Comments on: Van Gogh’s Starry Night – Helping students describe what they see…

By: COLLEEN

COLLEEN — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:07:54 +0000

ps: Google “visual thinking statagies”

excellent infrormation is available on guiding students through loooking exersizes

By: COLLEEN

COLLEEN — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:56:22 +0000

I have had interesting luck with this “observation/description ” lesson
One student gets to privately look at an art reproduction to gather their observations- this student then describes what they see to another student who draws what is being described.

By: Mia Dekeersmaeker

Mia Dekeersmaeker — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 15:38:39 +0000

I’m not a teacher but a journalist who found your website by Dandileon Diva.
I have a website on my own
http://www.bluedawnmedia.net
with lots of pictures that are useful for doing such things you do. I likie it very much. It’s important that people learn to look closer to the things that surrounded them. Just to understand more the beautiful meanings that are behind the scenery.

By: Beth

Beth — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 01:57:00 +0000

Thanks for those kind words JWP. I am not sure what I will do next, but it seems like a good idea to do more on this important skill. Last semester I had them describe and then swap with a classmate who didn’t have the image in front of them, and they could see just how little their descriptions really worked!

By: JWP

JWP — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:47:30 +0000

Beth, I really appreciated your vid. I am about to introduce art appreciation/history concepts to my high schoolers. They are urban kids who could really care less about this stuff. BUT, it’s important to me AND it is also part of my State standards to include this information. My art program is very traditional. I was side tracked initially with doing some mini projects (which turned into MAJOR projects), but I’ll be getting on with teaching them the basics of drawing and painting. Art history will be a part of every week’s instruction as a separate piece of my curriculum. I’d like to teach them about describing what they see and then reinforce the concept with either some daily 10-15 minute “do now” assignments where they have to describe what they see in the painting that I’m showing them. After they get some grasp on that, I’ll move on to the next part of the process.

Will you be doing more with Van Gogh? I’d like to see what where you take it from here. Or, are you going to provide another example of describing an artwork?

By: Beth

Beth — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 12:31:38 +0000

Prof Glo, I would love to see an example of the “picture inventory” you mention.

By: Prof Glo

Prof Glo — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 03:33:58 +0000

I struggle with the same idea – I am so familiar with many of the works that I don’t allow enough time in lecture for the student’s to “look” This semester I am putting into my note a “picture inventory” – kind of like the ones a shrink might use in intake. Also I have had some success asking my students to think about works of art in the same way they think about music, who’s been sampled, what fashion is the artist hawking…etc

Thanks for the great blog