dominant?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 20. What is the subject matter?

103

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 21. Who made it?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 26. What was your first impression?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 22. What is the story?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 27. What do you like about it?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 23. What is the mood?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 28. What do you dislike about it?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 24. How does it make you feel?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 29. What criteria were used to judge it?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 25. What symbols do you see?

WHO WHAT WHERE HOW WHY 30. What is your informed judgment?

104

Art Criticism—a Journey

In discussing Art Criticism in the classroom, the art educator and writer, George Geahigan points out that students usually don’t have enough knowledge of art to say much of interest about a particular work. (His ideas run counter to some established criticism approaches that use Description, Analysis, Interpretation, and Informed Judgment.)

Tell them how big the artwork is and what it is made of. Ask students to examine their reactions to the artwork and to discuss the reasons they might feel or think the way they do. (Perhaps a student may be struck by the feeling the piece has of a tree blowing in a breeze or one may think the artwork is ugly, or dumb, or that the artwork looks like a large, six-fingered hand.) Accept whatever the students say, but ask them to try and discover why they have the response.

He suggests an approach which has an initial introduction to an artwork, style or artist, then research to learn about the artwork, style and/ or artist as well as other pertinent information such as previous styles, cultural information, society of the times, etc., that might provide important information in gaining an understanding of the subject. In addition, students might learn about, debate, or discuss the aesthetics theories that apply to the artwork(s) and create an artwork that has a relationship to the artwork they are studying. Then students should return to the original subject and discuss the artwork based on their new knowledge. This discussion may include an evaluation of the artwork, but does not have to. The process is like a journey down a winding path, with a variety of views, and a cumulative result that is greater than the sum of its parts. The following lesson is a simple process that could be expanded to include the history of contemporary ceramics, the use of metaphor in art, or many other related issues. Show the class the image of Von Allen’s Coast (1989). Ask students to respond to the artwork.

Then relate some of the biographical information that is included in the Ceramic Sculpture packet at sma.nebo.edu to the class, being sure to include the fact that as a result of her mov-

105

to, might she have named this piece “Coast”? What can you see in the sculpture that might relate to the word “Coast” in some way?

ing from a very different and far away place, Ms. Allen started making sculptures based on arrow shapes. (draw some simple arrow shapes on the board.) After realizing that she most liked those that pointed upward because you don’t see many of them (you might ask the class why you don’t see many arrows that point up), she started making sculptures where the shapes bent and flowed. Coast is from this series of work. You could ask the students to think about and discuss the reasons artists often make series of work (a number of works that are similar, based on a similar design, idea, theme, or feeling). Ask students what Coast means. Why, based on what you’ve learned about Ms. Allen, where she used to live, where she moved

Monterey Pines shaped by coastal winds

Ask students what aesthetic theory this work most matches and why. (Students do not need to agree, they just need to learn to articulate the reasons for their choices. This process assumes that in finding reasons for their choices, students will eliminate obviously unsupported choices. Make sure your students know they can change their minds as they think through their reactions to the artwork.) You may also want to ask students if they think the artwork relates to another aesthetic theory and if so, which one. (For example, students may decide the artwork best matches the formalist theory due to its emphasis on shape and form and color and texture, but also relates to the expressivist theory due to the artist’s exploration of how she felt about arrow shapes and moving and changing her life.) If students have made objects before with clay, talk to them about the challenges and rewards of working with clay—many of the students may have liked the feel of the clay and how it responds to their lightest touch. They may also have liked seeing a project go from wet clay to dry, to bisque, to a glazed, finished artwork. Students will also have struggled with clay projects that fell apart, or cracked or warped in the kiln, that slumped, or didn’t come out at all like they had imagined. Show the class how big the sculpture is — 48” x 36” x 8”. Remind them that clay shrinks, so the piece was at least 4-6 inches taller before it dried. Have them think about how long it took the artist to make the piece, and what difficulties she faced, such as how to keep the part of the sculpture on the bottom dry enough to hold the rest of the sculpture up but with the part she was working on moist enough to accept new coils of clay. Have them think about the size kiln they would need to fire the finished sculpture and how they might get the piece

106

into the kiln—it would have been very heavy and awkward to move. Let them respond with their ideas about the challenges and benefits of making such a large clay sculpture. Ask the students why Allen may have made her piece so large. Also ask them to think about where the piece would be displayed. If your class has not worked with clay, give each student a ball of clay and teach them to make clay coils and how to attach one coil to the next. Then help them discuss the previous ideas.

