Using the Eyes on Art Activities
You Choose · ArtSpeak 101 · Double Visions
No Fear o' Eras · Your True View · Eyes on Art Quiz
Below are some specific strategies for using each of the six
branches of Eyes on Art. It should be mentioned that the activities
are designed to lead in a progression. Beginning students of art
should start with "You Choose" while more advanced students might
touch base with "Double Visions" and then move on from there. You
can go directly to the activities listed below by clicking on the
title graphic. Instructions for students are found on the Web site
for each activity. Below are overviews and justifications that
teachers may want to keep in mind while using the particular
activities.
Beginning students of art need to find personal meaning in the
endeavor, to make a connection before they are asked to embark on the
adventure of learning to look. You Choose offers three activities
to encourage students to feel a sense of ownership to a particular
painting. First, students view a large selection of "thumbnails" of
paintings. They choose those that they are attracted to, then click to see a large-scale version of the work. If they like the work, they click in the checkbox next to that image. Once they have collected all the works that capture their sense of what makes something a good work of art, they write about this in a text field, then post a page that reveals larger images that they selected and their statement. If you have a computer lab available, a nice experience is to let students walk through the "Monitor Museums" curated by their peers. Since this is an open and exploratory activity to help students feel good about viewing art, no rubric is supplied for You Choose.
Besides the Monitor Museum, two other ideas are suggested in the instructions page:
Students can then trace - or create their own artwork based
upon - their favorite. Because it is on the monitor, students can
work from the original.
Students are then challenged to re-create their favorite in a
different way. They can choose an opposite subject or style in
which to depict the work. This will promote creativity and a
closer look at the facets of their favorite.
The instructions page also tells you how you can do the activity without javascript-enabled browsers.
Thus, You Choose supports many of the recommendations from the
literature:
Because students have brought in their "favorites," they
should feel "connected to the viewing space." Here is the
opportunity to "value their beliefs and attitudes" and to create a
"studio atmosphere of working, discussing artists"
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
By interacting with a favorite artwork through re-creation,
students "undertake the task of dealing with objects seriously and
attentively; it is only then that the aesthetic experience can
occur" (p. 158)...[an experience] which is like an "interpersonal
dialogue, friendship, and love" (p. 149)
(Csikszentmihaly &
Robinson).
The activity provides teachers with a chance to offer "some
form of encouragement and direction that might lead viewers to
engage themselves with a measure of conviction. Role models
(fellow students? teachers?), for example, may be instrumental in
this context, 'watching how other people do it, people I respect'
... it is important to have reinforcement from people who have
come to believe in me, whom I respect as well - that kind of
reinforcement gives me the permission to trust my instincts' (p.
161)
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
Values Student Expressions and
Experiences by encouraging them to make personal decisions
about what appeals to them in a painting.
Creates a Community of Seers by
exhibiting chosen artworks in the Monitor Museum.
Develops Aesthetic Experiences by
encouraging students to look closely enough at paintings to choose
a favorite.
Note: Please take the Copyright notice from The Thinker seriously. We appreciate the chance to use their images!
Once students have found a personal connection to works of art
(through You Choose), the next step is to give words to what the
painting has or does that may have attracted them. Enter ArtSpeak 101. This activity is a revision of The Visual Glossary in combination with Eyes of the Beholder. Now students can learn and apply a visual arts vocabulary in one activity that draws on two skills: knowing the terms and applying them.
The instructions for ArtSpeak 101 outline how students will derive
their own understanding of how artistic elements and design
techniques function in paintings. This is first accomplished by providing
three illustrative works for each main term. When students feel they have a grasp of the terms, they then select one of six famous paintings which they will use to apply their knowledge of the terms. Three sample writings are offered (beginning, middle, and advanced) as well as a feedback rubric.
Thus, ArtSpeak 101:
Moves students into the realm of identifying the Selected
Visual Arts Terms, (pgs. 92 - 93) from the California Department
of Education's Visual and Performing Arts Framework.
Uses a discovery introduction to the aesthetic experience that
helps to create a "relational web of understanding" (p. 129)
supporting students as they construct personal meaning from what
they view.
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
Creates a Community of Seers by having a
classroom of students share their insights about how the various
design elements and principles are used by artists.
Uses a Clear Strategy for Viewing Art.
A discovery method helps students draw empirical generalizations
about design elements.
Helps Students Acquire Background
Knowledge relating to the "vocabulary" of art.
The main justification for Double Visions is best
explained in Csikszentmihaly & Robinson:
"The juxtaposition of
particular works of art can have great impact and assist someone's
'seeing.' This structuring, rather than imposing an order or specific
idea on the viewer, is a vehicle for autonomous construction of
meaningful experience; the experience is facilitated rather than
dictated" (p. 146).
In this more advanced activity, students choose one of nine sets of artworks to compare and contrast, then view larger versions of the artworks and answer a
series of interpretive questions. The questions are designed to
highlight interesting similarities and differences and to encourage
more analytical looking. A fine series of questions from Professor Craig Roland (of @rt room fame) is provided as well. Finally, students write an interpretation to show what they have discovered through comparing and contrasting. A rubric is provided for feedback.
Thus, Double Visions supports the following ideas from the
literature of art education:
"Supply the viewer with the support and confidence to confront
works of art openly and honestly" (p. 162). The prompting
questions serve as a cognitive scaffolding upon which to build an
understanding.
