an awfully big adventure

Assignment: Using material from Chapter 4, create a lesson that provides a detailed description of how you plan to make art history, criticism, and aesthetics interesting and thought provoking:

I have an excellent activity to make art criticism, aesthetics and art history fun for students. Students will each have their own copy of the printout below when exploring a museum as a classroom:

SMELL	Fresh grass Flowers	..	..
SEE	Canoes and boats Animals running Bright blue sky	..	..
TASTE	snacks by the waterfront	..	....
EAR	Monkey chattering Dogs barking Canoers yelling Kids chatting	..	..

Students will choose at least three different art pieces that they will study and describe in writing. The students will be presented with some descriptive words before heading into the museum. These words will help them later when writing their summaries.

For example let’s assume a student chose the painting, “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte” by Seurat. For the SMELL section students will describe what they think they would smell in the setting. In this painting perhaps you would smell the fresh air of the park or the smoke coming from the man with the pipe. For the TASTE section a student could describe eating some snacks by the waterfront. For the HEAR section a student could describe the sound of the wind rushing through the park, the calls of friends on the canoes, or the monkey chattering to the puppy.

This art criticism activity helps students immerse themselves into a work of art. Students will study and discover the aesthetics of their chosen piece. By placing themselves in a painting they are forced to think critically about what one would hear, taste, smell and see. They will also write a summary of the art piece’s history. Students will seek out the small details and notice more about the piece.

After describing certain pieces students will select their favorite piece and present it to the class. This immersive activity helps students form appreciation and a unique personal relationship with art.