Art Inquiry
by
Mary Erickson
This presentation shows how using
an inquiry strategy can help
students:
I. Find meaningful connections between viewing
art and making art.
II. Develop skills identified in the National Core
Visual Arts Standards.
III. Develop English Language Arts skills
identified in the Common Core Standards.
Inquiry Strategy
Two mascots represent the complementary processes of an
inquiry strategy.
Questor is a viewer,
curious about artworks.
Jack is an artist,
jumping for new art ideas.
@Tempe Center for the Arts and Mary Erickson, 2014
www..tempe.gov/TCAeducation
Part I:
Using an inquiry strategy helps
students find meaningful
connections between viewing art
and making art.
What Can I See?
I See?
What Can I Learn about
the Artist’s
Artist’s Life
Times?
the
Lifeand
& Times?
What Can I Learn about
How Does it Compare
to Other Artworks?
What Does it Mean?
This strategy
starts with four
viewer’s
questions
(Questor
Questions) you
and your students
can ask about any
artwork, in any
sequence.
What Choices will I
What Ideas Can I Get from
Make in My Own Artwork? the
MyArtist’s
Own LifeLife
and& Times?
Times?See?
What Can I Learn about
What Ideas Can I Get
from Looking at Other Art?
What Do I Want to
Achieve with My Art?
The four viewer’s
questions correlate
with four artist
questions (Jack
Questions) you
and your students
can ask, in any
sequence, about
their own art
making.
Questor and Jack’s four very
broad questions can be broken
into general starter questions to
initiate further inquiry.
Text
What Can I See in
the Artwork?
What Choices Will I
Make in My Artwork?
KE
How well
students
understand or
appreciate an
artwork can
depend on how
carefully they
look at it.
Students’
artworks look as
they do because
of their choices.
What people, places, or
things, if any, are shown in
this artwork?
SUBJECT
MATTER
What one or two elements
(line, shape, light & dark,
color, texture, mass, space,
or other) are most important
in this artwork? Why?
DESIGN What one or two elements of
ELEMENTS design is most important for
the success of my artwork?
Will my artwork have subject
matter?
Text
What design principles can I
How did the artist use design DESIGN
use to organize the
PRINCIPLES
principles to organize
elements into an interesting
elements within this
and unified composition?
artwork?
(Continued on next slide)
These are
general
questions
you can ask
about any
artwork to
help direct
your
students’
inquiry
through
careful
observation
and decision
making.
(Continued from preceding slide)
What can I see in the
artwork that shows the
tools, materials, or process
the artist used to make it?
TECHNICAL
FEATURES
What tools, materials, and
processes am I
considering?
Text
What qualities in my
What might I be missing if I
artwork might be difficult
am not looking at the actual
REPRODUCTION to capture in a
artwork but at a
reproduction (or example,
reproduction?
if it were reproduced
online or in a photograph
How is this artwork
or scan).
protected from harm? Has
CARE
its condition deteriorated
How can I best present and
over time?
preserve my artwork?
These, too,
are general
questions
you can ask
about any
artwork to
help direct
your
students’
inquiry
through
careful
observation
and decision
making.
Text
What Can I Learn Get from My Own
about the Life and Life and Times?
Times of the Artist?
What Ideas Can I
Sometimes
students need
information about
where and when an
artist made an
artwork to make
sense of it.
Students can get
art ideas from
many sources,
including their own
life experiences.
What are/were the personal
background and life
experiences of the artist?
What art ideas can I get
ARTIST’S LIFE
from my own personal or
family experiences?
PHYSICAL
What ideas might I get
What are/was the natural or
built environment/s like where ENVIRONMENT from my physical
environment?
the artist lives/lived and
works/worked?
What ideas might I get
What is the artist’s culture?
CULTURE
from my culture?
What do/did people think,
Text
believe, and do in that culture?
What art training, traditions,
movements, and expectations
surround/ed the artist?
What function or purpose
does/did this artwork serve?
For whom?
ARTWORLD
Can I get ideas from my art
classes, fellow art
students, art teachers, or
maybe museum visits?
FUNCTION
Will my work have a
function? If so, what
function?
These are
general
questions
you can ask
about any
artwork to
help direct
your
students’
contextual
inquiry.
Finding connections
with other artworks
can bring new
perspectives to any
artwork.
How Does this
Artwork Compare
with Other
Artworks?
What Ideas Can I
Get from Looking at
Other Art?
Students can get
ideas for their own
art by exploring
artworks by other
artists.
How is this artwork similar in
style to other artworks made
in the same context (by the
same artist, within his/her
movement, or within her/his
culture)?
What earlier artists or
artworks influenced this
artist?
What other artworks can be
associated with the theme
underlying this artwork?
