Art Making and Meaning:
Understanding through Questions
| What Does It Do? – Function
Question for Understanding If you were thinking about making an artwork, what might you want it to do? For whom? Objective Students recognize obvious (and not so obvious) functions that artworks serve. Activity Ideas for All Students Show the DVD segment, “What Does it Do?,” asking students to take note of functions served by the works of the artists. Give students practice and feedback by using some or all of the interactive “What Does it 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 functions applies to old and new art. Display two very different print advertisements for a similar product (shoes, cars, packaged food, resorts, cell phone services, etc.). Ask students to compare the obvious and not-so-obvious messages of each. Activity Ideas for Art Students Students modify an existing container (bottle, box, bowl, etc.) to add another less obvious function (for example, symbolic, expressive, or decorative) to an obviously functional object, Complementary Activities from Stories of ArtA K-12 curriculum resource from CRIZMAC The theme, Farm Folk City Folk, is based on “Kag of the River People,” a story about the importance of everyday useful objects from small containers to whole cities. Supplementary Online Lessons “Who Cares for Art” -- Treasure Box Track “Celebrating Excellence in Ceramics” – Celebration Track “Protest and Persuasion” – Printmaking and Mural Making Tracks |