Knowing Art
Teaching the Knowledge and Understanding of Art
Once
you have chosen a theme, a medium for working in and an area for focus,
you might want to think about a few artist links now in order to provide
a stimulus for the project. Just be careful not to be too reliant on copying
and mimicking an artists style. You should use the artist to stimulate
not to replicate.
For example: Pop Art is used heavily in schools. Why? Because it is contemporary, colourful, simplistic and easy. I do not see the point in copying Pop Art pictures. But I do think its ok to investigate Pop Art then create your own, original artwork in a Pop Art style.
Even better would be to say, Find out what the Pop Artists were trying to say in their work, then produce a modern interpretation of this.
Whilst this is not an exhaustive list, these are some of the most common artist links used in art rooms:
Flowers/Nature: Georgia O Keeffe, Karl Blossfeldt, Botanical illustration, Earnst Haekel, Albrecht Durer, Leonardo Da Vinci
Sculpture: Henry Moore, Hepworth, Michelangelo, Gormley, Goldsworthy, Giacometti, Frink, Emin, Hirst, the Chapman Brothers.
Human Form: Picasso, Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Manet, Rubens, Vermeer
Landscape: Van Gogh, Cezanne, Constable, Turner
Urban: Lowry, Hundertwasser, Banksy
Surrealism: Magritte, Dali
Abstraction: Kandinsky, Pollock, Klee, Miro
Textiles: Cultural links to Africa, Mexico, India etc
Modern Culture: Pop Art, Warhol, Oldenburg, Banksy
Optical Art: Bridgett Riley, Escher
Man made: Oldenburg, Warhol
Dreams: Aboriginal, Surrealists, Chegall
Movement: Jules Mary, Muybridge, Futurism
War: Otto Dix, Paul Nash, Stanley Spencer, John Heartfield
Seasons: Turner, Van Gogh
Architecture: Gaudi
Still Life: Picasso, Cezanne, Matisse
Art Nouveau: Klimt, Mucha, Munch.
Ceramics: Elizabeth Fritsch, Clarice Cliff
Jungle: Rousseau
Sea: Earnst Heakel
You should provide students with regular opportunities to LOOK at art. Posters in the classroom are an obvious first step. Good display is an excellent learning tool. Interactive whiteboards provide a superb modern way of showing and interacting with famous paintings. Web sites such as the National gallery in London have excellent online tools for viewing art.
Literacy skills can be vastly improved using art as a stimulus. Simply displaying a famous work of art on the whiteboard and starting a discussion is excellent. If for example you take a work with a hidden meaning (Picasso's Guernica is an obvious example) then this can become a springboard for excellent discussion.
You should develop students ability to understand the methods and techniques of artists and to understand the concepts behind work. This can be done via a weekly ten minute discussion about a work of art at the end of the day. Modern, contemporary art is a very thought provoking topic.
Evaluation about artwork and peer and self assessment is also a great way to develop knowledge and understanding. You can download some templates for written evaluation at many art sites which are helpful, easy ways to get students thinking about their work and how it might be improved.
