The unit of study that the following 3 books and 2 websites will enhance is an art history inquiry unit for 7th-8th grade students. The unit will begin with students briefly researching art period or movements and selecting a specific art movement or period to be their topic of research. The reason for allowing students to select their area of study is the hope that that students will find a movement that speaks to them and be excited to learn more about it. Once each student has selected an area of study they will begin researching the art movement. Research will include characteristics or qualities of the artwork in the art movement or period, where it tool place, prominent artists and examples of artwork from the period or movement. After the students have conducted their research using a jigsaw method they will present their findings to the entire class while notes are taken. A short quiz unique to each class will be created from the information in the presentations. Students will be allowed to complete the quiz using the notes they have taken in class.
The History of Art text is a organized by geographical location and time period. The book is beautifully illustrated to extend student understanding of techniques and artist methods. The text is best suited for an Art History unit. Various art movements and time periods are described with easy to understand text supported by examples of famous artworks. Students will gain a greater understanding of how artworks were created in various time periods because of the well illustrated methods. (ex. the building of Stonehenge, The Parthenon, etc) The reasons for artworks creations are given in an easy to comprehend manner. Additionally various artist techniques of the time period are offered up to help students understand the timeline of art history better. Times range from the earliest civilizations all around the world to modern day art movements given students a clear overview of how art has progressed through the ages.
This text will support the unit by providing a source of information that students can use in their presentations. Individual artists, and artworks that correspond to a variety of artistic movements ranging from 15,000 B.C.E. to the 20th century. Students will be able to find information for their presentations in this text.
Exploring World Art by Andrea Belloli not only discusses time periods in which works of art were created in but also the geographical locations they were found. This provides a unique presentation of the subject matter. This book covers time periods between early human expressions up to modern works. The text covers a wide range of mediums to work in from early stonework, pottery, and sculpture, as well as painting and other traditional mediums. For every work of art, dates of its creation, where it was created, who created it and reasons for it are supplied that will identify cultural values, customs or beliefs. This information provided by the book gives complete idea of the purpose and meaning of the art history surrounding each work. Additionally, timelines and maps printed in the book enhance student understanding of art history as a whole by contextualizing the art period or movement.
Belloli's text not only covers a wide range of artistic movements or periods with rich examples for students to use in their presentations, but also explains the reasons for technique, design and subject matter. Students will use this text as an additional resource to support their research for their art history inquiry projects. The addition of timelines and maps in the text will help students contextualize their art movement by geography and time.
Looking at pictures by Joy Richardson is a full color, easy to read book, exploring paintings. The text is very clearly written and easy to understand with vibrant illustrations and pictures describing various artistic techniques. The reproduction of famous artworks is impressive, very little is lost in the translation of original work to photograph in this book. Looking at Pictures centers around paintings, exploring a variety of subject matter: painting techniques used, iconography, symbolism, lighting of subjects and landscapes among other prominent themes in painting. The text explains narratives involved in famous paintings, and also the historical context in which an artwork was created in. Various techniques and the time period they were predominantly used in are explored and explained.
Looking at pictures focuses on explanation of technique, narrative and subject matter in famous paintings. If a student's chosen art movement is exemplified in this text they will be able to accurately and completely describe the circumstances surrounding the image. The students will be able to use paintings from the book to characterize the artistic movements during their presentation. Though there are only 77 pages of images that can be used a wide range of styles and artists are covered.
The time periods covered by the "Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History" range from 8000 B.C.E to present day. Each part of the time line can be searched by geographical location and provides examples of art that came out of that time in place. The timeline also provides the historical context in which the works or are were created, discussing key events that shaped the artwork created in that time and place. Additionally there are thematic essays related to the time period and location that further expand upon the influences on the art.
This website will aid students in completion of the unit in a variety of ways. There are digital examples of artist work that students can use in their presentations. There is information about specific artistic movements on the web site that will help students plan their presentations. The map aspect of this website will enable students to place artists, and art movements into geographical context. The thematic essays that accompany each period in art history provided will further allow students to describe what influenced the characteristics of their artworks, artist and period.
The Art History Resources website is authored by Dr. Christopher L.C.E. Witcombe an art historian and professor at Sweet Briar College in Virginia. His website chronicles and links to resources from the prehistoric era to the present day art movements. There are extensive links to meaningful works of art in every part of the history of art. In my exploration of this impressive collection of artworks and artists I found a few links that were no longer active, this shortcoming is easily overshadowed by the sheer volume of information. It would take an unreasonable amount of time to explore every time period, artist and meaningful work of art, the website is so in depth and detailed.
This site would serve as a primary resource in Art History Unit research project. Each student will select their specific period in art history. The students would then use the Art History Resources website to research their assigned time period, identifying meaningful works and influential artists that characterize the time period in art history. This website could also serve as the initial research for the students to select their art period. The amount of images on the site will provide students with artwork examples to show during their presentations.
Bibliography
Belloli, A. P. (1999). Exploring World Art. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum.
Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 7.2
Campbell, T. P. (2000). Heilburnn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/world-regions/
The Heilburnn Timeline of Art History website is appropriate for a large range of student reading levels. It would be appropriate for 8th grade to college level readers depending on how deep into the information the student goes. The layout is simple and easy to use but some of the thematic essays are written at a very high level.
Merlo, C. (2000). The History of Art: From Ancient to Modern Times. Chicago, Illinois: P. Bedrick Books.
Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 8.5
Richardson, J. (1997). Looking at Pictures: An Introduction to Art For Young People. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Incorporated
Flesch-Kincaid Grade level: 6.7
Witcombe, C. (1995, October 24). Art History Resources. Retrieved from http://arthistoryresources.net/
The Art History Resources website is appropriate for students in the 8th to 9th grade reading level the layout is very easy to use and the language is concise.
