Maddy Keokhamdy

Professor Ward

Unit Paper #2

15 February 2018

Power & Visual Culture

Unit two was about the relationship between Power and Visual Culture. Visual Culture is

a very broad concept defined numerous ways by different people. According to Hurwitz & Day

(2007) “the definition of visual culture as “everything visual” is rejected; the term is defined for

art education as “contemporary applied arts.” Walker (2001) lists some very important key

concepts of what power is, such as: excess, scarcity, recognition, privilege, fear, inclusion and

exclusion, control, voice, change, insiders and outsiders, rules, and disruption. Artists apply these

key concepts and incorporate them in their visual culture all the time. An example of this would

be Banksy’s “subvertisements” he takes a regular picture and alters it and uses his “voice” of the

artwork to speak about touchy topics such as political and social issues. According to Hurwitz &

Day (2007) “several approaches are available for teaching visual culture in art education, for

example: (1) a radical change in art education with new aims or goals for the field and the

ascension of visual culture as the primary subject for study—the primary aim of the view is

social reconstruction the promotes democracy, liberty, and justice; (2) a traditional approach that

features study of various applied art forms, such as illustration, graphic design, and fashion

design, with emphasis on art making; (3) comprehensive art education, this approach expressed

throughout this book that recognizes four art disciplines, places visual culture as one component

within a broad art curriculum.” Some educators want a shift in the modern art education that

would change subject content and goals that uses visual culture to create social reconstruction
known as visual culture art education. With both Power and Visual culture combined together,

future artists have a better platform to showcase their work and have their underlying meanings

thoroughly understood.

For my future population, I would take all three of the approaches to art education and

combined them vs using just one approach. All three objectives are important in educating

students and future artists; you have to open the “artistic doors” to allow them to use art is

various ways. I would come up with art projects for all three topics, but I believe the most fun

studio would occur under the topic of “Applied Artists and Their Art.” I would give students a

pre-made book with only words, such as the tortoise and the hare. Next, I would intentionally

leave the page blank until the bottom where the words are. Then, I would have the children read

the book and illustrate each page to their artistic abilities. Finally, each student would read their

book aloud, showcasing their new art work.

 Works Cited

Hurwitz, A., & Day, M. (2007). Children and their art: Methods for the elementary school, (8th
ed.). Thompson Wadsworth.

Walker, S. (2001). Teaching meaning in artmaking. Worchester, MA: Davis.