>Art: Criticism

In this lesson, students are introduced to the work of Edward Hopper and make initial attempts at art criticism. This lesson exercises learning standards for both arts and writing.

Without any formal introduction to the painter or the paintings, students will be introduced to a gallery of Hopper reproductions, from posters or calendars. Each student will select one reproduction of a Hopper painting. Looking at this reproduction, the student will write responses to four questions andthen share them with the class:

o What do you see?

o What does it mean?

o How does it make you feel?

o Would you like to have this painting in your house; why or why not?

This "quickwrite" will indicate the students' ability to describe, interpret, and evaluate. This unit on Hopper should improve and enhance their description, interpretation, and evaluation skills and their understanding of the history and literature of the time period.

In another art-based writing activity, students in small groups will place themselves within Edward Hopper's paintings and describe what they see, hear, smell, and how they feel being "there." They will then report back to the whole class what they have discovered. They will provide evidence from their paintings to support their responses, drawing on Hopper's use of color, light and shadows, his positioning of human beings in urban landscapes, and the points of view from which he made the paintings.

Introduction

Aesthetics