This area of the art & design curriculum includes aspects of:
‘knowledge and understanding the work of others’, skills in ‘critical response’,
‘appreciation and ‘evaluation’
The N.C. requires children to
 understand the roles & purposes of artists, designers, craftspeople from different times & cultures;
 investigate different kinds of art, craft, design genres, styles, traditions
(originals, reproductions, galleries, internet)
The following suggests some generic aspects to consider band strategies that can be used to develop children’s skill in critically responding to, evaluating and appreciating their own and other’s work in any medium. They cannot all be addressed in one session so select judiciously which are appropriate for the chosen piece of work and timescale.
The full range of aspects could be developed over a whole series of sessions during a longer term or unit of work.
DESCRIPTION, ANALYSIS, INTERPRETATION, JUDGEMENT
Gaitskell & Hurwitz (1970) identified four useful foci for discussing works of art with children:

What do you see? (description)

How are things put together? (analysis)

What is the artist trying to say? (interpretation)

What do you think? (judgement)
FEELINGS:
"How does the work make you feel?" (e.g. happy, sad, frightened, angry, curious, excited, puzzled, etc.)
IDEAS:
"What ideas does the work convey?" (e.g. rough, stormy, calm, prickly, wet, hard, soft, reflection, torn, sharp, distance, cold, heat, growth, decay, movement, etc.)
VISUAL ELEMENTS: PATTERN, TEXTURE, COLOUR, LINE, TONE, SHAPE, FORM,
SPACE:
"How are these used to express feelings and ideas?"
"What feelings and ideas do these elements express and why?"
(e.g. what is it about the types and quality of lines used in a drawing of a face that makes it look worried? What is it about the choice and qualities of the colours in a painting that make it look cold, sad, happy, etc?)

MATERIALS & MEDIA:
"What materials/media have been used?"
"What are the qualities and properties of these materials/media?" (e.g. hard, soft. rough, smooth, bendy, stiff, shiny, runny, dull, colourful etc.)
"What particular ways does the material set limits or provide opportunities and contribute to the nature of the visual experience?"
"What feelings and ideas do these materials/media convey and why?"
TOOLS:
"What tools were used to work the material/media?"
(e.g. was the paint in the picture applied with a brush, a palette knife, a thumb, etc?)
"What type of brush or brushes did the artist use?" (e.g. pointed, flat, rounded, small, large, stippling, stiff, soft, etc?)
TECHNIQUES:
"How was the material/media handled?"
(e.g. did the artist apply the paint thickly (impasto); in dabs/spots of colour
(pointillism); in washes etc?).
MEANINGS:
"Are there any symbols and icons used in the work and what do they mean?"
"Is there a narrative/a story to the work? If there is a narrative, what is happening now, what do you think happened before and what do you think is going to happen next?"
"Can you tell the artist's opinion/s, insight/s, and views about the world from the work?"
"Are there any themes in the work?" ( e.g. about relationships, war, suffering, work, childhood, etc.).
EVALUATION:
"What do you like about the work and why?" When children discuss each others' work it is important to begin with this question to ensure positive feedback before going onto the following questions:
"How effectively does the work communicate feelings and/or ideas?"
"What ways do you think the work could be improved or developed?"
"What does the artist think or feel about his/her own work?" (The thoughts of an artist, living or dead, can be discovered from letters, diaries, journals, interviews and can become the focus for children's discussion of the intentions, purpose and style of the work.)
CONTEXT:
The N.C. requires that children should be introduced to the work of artists, craftspeople and designers from the "past and present" , from a variety of
"Western and non- Western cultures" and from "the locality" of the school.
This will require consideration of the historical, cultural and religious contexts in which the works were generated. There is opportunity here for cross- curricular work in history, geography and RE.

