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Statement of Philosophy
for the
Visual Arts

Visual Arts Standards in line ar form at

Visual Arts Standards in chart form at
R e turn to A ERO+ hom e

Visual art he lps us to ask de e p que stions about hum anity. It

fills a ne e d in us that transce nds age , e thnicity and ge ography.
Knowle dge of the arts libe rate s and shape s our capacity for
e x pre ssion; it e nriche s our live s and cre ate s cultural bonds. Art
te ache s us how to handle am biguity and le nds an
unde rstanding that in life the re is not always one answe r.

Visual art is a bridge we cross to de e pe r unde rstanding of attribute s that are intrinsic to hum ans, such as
im agination and the instinct to cre ate . W e be lie ve that the ne e d for e x pre ssion in the visual arts is basic to
all pe ople and com m on to all culture s and tim e s. The re fore , unde rstanding and capacity in visual art is
e sse ntial to be ing an e ducate d pe rson.

W e have cre ate d this docum e nt to se rve the com m unity of visual arts te ache rs and the ir stude nts in
inte rnational schools around the world, no m atte r the size of the schools or the ir visual arts program s. The
AER O Visual Arts standards we re de ve lope d in a collaborative e ffort that brought toge the r te ache rs and
adm inistrators from te n schools, liste d be low.

The proce ss for de ve lopm e nt of the AER O Visual Arts standards was sim ple , but the conve rsations that
re sulte d we re profound. W e m e t as a te am thre e tim e s, de bating and collaborating about what it was m ost
e sse ntial that stude nts k now and be able to do in the visual arts. O ur aim was to craft be nchm ark s that le ft
as m uch fle x ibility for local curriculum as possible , while m aintaining cle ar, high e x pe ctations for stude nt
le arning and sk ill. In be twe e n our m e e tings, we took the conve rsation back to our schools so we could involve
our full arts facultie s in the discussions. W e are grate ful to our colle ague s at hom e for the ir support and
guidance in this proje ct. W e are also de e ply appre ciative of the State De partm e nt’s O ffice of O ve rse as
Schools (in particular, R e gional Education O ffice r Be a C am e ron) and David C hojnack i for se e ing the ne e d to
include the visual arts as a k e y fe ature of a strong libe ral arts e ducation and for funding this proje ct.

Faculty and administration from the following schools developed the A ERO Visual A rts standards:
Am e rican C om m unity School, Be irut
Am e rican C oope rative School – Tunis
Am e rican Inte rnational School – R iyadh
C airo Am e rican C olle ge
C arlucci Am e rican Inte rnational School of Lisbon
C arol Morgan School (Dom inican R e public)
Inte rnational School Yangon
R abat Am e rican School
The Am e rican Inte rnational School of Muscat
W alworth Barbour Am e rican Inte rnational School (Te l Aviv)

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CREA TING A RT: Use the creative processes and the language of art to communicate
1. through a variety of media and techniques.

To meet this standard, students will:

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1.1 Use the creative process to plan, organize and problem solve.

By the end of grade 2:

a. Use obse rvations and e x pe rie nce s, both spontane ously and de libe rate ly, to plan and
cre ate art.

By the end of grade 5:

a. Se lf-asse ss choice s and adjustm e nts whe n planning and cre ating art

By the end of grade 8:

a.R e fle ct upon and re vise various plans to organize ide as and m ate rials and apply
de libe rate approache s in cre ating art

By the end of grade 12:

a. Follow a syste m atic inve stigation of form al and conce ptual issue s whe n cre ating art
and building a portfolio.

1.2 Understand and use the language of art: the elements of art and principles of design.

By the end of grade 2:

a. Ide ntify the e le m e nts of art and be gin to apply principle s of de sign

By the end of grade 5:

a. Manipulate the e le m e nts of art and the principle s of de sign to cre ate art.

By the end of grade 8:

a. Purpose fully apply the e le m e nts of art and principle s of de sign to e x pre ss an
inte nde d ide a.

By the end of grade 12:

a. De m onstrate proficie ncy in the use of the e le m e nts of art and principle s of de sign with
a varie ty of m e dia and te chnique s.

b. Apply the e le m e nts of art and principle s of de sign in thoughtful and inve ntive ways to
conve y pe rsonal m e aning

1.3 A pply visual awareness to the creative process

By the end of grade 2:

a. C re ate art that re fle cts pe rsonal obse rvation and e x pe rie nce

By the end of grade 5:

a. C re ate art through purpose ful obse rvation that re fle cts introspe ction

b. C re ate art through purpose ful, re fle ctive obse rvation

By the end of grade 8:

a. Use pe rsonal inte rpre tation of obse rvations to cre ate art

b. Use a varie ty of m e dia, innovative com binations, and subje cts.

