Visual and Performing Arts Curriculum Exemplar: Visual Art
Aligned to the 2009 New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards
ENGAGING STUDENTS • FOSTERING ACHIEVEMENT • CULTIVATING 21ST CENTURY GLOBAL SKILLS
Unit OverviewContent Area: Visual and Performing Arts: Visual Art
Unit Title: Pictures Without Borders
Target Course/Grade Level: 9-12
Unit Summary
In this extended unit, which could be lengthened slightly to be the design for a trimester- or semester-long art course, students first study various artists who have used their art as a means of social commentary. Of particular interest is art as a response to terrorism, which is broadly defined for maximum relevance to students. After sharing and discussing works by these artists as a class, students choose a focus and collaborate with students from a school in Germany in the creation of their own “art as social commentary.” Using online technologies, as well as by shipping paintings back and forth overseas, the two groups of students create and exhibit shared works of art that take a position on, document, or respond to terrorism. The unit provides interdisciplinary opportunities that may be strengthened according to the aims of individual teachers.
Primary Interdisciplinary Connections: Social Studies and Language Arts
21st-Century Themes: Global Awareness and Civic Literacy
Unit Rationale
This unit enables students to experience firsthand the power of the arts as a tool for communication and expression that surpasses linguistic and cultural barriers. Throughout history, artists have used their work to engage in social commentary. In Pictures Without Borders, students examine the global issue of terrorism as commentators, analysts, and artists using Web 2.0 tools (i.e., the latest generation of Internet communication technologies). They engage in both synchronous (e.g., Web conferencing) and asynchronous (e.g., blogs) threaded dialogue with students in Germany about this international issue, and about art, thereby gaining additional perspectives on multiple topics. In the process of jointly creating two purposeful works of art with their German peers, students engage in an extended and authentic cross-cultural learning opportunity that promises to hone their critical-thinking, creative-thinking, and problem-solving skills in ways that are transferable to other real-life situations.
Learning Targets
Standards: Visual and Performing Arts
· Standard 1.1 The Creative Process: All students will demonstrate an understanding of the elements and principles that govern the creation of works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
· Strand D. Visual Art
· Standard 1.2 History of the Arts and Culture: All students will understand the role, development, and influence of the arts throughout history and across cultures.
· Strand: A. History of the Arts and Culture
· Standard 1.3 Performing: All students will synthesize skills, media, methods, and technologies that are appropriate to creating, performing, and/or presenting works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
· Strand D. Visual Art
· Standard 1.4 Aesthetic Responses & Critique Methodologies: All students will demonstrate and apply an understanding of arts philosophies, judgment, and analysis to works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
· Strand A: Aesthetic Responses
· Strand B: Critique Methodologies
Related Content Statements for Standard 1.1
· Common themes exist in artwork from a variety of cultures across time and are communicated through metaphor, symbolism, and allegory.
Related Content Statements for Standard 1.2
· Cultural and historical events impact art-making as well as how audiences respond to works of art.
Related Content Statements for Standard 1.3
· Culturally and historically diverse art media, art mediums, techniques, and styles impact originality and interpretation of the artistic statement.
· Artists interpret/render themes using traditional art media and methodologies as well as new art media and methodologies.
Related Content Statements for Standard 1.4, Strand A
· Contextual clues within artwork often reveal artistic intent, enabling the viewer to hypothesize the artist’s concept.
· Artistic styles, trends, movements, and historical responses to various genres of art evolve over time.
· Criteria for assessing the historical significance, craftsmanship, cultural context, and originality of art are often expressed in qualitative, discipline-specific arts terminology.
Related Content Statements for Standard 1.4, Strand B
· Archetypal subject matter exists in all cultures and is embodied in the formal and informal aspects of art.
· The cohesiveness of a work of art and its ability to communicate a theme or narrative can be directly affected by the artist’s technical proficiency as well as by the manner and physical context in which it is performed or shown.
· Art and art-making reflect and affect the role of technology in a global society.
CPI # / Cumulative Progress Indicator (CPI)
1.1.12.D.1 / Distinguish innovative applications of the elements of art and principles of design in visual artworks from diverse cultural perspectives and identify specific cross-cultural themes.
