Art Inquiry by Mary Erickson

1. Art Inquiry by Mary Erickson

2. This presentation shows how using an inquiry strategy can help students: • I. Find meaningful connections between viewing art and making art. • II. Develop skills identified in the National Core Visual Arts Standards. • III. Develop English Language Arts skills identified in the Common Core Standards.

3. Inquiry Strategy Two mascots represent the complementary processes of an inquiry strategy. @Tempe Center for the Arts and Mary Erickson, 2014 www..tempe.gov/TCAeducation Questor is a viewer, Jack is an artist, curious about artworks. jumping for new art ideas.

4. Part I: Using an inquiry strategy helps students find meaningful connections between viewing art and making art.

5. This strategy starts with four viewer’s questions (Questor Questions) you and your students can ask about any artwork, in any sequence. What Can I See? What Can I Learn about the Artist’s Life and Times? I See? What Can I Learn about the Artist’s Life & Times? How Does it Compare What Does it Mean? to Other Artworks?

6. The four viewer’s questions correlate with four artist questions (Jack Questions) you and your students can ask, in any sequence, about their own art making. What Choices will I What Ideas Can I Get from Make in My Own Artwork? My Own Life and Times?See? What Can I Learn about the Artist’s Life & Times? What Ideas Can I Get What Do I Want to from Looking at Other Art? Achieve with My Art?

7. Questor and Jack’s four very broad questions can be broken into general starter questions to initiate further inquiry.

8. How well students understand or appreciate an artwork can depend on how carefully they look at it. Students’ artworks look as they do because of their choices. Text What Can I See in the Artwork? What Choices Will I Make in My Artwork? KE

9. These are general questions you can ask about any artwork to help direct your students’ inquiry through careful observation and decision making. SUBJECT MATTER DESIGN ELEMENTS DESIGN PRINCIPLES What people, places, or things, if any, are shown in this artwork? What one or two elements (line, shape, light & dark, color, texture, mass, space, or other) are most important in this artwork? Why? How did the artist use design principles to organize elements within this artwork? Will my artwork have subject matter? What one or two elements of design is most important for the success of my artwork? What design principles can I use to organize the elements into an interesting and unified composition? (Continued on next slide) Text

10. (Continued from preceding slide) These, too, are general questions you can ask about any artwork to help direct your students’ inquiry through careful observation and decision making. What tools, materials, and processes am I considering? What qualities in my artwork might be difficult to capture in a reproduction (or example, if it were reproduced online or in a photograph or scan). How can I best present and preserve my artwork? What can I see in the artwork that shows the tools, materials, or process the artist used to make it? What might I be missing if Iam not looking at the actual artwork but at a reproduction? How is this artwork protected from harm? Has its condition deteriorated over time? TECHNICAL FEATURES REPRODUCTION CARE Text

11. Sometimes students need information about where and when an artist made an artwork to make sense of it. Students can get art ideas from many sources, including their own life experiences. Text What Can I Learn about the Life and Times of the Artist? What Ideas Can I Get from My Own Life and Times?

12. These are general questions you can ask about any artwork to help direct your students’ contextual inquiry. What art ideas can I get from my own personal or family experiences? What ideas might I get from my physical environment? What ideas might I get from my culture? Can I get ideas from my art classes, fellow art students, art teachers, or maybe museum visits? Will my work have a function? If so, what function? ARTIST’S LIFE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT CULTURE ARTWORLD FUNCTION What are/were the personal background and life experiences of the artist? What are/was the natural or built environment/s like where the artist lives/lived and works/worked? What is the artist’s culture? What do/did people think, believe, and do in that culture? What art training, traditions, movements, and expectations surround/ed the artist? What function or purpose does/did this artwork serve? For whom? Text

13. Finding connections with other artworks can bring new perspectives to any artwork. Students can get ideas for their own art by exploring artworks by other artists. How Does this Artwork Compare with Other Artworks? What Ideas Can I Get from Looking at Other Art?

