Overview
This resource will address the concerns laid out in the first section of this resource in relation to general strategies for teaching forms and cultural contexts, including:
- Using the Critical Analysis Process
- Inviting Guest Artists
Critical Analysis Process
https://www.code.on.ca/resource/teaching-critical-analysis-process
Everyone views the world through various lenses, and our views of the world and our life experiences inform our understanding of works in the arts. Students need to be taught that the arts are not created in a vacuum; they reflect the personal, social, and historical context of the artists. This is true for works created by professional artists and by the students in the classroom.
Teachers may find that while formal critical analysis and interpretation are highly effective and appropriate for some works, other works are best approached through examination of their social, political, historical, or contemporary context. In the latter case, the critical analysis process can help students understand how personal, sociocultural, historical, and political frames of reference have a bearing on the creation and interpretation of particular works in the arts. Knowing something about the context in which a work was created can shed valuable light on the meaning of signs and symbols used in the work.
The arts not only reflect social reality but contribute to its creation; people shape and are shaped by social, political, environmental, and historical interactions and artworks.
There are many ways to build contextual understanding with students. Teachers can discuss with students the importance of understanding social, political, environmental and historical context when viewing or listening to a work of art. They can ask students to consider why artists in different historical periods and in different social, political, and geographic environments created the works they did. For example, does the work have a specific purpose, convey a message, represent a school of thought, or evoke particular feelings?
The contextual approach can provide opportunities for teachers to incorporate information about social, historical, and political information and inquiry-based research that can add depth and meaning to students’ creating and learning. Students might begin by finding out about a work’s historical, social, or artistic environment, or by examining how an artist’s background, social positions, or personal history influenced his or her work, or by creating a web or concept map listing multiple connections suggested by the work. This type of investigation can help students understand an artist’s intentions and may also lead them to engage in further exploration and discovery.
In such investigations, it is essential for teachers to critically engage with stereotypical expressions or judgements expressed by students or research. Whenever possible, teachers should direct students to the artists own words or support students in critically evaluating sources (e.g., in the case of colonial anthropologists' interpretations of indigenous artworks). It is important for teachers and students to carefully and critically assess the information sources to determine their merit and to consult a range of reputable authorities where possible.
Students may conduct their own inquiry-based research, or teachers can support them in discussions of and investigations into:
- events in the artist’s life;
- the social, political, and cultural climate at the time in which a work was created;
- the similarities and differences between specific works in the past and present;
- the way in which a work in the arts represents the perspective of individuals within an identified group (e.g., social, political);
- examples of other works created in the same period or a comparison of works on a similar topic or theme created by a variety of artists in different times and places;
- the expectations and artistic preferences of audiences at the time the work was created;
- the initial critical reception of the work;
- the responsibilities of an audience, including basic points of audience etiquette and the individual’s responsibility to acknowledge any personal biases that may influence their response to a work (e.g., social, political biases or past experiences with the arts).
In order to guide students, teachers might ask questions such as:
- What interesting things did you learn about the artist’s life and work? Is there something important that we need to know in order to understand the meaning of their work?
- Were working conditions for people in the arts more or less favourable at the time this artist lived than they are today? Why, and in what way? Are there viewpoints or voices that are left out or never heard in the works?
- In what ways do you agree or disagree with what the artist or critics said about the work? Also, were there competing beliefs and practices at the time?
- Why might different audiences view a work in a way that is different from the artist’s intention (e.g., parents and a teenage audience might understand something different from seeing or hearing the same work)?
- How might the work be understood differently by different people in the same time period or by people in the past and in the present?
- Were you surprised by anything you discovered? If so, what?
Teachers and students need to be aware that the context of a work is constantly shifting, and that the nature of the audience and the time period in which a work is seen or heard have a significant impact on the way in which a work is perceived and understood. Because of these factors, there is no single meaning or truth in a work in the arts and no single way of responding to a work.
Inviting Guest Artists
One of the ways that teachers can return narrative control about an art form to their stewards and care for the voices of the folks represented by an art form is to invite artists into the classroom.
In this way, teachers are not acting as experts on an art form that does not reflect their lived experiences.