Art Inquiry

A WebQuest for 9th-12th Grade Visual Art
 

           Designed by:    Julie Dayton-Plyter

plyterj@cr.orange.k12.nc.us

Cedar Ridge High School
Hillsborough, North Carolina
Cedar Ridge HS Website

Introduction | Task | Process | Evaluation | Conclusion | Acknowledgments

 
 

Introduction

Inquiry-Based Art

     An inquiry-based approach uses questions to help students learn. Students formulate questions and search for answers in their own
experiences and by consulting knowledgeable sources. By using this approach, students grasp concepts and ideas differently than if they learn by listening or if teachers teach by telling.

Inquiry-based learning and teaching:
     puts control and direction in the hands of the learner;  provides focus for comparison and generalization;  guides investigation into the unknown; stimulates imagination about possibilities.

Inquiry bases its learning on the following four key questions:
    How is the reproduction different from the original artwork?
    How was the artwork made?
    What visual elements did the maker choose?
    What was the natural world like where the artwork was made?
 

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Task

Art Historical Questions
    Art historians ask many different kinds of questions as they attempt to more fully understand artworks. They ask factual questions about artworks
and about the contexts in which artworks are made. They ask interpretive questions to help them understand what they meant in the culture in
which they were made. And they ask questions to help them better understand how individual artworks relate to other artworks.
***Your task is to navigate yourself through the web, using the following given links, to successfully research Art Historical exemplars.    Once you have researched at least three different examples, you will use the Process' questioning methods to analyze the artwork.

Search Engines: Google, Teoma, NC Wise Owl, Noodle Quest

Use the following sites for Art References: Artchive, ArtEncyclopedia, Art Lex Art Dictionary, Arts Edge, Art Museum.Net, Museum of Web Art.

Process

Discipline-Based Art Education Approach
Discipline-based art education (DBAE) draws its content from the four disciplines of art making, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics.
 


Art History Questions
Michelangelo
I.  Facts About The Artwork:
     A.Reproductions
          What can I learn about how this reproduction is different from the original artwork?
      B.Condition
          What can I determine about the condition of the artwork?
      C.Subject Matter
          What can I determine about what the artwork depicts, if anything?
      D.Tools, Materials, And Processes
          What can learn out about how the artwork was made?
       E.Sensory Elements
          What visual elements do you see?
       F.Formal Organization
          How do the elements in the artwork fit together?

   II.Contextual Facts:
        A.Natural Context
          What can I learn about the natural environment where the artwork was made?
        B.Functional Context
          What can I learn about how the artwork was used?
        C.Cultural Context
          What can I determine about what people thought, believed, or did in the culture in which the artwork was made?
        D.Artworld Context
          What can I learn about the art ideas, beliefs, and activities that were important in the culture in which the artwork was made?

  III.Cultural/Historical Interpretation
        A.Maker's Intention
          What can I learn about why the maker wanted the artwork to look the way it does?
        B.Viewer Understanding
          What can I determine about how the viewer, patron, or user understood the artwork?
        C.Cultural Impact
          What can I learn about how the artwork was understood within culture in which it was made?
        D.Your Understanding
          What does the artwork mean to you here and now?

  IV.Explanation Of Relationships Among Artworks:
        A.Style
          How does the artwork look like other artworks?
        B.Influence
          What can I find out about how earlier artworks influenced this artwork or about whether this artwork influenced later artworks?
         C.Theme
          What general ideas might help explain the artwork?
 


Questions In Art Criticism

   I.Description: What do I see? ( feel, hear, smell, taste)?
        A.Subject Matter: Does the artwork depict anything? If so, what?
        B.Medium: What tools, materials, or processes did the art maker use?
        C.Form: What elements did the maker choose and how did the maker organize the elements?

   II.Interpretation: What is the artwork about?
        A.Interpretive Statement: Can I express what I think the artwork is about in one sentence?
        B.Evidence: What evidence inside or outside the artwork supports my interpretation?

  III.Judgment: Is it a good artwork?
        A.Criteria: What criteria do I think are most appropriate for judging the artwork?
        B.Evidence: What evidence inside or outside the artwork relates to each criterion?
        C.Judgment: Based on the criteria and evidence, what is my judgment about the quality of the artwork?


Questions In Aesthetics

   I.Artworks: What is an artwork?

   II.Art Makers: What do art makers do when they make art?

  III.Responders: What do people do when they respond to art?

  IV.Values: How is the value of art related to other values in the world?


Art Making Questions

   I.Beginning With Ideas: Why do I make art?
        A.My Ideas: What ideas come from me? (motivation, inspiration, aspiration, problem)
        B.Outside Ideas: What ideas come from the rest of the world? (other sources for ideas)

   II.Working With Choices: Which choices are most important to me?
         A.Sensory Choices: What sensory elements do I choose? Why?
         B.Formal Choices: How do I choose to organize the elements? Why?
         C.Technical Choices: What tools, materials, and processes do I choose? Why?
         D.Cultural Choices: How do my choices reflect the ideas, beliefs, and activities of my culture?
         E.Artworld Choices: What art ideas, beliefs, and activities do I choose and from whom have I learned them?

  III.Achieving Goals: When finished, did I succeed?
        A.Choosing A Goal: What was I trying to do? craftspersonship? expressiveness? form? historical or art historical significance? learning? originality?
          realism? utility or effectiveness? other?
        B.Evidence: What evidence is there that I met my goals? evidence in my artwork? evidence outside my artwork?
        C.Judgment: Did I do what I wanted to do?

The Art Room
Evaluation

   Students  will be graded on your written evaluations given to your selected artworks based on the questions given in the Process section.
    I.  Reproduction: Can students point to differences between reproductions and original artworks? Can they imagine how their own artwork might look in reproduction?
    II. Technical Features: Can students identify tools, materials, and processes others have used to make artworks? Can students reflect on their own choices of tools, materials, and processes in art making?
    III.  Shape: Can students identify shapes (simple vs. complex, organic vs. geometric, positive vs. negative) in the artworks of others? Can students reflect on their own choices of shapes in art making?
    IV. Natural Context: Do students understand that a person's natural context can affects how that person makes and understands art? Can students use nature as a source for art making ideas?

Conclusion
    Students will have learned how to successfully navigate themselves through the web to research artwork.  Students will have developed their thinking and evaluating techniques in order to properly view, and critique, artwork.
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Acknowledgements

Images provided by: Animation Factory.com
Discoveryschool.com Clip Art Gallery
Teacherfiles.com - Educational Clip Art
DBAE references provided by: Gettty Art Ed Net


Date Created: March 6, 2003. Based on a template from The WebQuest Page