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How to: Picture Study, Questions to Ask

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For an Artist Pronunciation guide click HERE
Pronunciation Guide with Audio click HERE

This is how we enjoy our Picture Study.  Following you will find links to other Picture Study How-To's online.

We study an artist for about 6 weeks, studying one particular piece each week.  First, I find a short biography of the artist, print it up with a photo and post it on the wall near the art.  Or I may check out a children's book on the artist from the library.

Next,  I print out a few samplings of the art on a photo printer.  I like to print on high quality paper, not photo paper, then hot laminate them so they wont get smudged, etc.  as the children study the art. (Photo paper does NOT laminate well.)   

Usually I'll print all the art in the Module at the beginning of the school year, that way all my prints are available to me immediately.

Most people like to display one piece of art at a time, but I find that I prefer to put up a collection (6 or 7 samples) of the artists work and allow the children to compare the style, colors, differences, etc.  Often the children can see a common theme among the artists work, etc.  This is great especially when we are reading the biography.  In our Cassatt study (pictured) they picked up on the fact that she had a love for children and mothers before I even discussed it. 

Then I have them each choose one picture to study for that particular lesson.  I allow them to spend a few minutes looking it over carefully and then I ask them for an overall impression.  Next, I move on to questions, you can read more about that below.  We discuss, appreciate and hang them back on the wall.

At the end of our six week study I will ask them to choose their favorite print to copy.  We spend 30 to 60 minutes with art supplies scattered all over the table while we each work on our reproductions.

Below are a list of sample questions that I found. After searching again, I could not find the website I borrowed this from, so I will simply post it here. If you find it, let me know. Obviously when using this list you would only choose maybe one question from each area, for each lesson.  This list is a good thing to have handy.

You may also download a pdf copy of this list HERE.

LOOKING AT A WORK OF ART

DESCRIBE IT

  1. What kinds of things do you see in this painting? What else do you see?
  2. What words would you use to describe this painting? What other words might we use?
  3. How would you describe the lines in this picture? The shapes? The colors? What does this painting show?
  4. Look at this painting for a moment. What observations can you make about it?
  5. How would you describe this painting to a person who could not see it?
  6. How would you describe the people in this picture? Are they like you or different?
  7. How would you describe (the place depicted in) this painting?

RELATE IT

  1. What does this painting remind you of?
  2. What things do you recognize in this painting? What things seem new to you?
  3. How is this painting like the one we just saw? What are some important differences?
  4. What do these two paintings have in common?
  5. How is this picture different from real life?
  6. What interests you most about this work of art?

ANALYZE IT

  1. Which objects seems closer to you? Further away?
  2. What can you tell me about the colors in this painting?
  3. What color is used the most in this painting?
  4. What makes this painting look crowded?
  5. What can you tell me about the person in this painting?
  6. What can you tell me about how this person lived? How did you arrive at that idea?
  7. What do you think is the most important part of this picture?
  8. How do you think the artist made this work?
  9. What questions would you ask the artist about this work, if s/he were here?

INTERPRET IT

  1. What title would you give to this painting? What made you decide on that title?
  2. What other titles could we give it?
  3. What do you think is happening in this painting? What else could be happening?
  4. What sounds would this painting make (if it could)?
  5. What do you think is going on in this picture? How did you arrive at that idea?
  6. What do you think this painting is about? How did you come up that idea?
  7. Pretend you are inside this painting. What does it feel like?
  8. What do you think this (object) was used for? How did you arrive at that idea?
  9. Why do you suppose the artist made this painting? What makes you think that?
  10. What do you think it would be like to live in this painting? What makes you think that?

EVALUATE IT

  1. What do you think is good about this painting? What is not so good?
  2. Do you think the person who painted this do a good or bad job? What makes you think so?
  3. Why do you think other people should see this work of art?
  4. What do you think other people would say about this work? Why do you think that?
  5. What grade would you give the artist for this work? How did you arrive at that grade?
  6. What would you do with this work if you owned it?
  7. What do you think is worth remembering about this painting?

Here are a few resources for other "how-to's" of a Picture Study:

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