After reading "Seven Principles for Visual Culture Education", I realize how strongly Duncum's principles correlate with the type of curriculum emphasized in our art education program at MU. The principles Duncum has described require deep, high-level thinking that can engage students from kindergarten up to high school. Each of these principles apply to real life and real lessons that can be learned through art. I have outlined some of my thoughts and ideas about each of the principles:
1. Power:
Art is a powerful tool in our culture, and allowing children (and adults) to create art is giving them the power of self-expression. I found Duncum's opinion that the most "powerful" or common creators of images fall somewhere in commercialized or advertising industries extremely interesting. Businesses create images and media that often will relate to, or follow the traditions of, the largest target audiences. This is all the more reason we must equip our students with the vocabulary and ability to interpret the hundreds of advertisements each day. Advertisements are not necessarily equal to reality, and it is important that we teach our students to recognize this through visual literacy.
2. Ideology
I loved this line: "in creating images, we share our assumptions about the way of the world." This is so true! I immediately thought about the list of 50 conceptual ideas we created for Studio Thinking and how all of our big ideas are based on our experiences and beliefs about the world. Through art, we can share perspectives, experiences, and so much more. Ideology can be seen throughout history, from cavemen depicting their way of the world to churches hiring artists to create biblical images.
3. Representation
It was evident to me that the principle of representation discussed what images represent, but what I did not know was that art gain allow us to gain insights about what images do not represent. I love the idea of having students break down advertisements and what the various body language, facial expressions, color choices, etc. represent. I think that this could be done at all levels, almost like a VTS of images seen in our every day lives.
4. Seduction
This principle was interesting to me because it involved so much more than what you first think of upon hearing the word "seduction". Seduction involves subject matter, confirmation of beliefs and sensory factors. All of these factors play a role in what draws us to an image. Once I thought about this concept, the factors of seduction in the art world apply to most areas of life. Humans are typically attracted to something because of its subject matter (based on personal interests), his/her senses, and agreement of beliefs. I think it would be incredible to have students present a selection of their favorite and least favorite artworks and talk about why they feel the way they do about the particular pieces. In this way, they would be explaining what seduced them to the images while learning more about themselves.
5. Gaze
This principle would be very interesting to examine in the contexts of VTS. While asking students what they see in an image, we also ask them why they think that, therefore asking them where they are coming from. Through their opinion about the artwork, we gain insight as to what their gaze may look like. The gaze adds context to the piece and shows the ways in which the artwork can mean very different things to different people.
6. Intertextuality
All images relate to other texts. I loved the way that Duncum applied this concept to a lesson. This visual map of how images relate builds contexts and connections in students' eyes. It would be a great way to introduce a new concept and gather what your students already know using visual literacy. It also would be a great way to use technology in the classroom because images can be quickly pulled from the internet and arranged in a digital map. This would also be a great principle to apply in showing students how art throughout history connects to the world today.
7. Multimodality
I must admit that this is the principle I probably still do not entirely understand. I can see how all images usually have a context (as in a gallery or newspaper, for example), but I do not understand how there are no "purely visual images". I could be misunderstanding the meaning of the phrase, or taking it too literally. However, I would argue that some images are interpreted without sound or other "noise". Take a photograph for example, what is the other noise? I am curious to see what other students have said about multimodality...
1. Power:
Art is a powerful tool in our culture, and allowing children (and adults) to create art is giving them the power of self-expression. I found Duncum's opinion that the most "powerful" or common creators of images fall somewhere in commercialized or advertising industries extremely interesting. Businesses create images and media that often will relate to, or follow the traditions of, the largest target audiences. This is all the more reason we must equip our students with the vocabulary and ability to interpret the hundreds of advertisements each day. Advertisements are not necessarily equal to reality, and it is important that we teach our students to recognize this through visual literacy.
2. Ideology
I loved this line: "in creating images, we share our assumptions about the way of the world." This is so true! I immediately thought about the list of 50 conceptual ideas we created for Studio Thinking and how all of our big ideas are based on our experiences and beliefs about the world. Through art, we can share perspectives, experiences, and so much more. Ideology can be seen throughout history, from cavemen depicting their way of the world to churches hiring artists to create biblical images.
3. Representation
It was evident to me that the principle of representation discussed what images represent, but what I did not know was that art gain allow us to gain insights about what images do not represent. I love the idea of having students break down advertisements and what the various body language, facial expressions, color choices, etc. represent. I think that this could be done at all levels, almost like a VTS of images seen in our every day lives.
4. Seduction
This principle was interesting to me because it involved so much more than what you first think of upon hearing the word "seduction". Seduction involves subject matter, confirmation of beliefs and sensory factors. All of these factors play a role in what draws us to an image. Once I thought about this concept, the factors of seduction in the art world apply to most areas of life. Humans are typically attracted to something because of its subject matter (based on personal interests), his/her senses, and agreement of beliefs. I think it would be incredible to have students present a selection of their favorite and least favorite artworks and talk about why they feel the way they do about the particular pieces. In this way, they would be explaining what seduced them to the images while learning more about themselves.
5. Gaze
This principle would be very interesting to examine in the contexts of VTS. While asking students what they see in an image, we also ask them why they think that, therefore asking them where they are coming from. Through their opinion about the artwork, we gain insight as to what their gaze may look like. The gaze adds context to the piece and shows the ways in which the artwork can mean very different things to different people.
6. Intertextuality
All images relate to other texts. I loved the way that Duncum applied this concept to a lesson. This visual map of how images relate builds contexts and connections in students' eyes. It would be a great way to introduce a new concept and gather what your students already know using visual literacy. It also would be a great way to use technology in the classroom because images can be quickly pulled from the internet and arranged in a digital map. This would also be a great principle to apply in showing students how art throughout history connects to the world today.
7. Multimodality
I must admit that this is the principle I probably still do not entirely understand. I can see how all images usually have a context (as in a gallery or newspaper, for example), but I do not understand how there are no "purely visual images". I could be misunderstanding the meaning of the phrase, or taking it too literally. However, I would argue that some images are interpreted without sound or other "noise". Take a photograph for example, what is the other noise? I am curious to see what other students have said about multimodality...
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