CHOICE-BASED ART EDUCATION
Choice-based art education is practiced in the Ann Arbor Open Art Studio. This approach regards students as artists and offers them real choices for responding to their own ideas and interests through their art-making. It supports multiple modes of learning for the diverse needs of students, and is modeled after the "Teaching for Artistic Behaviors" philosophy. You can read more about "Teaching for Artistic Behaviors" (TAB) here: http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/.
CURRICULUM
Class content is derived from the National Core Arts Standards. This document can be viewed at http://nationalartsstandards.org/sites/default/files/Visual%20Arts%20at%20a%20Glance%20rev.pdf.
ELEMENTS OF ART AND PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
The elements of art and principles of design are another cornerstone of our art curriculum. They provide an art vocabulary and framework used throughout the AAPS art program and beyond. The elements of art can be thought of as the ingredients form which works of art are made. The elements of art are: line, shape, color, value, form, texture, and space. The principles of design can be thought of as a recipe for combining the elements in visually appealing ways. The principles of design are: balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, and rhythm. Visually pleasing works of art use all of these principles.
CENTERS
Our art studio is set up with different media-based centers around the room. By working together during clean-up time and mindfully caring for the materials, whole classes earn access to increasingly more centers as the school year progresses. Students decide for themselves which of the available materials to use.
CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING
In the AAO Art Studio, assignments usually take the form of open-ended challenges that call for creative problem-solving and allow for myriad responses. For example, after a discussion and demonstration of tinting - lightening colors by adding white, kindergartners might be assigned the task of making a work of art in which they use tints. They choose the subject and the medium. After a discussion and demonstration of symmetrical versus asymmetrical balance in art, first and second grade students might be challenged to create their own work of art with one of these types of balance. They might make a drawing, a painting, a collage or a sculpture. 3rd and 4th graders might have the task of creating a work of art with a color scheme, a full range of value, and at least one area of emphasis. In the older grades we focus more on themes and expression, so 6th graders might analyze work by contemporary artists who make art inspired by ideas of place, and then make their own artworks about places that are significant to each of them.
The 1/2s have been exploring the use of geometric shapes in art. In realistic art, geometric shapes are found in man-made subjects. Some artists - like Charley Harper make things from nature out of geometric shapes. This type of art is not realistic, but stylized.
The 1/2 students had a lot of different ideas about how to use geometric shapes in their art:
Choice-based art education is practiced in the Ann Arbor Open Art Studio. This approach regards students as artists and offers them real choices for responding to their own ideas and interests through their art-making. It supports multiple modes of learning for the diverse needs of students, and is modeled after the "Teaching for Artistic Behaviors" philosophy. You can read more about "Teaching for Artistic Behaviors" (TAB) here: http://teachingforartisticbehavior.org/.
CURRICULUM
Class content is derived from the National Core Arts Standards. This document can be viewed at http://nationalartsstandards.org/sites/default/files/Visual%20Arts%20at%20a%20Glance%20rev.pdf.
ELEMENTS OF ART AND PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN
The elements of art and principles of design are another cornerstone of our art curriculum. They provide an art vocabulary and framework used throughout the AAPS art program and beyond. The elements of art can be thought of as the ingredients form which works of art are made. The elements of art are: line, shape, color, value, form, texture, and space. The principles of design can be thought of as a recipe for combining the elements in visually appealing ways. The principles of design are: balance, contrast, emphasis, movement, pattern, and rhythm. Visually pleasing works of art use all of these principles.
CENTERS
Our art studio is set up with different media-based centers around the room. By working together during clean-up time and mindfully caring for the materials, whole classes earn access to increasingly more centers as the school year progresses. Students decide for themselves which of the available materials to use.
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| The Drawing Center |
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| The Painting Center |
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| The Collage Center |
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| The Sculpture Center |
CREATIVE PROBLEM-SOLVING
In the AAO Art Studio, assignments usually take the form of open-ended challenges that call for creative problem-solving and allow for myriad responses. For example, after a discussion and demonstration of tinting - lightening colors by adding white, kindergartners might be assigned the task of making a work of art in which they use tints. They choose the subject and the medium. After a discussion and demonstration of symmetrical versus asymmetrical balance in art, first and second grade students might be challenged to create their own work of art with one of these types of balance. They might make a drawing, a painting, a collage or a sculpture. 3rd and 4th graders might have the task of creating a work of art with a color scheme, a full range of value, and at least one area of emphasis. In the older grades we focus more on themes and expression, so 6th graders might analyze work by contemporary artists who make art inspired by ideas of place, and then make their own artworks about places that are significant to each of them.
The 1/2s have been exploring the use of geometric shapes in art. In realistic art, geometric shapes are found in man-made subjects. Some artists - like Charley Harper make things from nature out of geometric shapes. This type of art is not realistic, but stylized.
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| "Cardinal Couple," Charley Harper, 2008 |
The 1/2 students had a lot of different ideas about how to use geometric shapes in their art:
STUDIO HABITS OF MIND
In the AAO Art Studio we focus on cultivating Studio Habits of Mind. Students practice thinking and engaging with their artwork in the ways that professional artists do. The eight Studio Habits of Mind that we refer to are:
Develop Craft: Learning to use tools, materials, artistic conventions; and learning to care for tools, materials, and space.
Engage & Persist: Learning to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and/or of personal importance, to develop focus conducive to working and persevering at tasks.
Envision: Learning to picture mentally what cannot be directly observed and imagine possible next steps in making a piece.
Express: Learning to create works that convey an idea, a feeling, or a personal meaning.
In the AAO Art Studio we focus on cultivating Studio Habits of Mind. Students practice thinking and engaging with their artwork in the ways that professional artists do. The eight Studio Habits of Mind that we refer to are:
Develop Craft: Learning to use tools, materials, artistic conventions; and learning to care for tools, materials, and space.
Engage & Persist: Learning to embrace problems of relevance within the art world and/or of personal importance, to develop focus conducive to working and persevering at tasks.
Envision: Learning to picture mentally what cannot be directly observed and imagine possible next steps in making a piece.
Express: Learning to create works that convey an idea, a feeling, or a personal meaning.
Observe: Learning to attend to visual contexts more closely than ordinary “looking” requires, and thereby to see things that otherwise might not be seen.
Reflect: Learning to think and talk with others about an aspect of one’s work or working process, and, learning to judge one’s own work and working process and the work of others.
Stretch & Explore: Learning to reach beyond one’s capacities, to explore playfully without a preconceived plan, and to embrace the opportunity to learn from mistakes.
Understand the (Art) World): Learning to interact as an artist with other artists i.e., in classrooms, in local arts organizations, and across the art field) and within the broader society.
