McGrew1

Kaley McGrew
Art 133 Section 5
Professor Amber Ward
24 September 2015
Unit Paper 2: Conservation and Ecology
Conservation is such a huge part of the world we live in today. Especially here in
California, everyone is aware of the severe drought we are in. Water levels are
plummeting and although we may get some rain this winter, it is of great importance to
many people to conserve water. Some bodies of water display the severity of our drought
more than others, and this is what I hoped to depict in our studio Exploring Earth. I
chose a picture of Lake Oroville because it shows a dramatic drop in the water level,
which really allows the concept to hit home. It is fantastic that a single picture can say so
much and have such a great impact; this is the power of art. Pictures can be described as
visual culture, which is defined as visual events in which information, meaning, or
pleasure is sought by the consumer in an interface with visual technology (Hurwitz and
Day, 2007,281). In Visual Culture in Art Education Hurwitz and Day discuss the main
reasons why introducing visual culture in the classroom is a great idea.
As a teacher, I could easily see implementing the ideas of visual culture in my
classroom. Hurwitz and Day suggest that this is important because technology is such a
familiar aspect of childrens lives and it is becoming more widely used (Hurwitz and
Day, 2007). Using the idea of conservation, I could see running a studio where my
children choose an idea to capture this concept and depict it in some form of
advertisement that they could imagine on a billboard. This exercise would excite
children and encourage them to see the importance of different kinds of conservation.
Hurwitz, A., & Day, M. (2007). Children and their art: Methods for the elementary
school, (8th ed.). Thompson Wadsworth.