Erika Ogier

Art Educator. Community Artist.

Lesson 4: Presentation & Artist Statement

Concept:

An artist’s statement explains artist’s intention or motivation in making a piece of art.

Objective:

Students will be excited about presenting their work through their exhibition. Student will understand the purpose of and basic outline of an artist statement. The student will answer specified questions to create their own artist statement about their digital collage. The student will thoughtfully and clearly write/type out an art statement about their digital collage to exhibit with their artwork.

Hook:

Students will be asked to pull up their artworks and trade with their neighbor who will the provide feedback about the work and what they feel the artist's intended statement is.

Cultural References:

Artist Statements from artists students become familar with over the course of the unit (Catherin Opie, Barbara Krueger, etc)

Instructional Input:

The students will read several age appropriate artist statements and discuss the purpose of an artist statement (see concept). Once the purpose has been determined instructor will present students with the ARTIST STATEMENT BIG QUESTIONS. Students will think about their own works and brainstorm answers.

Art Activity:

Students will create their own artist statement by answer each question in 1-2 complete sentences: WHAT IS YOUR ART WORK ABOUT? WHAT INSPIRES YOU TO MAKE IT? WHAT DOES IT SIGNIFIES OR REPRESENTS? WHAT'S UNIQUE OR SPECIAL ABOUT HOW YOU MAKE IT? WHAT DOES YOUR ARTWORK MEAN TO YOU? Once completed students will neatly write or type up their artist statement for exhibition next to their completed digital collage.

Demo:

Instructor will give a demo of proper matting of artwork (to the degree of resources the school as avilable in this area) and hanging the artworks for display.

Assessment:

Students will be assessed on their participated in discussion and thoughtfully created an artist statement that wholly reflects their artwork and process creating the artwork.

Final Assessment Rubric

	Exceptional	Satisfactory	Beginning
To what degree was the student motivated by the art works of artists revealing and critiquing gender assumptions?	The student shows great interest in critiquing gender roles in art and media. They asked many questions and participated wholly in discussion.	The student understood that art and media represent men and women in stereotypical ways.	The student asked few questions and vaguely participated in discussion on representation gender. They did not form any opinions or express any critical thoughts on the subject.
To what degree where the students able to understand how gender is represented in classic and contemporary art and media?	Students offered many ideas as to how gender representation and assumptions effect their everyday life (including family, school, and other experiences). Understood how we see gender is socially and culturally constructed.	The student saw connections between representation of gender in art and media and the assumed roles of men and women in our culture. They linked our discussions to their everyday experiences.	Students did not understand the connection between representation of men and women in art and media and their own life/culture.
To what degree was the student able to use the tools of Photoshop to manipulate the imagery collected to a result that showed thoughtfulness and cognitive understanding of unit concepts?	Student displayed a strong grasp of photo editing tools provided and took initiative to explore other tools offered by the program. Directions may be exceeded	The student was able to effectively use most of the photo editing tools (including cut, paste, erase, healing tools) and adjustments. Directions were followed each lesson.	Students understanding and use of photo editing tools were limited and lacking in control. Work lacked thoughtfulness and directions were barely followed.
To what degree was the student able to complete the assigned collage including a thoughtful statement representing their critique of gender in art and media? Was it prepared for exhibition?	Student created (at least) one well-crafted digital collage that shows careful thought to connections made in cognitive and affective objectives. Took great initiative in preparing for exhibition and in the display of their (and other student’s) work	The student created a digital collage making a thoughtful statement about men and women in art and media. They effectively matted and prepared their work for exhibition	Student was unable or barely able to complete a digital collage and the statement made was not well thought out. Was unable or barely able to prepare for exhibition.