what idea, feeling, or image they are interested in responding to. Give each student a piece of paper to use for planning the sculpture. Students should make at least 4 sketches of possible artworks—the sketches need only vary slightly, but must indicate the process of planning the artwork. If the student changes her idea as she works on the sculpture, she should make new sketches to show the revised artwork. When the sculptures are completely dry, bisque fire them to cone 06. You can have the students glaze the pieces and refire them or use watercolor and then a clear sealer when the paint is dry. If you glaze the sculptures, be sure to avoid glazes with dangerous chemicals. After completing the coiled sculpture section of the lesson, go back and look at the image of Coast. Ask the students to discuss their experience:

Show the image of Coast again. Ask students to think back, or to read, if they wrote their initial reaction down, and see if they feel differently about the artwork, now that they know more about the artist, the process, and the ideas the artwork may be expressing. Have students share their “educated” responses and explain why their view has or has not changed. If possible, give students a chance to create a clay image based on an idea and/or an image or visual element they have been thinking about. Review clay construction methods with the students, reminding them to always scratch and slip joins, to make the clay pieces the thickness of their pinky, to avoid small, thin, or projecting sections. See the Ceramic Sculpture Packet at smofa.org for more instruction.

• • • • •

What did you enjoy about making the ceramic sculpture? How well were you able to relate the shape of the piece to an idea, feeling, or image? Does your finished piece resemble the drawing you chose? What was the most challenging part of the assignment? How has making a ceramic sculpture changed your feelings about Coast?

Assessment: students should self-assess for participation, the sculptures for criteria such as whether the sculpture relates to the drawings, whether the student completed at least 4 drawings, and the craftsmanship of the finished sculpture. The teacher can assess the same areas and average the scores. If the students help create the assessment criteria, they tend to perform better.

Before students begin to work on their sculptures, have them write down a description of 107

108

THE CRITICAL EYE Secondary Visual Arts Objectives: through viewing and discussing art, the students will become informed observers and consumers of modern culture through activities of analysis, interpretation and judgment. Guided worksheets and various writing prompts are provided. This is an interdisciplinary approach for humanities, history, English, science, and arts subjects. This activity can be conducted with several classes together and will take approximately 45 minutes of instruction and an additional 30 to 45 minutes to complete the writing assignments. Through guided instruction and interactive strategies, the students will become informed viewers and consumers of modern culture. Teacher: Read the following handouts to ensure your students have the background information they need to explore and discuss the questions. You may choose to use the worksheets in a class setting, as small groups, or for individual use.

Sharon Gray A Well-Red Individual

109

THE CRITICAL EYE Did you know you are an active member of today’s Visual Culture? 1. Can you recognize the following visual symbols?

2. Why is it important to study Visual Culture?

3. What are some important characteristics of Postmodern art?

4. Provide an example of a visual pun.

5. What would you do if you were the curator of the museum?

110

THE CRITICAL EYE 6. Brifly describe the following views: a. Realism b. Instrumentalism c. Expressivism d. Feminism e. Hedonism

The Job of an Art Critic:

An art critic is someone who is considered to have a trained and informed eye concerning the value of a work of art or an art exhibit. The following are the questions an art critic asks:

DESCRIPTION: (Describe the details in the work of art.) Question: What do you see? ANALYZE: (Compare the objects in the work of art and determine whether they relate to one another or not.) Question: How are things put together? INTERPRET: (Determine the meaning or the artist’s intent.) Question: What is the artist trying to say? JUDGE: (Make an informed judgment about the value of the work of art.) Question? What do you think of the work of art and why?

111

THE CRITICAL EYE Study Over Three Billion Served (1974) by Alex Basil Darais. Using the art criticism formula discussed earlier, answer the following: 7. DESCRIBE: 8. ANALYZE: 9. INTERPRET: 10. JUDGE: 11. What is different about Postmodern art criticism? Study The Guest (1994), by Silvia Liz Davis. Using the same formula used by Postmodern art critics, answer the following: 12. DESCRIBE: 13. ANALYZE:

14. INTERPRET:

15. JUDGE:

112

THE CRITICAL EYE 16. Design a Postmodern artwork that uses the following criteria: a. a visual pun, metaphor, or double meaning b. a political, economic, or social statement that reflects what your art is about c. the presentation format and/or media your artwork would be created in Optional: d. the text you would include in your artwork e. the art historical reference (appropriation) that you used in your artwork

17. Leaner Report: What are two important things you learned about Visual Culture and Postmodernism that relates to your life in some way?

113