18th-Century Art for the 21st-Century Classroom -2

18th-Century Art for the 21st-Century Classroom -2

 

Teachers look closely at the forms, functions, and design motifs of decorative art objects at the Art & Language Arts alumni event at the Getty Center on August 11, 2012.

 

Based on our conversations in the gallery, I then asked teachers to pick a piece of furniture that struck them visually and to “appropriate” it into a contemporary object that reflected their identity. Using color copies of the furniture in the gallery, along with papers, markers, color pencils, glue, and scissors—all affordable and accessible materials for the classroom—they explored their chosen object’s existing form and function, and experimented with adding or subtracting elements to make it their own.

 

By the end of the session, teachers had not only explored the Museum’s collection and their own identity, but had also discovered an activity to introduce with their own students. Furniture is something most students have in their homes and classrooms—they can find connections between a Rococo writing table and their desks at school, for instance.

 

The activity uses simple materials but has complex goals. By taking 18th-century objects made for Parisian noblemen and appropriating them to fit students’ own tastes and identities, students make unique pieces connected to their lived experiences. They consider patterns and motifs, forms and functions that best represent their place in the world. And they open up a critical language that goes beyond “I like it;” they learn to communicate about themselves and their world (fictitious or real), and how different or similar their world may be to that of a Parisian nobleman. They take a wealth of sources from the world around them, reflect on them, and make art from them. As Mark Bradford said: “art is all around you.”

 

from: getty.edu