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Methods and tools part 1: Creating art
KQ: Does convention play a different role in the arts compared to other areas of knowledge?
KQ: How does the medium used change the way that knowledge is produced, shared or understood?
Methods of creating art are extensive and varied, affecting the nature of the knowledge conveyed. These methods also affect the dynamics between the creator, the art work and the audience. Consider the various methods used in the following areas (from Kognity textbook):
Architecture
Sculpture
Painting
Literature
Music
Performance
Film
Even within each of these areas methodologies vary widely- compare a 'classical' composer using manuscript paper and a pencil with a producer/DJ using digital technology. Do other AOK allow such freedom with methodologies?
Art may be highly valued because it follows the 'rules' of a particular convention so well; often artists are even more valued because they have created a new movement and inspired a paradigm shift.
Read the article on the right about digital art (from The Week, 27/03/21)
For further reading on a similar theme, see the link below.
Methods and tools part 2: assessing quality
If we are assessing the quality of a piece of art should we focus on the methods and skills used by the artist? Or is our emotional response to the artwork more important? Assessing art is notoriously difficult!
TASK: Online Art Critics
TASK: Online Art Critics
Choose a piece of visual art which means something to you. Using Google Classroom, or an old fashioned shared doc, paste an image of this artwork for others to see. Try to make it a good enough resolution so we can all appreciate it, and include a reference.
On the left is part of the IB DP Visual Arts assessment criteria. These two criteria (B and C) are the only ones relevant to this task. Use the assessment criteria to grade the other art in this new gallery. You should give each artwork a mark out of 9 for Technical Competence and a mark out of 9 for Conceptual Qualities.
Discuss your results as a group/class.
What is the level of agreement like across the class?
How easy would it be to apply this criteria to other arts, such as music, dance or literature?
Would you rather create your own criteria for assessing the quality of art?
Section 3: You are a tool
Aside from the obvious 'tools of the trade' (paint, clay, violins, paper etc) a key element in the creation of knowledge in the arts is the consumer. The audience. You. The interaction between the viewer/listener/reader and the artwork itself. The artist may well have had a message to convey when they created the art, but the audience could interpret things quite differently. Does this matter?
TASK: Read the article below about Cattelan's Comedian. Now put yourself in different peoples' shoes and imagine your interpretation of this as a:
Professor of Art History
Baby
Photographer
Banana farmer
Billionaire art collector
Is any one interpretation more valid than the others?
Blurred lines
Blurred lines
Some artists give scant regard to how an audience will interpret their work. Is this a key distinction between art and entertainment?
In the video on the left you will hear an artist who seems to create art for personal satisfaction, to stave off boredom. Although this statement can be taken with a pinch of salt, the video is a very good exploration of many methods and tools used in creating art, with some interesting points about the artist's varied roles.
KQ: Is artistic knowledge something that cannot be expressed in any other way?
To answer this question you could try to describe a song, painting, film or book to a friend but without them seeing/hearing/reading it. How easy is this to do? Has your friend now had the same experience as you? Have they gained the same knowledge?
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