Art History Goals

Last year was a busy one for me. Between finishing  The Open Art Room,  writing for the Art of Education and working on National Boards (okay, it was a little much, I see that now) and teaching two new classes I felt like I couldn't give enough attention to anything. The one thing that demanded my attention, constantly, was my art history class.

I approached it chronologically, and spent hours researching everything from  Assyrian Lamassu (and their destruction by the Islamic State) to medieval church architecture. I had students take notes in visual journals, planned group activities, made sure to include discussion about marginalized groups and experimented with student directed content.  Over the span of the course I noticed some elements that worked better than others. My students agreed, and gave me great end of the year feedback. 

My Re-designed Art History Class

• Organize content around themes. One of student's favorite units was about art and WWII. I discussed Hitler's failed attempt at art school and how persecuted artists he disliked while  using the fog of war to pillage art he found valuable.  This context allowed for deep discussion on the aims of expressionism and abstraction, as well as working as a jumping off point for group research and presentations about later abstract artists. I want to organize every unit this way. 
• Infuse content with contemporary art. Instead of saving current art for the last unit, I want to include it in every unit, asking students to use it to  compare how artists approached content in the past to today, and also discuss who was able to even be an artist in the past. An example of this is the compilation of Judith and Holofernes images above. 
• Minimize dead white guys and increase diversity. Sure, lots of white artists are important, but they don't need to be the center of study. I plan to continue to include global content, as well as search out Western artists who fall outside of the accepted mainstream and lead discussions about the lack of diversity that art history is so rife with. 
• Make content student directed. Who decides what art is valuable? Shouldn't it be the viewer? I'm thinking about ways to let students explore about art they find interesting and share their learning with the group instead of having content directed by me. 
• Take advantage of museums. It's been hard to take field trips for the last few years in my state, because the funds just aren't available. However, I am going to plan my African art content around the amazing new exhibit that NCMA opened this summer and I'll find away to get my kids there. I'd also like to revive the DC field trip that was a staple of the art history course under Ian Sands, and add an overnight stay and a trip to the Museum of the American Indian, as well as the Hirshorn and National Gallery. How cool will it be to have students study work that they'll see in person, look at museum maps to design our tour and base self directed research on what they find?!

Work by Kirchner, an artist whose life and life's work was destroyed by Hitler.

My goal for this school year is to develop an art history class that is global and student directed in content, that connects to culture, current events and social justice and that uses museums and themes as base for exploration. I'm excited!