1.2.12.A.1 / Determine how dance, music, theatre, and visual art have influenced world cultures throughout history.
1.3.12.D.2 / Produce an original body of artwork in one or more art mediums that demonstrates mastery of visual literacy, methods, techniques, and cultural understandings.
1.3.12.D.4 / Analyze the syntax and compositional and stylistic principles of two- and three-dimensional artworks in multiple art media (including computer-assisted artwork), and interpret themes and symbols suggested by the artworks.
1.4.12.A.2 / Speculate on the artist’s intent, using discipline-specific arts terminology and citing embedded clues to substantiate the hypothesis.
1.4.12.A.3 / Develop informed personal responses to an assortment of artworks across the four arts disciplines (dance, music, theatre, and visual art), using historical significance, craftsmanship, cultural context, and originality as criteria for assigning value to the works.
1.4.12.A.4 / Evaluate how exposure to various cultures influences individual, emotional, intellectual, and kinesthetic responses to artwork.
1.4.12.B.1 / Formulate criteria for arts evaluation using the principles of positive critique and observation of the elements of art and principles of design, and use the criteria to evaluate work of dance, music, theatre, visual and multimedia artwork from diverse cultural contexts and historical eras.
1.4.12.B.2 / Evaluate how an artist’s technical proficiency may affect the creation or presentation of a work of art, as well as how the context in which a work is performed or shown may impact perceptions of its significance/meaning.
1.4.12.B.3 / Determine the role of art and art-making in a global society by analyzing the influence of technology on the visual, performing, and multimedia arts for consumers, creators, and performers around the world.
Unit Essential Questions
· Does art have boundaries?
· How can you make your voice heard through art?
· How does the critical process enable you to formulate judgments regarding the artistic and aesthetic merits of artworks? / Unit Enduring Understandings
· People express themselves in unique ways based on socio-economic, political, and geographical considerations.
· Breaking accepted norms often gives rise to new forms of artistic expression.
· Art can be a dynamic and poignant means of communication and can serve as a catalyst for action.
· The critical process of observing, describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating leads to judgment regarding the relative merits of artworks.
Unit Learning Targets
Students will ...
· Explore how various artists throughout history have employed their creativity to document and/or respond to contemporary social issues.
· Analyze artistic responses to terrorism.
· Understand that the history of “art as social commentary” is a long-lived, cultural narrative about the world that involves rules and rule-breaking.
· Use 21st-century technology to communicate and collaborate with German students.
· Co-design, plan, and execute two final paintings with an international partner.
· Use studio processes to work toward final drafts of planned collaborative paintings.
· Maintain digital art portfolios.
· Share work and engage in positive critique with each other and their international partners.
· Reflect on the artwork they observe, events of terror they have witnessed, or events of terror that they read or hear about, and respond using literary modes of writing.
· Reflect on and self-assess their work.
· Host up to four related exhibitions that together illustrate the impact on youth of the global issue of terrorism.
Evidence of Learning
Summative Assessment
Each student collaborates on the creation of two works of art, working with a German student as a partner, using online tools, as well as by shipping paintings back and forth overseas. Through their artworks, students take a position on and/or articulate a response to acts of terrorism, as they define the term. Over the course of this extended process-driven unit, they design, plan, execute, critique, and discuss their developing artwork until the two paintings are brought to completion. In addition, they exhibit, photograph, and save their work in digital portfolios, as well as create a virtual gallery of their collaborative creations.
Equipment needed: Traditional painting media, canvas/canvas board, watercolor paper, student computers, Web conferencing set-up, LCD projector, scanner
Teacher Resources:
See Visual Arts Rubric for performance expectations.
Formative Assessments
· Class discussions
· Quick sketches
· Guided Internet research
· Responses to guided questions
· Presentations on “Art as Social Commentary”
· Participation in Web conferences
· Blog entries
· Use of sketchbook as a visual diary to record ideas and related research
· Communication with international partners / · Artistic ideas/concepts
· Thumbnail sketches
· Self-Critiques
· Critiques of others
· Journal entries
· Draft and final paintings
· Digital portfolios
· Reflective writing
· Literary responses to terrorism
· Exhibitions
Lesson Plans
Lesson / Timeframe*
Lesson 1
Art as Social Commentary / 10 days
Lesson 2
Witness to Terror / 15 days
Lesson 3
Art in Action I / 15 days
Lesson 4
Art in Action II / 7-10 days
* Based on a 50-minute class period.
