|
|  | Getting Started
No doubt, teaching the history of art from ancient times to the present at the high school level poses a unique challenge for the classroom teacher. Regardless of one's background and experience (or lack thereof), where to even begin can be a troubling thought.
During my first year teaching AP Art History, I tended to focus on my weaknesses rather than my strengths. This was a major mistake since all teachers come to the classroom with particular strengths that set them apart. English teachers, for example, may help art history students develop their vocabulary or writing skills. History teachers may focus on contextual concerns such as politics or culture. Studio teachers, like myself, have the experience of critiquing works of art and understanding studio practice and process.
By focusing on his or her strengths during the first year, a teacher can concentrate on exploring with depth a few major works rather than feeling the need to cover everything in the textbook at breakneck speed. The following year, the teacher can expand on the first year's curriculum to include more works and more information with a growing sense of confidence. In a couple of years, the course should emerge as richly and fully developed.
Why Teach Art History?
Why teach art history? It seems like a simple question. Before you answer, think about how you would want your students to respond. At some point during the year, ask your students this very question. Their responses will reveal much about the content and quality of your teaching. Do we study art history because we love memorizing dates, names, and places? Does the discipline of art history have practical application only in the context of a museum or a historical site? Or is there some other reason?
In developing an understanding of our world and our own place within that world, our sense of sight plays an invaluable role. The visual arts remind us of how images impact us daily, both consciously and unconsciously, by influencing how we construct identity and perceive meaning. Visual literacy is crucial in communicating with others and in receiving messages that dictate our actions. In regard to history, images can actually impact world events. How we process information filtered through our sense of sight can be one of the most compelling reasons for studying visual imagery.
When we ask our students to study the history of images, objects, and buildings, we want them to think about how their environment impacts all aspects of their lives. Do structures in our environment suggest stability or chaos? Do images around us encourage conservatism or frivolity? Does our dress identify us with others or isolate us from the crowd? Are we influenced by imagery to spend, vote, drink, eat, smoke, waste time, work, and so forth? Do certain spaces dictate to us how to act or what to do at a particular time and place? Do we use images to form stereotypical impressions of people? Does imagery reinforce certain values that we cherish, or does it challenge long-established traditional notions belonging to a certain society or culture? Can images deceive us, causing us to misinterpret the world and our position within it?
As these questions are explored throughout the year, students will begin to understand that the study of art history is a study of perception. No subject is left untouched, for visual imagery addresses every facet of our human lives. No other subject in my mind holds a greater fascination.
Choosing a Textbook
One of the first decisions a beginning art history teacher must make is which textbook to use. For AP Art History, like all AP courses, teachers should choose a college-level textbook. You can find suggested titles listed on AP Central.
 Art History: Example Textbook List
Even though students may be unaccustomed to reading at the college level, they should understand that AP courses are equivalent to college-level courses and will be taught with college-level materials. The most daunting aspect of a college-level art history survey textbook is perhaps its size, giving the teacher the impression that everything within its pages should be inscribed to memory. Art history textbooks, however, are the product of a number of minds, each with a unique agenda or perspective, rather than the writing of a single author (although a single author's name may appear on the front cover). Publishers of survey textbooks receive numerous suggestions, urging the writers to include a favorite work or particular artist. Not to be forgotten is a somewhat universally accepted canon of works found in all of the major textbooks, and none of these works can be excluded with ease. These factors, therefore, all contribute to a progressively expansive textbook, which covers a great deal of art but in little depth.
To suggest that teachers should go beyond the textbook and consult other sources in preparing students for the AP Art History Exam can, at first, appear as cruel and unusual punishment. What matters most in a course such as this, however, is the quality of the instruction, not the quantity of work presented. An exhaustive survey course can hardly be of use if the student retains little of the vast amount of information taught. Instead, a teacher should make what can be difficult choices and focus on thoughtfully selected works, presenting them within a context that reflects research from a wide range of resources. The curious teachers who research will set an outstanding example for students, presenting themselves as scholars and encouraging students to become lifelong learners. Teachers who emphasize skills of visual perception and critical analysis rather than memorization of content will go a long way in developing a course that has notable value.
Classroom Teaching
Some people describe the experience of taking an art history survey course in college as "art in the dark." On the college level, survey classes can be large and classroom discussion minimal. The advantage of teaching art history in high school is that classes tend to be much smaller and student participation greater. AP Art History teachers who engage their students in group work and class discussion can offer a richer experience than the equivalent college course.
This does not mean that the AP Art History teacher should avoid lecturing. Lively lectures are essential in presenting information to students in a clear and understandable manner. Students will find lectures helpful in directing them in their reading, ascertaining main ideas, and developing skills of visual literacy. But the students who are actively engaged through dialogue as well as note taking will find the experience to have a greater impact than a lecture-only course. Therefore, the teacher may, as time permits, wish to engage students in conversation and group activities ranging from studio exercises to game playing.
Fewer teachers today use slides and slide projectors while teaching art history. Digital presentation programs (such as PowerPoint) are becoming more common because of numerous advantages: presenting images with text, providing with ease details of images, including sound and video, and so forth. Nevertheless, teaching AP Art History without slides or digital presentations would place the students at a great disadvantage.
Another issue regarding classroom instruction involves homework. Even if teachers are highly selective about what they teach, they are still obligated to cover a good deal of information. Although students know full well that waiting to study until the night before an exam is not a good practice, they will do it anyway. Assigning short reading assignments, based perhaps on only one or two works of art, is a good way of making sure that the students are consistently putting forth effort in your class. Huge reading assignments, on the other hand, may deter students from reading at all and negatively impact your class participation.