By the end of grade 12:

a. C re ate art that de m onstrate s e vide nce of re fine d obse rvation to

transform and re pre se nt e x te rnal and affe ctive the m e s.

1.4 Develop skills and craftsmanship with materials, tools and techniques

By the end of grade 2:

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a. Purpose fully e x pe rim e nt with m ate rials and te chnique s to produce a
range of artwork .

By the end of grade 5:

a. De m onstrate confide nce and sk ill with a varie ty of m ate rials and
te chnique s to cre ate art.

By the end of grade 8:

a. C re ate work s of art that re fle ct re fine m e nt of te chnique and confide nce
in e x e cution

By the end of grade 12:

a. Use tools, te chnique s and proce sse s proficie ntly

b. Purpose fully se le ct tools, te chnique s, and proce sse s that be st re pre se nt

subje ct, the m e , and conce pts.

2. HISTORICA L A ND CULTURA L CONTEXT: Understand how art has shaped and preserved history
and culture.

To meet this standard, students will:

2.1 Understand how history and culture have influenced art

By the end of grade 2:

a. R e cognize that all culture s produce art.

b. Unde rstand that art transce nds tim e .

By the end of grade 5:

a. R e late work s of art to a particular tim e pe riod

b. Unde rstand that culture and historical e ve nts influe nce art

By the end of grade 8:

a. Ide ntify artists and artistic m ove m e nts within a spe cific tim e pe riod.
b. C om pare and contrast artwork s from diffe re nt culture s and historical pe riods

By the end of grade 12:

a. C ritically analyze the conte x t and function of spe cific art obje cts, artists, and art
m ove m e nts within varie d culture s, tim e s, and place s

b. Know that the role s of artists have change d ove r tim e and throughout culture s.

2.2 Understand how art has influenced and defined history and culture

By the end of grade 2:

a. Ide ntify and com pare art that is use d in cultural ce le brations.

By the end of grade 5:

a. R e cognize that art obje cts, m otifs, and style s de fine cultural ide ntity.

By the end of grade 8:

a. Ide ntify influe nce s of art and artists on cultural and historical e ve nts

b. Ide ntify e x am ple s and discuss how visual art is use d to shape pe ople ’s ide as and
opinions.

By the end of grade 12:

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a. Unde rstand how socie tie s throughout history have use d im age ry to de fine and
prom ote political, social, and cultural age ndas

b. Unde rstand the pe rsuasive powe r im age s have in shaping/re inforcing the
culture /socie ty’s ide ntity

c. Unde rstand how com m e rcial and m e dia im age s shape conte m porary and traditional
culture s.

3. PERCEPTION A ND EVA LUA TION: Using the language of art, students critically analyze, derive
meaning from, and evaluate artwork.

To meet this standard, students will:

3.1 Describe art works using the language of art.

By the end of grade 2:

a.Use the se nse s to m ak e obse rvations about work s of art

b. Use basic art conce pts and vocabulary whe n m ak ing obse rvations.

By the end of grade 5:

a. Use the vocabulary of art to com pare and contrast work s of art

By the end of grade 8:

a. Use the vocabulary of art to de scribe , e x plain, and classify the inform ation in work s of
art

By the end of grade 12:

a. Use appropriate art vocabulary to articulate how the e le m e nts of art and principle s of
de sign com m unicate re lationships within work s of art.

3.2 Describe art works using the language of art.

By the end of grade 2:

a. C om m unicate ide as and fe e lings about work s of art

b. Use basic art conce pts and vocabulary whe n com m unicating ide as and fe e lings about
work

By the end of grade 5:

a. C om m unicate and support inte rpre tations of work s of art.

b. Inte rpre t a work of art in light of the conte x t in which it was cre ate d.

By the end of grade 8:

a. Ask re le vant que stions about work s of art.

b. Analyze and com m unicate we ll-supporte d inte rpre tations of art work showing an
inform e d point of vie w

By the end of grade 12:

a. Pose inform e d and challe nging que stions about art work

b. C om m unicate inte rpre tations of art work s, supporte d by an unde rstanding of the
artist’s purpose .

c. Inte rpre t work s of art, tak ing into conside ration artist’s purpose and the historic and
social conte x t of the work .

d. De m onstrate an inform e d curiosity that challe nge s conve ntional inte rpre tations of
work s of art.