14. These are general questions you can ask about any artwork to help direct your students’ inquiry into relationships among artworks. Do I want my artwork to be similar in style to my other artworks or artworks other artists have made? How has my artwork been influenced by other artists or their work? What other artist has expresses a big idea similar to the theme in which I am interested? How is this artwork similar in style to other artworks made in the same context (by the same artist, within his/her movement, or within her/his culture)? What earlier artists or artworks influenced this artist? What other artworks can be associated with the theme underlying this artwork? STYLE INFLUENCE THEME Text

15. Interpretation is a process of finding meaning in an artwork and supporting one’s conclusion with evidence. Students may have clear ideas about what they want to do before making their artworks or their ideas may evolve as they work. What Does this Artwork Mean? What Do I Want to Achieve with My Artwork?

16. These are general questions you can ask about any artwork to help direct your students’ inquiry into what artworks might mean and into setting their own art making goals. Why did the artist want this artwork to look as it does? How do/did art specialists understand this artwork? How was this artwork understood within the culture of its time or by members of other subcultures (not art specialists)? How might my own personal experiences affect how I understand this artwork? What is my goal as an artist? How would I like my artwork to be understood in the artworld? Which artworld? Do I want my work to reflect or impact my culture or society? What are my personal goals for this artwork? ARTIST’S INTENTION ART SPECIALISTS’ UNDERSTANDINGS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS YOUR OWN VIEWPOINT Text

17. .

18. Inquiry Strategy as Scaffold A scaffold is a temporary structure that provides a place where workers can stand as they construct, paint, repair, or otherwise maintain a permanent structure, like a building, tower, or bridge. Like any scaffold, this art inquiry strategy is important only as long as it is useful to you and/or your students. Ultimately, as you and/or your students adapt or replace this scaffold, you become independent inquirers directing your own inquiries about art and through art making.

19. Part II: Using an inquiry strategy helps students develop skills identified in the National Core Visual Arts Standards. The National Core Visual Arts Standards focus on four artistic processes, further identified in 11 anchor standards: CREATING (Cr) = 3 PRESENTING (Pr) = 3 RESPONDING (Re) = 3 CONNECTING (Cn) = 2

20. Art inquiry offers entry points for planning instruction to address all eleven national standards.

21. SUBJECT MATTER DESIGN ELEMENTS DESIGN PRINCIPLES TECHNICAL FEATURES REPRODUCTION CARE TO MEET CREATING AND PRESENTING ANCHOR STANDARDS Cr2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. (Also PLAN inquiry) Cr3. Refine and complete artistic work. (Also PLAN inquiry) Pr1. Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation. Text

22. SUBJECT MATTER DESIGN ELEMENTS DESIGN PRINCIPLES TECHNICAL FEATURES REPRODUCTION CARE TO MEET PRESENTING AND RESPONDING ANCHOR STANDARDS Pr3. Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation. (Also INTERPRET inquiry) Re1. Perceive and analyze artistic work. Text

23. ARTIST’S LIFE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT CULTURE ARTWORLD FUNCTION TO MEET CREATING AND CONNECTING ANCHOR STANDARDS Text Cr1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. (Also EXPLORE and PLAN inquiry) Cn1. Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art. Cn2. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. (Also LEARN, COMPARE, and EXPLORE inquiry)

24. ARTIST’S LIFE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT CULTURE ARTWORLD FUNCTION TO MEET CONNECTING ANCHOR STANDARD Cn2. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. (Also SEEK, COMPARE, and EXPLORE inquiry) Text

25. TO MEET CREATING AND CONNECTING ANCHOR STANDARDS STYLE INFLUENCE THEME Cr1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. (Also SEEK and PLAN inquiry) Cn2. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. (Also SEEK and LEARN inquiry)

26. STYLE INFLUENCE THEME TO MEET RESPONDING AND CONNECTING ANCHOR STANDARDS Re3. Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. (Also INTERPRET inquiry) Cn2. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical context to deepen understanding. (Also LEARN and EXPLORE inquiry)