Classroom Assessment
The AP Art History Exam consists of multiple-choice and free-response questions. The free-response questions are more heavily weighted, emphasizing the importance for students to engage in a dialogue when looking at works of art. Writing about art can be quite different than writing in other subjects. An essay that simply describes a work of art is often dull and useless; therefore, teachers should encourage students to offer insights when writing in response to a particular issue or question. Since students should develop this skill throughout the year, AP Art History teachers must have their students write frequently. Teachers should also give comprehensive exams throughout the year so that students will be well prepared for the AP Exam at the end of the school year.
Questions for Discussion
To prevent students from writing essays that simply describe a work of art, teachers should encourage students to focus on five areas for class discussion: subject matter, function, artistic decision making, contextual analysis, and cultural impact. Contemplating these five factors will help students to see art as a meaningful part of their lives. The following questions apply not only to masterpieces but also to images and objects found in our everyday world that we consider to be art.
Subject Matter
Subject: What does the work depict? Who does the artist depict in the work? Iconography: What do the figures and objects in the work represent or symbolize?
Narration: What event or series of events does the artist present to the viewer?
Function
Why did the artist create the work?
- For religious worship?
- To entertain or to please the eye?
- For propagandistic purposes?
- To address a social issue?
- To commemorate an event?
- To commemorate the life of a famous person?
- As an expression of wealth and status?
- To savor a memory?
- To document a place and time?
- To promote an artistic theory or philosophical idea?
- To tell a story?
- To express some human emotion (such as love, grief, or anger)?
- To establish a personal or cultural identity?
- To impress others with technical skill?
- As a gift to a god or another person?
- As a form of scientific study?
- For private enjoyment?
- For practical reasons only (that is, to provide shelter, to hunt with, or to document something for legal purposes)?
For whom was the work created?
Who was the patron?
Why did the patron commission the work?
Was the patron upper class or middle class?
To what degree could you describe the patron as "religious" or "secular"?
To what degree was the patron involved in the artistic decision-making process?
Did the artist create the work of art for the mass market?
Did the artist create the work for himself or herself?
Where did the artist originally intend to place their work?
- In a church or place of religious worship?
- In a private home or a public place?
- In a dramatic outdoor setting or an interior space?
- In a particular viewpoint (for example, down below or high above)?
- With a particular kind of lighting?
- As a complement to another nearby work of art (such as a building or a sculpture)?
- To compete with another nearby work of art?
- In a competitive exhibition?
- In a portable object (such as a book or a reliquary)?
Artistic Decision Making
What decisions did the artist or architect make while creating this work of art?
What medium did the artist use, and why?
What technique did the artist use (for example, alla prima, impressionistic, trompe l'oeil, or grisaille), and why?
What format did the artist use (for example, relief, freestanding, two-dimensional, horizontal, or vertical), and why?
What type of color scheme did the artist use (for example, neutral, intense, arbitrary, monochromatic, symbolic, warm, or cool), and why?
What type of lighting did the artist use, and why?
What type of texture did the artist employ, and why?
What type of line did the artist use (for example, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, calligraphic, undulating, curvilinear, agitated, arabesque, or gestural), and why?
What so-called principles of design (such as balance, rhythm, movement, unity, emphasis, scale, and variety) did the artist employ, and why so?
What mode of representation did the artist use (such as representational, abstract, naturalistic, schematic, stylized, idealized, or distorted), and why?
What rules did the artist follow in accordance with the style of a particular time and place?
What rules did the artist break away from in order to innovate or experiment?
Did the artist make preparations before creating the work?
Did the artist observe from nature or conform to archetypal forms?
How did the artist or architect compose or structure the work (for example, symmetrical, asymmetrical, radial, random, proportional, bilateral, open, or closed), and why?
How large (or small) is the work, and why?
How much time did the artist spend on the work, and why?
Did the artist or architect choose to emulate the work of another artist or architect?
Contextual Analysis
How does the work reflect the following cultural aspects of a particular time and place?
- Religious beliefs?
- Political ideologies?
- Philosophical ideologies?
- Attitudes toward social class and gender?
- A culture's concept of aesthetic beauty?
- A culture's concept of power and authority?
- A culture's concept of morality?
- A culture's changing tastes?
- A culture's concept of normality, perhaps with a view into the daily life of "ordinary" people?
- A culture's concept of nature and man's relationship with nature?
- A cultural view of history and tradition?
- Cross-cultural influences?
- The status of the artist or architect?
- The impact of subcultures existing within a larger, mainstream culture?
- The impact of new scientific discoveries or inventions?
- The lifestyle and milieu of the artist or architect?
Cultural Impact
What impact did the work of art or architecture have on the history of art?
- Inspire or influence other artists or architects?
- Dramatically rise in value?
- Seen by a large number of people?
- Cause controversy or raise complex questions?
- Alter visual perception in some way (such as the invention of linear perspective)?
- Popularize a particular medium or technique?
- Provide a sense of cultural or national identity?
- Make a particular person famous or infamous?
- Popularize a particular ideology?
- Alter fashion and taste?
- Alter the way artists were trained?
- Dramatically alter the art market?
Douglas Darracott teaches AP Art History and AP Studio Art at Plano West Senior High School in Plano, Texas. He has taught AP Art History since the 1997-98 school year. He holds an MFA in painting and drawing from the University of North Texas.
|