Teacher Notes
· This unit was developed and piloted in Jersey City, N. J., where many students had firsthand experiences with the horrific collapse of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. However, the unit does not depend on this kind of experience. Teachers are encouraged to help students define “terrorism” to include whatever experiences make the unit most relevant for them; for example, many students have experience with bullying, domestic violence, gang violence, or even what could be called “terrorism by media” (e.g., the uncut depiction of violence in the news).
· Because German students begin their study of English in the early grades, language poses no barrier to oral or written communication during this unit.
· Prior to the implementation of this unit, a cultural partnership needs to be established between the local school and a school in Germany. (One way to do this is to post a request on Epals.com for a teacher-partner by describing the nature of the collaboration you have in mind; you can also scan existing postings for a possible pairing.) Once the partnership is established, the parameters for the unit should be determined collaboratively by the American and German teachers; this can be done via email, video conferencing (e.g., Skype.com, OoVoo.com or Wimba.com), and online discussion boards (e.g., EPals). The unit should be implemented simultaneously in America and in Germany.
· This unit also presents opportunities for interdisciplinary adaptations that individual teachers may wish to pursue on their own, based on the contexts in which they teach. For example:
· Art teachers might wish to consult with their students’ social studies teachers to learn whether students are studying relevant historic acts of terrorism (e.g., Native American Removal [Trail of Tears], American slavery, the Great Depression, the Holocaust, Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989, the Vietnam War, 9/11, etc.); the unit could then be adapted so that all students create artistic responses to the same event. It would be necessary to make changes to student handouts (e.g., to the resources students use) before implementing the unit.
· World Languages is another potential link for interdisciplinary learning. While the unit can be conducted in English, blogs and other communication between students from the two countries present many opportunities for students to communicate in a language other than English. Thus, the choice of country for collaboration presents another possible adaptation, which can be done by working with a World Languages teacher.
· This unit uses poetry to provide students with multiple opportunities to respond emotionally to what they learn about terrorism. This connection—which can be tied to either the curricular or extra-curricular programs—may be strengthened through collaboration with language arts teachers, or may also be used to engage other groups of students in the topic and process. For example, the unit could also be the focus of students’ work in their English classes, or the unit could be broadened to include a poetry class, to be the theme of a literary magazine, or to be the subject of a journalism course. In the latter cases, student exhibits could also be broadened to include the literary responses of the other students.
· Depending on the time available for the unit, some of the technological work can be facilitated through a collaboration with a technology teacher (e.g., students in a Website design course could be responsible for creating the virtual gallery).
· Early in the international teacher-to-teacher communication about this unit, the collaborating teachers should discuss the combined impact of their schedules and time zones on the potential for real-time Web-conferencing.
· Depending on the professional relationship that emerges between the collaborating teachers, the unit may be further enhanced by planned team-teaching using Web-conferencing. For example, through video conferencing, the teachers could alternate the facilitation of mini-lessons or the demonstration of art techniques. Similarly, discussions and student presentations could be enhanced by opening them up to students from both countries using this technology.
· Though it should be slight, there is some cost associated with the unit, due to the shipping of artworks (canvases) overseas. Teachers are advised to look into these costs before implementing the unit, as the cost may be based on the overall dimensions, as well as weight, of packages. The size of students’ final artworks may have to be determined based on this limitation.
· Because this unit relies on Web-conferencing and other high-end technologies (such as Website creation), individual teachers may want to consult with a school- or district-level technology expert to ensure everything goes smoothly. Possible interactive technologies include oovoo (http://www.oovoo.com/), Skype (http://www.skype.com/), iChat (http://www.apple.com/macosx/what-is-macosx/ichat.html), and others. During planned whole-class Web-conferences, it may minimize disruptions to open a “chat” window with the collaborating teacher so that you can communicate in real time about any technical difficulties that may arise.