This paper examines the progressive development of artistic concepts and skills — specifically the interpretation and use of signs, symbols, and stylistic choices — across Grade 7 through Grade 10. It outlines how foundational skills introduced in Grade 7 build incrementally through each subsequent year, culminating in students' independent creative expression by Grade 10. Two detailed lesson plans are presented: a Grade 9 plan centered on analyzing Pablo Picasso's Guernica in its historical context, and a Grade 10 plan in which students create original artworks reflecting personal responses to a chosen historical event or period. The paper argues that coherent, vertically aligned curriculum design is essential to achieving meaningful learning outcomes in visual art education.
The concept of signs, symbolism, and style in artworks requires advanced critical thinking skills to fully appreciate, engage with, and eventually create. The skill of interpreting and working with signs, symbols, and styles develops over time through concerted effort and practice. Guiding the development of these concepts and skills is something that teachers at various grade levels must appreciate as a continuous and ongoing process, adapting lessons to effectively promote skill levels appropriate to students' current grade while explicitly building on previous learning and remaining equally mindful of future learning to occur in subsequent years. The following sections present the foundations of this concept and skill at the Grade 7 level and include art education lesson plans for Grades 9 and 10 as well.
The concept of symbols, signs, and individualistic style choices — and the skill of reading and interpreting these elements — should be introduced and developed in Grade 7 coursework (Sickinger, n.d.). Simply put, the skill involved is the ability to interpret abstract concepts such as emotions, ideals, and philosophical or political statements from visual elements included in artwork. These visual elements are divided into distinct groups: signs, symbols, and stylistic choices (Hickman, 2004; Sickinger, n.d.). Almost any work of art could be examined as a means of illustrating the concept and skills involved, though some choices are more explicit or obvious than others (Sickinger, n.d.).
With the foundation of the concept and skill established in Grade 7, it is fairly straightforward to trace the progression of these elements through subsequent grades. In Grade 8, students' ability to interpret signs, symbols, and styles should expand to encompass more subtle, nuanced, and complex geopolitical situations, allegorical references, and other less obvious or less familiar phenomena (Hickman, 2004; Sickinger, n.d.). In Grade 9, the concept should broaden further to include not simply the individual visual elements of an artwork but the overall organization of signs, symbols, and stylistic choices within a given work and within a given historical period, enhancing interpretive skill still further (Sickinger, n.d.). Finally, by Grade 10, students should be able to fully utilize signs, symbols, and conscious stylistic choices in their own creative expression, demonstrating mastery of the skill and concepts through their own manipulation and creation rather than through simple interpretation (Sickinger, n.d.).
Primary Task: Examining the painting Guernica by Pablo Picasso, students are to write a paper explaining the organization of the visual elements of the work and their relevance to the historical and artistic context of the work's creation.
Learning Objective: Students connect personal reactions to aesthetic elements with historical events and artistic trends. Historical knowledge and critical thinking are utilized to develop complex interpretations of individual aesthetic elements and their cohesion within a single piece of artwork. New artistic styles and approaches are made familiar and appreciated for their importance and relevance.
Pre-Task Learning: Class discussion and assigned reading on the history of the Spanish Civil War and its relationship to the approach of World War II. Continuing discussion covers the specific context of the painting's creation and display, as well as Pablo Picasso's emerging and shifting abstract style of painting. A preliminary open-form discussion of possible interpretations of the painting begins with the more obvious macro-level signs and touches on other symbolic aspects, such as the Harlequin figures and patterns, animal representations, and similar elements.
Task Expectations: Each paper should contain personal interpretations and a reflection of personal reactions to the painting that are connected to the historical facts and larger trends discussed. Discussion of individual elements as well as the overall composition — and the relation of individual elements to each other and to the meaning of the work as a whole — should be present in all completed papers.
Primary Task: Create a new work of art that demonstrates a reflection of personal feelings toward a specific event or period of time, and a conscious, rational commentary on that event or period and the social and political impact it had.
"Students create original art reflecting historical events"
The development of the concepts and skills necessary for students to critically engage with works of art in an interpretive and ultimately creative fashion is an ongoing process. By tracking the development of such learning across the course of schooling and ensuring that learning goals and lesson plans support each other throughout the educational period, this learning can be much more effectively achieved. The lesson plans outlined above can be a meaningful part of that process.
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