Brittany King

ART 133

Unit 2 Paper

The definition of visual culture includes the traditional fine arts, the applied arts of

which visual culture is composed, the tribal and folk arts, and works by highly motivated naive

artist who have forgone formal training as artist (Hurwitz, Day, 2007, p.289). Hurwitz and Day

explain various methods of visual art culture in their article. The approaches depend on the time

frame of when the art is being created and how media will be portrayed. In todays society,

visual art has become more influential than ever before. Children are exposed to art every day

through multiple mediums. There are three approaches for teaching visual art culture: a radical

change, traditional approach, and comprehensive approach (Hurwitz, Day 2007). The radical

change for visual culture focuses on social reconstruction and educate children by utilizing

political and social approaches. Students are to respond to everyday visual culture such as

advertisements, TV shows, and video games in which a student should be able to recognize the

political aspects of that art. The traditional approach are artists who use graphic design, interior,

illustrators, and animators (Hurwitz, Day, 2007). The purpose of this approach is to teach

students about different types of artist and the different kind of artwork one can make. These

types of artworks are made with traditional instruction by a teacher but the student is able to

create their own work. The comprehensive approach has both traditional and postmodern art that

emphasize political and social issues but is not the same as visual culture education because it

shows visual culture within a comprehensive art curriculum.

Contemporary art is what is taught in most art classrooms today. This includes

connotations and denotations, which allow a student to analyze and interpret a piece of art by
depicting what they see in a piece and what those objects actually mean and represent. As a

teacher, I think my choice of visual culture approach I would focus on the traditional approach. I

would allow students to make their own art while appreciating different types of art. Because

technology is prominent in todays society, I would focus a lot on graphic design but also have

students do hands-on projects where they could create their own images and designs. I think it is

important for elementary students to learn from demonstration and doing a project where the

students can copy an idea of art but turn around and make it personal and their own is an

important concept.

References

Hurwitz, A., & Day, M. (2007). Children and their art: Methods for the elementary school, (8th

ed.). Thompson Wadsworth.