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
It should be communicated that viewing art is its own reward,
a chance to embark on an adventure that will challenge senses,
emotions, and knowledge.
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
Ways into the works should be provided: things that highlight
the "perceptual, emotional, cognitive and communicative content of
the works." (p. 175)
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
The rewards of "seeing" art are "feelings of personal
wholeness, a sense of discovery, and a sense of human
connectedness." (p. 178)
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
Uses a Clear Strategy for Viewing Art by prompting students to look at particularly revealing
comparisons.
Helps Students Acquire Background
Knowledge directly from artworks by looking analytically at
the works.
Promotes Aesthetic Experiences for
Students by guiding them through the close looking that
promotes the sense of clarity and wholeness that is the reward of
an extended period of analytic looking.
Note: Please take the Copyright notice from The Thinker seriously. We appreciate the chance to use their images!
No Fear o' Eras is a revision of Miles of Styles and takes advantage of a new Web-based strategy we call the Concept Builder. It's based on the Concept Attainment model of presenting students with examples of a concept and helping them to see the critical attributes. By critically looking at three sample works from a major era in art history, students use discovery learning to see the stylistic evolutions and permutations themselves. A series on Internet links and Craig Roland's questions give them additional support. Finally, some tips and a rubric are offered to encourage ultimate success.
The eras covered are:
No Fear o' Eras supports the following ideas from the
literature of art education:
"Previous positive experiences make it more likely that a
viewer will challenge themselves again to seek the reward."
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson) Because "Miles of Styles" follows
a progression of incrementally more challenging activities,
successfully engaging students is more likely. "A number of more
specific and graduated challenges might be provided, in
recognition of the fact that without a sense of purpose the
encounter with objects ... is bound to be diffused and
unsatisfying."(p. 174)
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
Ways into the works should be provided: things that highlight
the "perceptual, emotional, cognitive and communicative content of
the works." (p. 175)
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
Values Student Expressions and
Experiences by encouraging them to look with their own eyes.
Creates a Community of Seers by using
collaborative teams who need to work together interdependently.
Uses a Clear Strategy for Viewing Art by dividing the analytic process into a Discipline-Based Arts
Educational approach.
Helps Students Acquire Background
Knowledge of artist styles and historical/cultural eras.
Promotes Aesthetic Experiences for
Students by engaging them in an extended period of looking.
"Your True View" is the activity that puts it all together.
Students encounter a contemporary artwork with little or no
supporting information. Their task is to come up with their own
interpretation and critique of the piece (their "true view"). A series of questions from David Perkins is available to help students
with their viewing process. These are not specific to the work, but generic tips for effective looking.
Once students internalize Perkins' process, they have tools that can
help them find a way into any artwork.
The nature of copyright for contemporary artists makes it difficult for us to post new works and to ask students to download them. The solution we struck was to have students use the URL of the images. This way, no one posts a Web page on the Internet and no one downloads an artist's image. Full instructions and a rubric are given.
In choosing the contemporary galleries, you can imagine there's a fair bit of shock art out there on the Web. We can't guarantee that the sites we link to will post nothing objectionable. We tried to surf for inoffensive sites while still maintaining an openness to the current state of arts. If your students are very young or your community is particularly offended by shock art, you might choose to skip Your True View. If your community is interested in exploring the world as it is, Your True View may let a little of the real world into your classrooms.
Your True View supports the following ideas from the
literature of art education:
Determinability - the perceived opportunity to find, on a
fairly direct level, some point of entry into the subject" (p.
147) which is a balance of the painting's challenge and the
viewer's skill. This determinability usually comes from an
emotional or intellectual connection, some human aspect. Because
students can choose the painting they wish to explore, it is hoped
that they will come to the painting having already begun to form
some type of connection.
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson).
"The skills of the viewer - what it is he or she needs to
bring to the aesthetic encounter - are very much the center of
what leads to aesthetic experience" (p. 150). "Your education has
a huge impact on how you see something" (p. 152). "You can teach
how something is composed, categorize it, and show where it came
from and the importance of the patronage and the personality of
the artist and all these different facets, but all these things
"in themselves wouldn't necessarily make somebody enjoy or
appreciate a work of art. What does happen is that 'at some
point... somehow... people sort of click on, and they suddenly
begin to really love the process of looking at a work of art."
(Csikszentmihaly & Robinson)
Note: It is the overriding goal of Eyes
on Art that students experience this "clicking on."
Values Student Expressions and
Experiences by encouraging them to make personal decisions
about works of art that could be from respected or popular
contemporary artists.
Uses a Clear Strategy for Viewing Art.
By providing David Perkins' suggestions for viewing, students have
access to perceptive questions as tools for looking.
Helps Students Acquire Background
Knowledge of how to look at a painting.
Promotes Aesthetic Experiences for
Students by guiding them through the close looking that
promotes the sense of clarity and wholeness that is the reward of
an extended period of analytic looking.
Due to copyright constraints, we decided to make the Eyes on Art Quiz a general art history quiz, rather than a final check on what students learned through Eyes on Art. So if you've taken at least Art Appreciation 101, why not give it a try? Feedback after you submit your answers attempts to be somewhat educational, but mostly, have fun!
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