I feel it very important for art history to be taught in the classroom. Teaching about where art has been and the changes that have been made, and the theory and rational behind these movements allows students to build on that groundwork and conversation. Also, as they learn about art students will be able to latch on to things that they like and are interested in. They also will be confronted with art that they don't like - exploring these artists and movements that they find distasteful may give them an even greater understanding of what their artistic taste and sensibilities are.
As I thought about how to incorporate teaching Art Criticism, Theory, and History, I thought back to successful ways that my teachers in the past have taught it. I found that my most successful art and history teachers - instead of drawling over dates, timelines, and numbers - taught history as a compelling and engaging narrative. Providing nuanced details, and interesting side events in conjunction with the main even.
I feel that it would be interesting to propose the ideas and theory of certain moments through art making activities. I feel like the best way to teach Art History would be to incorporate the art history into art making. Maybe present scenarios to students where they have to go through the same problem solving process that important artists went through. A few activities that I thought of are:
- Dadaism: Teach some rules or conventions to the students, then have them deliberately break those rules in a project.
- Impressionism: Set up a still life, and move the light source every 10 minutes, having the students try and capture the differences and subtleties of the light.
- Abstract expressionism: Have students try to create a replica of a Pollock, Rothko, Kooning, Kline, Gorky etc.
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