Reading Head: Unit Paper 2

Unit Paper 2
In our readings about Visual Culture the authors Hurwitz, Day & Barrett spoke about

their views of this culture from the early 1900s to modern time. In the late 1920s, art educators

developed a practical approach that focused on art in everyday life. In Visual Culture

teachers educated students on art principles that focus on how they dressed, decorated their

homes, and experienced their own environment (Hurwitz & Day, 2007). The primary goal was to

help students view art as relevant and applicable in their daily lives. Currently, art educators have

changed their approach to focus on the local needs of their students. The three approaches are

radical change, applied artist, and comprehensive art which provide students with an insight on

how to create artwork with a purpose.The student artworks can be interpreted through Barretts

theory of connotations and denotations which interprets visual and linguistic meaning of an

image (Barrett,T. 2007). African-American artists have used connotation and denotation to

express thoughts on racial discrimination. Visual Culture and interpretation will teach students

to make beautiful contemporary work that will be pleasing for their audience as well as explore

their thoughts on political or social awareness.

I would modify the Visual Culture and interpretation to High School students by

providing a lesson on commercial advertisements. We will discuss the various types of media

such as TV monitors, computers, and animation that companies used to attract their audience.

My lesson approach would focus on Radical Change to educate the students about global

capitalism and power in business. The students would be given an opportunity to analyze several

popular advertisements to get an overview of the power of persuasion. Then they will create their

own advertisement that would display their own views. This lesson will teach students to use

visual arts as a way to convey their own message on social issues.