STYLE
Do I want my artwork to be
similar in style to my other
artworks or artworks other
artists have made?
Text
INFLUENCE
THEME
How has my artwork been
influenced by other artists
or their work?
What other artist has
expresses a big idea
similar to the theme in
which I am interested?
These are
general
questions
you can ask
about any
artwork to
help direct
your
students’
inquiry into
relationship
s among
artworks.
Interpretation is a
process of finding
meaning in an artwork
and supporting one’s
conclusion with
evidence.
What Does this
Artwork Mean?
What Do I Want to
Achieve with My
Artwork?
Students may have
clear ideas about
what they want to do
before making their
artworks or their
ideas may evolve as
they work.
Why did the artist want this
artwork to look as it does?
How do/did art specialists
understand this artwork?
How was this artwork
understood within the
culture of its time or by
members of other
subcultures (not art
specialists)?
ARTIST’S
INTENTION
What is my goal as an
artist?
How would I like my
ART
artwork to be understood
SPECIALISTS’
in the artworld? Which
UNDERSTANDINGS artworld?
Text
Do I want my work to
CULTURAL
UNDERSTANDINGS reflect or impact my
culture or society?
How might my own personal
experiences affect how I
understand this artwork?
YOUR OWN
VIEWPOINT
What are my personal
goals for this artwork?
These are
general
questions
you can ask
about any
artwork to
help direct
your
students’
inquiry into
what
artworks
might mean
and into
setting their
own art
making
goals.
.
Inquiry Strategy as Scaffold
A scaffold is a temporary structure that provides
a place where workers can stand as they
construct, paint, repair, or otherwise maintain a
permanent structure, like a building, tower, or
bridge. Like any scaffold, this art inquiry strategy
is important only as long as it is useful to you
and/or your students.
Ultimately, as you and/or your students adapt or
replace this scaffold, you become independent
inquirers directing your own inquiries about art
and through art making.
Part II:
Using an inquiry strategy helps
students develop skills identified in
the National Core Visual Arts
Standards.
The National Core Visual Arts Standards focus on four artistic
processes, further identified in 11 anchor standards:
CREATING (Cr) = 3
PRESENTING (Pr) = 3
RESPONDING (Re) = 3
CONNECTING (Cn) = 2
Art inquiry offers entry points for
planning instruction to address
all eleven national standards.
SUBJECT MATTER
TO MEET CREATING
AND PRESENTING
ANCHOR STANDARDS
DESIGN ELEMENTS
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
TECHNICAL FEATURES
REPRODUCTION
CARE
Cr2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. (Also PLAN
Text
inquiry)
Cr3. Refine and complete artistic work. (Also PLAN inquiry)
Pr1. Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for
presentation.
SUBJECT MATTER
TO MEET PRESENTING
AND RESPONDING
ANCHOR STANDARDS
DESIGN ELEMENTS
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
TECHNICAL FEATURES
REPRODUCTION
CARE
Text
Pr3. Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.
(Also INTERPRET inquiry)
Re1. Perceive and analyze artistic work.
ARTIST’S LIFE
TO MEET CREATING
AND CONNECTING
ANCHOR STANDARDS
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
CULTURE
ARTWORLD
FUNCTION
Cr1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. (Also
EXPLORE and PLAN inquiry) Text
Cn1. Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal
experiences to make art.
Cn2. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and
historical context to deepen understanding. (Also LEARN,
COMPARE, and EXPLORE inquiry)
ARTIST’S LIFE
TO MEET CONNECTING
ANCHOR STANDARD
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
CULTURE
ARTWORLD
FUNCTION
Text
Cn2. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural, and historical
context to deepen understanding. (Also SEEK, COMPARE, and EXPLORE
inquiry)
TO MEET CREATING
AND CONNECTING
ANCHOR STANDARDS
STYLE
INFLUENCE
THEME
Cr1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
(Also SEEK and PLAN inquiry)
Cn2. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural,
and historical context to deepen understanding. (Also SEEK
and LEARN inquiry)
TO MEET RESPONDING
AND CONNECTING
ANCHOR STANDARDS
STYLE
INFLUENCE
THEME
Re3. Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. (Also
INTERPRET inquiry)
Cn2. Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural,
and historical context to deepen understanding. (Also LEARN
and EXPLORE inquiry)
ARTIST’S INTENTION
TO MEET CREATING
ANCHOR STANDARDS
ART SPECIALISTS’
UNDERSTANDINGS
CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS
YOUR OWN VIEWPOINT
Cr1. Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work. (Also SEEK
and EXPLORE inquiry)
Cr2. Organize and develop artistic ideas and work. (Also CHOOSE
inquiry)
Cr3. Refine and complete artistic work. (Also CHOOSE inquiry)
ARTIST’S INTENTION
TO MEET PRESENTING
AND RESPONDING
ANCHOR STANDARDS
ART SPECIALISTS’
UNDERSTANDINGS
CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS
YOUR OWN VIEWPOINT
Pr2. Convey meaning through the presentation of artwork.
