When first encountering contemporary art, the viewer is confronted with particular challenges--the works can be both surprising in application of materials and provocative in presentation. Contemporary art can confound its audience as they attempt to decode and interpret its meaning. This Instructional Resource outlines an approach for art…

This article describes a lesson, designed for second graders, that begins with the teacher showing and talking about a few landscape fundamentals: horizon line, depth, and the mood or feeling that a work of art inspires. A class discussion ensues about how an artist's images can make one feel, how they can convey calmness, warmth, anxiety, or a…

Some teaching ideas for promoting art appreciation in children. (SJL)

In rural Goldsboro, North Carolina, most young students have little awareness of art and its importance in their lives. The author designed a 45-minute lesson for grades K-4 which helps children to recognize and appreciate artworks that exist around them. (SJL)

Outlines and illustrates a process of teacher-student dialog based on Ingarden's analysis of art appreciation and Beardsley's discussion of art criticism. A qualified teacher guides student in grasping a work of art's pervasive quality, describing and interpreting its parts and relations, and judging the overall expression of the work. (AM)

The author suggests that we tend to give short shrift to sculpture when we go to art museums and great architectural landmarks. She describes various forms of sculpture: carving; modeling; modern plastics, rope, glass, rubber; and mobiles. (KC)

Classroom teachers are in a unique position to help children develop an aesthetic awareness. Suggestions for an art appreciation program and materials are discussed. (MT)

Explains how senior high school students increased their ability to critically analyze the visual images that bombard them daily through television by making a videotape which involved the students in critiquing the paintings of Francis Silver. (JDH)

Provides a visual analysis of Wayne Thiebaud's painting of a San Francisco street scene, "Corner Apartments (Down 18th Street)." Identifies key concepts, provides a brief biography, and suggests four elementary level and five secondary level follow-up activities. (JDH)

Discusses how reproductions of original art works can be used in art education. Included are learning activities designed to help K-12 students develop an appreciation for original works of art and reproductions. (AM)

Describes how two approaches to learning in art--art history and art criticism--can enable high school students to learn a great deal about, and from, a work of art. The article also discusses what an art historian does and then compares this to what a critic does. (AM)

Suggests ways in which art can be used to introduce students in high school level social studies classes to Japanese culture. Methods include showing students pictures of screens or buildings, asking students to write paragraphs about daily life, asking students to analyze woodblock prints, and directing students to read and try their hand at…

Adolescents need classroom assignments which require their interaction with a work of art. Learning activities which will help students find meaning in art are described. (RM)

Describes an approach for teaching art appreciation in elementary art classes in which the teacher does not tell students what they should see in a picture but asks them what they could see. As an example, how second graders discussed and told stories about the picture "American Gothic" is described. (AM)

Examples are given of ways in which elementary teachers can develop art appreciation among their learning disabled students. Activities described are based on techniques of M. Montessori and involve labeling pictures, building an art appreciation vocabulary, and going on a museum trip. (CL)