Question for Understanding
Why did the maker want it to look like that?

Activities for All Students
Ask students to think of situations in which things did not work out has they had intended—a party or get together, a class project, a sporting or recreational event.  Lead a discussion of some of the many factors that can affect whether our intentions work out.  Explain that sometimes, when we’re in the middle of something, we change our goals from our original intentions. 

Explain that artists almost always have goals for their work but also often change their minds as they work.  Artists are a wonderful source of insights about their work, but not the final “truth” because they can fail, they can change their minds, or they can express subtle ideas unconsciously.

Show the DVD segment, “What the Artist Wants to Do,” asking students to watch for meanings they might never have understood without hearing the artists talk about their work.  Give students practice and feedback by using some or all of the interactive “What the Artist Wants to Do” CD activities, which you can project for an entire class or which individual students can view in a computer lab. Students can use the CD to 1) review what they learned on the DVD, 2) apply what they learned to their everyday visual world, and 3) recognize how inquiry into artists’ intentions applies to old and new art.

Remind students that knowing what the artist wanted to do can often help a viewer more fully understand an artwork, but that others might reach somewhat different conclusions about what the work means.

Activities for Art Students
Ask students to write about their goals as they begin an assigned project, to review and possibly revise those goals as they work, and to compose an artist statement to accompany the completed work.

Complementary Activities from Stories of Art
A K-12 curriculum resource from CRIZMAC
The theme, When Cultures Meet, is based on “A New Home,” a story of an immigrant family whose members, each in their own way, survive to pursue their own goals.

Supplementary Online Lessons

“Protest and Persuasion”

“Who Cares for Art” – Lesson Four: Many Viewpoints