PRESENTING: Facilitating Critical and Aesthetic Inquiry

After reading the assigned articles, particularly the one about Thomas Monroe, I got a few ideas about conducting this week's presentation; I'll go into the details of lesson development below. I began thinking about discussions I've had with art teachers and the apprehensiveness they express when it comes to art history and aesthetics which seems to align with feelings of imposter phenomenon. As hard as it is for me to accept, not everyone loves art history as much as I do. :) Some people are down right intimidated by it. What does that mean for the classroom? It means teachers might impress upon their students their dislike of art history, or worse, only stick to the "Garner's Art Through the Ages" version of art history without deviating from the Western, male dominated version of events. This version is very limited and ends up perpetuating the cycle of "art history is worthless" and it isn't good if it isn't white, male and Christian (ahem Kamhi). It is a system unrelated to our reality in which students feel a strong disconnect to the importance and exciting world of art history.

We have to (1) know how to research and approach artworks, (2) critique systems in which they are approached, and (3) use presentation skills to provide students with the tools to translate works of art.

Here is my plan and process:

First, I read over the core art standards for "presentation" to ensure that my plans aligned with the standards.

I selected the standards that fit with my ideas for the course and with the ideas presented in the readings and drafted objectives for the evening:

I researched Thomas Monroe's steps to stylistic analysis - which was a bit of a challenge. He has several writings which vary slightly in steps, but I condensed the steps down and it looks VERY similar to the traditional mode of art criticism: description, analysis, interpretation, judgement.

Now, what will we analyze with Monroe's methodology and how does it fit into the presentation standards? A few ideas came to mind and Terry Barrett's text solidified the thems I was already considering. I have "curated" three folders. The contents of which I will keep as a surprise for Wednesday's class. They include literature, pop culture, media, music, and fine art. They are themed based upon my understanding of the work, but I will not share that information. My intention is for the students to process the artworks using Monroe's and Barthes's methods of analysis.

Once they have processed the works, groups will reconfigure the artifacts, add or take away, and draft a curators' statement making a mini-exhibition. The groups will present their exhibitions to the class.

Afterward, we will critique the "exhibitions" and how the presentation style (arrangement of the works and curators' statement) influences our perception as viewers.

This lesson is intended to:

-provide a semi-scientific method of approaching works in a collection

-be a practical application of the readings

-simulate the role of a curator for groups of students

-incorporate material and popular culture with fine art to explore how they influence the other

-model a lesson which could translate into K12 classrooms

Looks like the February weather is going to cooperate for the drive up. Now off to iTunes to stock up on music and podcasts.

See you soon!