I teach Art History, visual expressions in the Western World from Prehistoric to the Modern era. When I step into the classroom of community college students on the First Day, I use our time as an opportunity to spark their curiosity into the fascinating journey of art production.
Students pursuing a degree are required to take credit level courses in the Arts and for most of my students, it is the reason they registered for the course. A greater number of my students have little experience looking at art, visiting museums or participate in making art; drawing, painting, or even an interest in the arts. They are there, to put it plainly, to achieve the 3 credits needed to fulfill the requirement.
To help students realize they are more connected and more engaged in our visual world, I ask the following questions: “When has a work of art, something you either created or saw, made a significant impact on your life? What were the qualities or context that made the work so significant? “
I write on the whiteboard what they share— Students who openly said they knew nothing about art before this writing exercise, offer many wonderful examples. My favorites include Egyptian hieroglyphics because there is “meaning behind the pictures,” doodling in a notebook because “drawing is meditative,” photoshop pictures ( like the Kardashians on Instagram, I asked?), photographs of planets because they show “how small we really are,” old propaganda posters from WWII for the way they “persuaded citizens,” computer code because the end product is a game, and Norman Rockwell paintings, “because they look so real.”
This simple writing exercise creates an open dialogue that offers me the opportunity to connect students individually, beyond their immediate experiences with “art” to the broader world of visual expression. It also enables me to learn more about what fascinates or interests them so I can tailor the way I present the artworks in future classes.