"What is the place of the work in history?"
"What does the work tell us about the culture, religious beliefs and the geographical locality of the society in which it was produced?"
"What is the place of the work in art history?" (This will require setting the work in the context of artistic movements e.g. Impressionism, Cubism, Fauvism, etc.).
TERMINOLOGY:
Discussing art work provides opportunities to develop children's vocabulary and language, which they need to discuss art & design work. In particular, they can be introduced to aesthetic vocabulary and terminology (e.g. the visual & tactile elements of pattern, line, tone texture, colour, shape, form, space; the words to describe the aesthetic qualities of these elements , e.g. vibrant, cold, angular, drab, muted, etc; the terminology for techniques such as papiermâché, armature, impasto, etching, pointillism, batik, wax-resist, etc.)
By using appropriate language, the teacher can not only help children to respond to works of art but also to refine their perception of the aesthetic qualities of the work, e.g. the choice and subtleties of colour used and the moods they evoke.
VIEWING DISTANCE:
Encourage the children to view the work from a distance from close-up and through a magnifying glass . This will bring out different aspects of the work, particularly media, materials and techniques.
MODE OF RESPONSE:
Responding to art work can take many forms. Oral discussion is only one mode of communication by which children can express their feelings and ideas about others' work.
Children can be encouraged to respond through poetry, writing, dance, drama, music and art itself .
Examples:

creating a dance sequence that explores some aspect of a painting or sculpture. A good example of this can be seen in the ballet 'A Simple Man' performed by The Northern Ballet Theatre in which people and situations in the paintings of L.S. Lowry are interpreted and brought to life through dance;

creating a pastiche of Van Gogh's 'Sunflowers' and then using his work as a stimulus for experimentation with his colour range and technique of applying paint thickly in impasto;

using a Balinese mask in a drama activity to understand the feelings behind the character and 'bring the mask to life';

writing a poem to express the feelings that are conveyed by a sculpture e.g.
Alberto Giacometti’s ‘Three Men Walking' ;

composing a piece of music based on an abstract painting e.g. Georgia
O'Keeffe's 'Blue and Green Music' .

writing a story based on 'The Goldfish Bowl' by Henri Matisse .
© Streve Pratchett (2008)

From: Clement, R., Piotrowski, J. & Roberts, I. (1998) Co-ordinating art Across the Primary School . London: Falmer Press. p.74.
Pastiche - exploring other artists work for subject matter - recreating the artist's work
–borrowing
Working directly from -using a piece of work to learn more about it, e.g. colour
Working in the style of - using methods a specific artist used.
Simulations- recreating the subject matter of a familiar painting.
Studying artists' methods -make studies of sections or details of works by different artists to compare different methods of using materials and processes.
Analysing visual elements -comparing and contrasting the different ways artists use colour, line, tone, shape, form and space in making work.
Change of media/scale -taking work studied in one media and transferring it to another, e.g. 2D to 3D.
Comparing and contrasting -comparing different artists' outcomes from the same starting point
Making work in context - studying, analysing and reconstructing work made in a different time or culture, to understand better the context within which the work was made.
Influences and developments -showing how the work of one artist influences the development and is built upon the work of others.
FURTHER READING:
Clement, R. & Page, S (1992) Knowledge and understanding in art . Harlow: Oliver
& Boyd.
Taylor, R. (1986) Educating for Art critical response and development . Harlow:
Longman.
Thistlewood, D. (ed.) (1989) Critical Studies in Art and Design Education . Harlow:
Longman.
Eisner, E.W. (1972) Educating Artistic Vision . London: Macmillan.

Extract from: Stephens, K. (1994) Learning through art and artefacts. London:
Hodder & Stoughton p16-17, discussing the role of the teacher in developing children’s understanding of art through critical response to the work of other artists.
Children encountering a work of art or design have equal rights with adults; their responses are as real, as varied and as valid. They do not have inferior versions of mature, adult reflections, just different ones. Their reactions are often direct and immediate and should always be valued.
With this in mind, teachers have an important part to play in encouraging children to look and respond with confidence, thereby enabling deeper understanding. By encouraging questioning, suggesting possible explanations and developing sensitivities, teachers will help pupils to develop their personal responses through knowledge and insight.
Some time ago, when working with a group of teachers, a primary school colleague wrote a delightful essay on ‘Real Art in the Primary School’. In her writing she offered the following definition of the teacher’s task when sharing a painting with the class.
The teacher must play a vital role as mediator, as discussion partner, as provider of information and explanations. Content of the picture, colour, composition, its context in historic events, techniques, the painter’s sources of inspiration can all be valuable starting points for a teaching programme. But so are the children’s reactions to the picture, their own experiences and ideas.
This balance between teacher and pupil viewpoints is the key. Opinions and feelings become an interchange, and provide a wonderful forum for debate. It may be useful to view the content of such debate in terms of the following points, as together they can provide a very powerful and valid reason for teaching, using works of art, craft and design. Even more importantly, they allow children to make sense of their learning experiences.