3.3 Judge and evaluate art works using the language of art

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By the end of grade 2:

a. Evaluate work s of art base d on pe rsonal points of vie w

.
b. Use basic art conce pts and vocabulary whe n e valuating work s of art.

By the end of grade 5:

a. Use e x te rnal crite ria to judge and e valuate work s of art.

b. Use art conce pts and vocabulary to ge ne rate pe rsonal crite ria for e valuating work s of
art.

c. Use art conce pts and vocabulary to re fle ct upon work s of art.

By the end of grade 8:

a. Mak e insightful judgm e nts about work s of art, using an e x te nsive range of art te rm s
and conce pts.

b. Ge ne rate and apply crite ria to e valuate and critique the m e rit and significance of
work s of art.
c. Thoughtfully se le ct, organize , and re fle ct upon work s of art for a portfolio.

By the end of grade 12:

a. C om m unicate in-de pth critique s of the m e rit and significance of work s of art, using
social, cultural, historical and/or conte x tual re lationships.

b. Ge ne rate and apply crite ria to se le ct work s for a portfolio that re fle cts artistic growth
and achie ve m e nt.

4. 4. CONNECTIONS: Make connections between art, personal experience, and the world. To
meet this standard, students will:

4.1 Make connections to other curricular areas

By the end of grade 2:

a. Ide ntify art conce pts that cross discipline s (e .g., patte rn, shape , scale , form , balance ,
re pe tition, rhythm )

b. De m onstrate unde rstanding of the re lationship be twe e n words and im age s by

applying te x t to im age s and im age s to te x t.

By the end of grade 5:

a. Use artwork to com m unicate and e nhance unde rstanding of conce pts in othe r subje ct
are as (e .g., scie nce , English language arts, m athe m atics, social studie s).

By the end of grade 8:

a. Unde rstand how the arts can incre ase unde rstanding in othe r curricular are as and how
othe r curricular are as can incre ase capacity in visual art.

By the end of grade 12:

a. Synthe size k nowle dge of visual art and othe r curricular are as in orde r to e nhance
products and/or pe rform ance in e ach are a.

4.2 Make connections between visual art and the performing arts

By the end of grade 2:

a. Ide ntify the diffe re nt form s of the arts.

b. Unde rstand what the arts have in com m on.
c. Be aware that the arts can re late and com bine for one purpose .

By the end of grade 5:

a. De scribe the contributions of art form s and of artists in a m ultidisciplinary work of art.

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By the end of grade 8:

a. Unde rstand that m ultidisciplinary work s of art (e .g., m usical the ate r, film , MTV) are
m ore than the sum of the ir parts.

b. C om pare the m e dia, m ate rials and proce sse s (e .g., pe rce iving, re sponding, cre ating
and com m unicating) use d in visual art with those use d in othe r arts discipline s.

By the end of grade 12:

a. Synthe size k nowle dge of visual art and othe r art form s in orde r to e nhance products
and/or pe rform ance in the arts.

4.3 Make personal connections with visual art

By the end of grade 2:

a. De scribe how art e nriche s pe ople ’s live s.

By the end of grade 5:

a. Unde rstand the ways in which we incorporate art into our live s (e .g., cre ating,
colle cting, appre ciating)

By the end of grade 8:

a. Unde rstand how art contribute s to se lf-e x pre ssion.

b. Unde rstand how and why k nowle dge of the arts is fundam e ntal to our appre ciation of
our world and who we are .

c. Unde rstand how art is a unive rsal language for e x pre ssion and can transce nd cultural
barrie rs.

By the end of grade 12:

a. Unde rstand how art can foste r growth and continuous pe rsonal e nrichm e nt.

4.4 Make connections between the study of art and art careers.

By the end of grade 2:

a. Ide ntify products that artists de sign and m ak e and the care e rs of those who m ak e
the m .

By the end of grade 5:

a. Ide ntify art profe ssions that re quire a portfolio for e m ploym e nt (e .g., archite ct,
photographe r, graphic de signe r and book illustrator).

By the end of grade 8:

a. Unde rstand the discipline that is ne ce ssary to pursue a care e r in art.

b. Unde rstand the contributions that artists m ak e and the im portance of the se
contributions to socie ty.

By the end of grade 12:

a. Unde rstand the habits of m ind and the characte ristics of the profe ssional artist (e .g.,
tak ing risk s, capacity to obse rve , se lf discipline , organization).

b. Ide ntify the e x pe rie nce , e ducation and training ne e de d for various care e rs in art.

c. Ide ntify portfolio re quire m e nts for e m ploym e nt in various art profe ssions (e .g.,
archite ct, photographe r, graphic de signe r and book illustrator).

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