Some tips on how to discuss art with students

Some tips on how to discuss art with students

• 1.
  Some tips on how to discuss art with students based on the book 'HOW TO TALK TO CHILDREN ABOUT ART' by Francoise Barbe-Gall
• 2.
  HOW TO DEVELOPAN INTEREST IN ART Think of your earliest visits to exhibitions. What was interesting for
• 3.
  you then? Whatmade you feel bored? Your students may have similar
• 4.
  feelings.
• 5.
  HOW TO DEVELOPAN INTEREST IN ART Tell your students what you feel while looking at a painting.
• 6.
  Ask them whattheir feelings are.
• 7.
  HOW TO DEVELOPAN INTEREST IN ART Try to transmit your presonal interests to your students.
• 8.
  HOW TO DEVELOPAN INTEREST IN ART Don't go on too much about what you are going to show
• 9.
  your students. You'lldeny them the pleasure of discovering
• 10.
  for themselves.
• 11.
  HOW TO DEVELOPAN INTEREST IN ART Don't stay too long at the art gallery. Don't talk for hours
• 12.
  about one pieceof art during your lesson. Your students
• 13.
  may find anotherone more interesting.
• 14.
  HOW TO DEVELOPAN INTEREST IN ART Don't forget to buy some postcards at the end of your visit.
• 15.
  They make greatsouvenirs, can be stuck on a bedroom
• 16.
  wall, used asbookmarks and rediscovered again and
• 17.
  again.
• 18.
  HOW TO DEVELOPAN INTEREST IN ART Don't forget to go to the cafe. The younger the students,
• 19.
  the more importantthis is. It will make their visit to the
• 20.
  gallery into areal 'outgoing'.
• 21.
  HOW TO DEVELOPAN INTEREST IN ART Try not to pass value judgements on the pictures they like,
• 22.
  as opposed tothe ones you think they ought to like.
• 23.
  WHAT ATTRACTS 5-7YEAR OLDS 'Warm, bright colours.
• 24.
  Strongly contrasting shapesand colours, without shades.
• 25.
  The appearance ofrelief because it 'looks real'.
• 26.
  Art that reproducestextures (fabric, hair, fur), engaging the sense of touch.
• 27.
  Pictures of people.
• 28.
  Pictures of movement(someone running, sleeping, diving).
• 29.
  Clear expressions ofemotions – love, laughter, crying.
• 30.
  Simple compositions withone central person and very few other elements'.
• 31.
  Don't forget: tolink what they see with their everyday life and experiences,
• 32.
  that 5-7 yearolds don't look just with their eyes but their whole bodies join in,
• 33.
  to let theminvent their own story to go with the piece of art,
• 34.
  to make theminterested by asking simple questions, e.g.
• 35.
  'Don't you thinkthat...?, What does that make you think of?, How does that make you feel?, Have you ever seen anything like that?
• 36.
  WHAT ATTRACTS 8-10YEAR OLDS 'Pictures with a story behind them – a story of either the subject or the artist.
• 37.
  Clearly drawn charactertypes: good guys, bad guys.
• 38.
  Situations of conflictwhere good wins over evil.
• 39.
  Scary pictures, strange– or monstrous-looking people.
• 40.
  Images depicting dailylife in different eras because 'it's not like that any more'.
• 41.
  Don't forget: totake advantage of the characters from films, video games and cartoons to talk about the principles that particular piece of art illustrates,
• 42.
  to let yourstudents read for themselves little notices next to each piece of art and to find out the name of the artist and the title of the work,
• 43.
  to get yourstudents used to looking at a work independent of its subject and get them interested in artists' techniques.
• 44.
  WHAT ATTRACTS 11-13YEAR OLDS 'The artist's personality and the main points of his life.
• 45.
  Why a picturewas painted at a particular point in an aritst's life.
• 46.
  The technique usedby the artist to visually express a feeling or an idea.
• 47.
  The time ittakes to produce a work.
• 48.
  Symbols, which, oncedeciphered, give the access to a whole network of hidden meeangs.
• 49.
  How much awork costs'.
• 50.
  WHAT ATTRACTS 11-13YEAR OLDS 'Comparing works by the same artist (…) Whatever the subject matter it's also a way of learning to recognise the characteristics of various periods in an artist's career.
• 51.
  Comparing works bydifferent artists that deal with the same or similar subject matter (spotting the similarities and the differences).
• 52.
  The relationship betweena work and an artist and/or history. Even if it's just to draw parallels, you can start to make links with books or history lessons from school to add context.
• 53.
  Don't forget: thatyour students have now less time and you shouldn't overload them with long art presentations etc.,
• 54.
  that some subjectsembarrass them (e.g. nudity may make them feel uncomfortable, but this doesn't mean you have to avoid or ignore it),
• 55.
  to take adavntageof the fact young people are very familiar with advertising images, and advertising often uses the history of painting: make it clear that it's not a coincidence and help them to find images that have been used in that way,
• 56.
  to make yourstudents interested in the history of the artists rather than the history of art (which can be still too general for them).