Consider This the Consider This Box of Catfish and Art

What Is Art?

Grade Level: 9–12 Curriculum Connections: Language Arts

Students volition discuss opinions on criteria for what makes a work of art and then debate whether Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes can be considered fine art. Then, students will use everyday objects from their homes as the basis for a new work of fine art.

Discussion

Present the images of the following works of fine art from the 20th century and discuss as a class: If you lot could only choose one, which of these would you lot utilize to define the word art? Why?

Claes Oldenburg, Gemini M.E.L.,Profiterole, 1990, cast aluminum, mitt-painted past artist, National Gallery of Fine art, Washington, Souvenir of Gemini G.E.50. and the Artist, in Honour of the 50th Ceremony of the National Gallery of Art, 1990.104.17

Ellsworth Kelly,Colour Panels for a Big Wall, 1978, oil on canvass, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Purchased with funds provided by The Glenstone Foundation, Mitchell P. Rales, Founder, 2005.87.ane

Nam June Paik,Ommah, 2005, one-aqueduct video installation on 19-inch LCD monitor, silk robe, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of the Collectors Commission, 2010.62.1

Willem de Kooning,Woman with a Lid, 1966, oil on paper, National Gallery of Fine art, Washington, Gift of Full general Dillman Atkinson Rash in memory of Nancy Phillips Batson Rash and in Honor of the 50th Ceremony of the National Gallery of Art, 1991.94.1

Eugène Atget,A la Grappe d'Or, 4 place d'Aligre, 1911, albumen impress, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 2002.73.11

Groundwork

Andy Warhol was built-in Andrew Warhola in Pittsburgh to an immigrant family from cardinal Europe. After studying at the Carnegie Plant of Technology betwixt 1946 and 1949, he moved to New York and quickly achieved success as a commercial artist and illustrator.

Warhol's first paintings of the 1950s were based on comic strips and advertisements, placing them at the forefront of the rising pop art motility. In pop fine art, artists found inspiration in the world effectually them, using references to imagery and products from popular culture and the advertising that was becoming ubiquitous through television, film, and magazines.

Warhol once said that he wanted to "exist a automobile," and his business organization for eliminating conventional signs of the artist is clear from his shift to techniques such every bit the apply of stencils, rubber stamps, and a photomechanical silkscreen process.

The mechanical means of Warhol'southward production chosen into question the role of the creative person in making art. Warhol himself joked in 1963 that he thought someone else should be able to do all his paintings for him. In fact, administration at the Factory, Warhol's studio, did help to produce many of them. Moreover, the series multiplication of Warhol's images—most famously, his soup cans and Coke bottles—challenged traditional ideas virtually art's uniqueness.

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Caused with funds contributed past the Committee on Twentieth-Century Art and as a fractional gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., 1994-79-1—3, © 2017 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Andy Warhol, Brillo Boxes, 1964, screenprint and ink on wood, Philadelphia Museum of Fine art, Acquired with funds contributed by the Committee on Twentieth-Century Art and as a partial gift of the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc., 1994-79-1–3, © 2017 The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Action

In the 1960s customs agents in Canada seized Andy Warhol's Brillo Boxes, insisting that it was subject to normal duties applied to the cleaning product. They refused to recognize it as a piece of work of art that was constructed to mimic a commercially available production. Divide the class into two teams, one assigned to each side of this dispute. They should prepare their arguments to justify the position that Brillo Boxes either is or is not fine art. They may want to consider the following questions:

• Does it reflect creative skill?
• Would y'all say that the creative person used his imagination in creating the piece of work?
• Do you believe the work expresses an thought?
• Do you lot find information technology interesting? Beautiful?

Post-obit the form argue, take students bring in everyday objects from their homes and work on a project to brand their objects the basis for a work of art for a schoolhouse exhibition. Students can consider whether they want to add together to or modify their objects in any way, what idea they wish to express through the work, and whether the championship will touch how information technology is viewed. Take students leave written comments on their peers' piece of work in the early stages of creation, and so have students continue to build and revise their works, reflecting on what peers commented on.

Extension

We live in a designed world. Have students explore around school or their homes to find examples of objects that show some level of blueprint—for instance, functional blueprint, graphic design, or mode design. Do nosotros refer to the designers of these objects as artists? If yes, what makes their piece of work art? If no, why non, and should that change? What makes an artist? Students might exist guided in their thinking past reading excerpts from philosopher Arthur C. Danto'due south After the Stop of Art.

National Core Arts Standards

VA:Cn10.one.HSIII Synthesize knowledge of social, cultural, historical, and personal life with fine art-making approaches to create meaningful works of art or design

VA:Cn11.1.HSI Describe how knowledge of civilisation, traditions, and history may influence personal responses to art

VA:Cr1.2.HSII Cull from a range of materials and methods of traditional and gimmicky artistic practices to plan works of art and design

VA:Pr6.ane.HSII Make, explain, and justify connections betwixt artists or artwork and social, cultural, and political history

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Source: https://www.nga.gov/learn/teachers/lessons-activities/modern-art/what-is-art.html

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