Aesthetics and Criticism

I believe that talking about art is a really great thing to do in the classroom. When I was in high school or even middle school I don’t remember ever talking about an artist.  We just got instructions about what the project we were going to be doing and were sent on our way.  There was no discussions at all or debates about what is and isn’t art.  And when I got to New Paltz I was I guess shocked that people were actually talking about this, I was never really introduced to the large gray area of art. I know when I become an art teacher I definitely want to introduce my students into thinking outside the box and questioning things and art and give them a perspective I never had. 

I really enjoyed the article Talking With Kids About Art by Tom Anderson.  What I like most about it is that there are examples or the ‘crit cards’ to show examples of questions that the teacher would ask their students.  I also really like that Anderson explains what each subject (reaction, description, interpretation, and evaluation) mean and how a teacher can intergrade that in their classroom.  Anderson says, “professional critics go through the processes of description, interpretation, and evaluation to determine the meaning and significance of art.” Compared to art education purposes in which value is important in being able to distinguish the process of critiquing and structuring the crit in stages.  Aesthetics as Critical Inquiry also by Tom Anderson, addresses aesthetics framed as critical inquiry as a teaching and learning strategy and becomes more in depth in having students question art and things that are considered art.  He also says that students must have an idea on what they think is art before they can critique it.  I believe this can be a great opening of a discussion about aesthetics and critiquing and talking about art in general. In the article, Eyes Wide Shut by K. Tavin, says the challenge to art education is to help students and teachers view, interpret, and respond to the world though aesthetics and post modernism language to open students eyes on art.  In my opinion I find that the Anderson articles would be more effective for me if I was conducting the discussions in all the articles because I like the steps and the building up of the questions in the Talking With Kids About Art article.  I just feel that the students would get a better understanding of an artwork.  But now thinking, I do like the ideas in the Tavin article, having students bring in objects they think are and aren’t art. That would be a very rich discussion too.