Reasons for using art and artefacts:
By using works of art pupils can:

gain confidence when making their own personal responses;

learn to look for reasons to think critically;

become sensitised to the world around them;
 discover their own way of seeing through encountering artists’ and designers’ work;

discover that their own work can be a safe place to express emotion and felling;

assimilate ideas, approaches and techniques and use them in their own work;

gain a positive attitude towards being adventurous and experimental in their own making and doing;
 verify that ideas don’t always succeed or satisfy at the first attempt;

understand that human beings have always made art and that it is a basic human urge and not the idiosyncratic whim of the class teacher;

encounter excellence and understand quality through seeing a wide variety of art and design forms;

become aware of the qualities in works of art and design leading them towards becoming discerning consumers;

talk, discuss and develop a critical vocabulary and sense of judgement;

learn to read content and look for the story of an image or artefact;

experience enjoyment and pleasure.
Teachers will need to decide which of these points they accept of reject and evolve a rationale tailored to match the needs of their individual school, classroom and pupils and the current ethos of the school. Further points could be added to this list by those who have discovered other valuable aspects of working through art and artefacts.
Stephens, K. (1994) Learning Through art and artefacts. London: Hodder and
Stoughton. p.26, 28.
When looking at sequences of work or artists’, craft workers’ and designers’ sketchbooks, it is valuable for children to see how their work developed. It also has the advantage of validating the way in which we suggest they work! I have found it useful to emphasise to pupils that professional practitioners work and re-work their ideas, that are rarely satisfied, and that often the same subject matter or problem is dealt with repeatedly, sometimes throughout the course of a lifetime! This whole area of experience is very relevant to the child’s own use of a sketchbook as a resource tool.
(See also Gillian Robinson’s book,
Sketchbooks: Explore and Store, Hodder and
Stoughton, 1995).
These insights can be immensely reassuring to children and are often not talked about enough. Too often pupils have the impr ession that ‘some clever people can just do it’, which is of no comfort to them, particularly when they reach the developmental stage

where they become highly self-critical and self-conscious and will readily judge most of their own efforts to be woefully inadequate.
The creative process is, after all, one of exploration and experimentation, of being unsure and of trying out numerous possible solutions to a problem encountered. Other curriculum areas ask pupils to draft and re-draft as they work towards a final piece, and art and design is no different. This said, I would also always defend the place of the
‘one-off’ spontaneous response! Sometimes a visual statement is made that is so instinctively right that to ask for it to be modified would be totally insensitive and destructive. This is as true for the professional as it is for the child in the classroom.
How pupils benefit from understanding how artists and designers work, how they can gain from encompassing artists’ working methods and how they can re-use the techniques and processes of professionals in their own way and at their own level, will be returned to later. In the meantime, it is exciting to consider how ideas and influences emerge through exploring other people’s art and design forms and their cultures, both past and present.
I have long believed that artists, designers and craft workers are a band of happy, shameless thieves! They gather ideas and stimuli from all over the place - galleries, the built environment, commercial graphics, museums, foreign travel, photographs, postcards, films - the list is almost endless. Of course artists work from their own unique imaginations, observations and memories, but all practitioners working in the visual arts will readily acknowledge influences, both contemporary and from the past, which have helped shape their work. Creativity does not happen in a vacuum, and as
Hermann Leight states in
The History of the World’s Art:
… art and its forms are borne upon a succession of recurring waves, and …. new forms of life and art are always the product of fresh contacts between peoples …
(Leight, 1963)