Pr3. Select, analyze and interpret artistic work for presentation.
(Also LOOK inquiry)
Re2. Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work.
Re3. Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work. (Also COMPARE
inquiry)
Part III:
Using an inquiry strategy helps
students develop English
Language Arts (ELA) skills
identified in the Common Core
standards.
Sample reading and writing standards for grades 3-5, 6-8,
and 9-10 are listed.
NOTE: Artworks can be understood both as primary sources
and as text.
SUBJECT MATTER
TO MEET READING
COMMON CORE
STANDARDS
DESIGN ELEMENTS
DESIGN PRINCIPLES
TECHNICAL FEATURES
REPRODUCTION
CARE
Elementary: R.4: Interpret words and phrases [and images]* as they are used in a
text [artwork*], including determining technical, connotative, and figurative
meanings, and analyze how specific word [and visual]* choices shape meaning or
tone.
Text
Middle School: RST.6-8.4: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and
other domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or
technical context relevant to grades 6–8 texts [artworks]* and topics.
High School: RST.9-10.4: Determine the meaning of symbols, key terms, and other
domain-specific words and phrases as they are used in a specific scientific or
technical [artistic] context relevant to grades 9–10 texts and topics.
*Artworks are considered to be text in art inquiry.
ARN
TO MEET READING
COMMON CORE
STANDARDS
ARTISTS LIFE
PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT
CULTURE
ARTWORLD
FUNCTION
Elementary: R.1: Read closely to determine what the text [artwork]* says
explicitly and to make logical inferences from it; cite specific textual [and visual]*
evidence when writing or speaking to support
Text conclusions drawn from the text
[artwork]*.
Middle School: RST.6-8.1: Cite specific textual [and visual]* evidence to support
analysis of science and technical texts [artworks]*.
High School: RST.9-10.1: Cite specific textual [and visual]* evidence to support
analysis of science and technical texts [artworks], attending to the precise details
of explanations or descriptions.
*Artworks are considered to be text in art inquiry.
STYLE
TO MEET READING
COMMON CORE
STANDARDS
INFLUENCE
THEME
Elementary: R.9: Analyze how two or more texts [artworks] address similar
themes or topics in order to build knowledge or to compare the approaches the
authors [artists] take.
Middle School: 6-8.RH.9. Analyze the relationship between a primary** and
secondary source on the same topic.
High School: 9-10.RH.9. Compare and contrast treatments of the same topic
in several primary** and secondary sources.
*Artworks are considered to be text in art inquiry.
**Artworks are dominant primary courses in art inquiry.
*.
ARTIST’S INTENTION
TO MEET WRITING
COMMON CORE
STANDARDS
ART SPECIALISTS’
UNDERSTANDINGS
CULTURAL UNDERSTANDINGS
YOUR OWN VIEWPOINT
Elementary: W.1: Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive
topics or texts [artworks]* using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient
evidence.
Middle School: WHST.6-8.2f: Provide a concluding statement or section that
follows from and supports the information or explanation presented.
High School: WHST.9-10.2f: Provide a concluding statement or section that
follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g.,
articulating implications or the significance of the topic).
*Artworks are considered to be text in art inquiry.
Art Inquiry Resouces
Almost all instructional materials on Mary Erickson
Ventures focus on art inquiry.
For a PowerPoint presentation that introduces young
people to art inquiry, click on “Tempe Center for the Arts
Lessons”, then scroll down and click on “Twenty
Questions”.
References
Addiss, S. & Erickson, M. (1993). Art history and art education,
Champaign-Urbana: University of Illinois.
Erickson, M. (2005). Art making and meaning. Tucson, AZ: Crizmac.
Erickson, M. (1983). Teaching art history as inquiry process, Art
Education, 35(5), 28-31.
Erickson, M. (2002). Stories of art. Tucson, AZ: Crizmac.
Erickson, M. (1977). Uses of history in art education. Studies in Art
Education, 18(3), 22-29.
Erickson, M. & Villeneuve, P. (2004). Educators Resource. In G. Keller. M.
Erickson, & P. Villeneuve (Eds.), Chicano art for our millennium (pp.155191). Bilingual Press: Tempe, AZ.
Erickson, M., Dock, M., & Eldridge, L. (2010). Questor questions. School
Arts, 109(3), pp. 44-25.
National Art Education Association. (2014). National core visual arts
standards,
www.artseducators.org