27. ARTIST’S INTENTION ART SPECIALISTS’ UNDERSTANDINGS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS YOUR OWN VIEWPOINT TO MEET CREATING ANCHOR STANDARDS Cr1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. (Also SEEK and EXPLORE inquiry) Cr2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. (Also CHOOSE inquiry) Cr3. Refine and complete artistic work. (Also CHOOSE inquiry)

28. ARTIST’S INTENTION ART SPECIALISTS’ UNDERSTANDINGS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS YOUR OWN VIEWPOINT TO MEET PRESENTING AND RESPONDING ANCHOR STANDARDS Pr2. Convey meaning through the presentation of artwork. Pr3. Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation. (Also LOOK inquiry) Re2. Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work. Re3. Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. (Also COMPARE inquiry)

29. Part III: Using an inquiry strategy helps students develop English Language Arts (ELA) skills identified in the Common Core standards. Sample reading and writing standards for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-10 are listed. NOTE: Artworks can be understood both as primary sources and as text.

30. SUBJECT MATTER DESIGN ELEMENTS DESIGN PRINCIPLES TECHNICAL FEATURES REPRODUCTION CARE TO MEET READING COMMON CORE STANDARDS Elementary: R.4: Interpret words and phrases [and images]* as they are used in a text [artwork*], including determining technical, connotative, and figurative meanings, and analyze how specific word [and visual]* choices shape meaning or tone. Middle School: RST.6-8.4: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts [artworks]* and topics. High School: RST.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or technical [artistic] context relevant to grades 9–10 texts and topics. *Artworks are considered to be text in art inquiry. Text

31. ARN TO MEET READING COMMON CORE STANDARDS ARTISTS LIFE PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT CULTURE ARTWORLD FUNCTION Elementary: R.1: Read closely to determine what the text [artwork]* says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual [and visual]* evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the text [artwork]*. Middle School: RST.6-8.1: Cite specific textual [and visual]* evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts [artworks]*. High School: RST.9-10.1: Cite specific textual [and visual]* evidence to support analysis of science and technical texts [artworks], attending to the precise details of explanations or descriptions. *Artworks are considered to be text in art inquiry. Text

32. STYLE INFLUENCE THEME TO MEET READING COMMON CORE STANDARDS Elementary: R.9: Analyze how two or more texts [artworks] address similar themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the authors [artists] take. Middle School: 6-8.RH.9. Analyze the relationship between a primary** and secondary source on the same topic. High School: 9-10.RH.9. Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic in several primary** and secondary sources. *Artworks are considered to be text in art inquiry. **Artworks are dominant primary courses in art inquiry. *.

33. ARTIST’S INTENTION ART SPECIALISTS’ UNDERSTANDINGS CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS YOUR OWN VIEWPOINT TO MEET WRITING COMMON CORE STANDARDS Elementary: W.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts [artworks]* using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. Middle School: WHST.6-8.2f: Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented. High School: WHST.9-10.2f: Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic). *Artworks are considered to be text in art inquiry.

34. Art Inquiry Resouces Almost all instructional materials on Mary Erickson Ventures focus on art inquiry. For a PowerPoint presentation that introduces young people to art inquiry, click on “Tempe Center for the Arts Lessons”, then scroll down and click on “Twenty Questions”.

35. References Addiss, S. & Erickson, M. (1993). Art history and art education, Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois. Erickson, M. (2005). Art making and meaning. Tucson, AZ: Crizmac. Erickson, M. (1983). Teaching art history as inquiry process, Art Education, 35(5), 28-31. Erickson, M. (2002). Stories of art. Tucson, AZ: Crizmac. Erickson, M. (1977). Uses of history in art education. Studies in Art Education, 18(3), 22-29. Erickson, M. & Villeneuve, P. (2004). Educators Resource. In G. Keller. M. Erickson, & P. Villeneuve (Eds.), Chicano art for our millennium (pp.155-191). Bilingual Press: Tempe, AZ. Erickson, M., Dock, M., & Eldridge, L. (2010). Questor questions. School Arts, 109(3), pp. 44-25. National Art Education Association. (2014). National core visual arts standards, www.artseducators.org