Art Activities – Explore Art

Activity objective: to develop skills in collecting and making judgements about primary and secondary source material and forming and expressing personal opinions.

Classroom Activities

Find three different quotes about art. These quotes might be views that define art, or views that express an opinion about the function or role of art. Make sure your quotes include people with different perspectives and experiences of art. An internet search for ‘art quotes’ will get you started, but you should also source at least one original quote from someone you know, such as a family member or a friend.

Add your quotes to those found by others in your class to create a class collection of art quotes.

Identify from the collection one quote that makes you think differently about art. Who made this statement? Suggest why this person might have this view. Why or how did this quote change your thinking about art?

Match another of the quotes to an artwork. Explain why you believe this quote is relevant to the artwork you have selected.

Select one quote about art that you do not entirely agree with. Who made this statement? Suggest why this person might have this view. Explain why /how you disagree with this quote.

Write your own short statement about art.

Activity objective: to encourage creative thinking about how art is defined and valued in different contexts and by different individuals

Teacher Notes
This is a group discussion activity. Begin the activity with a collection of unlabelled art and non-art images, asking students to identify which ones they believe to be art and which ones are not art. This discussion should include a consideration of the points listed below.

Classroom Discussion
What criteria or information might be important or useful in judging if something is art or not?
Is it possible for something to be considered art in one place and time and not another?
Are some people more qualified than others to judge what art is and what is not, or what is good art and what is not? Is making judgements about art different to making judgements about other areas of human activity and learning?

Activity objective: to foster creative thinking about the different roles and functions of art.

Teacher Notes
A variation of this activity could be done by individual students using a lotus diagram. The role and function of art would be in the centre of the diagram. Students could then add different roles/functions and identify examples of each in outer squares.

Classroom Activities

Look at a range of artworks made at different times in history and in different cultures. Consider what role or function each has served for the artist(s) and for the audience(s) through time.

Identify five different roles or functions of art.

Write a short clear sentence explaining each starting with ‘Art can …………………………..
For each idea, select an artwork that you believe demonstrates the role or function you have identified.

Record your ideas and the artwork you selected for each in your visual diary/workbook. For each idea write a short paragraph explaining your choice of artwork.

Present each of your five ideas, with the relevant artworks, on an A4 page or a PowerPoint slide so that they can be made into a class book or presentation about the roles/functions of art
OR share the sentences written by each member of the class and use them to create a word cloud ‘about art’.

Information and Resources

Victorian Essential Learning Standards Lotus Diagram – graphic organiser
Wordle – generating word clouds

Activity objective: to develop visual literacy skills by working with visual images, art concepts and vocabulary.

Teacher Notes
Assemble a collection of small artwork reproductions. Include artworks of different periods, cultures, styles. Art postcards work well because they are easy to handle and durable, but this activity could also be done using an online collection. This activity should ideally be done as a group to allow discussion, and debate about choices.

Classroom Activities

Sort

Sort the collection into different genres or subjects of art including landscapes, still life, portraiture, history paintings, genre scenes, narratives, fantasy, non-representational, etc. Discuss each choice.

• What other categories would be useful for the collection you have?
• Are there some artworks that are difficult to categorise? Explain why.

Sort the collection into different styles including realistic, naturalistic, idealistic, expressive, abstract.

Sort the collection into different art forms (i.e. sculpture, painting, photography). Within each art form is it possible to sort further? For example: different sorts of paintings – oil paintings, watercolour or acrylic.

You could use a lotus diagram to organise your thinking here.

Select

Find two artworks for each following visual qualities. Give reasons for each choice.
From the collection identity two artworks in which:

• colour is an important element
• repetition is used to creating a strong visual rhythm
•  there is a clear focal point
•  there is an illusion of three-dimensional space
• materials and processes are used an unexpected ways.

 Information and Resources

Victorian Essential Learning Standards Lotus Diagram – graphic organiser

Activity objective: to encourage students to reflect on how and why their thinking about art has changed.

