Artwork for Elementary Teachers
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Artwork for Elementary Teachers
Art Works for Elementary Teachers is a
book written by Barbara and Donald Herberholz. The book is aimed at elementary
education majors who possess little or no prior knowledge about art. The book
provides an introductory experience in the creation and response to art. Artworks
for Elementary teachers focuses on four main areas in the education of the
discipline of art. These areas include art history, art production, aesthetics
and art criticism. The book is organized into six chapters. The first chapter
is titled Artists and the Images They Make. The initial chapter introduces
students to various ideas utilized by particular artists to create art. In the
second chapter titled “When Children Make Art”, learners are exposed to an
overview of the traditional stages of development that comprise a child’s
artistic growth. In addition, student lessons are suggested in the chapter. The
third chapter is titled as “Understanding the Elements of Art”. The chapter
offers training in art production and how to respond to art. The fourth chapter
is allocated to “Understanding the Elements of Art”. The chapter trains students in the vocabulary
that is used in art terminology and concepts. These chapters offer art
production activities presents students with an opportunity to make art with
their own hands. The fifth chapter is dedicated to “Responding to Artworks”.
The chapter promotes awareness on the process of criticism that learners are
expected to undertake in the study and comprehension of art. Moreover, the
chapter suggests ways in which artwork can be reproduced in elementary
classrooms. The sixth and final chapter chronologically summarizes the history
of art. Titled “A Narrative Timeline of World Art”, the chapter is purposefully
designed for reference. The chapter can also be used by students as a
pronunciation guide apart from the various activities and ideas related to art.
Analysis
The book acts as a guide on how to teach
arts to students studying in the elementary level. The text is geared towards
helping students develop art related experiences that inspire self-evaluation,
personal expression, easy usage of media art and visual awareness. The book
teaches art experiences by order of difficulty. It begins with the easiest
experiences such as clay, collage, crayon, drawing, masks and mobiles as it
progresses to more complicated experiences such as tree dimensional art,
painting, mosaics, murals, puppets, printmaking, weaving and stitchery.
Chapter One
The initial chapter begins by explaining
the various purposes that art serves. Apart from serving the society, art is
used by artists to record images that express their feelings. Art is also
credited to serving functional needs. The chapter progresses on to provide a
brief overview on the artists present in the society. The ancient Egyptians, Greek
and Romans are attributed as some of the earliest artists. The text exemplifies
classical antiquity, the Middle age and the Renaissance as the crucial stages
in which western art progressed from. In the African context, the book
acknowledges the participation of Africans in tribal and folk art. What is
more, the book investigates how creative changes came to converge with
traditional art. The chapter progresses by reflecting on the artists,
creativity and self-expression. It is here that students learn individual
self-expression and creativity owing to the Renaissance and Western art. The
chapter moves on to establish the various ways in which artists are inspired.
It is noted that works of art are inspired by the interaction and interrelation
of the expression of ideas, feelings and perceptions. The chapter is concluded
by a rationale on when artists begin their journey in the education of art.
Notably, a child’s sensory impressions and feelings mark the starting point of
their education as artists.
Chapter Two
The second chapter aims to teach students
how to understand and use the elements of art. Art’s elements are used by
artists as a visual language. The elements of art include space, value, line,
color and shape or form. The second chapter helps teachers to teach learners
how to define, describe and examine each of arts elements. The line is
described as a mark left by a dot that continuously moves through space. The
book highlights the various variations of lines such as contour lines, straight
and curved lines, thick black lines, decorative lines and repeated line all
together with their properties and how to draw them. Considering that color
plays an integral role in our surroundings, the book instructs teachers on how
to help students learn about color in order to understand artwork. The various
daubs of color which entail primary colors, secondary colors, intermediate
colors, hue, warm colors, monochromatic, neutral colors, cool colors and
complementary colors. Further instruction is provided in the book on how to use
the colors to enact fauvism and create composite paintings. Instruction on
shape and form is provided given that the element of shape is crucial when
describing and creating artwork. The chapter emphasizes on shape and form by
encouraging students to observe the shapes of vegetables and fruits.
Furthermore, the chapter teaches students how to create three dimensional forms
using a variety of materials such as box and clay slabs. The text delves into
the tactile quality of things by teaching texture. There two kinds of texture,
actual texture and visual texture are also described. Emphasis on texture is
advanced through the creation of actual texture in a relief sculpture, tribal
masks and weaving. The text further explains on Space and emphasizes about it
by explicating diminishing size and elevated placement that are made by three
figures in space. The two-point perspective is also used in explaining about
floating boxes. The segment on space ends by providing instructions on how to
draw negative spaces. Value is the final element of art explained in the
chapter. Value is described as the element of darkness or lightness that is
contained in a work of art. Four techniques teaching how to shade are
mentioned. They include, blending, stippling, cross-hatching and hatching. The
second chapter ends with an emphasis on value through monochromatic design,
three dimensional forms derived from gradated values and hatching of
scarecrows.
Chapter 3
The third chapter deals with understanding
and using principles of art. The comprehension of the usage of art’s principles
is crucial in the production and response to art. To understand artwork, the
chapter begins by teaching about balance which is described as a visual feeling
of weight. The usage of balance variations, Formal and informal balance, is
demonstrated through the use of a fold and bolt design and a cut-paper mural.
The text imparts knowledge on the emphasis which it describes as the principle
of art responsible for the direction and centering of attention towards a
particular section of artwork. A watercolor landscape is used to emphasize
emphasis through the creation of a center of interest. A wash-away painting is
also used to show emphasis.
Proportion gestures on the relationship of
one part to a whole. The text acknowledges the usage of other elements such as
color and texture to gain unity, variety, harmony and balance. In an attempt to
understand artwork better, the chapter shifts towards learning about movement.
For purposes of demonstration, a cut-paper shape is used to illustrate
movement. Rhythm, repetition and patterns are also mentioned in the
comprehension of artwork. Repetition is attributed as the source of rhythms and
patterns. To place emphasis on rhythm, pattern and repetition, a city scape
with varied patterns is deployed. A rubberstamp is curved to demonstrate
allover patterns. In addition, teachers are instructed on how to create
patterns from tessellations. Variety and unity are emphasized in the text
through stitchery through the limitation of variety in order to achieve unity.
To further demonstrate how variety and unity is used in the production of
artwork, an exercise on weaving with paper strips is provided for teachers to
tray out with their students.
Conclusion
Art is important as it serves
various purposes in the society and our surroundings. Therefore, it is
important to learn art’s principles in order to create artwork. Student’s
ability to learn these principles is dependent on the quality of instruction
they obtain from their teachers. Teaching art’s elements and principles
properly forms the foundation upon which children at the elementary level can
understand and create art by their ownselves.
References
Herberholz,
B., & Herberholz, D. (2002). Art starts. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
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