Visual Literacy Art Education

21^st Century students live in a world surrounded by images.  They are on billboards along the highway, on commercials on television, in magazines, in books, and nearly everywhere else you could possibly imagine.  In this visual world, it is becoming increasingly important that we, as art educators, take a stand and teach our students to decode and deconstruct the world in which they live.  Though the topic remains one of controversy amongst educators, I personally believe that a mix of art and visual culture education is beneficial to students in both their creative and personal endeavors.  Kuan Chung and Kirby (2009) share this belief, and state that, “an integrative pedagogy such as critical media art education suggests ways to raise social awareness and initiate possible changes through art” (38). 

Visual Culture is an area of study involving the depiction and analysis of images through deep exploration.  It relies heavily on culture studies and anthropology, with a hint of art history.  The images that surround our lives are full of meaning, providing rich opportunities for learning and discussion centered on the contemporary lives of students.  In Karen Keifer-Boyd and Jane Maitland-Gholson’s book (2007), Engaging Visual Culture, the importance and place of visual culture in the classroom is explored.  The text states that, “Meanings we make from visual information are foundational to future understandings.  Images that communicate their very identity to young people today impact who and what they will become as adults” (xvii).  This makes it an essential part of education that deserves to be investigated alongside art and art history.

Visual Culture is a fabulous tool for educators to utilize within the classroom.  Because it is relevant to students’ lives, they are engaged and interested in what there is to learn about the topic.  Visual Culture studies provide a rich experience for meaning-making that rivals many other topics because Visual Culture is the basis of images that bombard students every day, and shape their ideals and philosophies.  As art educators, it is our duty to educate students on how to look at and analyze the images of their every day in order for them to be successful artists and citizens.  It is easy to incorporate visual culture into the art classroom, with possible topics such as advertising, video games, comics and graphic novels, and avatars.  All of these topics pertain to art and visual culture, all the while giving students a chance to think critically about their world.  A sample unit of investigation might be as follows:

Exploring Advertising:

Essential Questions

What is advertising?

What kinds of ads do you see most?

Are ad creators artists?

What kind of effects do ads have on you and others?

What is your favorite advertisement?

Where do ideas about beauty come from?

Process & Product

Advertising is likely the single most important area of visual culture to study.  All people are surrounded with some form of advertisements, whether that be in magazines, television commercials, or billboards along the side of the highway.  In this unit, students will gaze into this world of advertising to learn to analyze and critique these ads.  Students will first spend time exploring essential questions.  Students will read Terry Barrett’s infamous article, Interpreting Visual Culture, and learn how to use denotation and connotation to deconstruct images.  Students will then look deeply at different forms of ads, looking for target markets and hidden ideals.  For the culminating activity, students will form groups, one being a designer and one being a client.  The groups will work together to create advertisements that satisfy their clients and sell a product of their choosing.  Students will be required to think like a designer and contemplate what messages their ads should send.  As a wrap up for the unit, students will write a reflective essay on the design process and the difficulties of expressing yourself and the ideas of a client simultaneously.