Teacher Notes
Question 1 should be completed before some extended discussion/activity about a range of artworks and ideas about art. Questions 2 and 3 should be completed afterwards.
This activity could be done before or after a gallery visit.
This activity could be done at the end of a unit of work, or a gallery visit using the ‘I Used to Think…, But Now I think…’ thinking routine.

Classroom Discussion

1. What do you think of when you think of art? Record your initial thoughts and ideas. Record the date and put these away.
   a. I think art is…………………………………………………………………………………………………….
   b. When I think of an artwork I think of…………………………………………………………………..
2. After you have spent some time looking at different artworks and talking to different people about their ideas about art, answer the same questions again.
3. Has your thinking changed? Explain how/why?

Activity objective: to support the development of visual literacy through comparing and contrasting artworks with a focus on the relationship between the artwork and the different contexts in which they are made and/or the different artists who made them.

Classroom Activities

Identify two artworks that have a common theme or subject. Each artwork should be from a different cultural or historical context and/or by a different artist.  Research and compare and contrast the two works, using the following questions.

• What is represented or presented in each artwork and how?
• Consider use of art elements, design principles, art materials and processes?
• How does each artwork reflect the context in which it was made and/or the experiences and ideas of the artist.

Consider using artworks from the image bank:

• Bridget Riley Opening
• Howard Hodgkin Night and Day
• Andy Warhol Self-Portrait
• Picasso Weeping Woman

An Affinity diagram or a Venn diagram might help your thinking for this activity.

Information and Resources

Victorian Essential Learning Standards Venn Diagram – graphic organiser
Victorian Essential Learning Standards Affinity Diagram – graphic organiser

Activity objective: to develop skill in researching, analysing and interpreting artworks, with a specific focus on identifying and explaining the relationship between an artwork and the context in which it is made.

Classroom Activities

Identify an event, period of time and or cultural context that interests you and investigate connections between this context and the visual arts. Choose one artwork that reveals a connection to the context you have investigated.

Discuss this connection including evidence of how this connection can be seen in the artwork you have selected.

Some examples from the NGV Collection:

Information and Resources

Victorian Essential Learning Standards Fishbone Diagram – graphic organiser

Support development of visual literacy through identifying and judging the relative importance of visual elements and design principles in an artwork.

Teacher Notes
This activity could be adapted as a group activity by asking each student, or small groups of students to complete the ranking ladder of art elements and design principles for the same artwork. The results could then be compared and discussed.

Classroom Activities

Select an artwork that interests you. Work out which the art elements or design principles are prominent in this artwork.

• Colour
• Line
• Shape
• Tone
• Form
• Texture
• Focal Point
• Space
• Rhythm
• Variety
• Unity
• Balance
• Other

Rank the most four most important items in a ranking ladder. Explain how the art elements and design principles you have identified as most important are used in the artwork to create sensory effects or express feelings or other ideas.

Activity objective: to develop skill in researching, analysing and interpreting artworks, with a specific focus on identifying and explaining the relationship between an artwork and the personal life, experience or beliefs of the artist(s).

Classroom Activities

Identify an artist whose work reflects strong connections to an aspect of the artist’s personal life, experience or beliefs.

Choose one artwork by this artist that reflects a connection to an aspect of the artist’s personal life, experience or beliefs.

Discuss this connection including evidence of how this connection can be seen in the artwork you have selected.

Some examples from the NGV Collection:

Activity objective: to develop skill in researching, analysing and interpreting artworks, with a specific focus on how artworks are viewed by different audiences and in different contexts.

Classroom Activities

Find an example of an artwork that has been viewed or presented in a number of different contexts.

What is your personal response to this artwork?  What sensory effects, meanings or other ideas do does this artwork suggest to you? What makes you think this?

Identify two different ways that this artwork has been viewed by others since it was made. Possibilities to consider include:

• a display/exhibition
• a commentary by an art critic, historian or curator
• a commentary by a member of the public
• a commentary from news items
• a visual response by an artist
• a visual response in popular culture such as an advertisement.
• a creative, imaginative written response by a poet or writer.

Explain what meanings or ideas about the artwork are suggested by the two ways of viewing the work that you have identified.

Have these ways of viewing or understanding the work informed your own view of the artwork? Explain why.