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Creative
Strategies to Teach Art Criticism
excerpt from paper by Patty Knott
Note:
This is written for photography – but activities can be adapted
This action plan to design activities to develop greater student
understanding of criticism and aesthetics will employ Grant Wiggin's
acronym WHERE for unit
plans (pg.115). Where are we
headed? What understandings are desired? Students will
understand the assignments, the resources available for
accomplishing the tasks, and how the task will be assessed. Hook
the student through engaging entry points.
Criticism and aesthetics lessons will be organized around
questions and problems. Entry points can also include puzzles,
role-playing, and current issues in the art world. Explore
and engage/equip. Through
a variety of activities and strategies the students will uncover the
theories and stories that lead to aesthetic issues. Students will be
engaged in Wiggin's six facets of understanding: explanation,
interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and
self-knowledge (p.125) as well as reaching conclusions through
various intelligences.
Example:
Artist David Hockney claims that the painting masters of the
15th and 16th century used optical devises to
achieve their realistic effects. Investigate the arguments for and against Hockney's claims.
List the pros and cons. Take the role of the artist, the historian,
the critic and the scientist. (Note scientist Charles Falco's
extensive research to support Hockney's claims)
Simulate a press conference in which Hockney would be
questioned about his findings. Simulate the use of convex and
concave mirrors. Take an ethical stand. Did these artists cheat?
What current technologies may cause similar controversies for
today's artists? Visit, on line, the Getty's exhibit "Devices
of Wonder." Research how art and optical devices influence ways
of seeing.
Reflect and rethink. As
the investigation into issues of criticism is a building process throughout the course, students will be guided
in self-assessment and inquiry in order to make informed value
judgements. Exhibit and
Evaluate. Products
and performance will reveal the quality and effectiveness of the
student's progress through the process.
Projects to consider:
Classify/Connect: Art historians and art critics classify,
categorize, and group works according to similar characteristics.
Students will be asked to put works together based on good
reason. Sort photos according to modes, subject matter, styles, periods,
etc. in game like activities. Classify, compare/contrast, and
justify reasons.
Project/performance:
In what ways can a collection be brought into the classroom? (Keep
in mind the Internet as a resource.) What individuals are involved
in a collection (viewers, supporters, experts, critics, historians,
collectors, conservators, artists) and in what ways do they impact
the collection? How is a collection selected? Who decides which
works are important enough to be displayed? Create a collection
based on a theme.
Logic: Have
students compare the four steps of art criticism to the scientific
method of inquiry used in their science classes. Discuss the
essential questions occurring in each step of the critical process.
Ask, "What do I see? (description); How is the work organized?
(analysis); What is happening? What is the artist trying to
say?" (interpretation); and "What do I think of the
work?" (judgment). Have students demonstrate the similarities
and differences between the two methods, e.g. a dialogue between a
scientist and artist arguing which is the better approach.
·
Simulate a “who done it mystery” about a photo, provide
clues.
·
Create mathematical formulas, problems, percentages to
describe a photo (i.e.
using the rule of thirds for space, levels of contrast, etc.)
·
Create logic
puzzles based on art issues.
·
Determine how
advances in the technology changed the art form.
·
Investigate the
science and technology of determining forgeries.
·
Create a game
about photo.
Movement/Music: The
elements and principles of art and design permeate the form.
How can you find examples of these principles that relate to
you? i.e. visual rhythm
and musical rhythm; line and form in dance.
·
Relate to a work through the senses. If it had a scent what
would it be? A taste? If it made sounds, what would you hear? A
song, specific instruments, high pitch or low pitch?
·
Create a song from a photo image or find images to illustrate
your favorite lyrics.
·
Create a drama /act out the creation of a historic photo,
i.e. Lange's Migrant Mother. Play
the role of the aesthetician, critic, historian, and photographer.
·
In groups, students create movements to recreate the space,
lines, shapes, textures, etc. in a photo. Decide collectively how to
order the movement phrases to make a dance performance. Discuss the
choices made and the similarities and differences between dance and
the visual arts-- time being an obvious difference.
·
Imagine "walking through" the place depicted in a
photograph. As the students imagine themselves as integral parts of
a work of art, the work is made more relevant to them and they
respond more thoughtfully.
Verbal/Visual: Develop students' interest in the topic with a
preliminary journal activity. Have students write about a special
photograph they remember. Why do they remember it? What emotions
does it evoke? Share responses.
·
Timelines
Assign each student/group in the class a specific time period
to cover or a specific aspect of research. Present and display in a
central location for others to see. Use technology to expand the
project by using a presentation program to create individual slides
for each entry on the timeline. Introduce a time travel assignment
by allowing students to choose a photo from an online collection as
a point of focus for their essays/journals. Allow students to think
about which historical period they would like to visit. Have
students create a timeline of their own over the course of an entire
school year. They could gather/take the photos they think shaped
life for them during the school term.
·
Find several examples of photographs that caused change
throughout the 20th century. Explain the power of photographs as
agents of change.
·
Find several examples of photographs where photographers
deliberately changed the image. Have students select examples of
photos where the photographer deliberately created an artificial
scene to photograph. Analyze the motivation behind these changes and
the consequences.
·
Discuss the ethics of photo manipulation.
Create and research guidelines to determine a photograph's
credibility. Distribute or display 3 - 4 photos and ask students to
vote whether the images are completely accurate. Ask how they know.
Have students try digital manipulation of photographs to see how the
truth changes. Discuss their creations. How easy is it to change a
photo?
·
Create a persuasive essay/speech about the regulation and
censorship of photographs.
·
Conduct a survey about a photo or an issue in photo
·
Create a skit depicting a meeting where a group is selecting
a photo to give to an art museum. Roles include members with various
beliefs and issues.
·
Dramatize a TV talk show focusing on a controversial photo
subject or issue, i.e. Sally Mann's photos of her children caused
her to be censored. Was
she abusing her children?
·
Put a controversial photographer on trial.
·
Conduct a debate about an issue in photo. Is photo art?
Should digital manipulation be identified?
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Have a photo "tell it's personal" story.
·
Write a poem about a photo.
·
Create a dialogue between 2 photographers seated next to each
other at a dinner party.
·
Investigate a social issue represented through a
photographer's body of work (i.e.
Cindy Sherman's feminist issues)
·
Write a series of letters between a photographer and a critic
·
Create the personal diary of a photographer (Ex.
Dan
Eldon, 23 year-old photojournalist who filled seventeen visual
journals documenting his political activism in Somalia, until he was
murdered in 1993.)
·
Write a letter to a Hollywood producer explaining why an
image could be the basis for a good movie. What is the context of
the image? What comes before and after?
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