INTRODUCTION

The purpose of education in the 21st century is to develop

productive citizens with skills to function in real life, in the workplace, and
in the world. An even greater challenge for education is to develop life-long
learners who will have the skills to seek new information throughout their
lifetimes so their knowledge, skills, and interests continue to enrich their
lives and keep pace with the demands of the workplace and the world.

Through the study of the arts, students develop knowledge,

emotional, social, and physical skills within a particular context. They learn
to be creative and flexible and expressive, to analyze, critique,
discriminate, and problem solve. In addition to the study of visual art as its
own discipline, the arts can enhance the content of other subject areas and
bring richness and a new perspective to common core subjects.
 GUIDE CARD

Contemporary art includes more than fifty types of art

Student’s that have surfaced since the end of World War II. An
important shift in the art world occurred when New York
Note
City replaced Paris as the center of the art world. In the
Please Check 1950s, artists like Jackson Pollock led the movement
the box toward abstraction with Abstract Expressionism. By the
1960s, Andy Warhol and other artists broke away from
After reading
traditional art to commercial art, making considerable
this page…
sums with Pop Art.
I still do not understand
the lesson. What is Contemporary Art? Contemporary art can be
Now I understand what defined as art produced in the present time or art
the lesson is all about produced since World War II. This is a broad definition at
What I think
about the best.
things Contemporary artists of today work in a variety of
to do materials and styles, and their works often contain a
deeper meaning within a seemingly unorganized
Easy
idealism. Contemporary art often requires viewers to
Difficult complete the work of art through their own
interpretations.
I want to study:
___ Alone
____with my . Everyone who encounters a work of art brings a
classmate
set of unique experiences that profoundly affect how
they respond to that work of art. Viewing and analyzing
a work of contemporary art as a classroom activity is
useful because students can think critically about a
piece, express what they perceive, research and analyze
other data sources, focus their thinking, articulate their
interpretation, explore the perceptions of others, and
develop respect for the perception of others
 3. Not all art refers to a story or human event.
Student’s 4. The nature of each work of art determines the best
questions to consider.
Note
Please Check For example: Guessing what the story is in an abstract
the box expressionist painting is an example of trying to fit a
referent to art that does not refer to anything or may
After reading
refer
this page… to circumstances or situations that are different.
5. Art should be a contemporary piece, rich in context or
meaning.
I still do not understand
6. Look for art with people, places, times and, or events.
the lesson.
Now I understand what 7. Look for images containing elements which could deal
the lesson is all about with issues, e.g.environment, industry, human condition.
8. It is not necessary for students or teachers to know
What I think
about the things
to do exactly what the artist was trying to communicate. Most
of the time we view contemporary art with no supporting
explanation such as title, artist’s name, and media used,
Easy
Difficult
concept, or meaning.

I want to study: 9. Students should derive their own interpretations and

___ Alone
____with my
be able to explain their decisions.
classmate
 Look at the picture. Site ideas regarding the picture
using the elements of art.

What you
need to
know.

Elements of Art
Line
The path of a moving point. Can be straight, curvy,
thick, or thin.
Shape
A shape is line that makes a form. A shape can be
inorganic or organic.
Value
Lightness or darkness – shading or color can be light
in value (yellow) or dark in
value (black). There are many ranges of value.
Space
Positive space- Area within objects
Negative space- area around or between objects
Texture
Feeling of the surface of an object or can be implied
through drawing
Color
Primary: Red, Yellow, and Blue – all colors come
from these
Secondary: Orange, Green, Purple- mixture of two
primaries
 Give at least 10 artists during the contemporary arts
and give their art styles.

What you
need to 1.
know.
2.

3.

4.
Contemporary artists, like many
artists that preceded them, may
acknowledge and find inspiration
in art works from previous time
periods in both subject matter and
5.
formal elements. Sometimes this
inspiration takes the form
of appropriation. Artist John
Baldessari "borrowed" an image6.
from 1505 of a stag beetle by the
German artist Albrecht Dürer and
made it his own. Using modern-
day materials (ink-jet printing
mounted on a fiberglass panel),
7.
Baldessari juxtaposed the original
image with a piece of sculpture in
the form of a giant steel pin. By
inserting the steel pin into the 8.
canvas, Baldessari combines
mediums in a very modern way

9.

10.