FACILITATION SHEET

Title: Teaching Visual Culture Chapter 2

Author(s): Kerry Freedman
Source/Date: Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture. New York, New York: Teachers College
Press.

Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences):

In this chapter, Freedman (2003) explains aesthetic experience from multiple perspectives and how it
affects us in a growing visual world. Modernist views of art history and art education have historically
taken a modern formalist approach, which has not helped students better connect meaning to form.
Freedman suggests alternative ways to approach arts curriculum such as the postmodern approaches that
include conceptions of visual culture.
Strong succinct synopsis made here Aurora.

Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):

Freedman (2003) points out that much of the approach of teaching the arts comes through Kant’s
philosophy of aesthetics. Freedman examines Kant’s view: “…aesthetical judgement is grounded in a
necessarily universal, immediate response of pleasure to certain objects perceived by the senses without
concepts and involving no practical interests or desires” (p. 26). Because of this modernist approach to
teaching the visual arts, the context of these art items is taken away and work is presented in an isolated
manner when teaching students. Freedman highlights the dangers of this in a visual arts curriculum
stating, “…this model of aesthetics does not include an analysis of use, function, underlying assumptions,
social impact, and so on, because its application does not tend to take into account sociocultural aspects of
visual culture” (p.27). Freedman suggests that since we are taking part in a growing visual world, our
visual culture is changing, and we must adjust curriculum adapting to such changes. A postmodern
approach to visual culture helps students to greater understand the larger social context of art and helps
them to better connect meaning to making. Because visual culture is interdisciplinary, “…many aspects of
it should be taught by crossing histories of cultures and technologies. For most students not training to be
arts professionals, it is probably less important to understand art facts than it is for them to understand
why the arts exist, the contributions of art to individuals’ lives, and its social significance. Excellent
points.

Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or teaching
experience
Although I agree with Freedman (2003) regarding the need for inclusion of a postmodern perspective in
the visual culture curriculum, I do still think there is a need to teach concepts of formalism to students.
This would also be her argument. She just does not advocate formalism alone. There are certain inherent
characteristics that make a work appear to be more aesthetically appealing. I believe that these qualities
could even be used to take a postmodern approach to teaching visual culture. How? Can you specify?
Interesting argument that I would love to hear! Freedman points out that “…aesthetics is a two-sided coin.
It is the beautiful, appealing, and intriguing that makes us want to look at visual culture” but also that,
“aesthetics can seduce us into adopting stereotypes, convince us to accept unrealistic body images, and
persuade us to buy products without critical reflection” (p. 24). Excellent use of quotes throughout to
support your claims. Beautifully done. If we do not teach some aspects of formalism, students will not
understand why they are so drawn to aesthetics that have the power to influence our train of thought.

However, if formalism is too heavily focused on, students will start to look at art in isolation. I
saw this in the class I taught in St. Mary’s, where when students did not like their drawings, they
dismissed them stating, “this isn’t art”. The students were looking at the art from a completely
aesthetic value instead of understanding all the other enriching opportunities that the art was
creating for them. Visual culture curriculum should no doubt begin to take a more critical,
analytical, and contextual approach, but it should be done so alongside understanding formal
qualities as well.
FACILITATION SHEET

Title: Teaching Visual Culture Chapter 3

Author(s): Kerry Freedman
Source/Date: Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture. New York, New York: Teachers
College Press.

Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences):

This chapter critically examines the teaching of art history in our education system. It calls for
the need to a new approach of teaching visual culture that includes context, meaning, and social
relevance for the arts, and draws connections between the past, present, and future, that help us
in digesting visual culture today.

Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):

Freedman (2003) points out the flaws in how art history is taught in our schools today. She
states, “art history is grounded in the serious and thoughtful research of selected objects, but
generally gives little attention to larger social, political, and economic concerns that are the
contexts of artistic production” (p.44). The current approach to teaching about the fine arts also
leaves out the arts of women, persons of color, and cross-cultural bodies of art. Nice observation
and very important! Freedman suggests supplementing teachings to include groups that have
been left out in current K-12 curriculum. Separating the art from the art makers, as the current
approach to art education does, takes art out of contexts and makes it hard to connect meaning
through the art.
 Since the wide expanse of visual media through the help of the internet, advertising,
television, and so on, images have been reused and recycled so many times that the line has been
blurred about what fine art is. In some contexts, a new scope has taken form, one that focuses on
meaning rather than form for quality. Freedman also warns about the power visual culture has
and why it is so important to teach about it in schools, “the visual arts are not inherently good in
their effects. The great power of the visual arts is their ability to have various and profound
effects on our lives, but that power can also make them manipulative, colonizing, and
disenfranchising” (p.54).

Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or

teaching experience
I agree with Freedman (2003) in that the approach to art history needs to change. The social and
historical relevance of a piece lends to its meaning. By learning about context, as viewers we can
better understand a work of art and get a fuller understanding of history at this time. When we
study art, we aren’t only looking at the object, but the people who made them, what their
intention was, and what their social surroundings might have been that influenced the ideas
behind their work. The teaching of art has left out so many groups of people, effectively erasing
their history.
Not only does the current approach to teaching art leave us without the history of
nonwestern art, art made by women, and art made by persons of color, it also makes it hard to
find meaning of the pieces. When looking at art I’ve seen throughout art history courses, some of
the ways I have been taught have been as if an alien created. It is hard to relate to cultures if we
aren’t also taught their lived experience. I also believe it is very important what Freedman says
about the power of visual culture and how it can influence the way we think. In this way, we take
a Freireian approach to teaching visual culture, where we look at positions of power and how
they might affect our learning. I believe teaching visual culture from this perspective allows for
more critical thinking to take place, which better for student development than just learning how
to appreciate form.
FACILITATION SHEET
Title: Teaching Visual Culture Ch 4
Author(s): Kerry Freedman
Source/Date: Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture. New York, New York: Teachers
College Press.c

Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences):

This chapter established a connection between the arts and cognition. It explains how previous
knowledge helps to make meaning in understanding certain bodies of work, as well as helps us
understand the sociocultural aspects of learning.

Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):

Freedman (2003) explains the downfalls of making the separation between knowledge and
feeling in Western culture. Not only is our learning in art influenced by psychobiological
processes, it is also heavily influenced by sociocultural learning, that often gets overlooked.
When we look at a piece of art, we search our brains for other forms we can connect with it so
that we can generate meaning. That is, our meaning is established by what we already know. If
we have positive emotions tied to the connections we make in the viewing process, we will
usually tend to enjoy the work more. This means that emotions play a part in our cognitive
processes. If there is no previous knowledge connected to a body of work, it might make the
viewer uneasy. As Freedman states, “Many adults, including adult students, have negative
emotional responses to new visual culture, in part because they tend to have expectation (interest
and emotional investment) that they will generally understand the world” (p. 65). The more
connections that can be made, the more learning that takes place.

Freedman (2003) also explains the faults of just looking towards psychobiological processes as
explanation for learning in arts. It is stated, “although the purposes of public school art education
have sociocultural roots, children have been represented in curriculum as though they are without
attributes of culture” (p.75). If the sociocultural aspects in drawing are ignored, learning could
suffer as children are growing up in an increasingly visual world. Freedman points this out, “at
the same time as students develop ideas, attitudes, and beliefs in and through visual culture, they
should be reflecting on that development and the way it changes them as they learn” (p. 77).

Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or

teaching experience
I agree with Freedman (2003) in that sociocultural aspects do need to be taken into account when
considering student learning. Today, students are seeing an increasing amount of visual imagery
that is shaping the way they think. The things they see every day is helping them to make
connections to pieces of art learning in class. If emotion is tied to cognition and meaning is made
through establishing connections, then we need to teach students how to process the visual
information that they are taking in every day. Now, students are being taught like they are not
growing up in the world they are growing up in. It seems foolish to ignore culture, especially in a
place like the art classroom.
By connecting learning to the thing’s students experience every day, we make it easier on them.
The more connections they can make, the more that they will learn. Learning will not seem so
separate from their every day lives and students will become more engaged. It is important that
students want to learn and get excited about learning, and I believe this can be done by teaching
things that are relevant to student’s lives
FACILITATION SHEET

Title: Teaching Visual Culture

Author(s): Kerry Freedman

Source/Date: Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture. New York, New York: Teachers College
Press

Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences): Through rising technology, the visual image is something that is
imbedded into the everyday life of the American student. Images have been recycled and new meanings
are made through connections in popular visual culture. The art curriculum needs to match the expanse of
visual imagery by teaching students how to properly interpret popular visual culture.

Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):

Freedman (2003) suggests that curriculum in art education be taken away from the direction of purely
technical and formal skill and be moved more towards covering an array of sociocultural positions and
interactions, focusing more on context. It is explained that art production must include interdisciplinary
knowledge. As the power of the visual image is made clear, intriguing our interests, and associating
certain images with high taste and sensibility, it is being used to create a consumer consciousness. As
Freedman suggests, “through messages of identity, desire, and power, ads seem to speak to individuals,
while attempting to shape mass consciousness” (p.99). We need to teach our students in art education how
to become critical consumers of these images.
In order to teach students how to become critical consumers of visual imagery, Freedman (2003) suggests
a curriculum that develops their higher-level interpretation skills. This includes unpacking underlying
assumptions, forming multiple, possible associations, and performing self-conscious, critical reflection
(p.88). By unpacking underlying assumptions, Freedman illustrates the importance of teaching the
relationship of viewing/making by focusing on the context of the work. By forming multiple, possible
association, Freedman is suggesting incorporating the notion of suggestiveness. Suggestiveness being
“the associative power of visual culture to lead to emotional, cognitive responses and interactive,
multileveled meanings” (p.90). Freeman demonstrates the importance of critical reflection by explaining,
“rather than seeking the best, expert interpretation of a work of art, students can broaden their
understanding of interpretation and their interpretive skills by finding their own personal and cultural
meanings, comparing, combining, and challenging these with the interpretations of others to increase
associations and build complexity” (p. 93).
Students don’t know how to interpret a visual image unless we teach them. This needs to be taught so
students have more guidance navigating the visual world.

Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or teaching
experience
I agree with Freedman that the curriculum need to be changed to include popular visual culture. Even if
we were just teaching fine art, the meaning that students would connect to these forms would be done
through associations with images that they are seeing all the time. Ignoring this whole realm of a student’s
life would be taking the context away from art and removing it from student lives. I also agree that
advertising uses images that allure the consumer into thinking what they are buying is some how “right”.
It is crazy how influenced humans can be by visual imagery, whether that is nostalgia created from seeing
a picture of themselves when they were younger, tears caused by looking at ta landscape for the first time,
desire caused by pornographic images, hunger caused by imagery of food, etc. Imagery has the power to
elicit strong human emotion. Teaching students how to be critical of the images they are consuming
allows them to develop an awareness they would have never had. If educators incorporate this into
curriculum, students can begin to question “how is this ad trying to get me to think?” “Do I really need
that” “Is this what is truly important to me?”
FACILITATION SHEET

Title: Teaching Visual Culture Chapter 6

Author(s): Kerry Freedman
Source/Date: Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture. New York, New York: Teachers College
Press
Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences):
The main purpose of this chapter was to highlight the importance of curriculum as process. Curriculum
must not be viewed a stagnant written document, but something that moves and grows with the minds and
lives of students.

Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):

Freedman (2003) starts this chapter by stating that “curriculum reflects people’s hopes and dreams” (p.
106). A curriculum that is at the center of a democratic education must be used as a tool for social action
if it is to fulfill its purpose of reflecting the hopes and dreams of the American people. In order for
curriculum to fulfill its role in democratic education, it needs to be viewed as a process, not a stagnant
document. A curriculum must grow with and reflect the lives of students out side of school as well as
inside of school. It must deal with controversial subjects because as Freedman states, “the discussion of
controversial issues by students in an open intellectual climate is associated with higher levels of political
interest, efficacy, and knowledge” (p. 107), which might make students more active agents in their
society. Curriculum doesn’t have to be just formal qualities and technical skills that students are taught, it
can be centered around identity construction and social and cultural conditions. Students should not just
be taught the works of old masters, but visual culture as well so that they can have a better understanding
on the issues of the world around them. Art is interdisciplinary and should be taught as such. Using visual
culture will give students a chance to make more connections with the world and will deepening their
understanding. Not only will this help students cognitively understand information, it will allow them to
learn about different cultures and diversity and different world views.

Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or teaching
experience

In my own learning experience in the arts, I am lucky I had instructors that made us focus on
world issues around us. However, I feel my work would have been more successful if I were
taught more about visual culture so that I could make connections better in my head. I was taught
art in almost the opposite way than Freedman describes in the book. I was taught formal qualities
first, and then taught about context later on. I think that learning about context and content is
very important for idea construction and gives you a better understanding about the work as a
whole. Students will learn more if they can make deeper connections with art that is rooted in
their everyday lives. I agree that teaching students to become critical consumers of visual culture
will help teachers to make more democratic citizens. Curriculum needs to be changed from
formal qualities and old masters to work that actually reflects the lives of the American people.
Curriculum needs to reflect the hopes and dreams of the people.
FACILITATION SHEET

Title: Teaching Visual Culture Chapter 7: Art.edu

Author(s): Kerry Freedman
Source/Date:
Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture. New York, New York: Teachers College Press

Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences):

The main purpose of this chapter was to highlight the growing influence that visual technologies have on
student learning. As students gain more access to information, it is our job as educators to help them sort
through this information and help them to decide what a quality source of truth and information is.

Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):

Through this chapter, Freedman (2003) leads us through the issues surrounding growing visual
technologies in the art classroom. Freedman explains that “visual technologies easily and quickly enable
us to cross conceptual borders, providing connections between people, places, objects, ideas and even
professional disciplines” (p. 128). Because of this crossing of conceptual borders and the realistic
qualities of new visual technologies, these growing advancements are blurring borders of what is reality
and what is truth. The once obvious separation between art and reality and fantasy and reality is fading.
This loss of separation has influence students’ cognitive thought, as they often think about visual imagery
long after it disappears from the screen. Freedman observes, “Interacting with a visually complex
computer fame can be a powerful experience because it is suggestive of many possible stories and new
images that spin away from the screen the player sees” (p. 132). Because of this rich visual imagery, the
games can even be considered addictive. The more realistic a game seems, the more interested and
enthralled in its story line we become. This powerful tool could be used as an educational experience if
used correctly. Computer games when used in the arts also allow for more trial and error and allow us to
communicate with others faster than before. In order for students to better learn from these games and
media influences, we need to take responsibility as art educators. As Freedman observes, “as a result of
increased interactions with visual technologies and other popular visual culture, students need increased
critical guidance that teachers can provide” (p. 139).
If we contextualize the history and power of these visual technologies, it will help students better
understand the blurring lines between fantasy and reality and become more aware of issues surrounding
visual technology.

Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or teaching
experience

I believe that I can say without a doubt that students are influenced by television, games, and
media. Not only students, but adults as well. Visual technologies have increased the speed at
which the mass consciousness of society is changing. Things that once formed our conceptions
of reality are becoming more and more blurred with technology. Freedman talks about how news
media makes the outdoors seems scary, so we sit inside and watch TV all day. I think that if
these television and media outlets are going to start forming the confines of our reality, then we
need to look at them way more critically. With the richness of imagery, it would be easy to be
influenced and controlled by people in positions of power. If we only focused on formal qualities
in the work, we would ignore this huge influence over our society. These programs, if not looked
at critically, could have the potential to make people more violent, make women have body
image issues, form conceptions about identity and gender, and overall just not allow people to
live their lives with a sense of authenticity. People deserve more than to constantly be striving
towards some idealistic image of what they should be.
FACILITATION SHEET
Title: Teaching Visual Culture
Author(s): Kerry Freedman
Source/Date: Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture. New York, NY: Teachers College

Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences): Learning in the arts is not just about learning to make better
representational forms or to develop technical skills. It is about the social and political influences in a
student’s life and their response to those influences. Through art production and assessment, cognition
and emotion are fused and new learning takes place.

Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):

Freedman (2003) addresses the importance of studio practices in the arts and their contribution to artistic
growth. In an art classroom, studio practice is not individual time, studio practice takes place in a social
setting where students work in groups and individually to produce, view, discuss, and dissect art works.
In a visual arts classroom where visual culture is worked into the curriculum, students become critical
commentators on social issues. Freedman states, “students make visual art not merely for its formal,
technical, or even private value; they do not only seek to improve their skills of representation or develop
their own style. Students want to communicate and be understood, often about social issues” (p. 147-148).
These works of art are often constructed not just from pure individualism, but the influences surrounding
the artist’s life. The communal value of any work of art emerges from “conditions ranging from the
politics of its production to its historical and contemporary meanings for a viewing audience” (p.150).
A way that students can talk about their ideas and art can be through assessment. Assessment should be
something that aids the students in production, not something that gives them anxiety. Freedman (2003)
states, “assessments should relate to concepts and skills that students are intended to learn but must also
allow for these students who go beyond “the box” of instructional objects. A way that this can be done is
through holistic portfolio assessment, peer and self- assessment, and group critiques.

Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or teaching
experience
I agree with Freedman (2003) that art is a social and cultural production. Students cannot part themselves
from what they know, that is like trying to erase your own memory. When assessing students’ work, we
must take into consideration what these social and cultural influences are and think about how they might
affect student work. This form of production will allow students to start making more critical commentary
on the things that they are seeing every day, which is why visual culture needs to be incorporated
throughout the curriculum. I also agree with assessment in the arts that is not standardized testing.
Standardized testing just measures a student’s ability to remember and regurgitate information. This does
not show higher order thinking skills. Methods of assessment that are used in the arts such art such as one
on one discussions, portfolios that show progress work, and small critique allow students the opportunity
to really discuss what they know and demonstrate growth. I wish that this form of assessment was utilized
more when I was in high school. We were graded on our finished products, nothing else, and that led to
anxiety about just finishing the piece instead of really taking the time to develop my ideas. I felt that my
growth and effort was demonstrated more so in the process than just the final piece.