Lesson 1: Historical & Mixed Media Response to Art
Duration of Days: 2
Lesson Objective
Students will analyze historical and contemporary mixed media works to identify technical "mentors," synthesizing these influences into a digital/tangible comparative collage.
How do artists "steal" techniques from the past to innovate in the present?
What role does materiality play in conveying a message?
How can we talk about art objectively before moving into subjective opinion using the four steps of art criticism (describe, interpret, analyze, evaluate)
Juxtaposition, Materiality, Lineage, Found-Object, Appropriation, Formalism.
VA.RE.HS.7 (Analyze how images influence ideas); VA.RE.HS.9 (Evaluate work based on criteria).
Mirroring the SAT requirement to draw connections between two distinct texts (or artworks) to form a new argument.
Description: Students research one historical painter and one contemporary mixed media artist. They create a "Visual Lineage" board (physical collage or Google Slide).
Purpose: To ground student work in art history and move beyond "isolated" creativity.
DOK Level: 3 (Strategic Thinking).
Understanding how modern advertising uses "Art History tropes" to manipulate consumer emotions.
How to study something subjectively before making judgements is a skill used in everyday life.
"I’m just copying them." (Clarify: You are analyzing methods to inform your own original voice).
Provide a curated digital "Artist Bank" sorted by style (e.g., Abstract, Surreal, Narrative) for students who feel overwhelmed by choice.
A visual/written defense explaining exactly which 3 technical elements they are "borrowing" for their next painting
Art History textbooks, JSTOR/Art21 digital archives, high-resolution printers, magazines for physical collage.