Allison Kermgard

September, 22nd 2016

Ward, Art 133
TTh 11-12:50
Unit Paper #2
Hurwitz, Day, and Barrett really took ahold of visual culture and showed the many
different ways it can be expressed and seen. Visual culture has been seen in many different ways,
causing a paradigm shift in educating young people (Hurwitz and Day). There are many
different denotations and connotations in which people view images and categorize visual
culture. For example, there is an image of a woman in a swimsuit. Denotations are what the
viewer is directly seeing, while connotations are what the viewer implies based on what they see
(Barrett). So the image denotation is a woman in a swimsuit, however the connotation is that she
is going to the swimming pool on a hot summer day.
In my future classroom, I would implement teaching these ideas with VTS. By having the
children first say what they specifically see in the image, they will generate their own opinions
and ideas about what the image means to them. VTS will allow students to share what they see
and enlighten other students to speak out and share their opinions to create a healthy dialogue.
This is important to instill in children, a sense of confidence and value in what they believe. I
think this is the essence of visual culture. Everyone has to figure out where they stand in this
world and visually, we need to establish our beliefs and find beauty in what we see, even if it is
different from another persons view of beauty.

Hurwitz, A., & Day, M. (2007). Children and Their Art: Methods for the Elementary School (8th
ed.). Belmont, California: Clark Baxter.
Barrett, T. (n.d.). Interpreting Visual Culture.