What We Learn in an Art Class.

I promised I would post here an I have only gotten around to it now. Sorry about that.

We covered the following in class already but I think it is a good way to start off the year. This is kind of like a syllabus, but it is more like a philosophical approach to the class.

An art class can be broken up into 4 areas: Art Production, Art History, Art Criticism and Aesthetics.


Art Production

Art Production is what most of you imagine what the class would be like before I started to throw all kinds of writing at you. Art Production is "Making Art." Art Production is the making of art, and the various components of making art, such as use of tools, manipulation of media, form and expression. It is when you learn to draw, paint, make sculptures, print, etc... We have been doing that a lot recently with our value scale projects and linear perspective drawings. It is about the "How" or "how to" in art. It does not talk about the "Why"?

Here is a link to a diagram on how to make an origami mushroom from a square piece of paper. It is a simple example of Art Production. If you come into class with one I'll give you an extra credit grade.



Art History

Art History is learning about art and artists from the past. Art History is not just "who made what when," but is the history of objects and the history of people through art. Works of art provide a unique documentation of cultural changes throughout history. Studying historical works not only gives us insights into the past, but can also provide valuable insights and information about the present.

Obviously, when we were studying Picasso's Guernica we were learning about art from the past. We will be doing a lot of this.



Art Criticism


"All profoundly original art looks ugly at first." - Clement Greenberg

Art criticism is the study and evaluation of art. It is making judgments about art. There are 4 steps to Art Criticism:

Describe - what things are in the painting? Think of things like clothing, environment, etc.

Analyze - how are the elements of line, shape, form, texture, space and value used? How are the principles of unity pattern, rhythm, variety, balance, emphasis and proportion used?

Interpret - what is the artist trying to say to you? What is going on in the picture or artwork?

Decide- What do I think about this artwork? Do I like it? Why or why not?How do I feel about whether the artist was successful in conveying an idea?

We will do more on this.


Aesthetics

Aesthetics (also esthetics) is the philosophy of beauty and art. Philosophical questions about art seem to be unanswerable. What is art? What is good art? What is beauty? It is important in the study of art that students engage their brains, think about what they are doing, learning, and feeling about their art and the art of others. In studying art through aesthetic questioning, the answer is not important. The act of working through the puzzle provided by the question is extremely important.


Learn these terms. I will be using them all year. I plan to post again this weekend. Stay tuned.