Grade 8 - Context (Creating/Communicating)

PRESCRIBED LEARNING OUTCOMES

It is expected that students will:

• create images:
  • that support or challenge personal and societal beliefs, values, traditions, or practices
  • that incorporate stylistic elements from various artists, movements, and periods
  • in response to historical and contemporary images or issues
  • that reflect a sense of personal and social responsibility
• make a display or portfolio of work, taking into consideration the venue and audience

To view the prescribed learning outcomes for Context (Creating/Communicating) in other grades click on an icon below.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

• Students create visual mind maps or webbing diagrams that reflect their backgrounds and interests.
• Have students work individually or in groups to create collages that have personal meaning. For example, they create a mind map or collage that best illustrates their world, using questions to organize their thinking:
  • What is important to you?
  • What do you value?
  • What do you like? Dislike? Display their mind maps or collages and discuss why students made the decisions they did.
• Ask students to study the style that characterizes a particular artist or movement and represent their findings, using similar materials and techniques to create works of their own. Their works might use the style to comment on issues such as feminism or the rights of people with special needs (e.g., a re-creation of Grant Wood's American Gothic, with the pitchfork in the woman's hand and the apron and an earring on the man; Mona Lisa in a wheelchair).
• Students combine images in a creative product (e.g., a poster, a 60-second video) aimed at influencing behaviour or opinions with respect to a specific issue (e.g., smoking, recycling, gender equity).
• Students use the same image in different ways to target three separate interest groups (e.g., a CD cover or brochure for a pop, classical, and punk group).
• In groups, students assemble a display of their own work based on a specific themes or idea. Have the groups plan and negotiate with the principal, librarian, or other appropriate authority to find and prepare an appropriate site in the school or community for the display.

SUGGESTED ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES

• As students work on their collages, note individual responses to visual images:
  • Was the student able to give reasons for emphasizing particular elements?
  • Does the overall Design reflect what the student describes as the significant aspects of the work?
• Encourage students to reflect on the relationships between their views and their artwork by asking questions such as:
  • Why did you choose this issue or topic? What makes it important to you?
  • In one sentence, what is your message?
  • How do the parts of your work help to communicate your message?
  • What might you do to make your message stronger?
• When students create images to appeal to special interest groups, focus discussion on whether the image has been used in a distinctive and creative way and how clearly it is associated with a particular interest group. Have students explain the associations they see.
• Have students complete a cover sheet for each piece of work in their portfolio that gives the title, description, medium, and size. Students may also want to include the following:
  • Where I got my ideas for this piece of work____.
  • Why this piece is important to me_____.
• When assigning students to create work incorporating stylistic elements of an artist or culture, note the extent to which:
  • the style is incorporated into a student's work, rather than imposed on it
  • the work reflects an awareness of the context from which the style comes

RECOMMENDED LEARNING RESOURCES

• Art First Nations: Tradition and Innovation
• Art From Many Hands: Multicultural Art Projects
• Art Images and Ideas
• Arttalk (Second Edition)
• Claywork - Form and Idea in Ceramic Design (Third Edition)
• Conflict Through the Eyes of Artists
• Experimenting with Art: 25 Easy-to-Teach Lessons in Design and Color
• Exploring Art
• Eyewitness Film Kit
• Famous Artists Poster Packs
• Food Through the Eyes of Artists
• Understanding Art
• Video In Focus: A Guide to Viewing and Producing Video
• The Visual Experience
• Weather and Seasons Through the Eyes of Artists A World of Images
• The Young Artists Series

• Electric Dreams (Computer Imaging)
• Littlechild
• Masks From Many Cultures
• A Model of Perfection
• Mona Lisa Descending a Staircase
• One Step At A Time
• Paint by Numbers
• Painting With Fire

• Themes and Foundations of Art

Table of Contents

Province of British Columbia
Ministry of Education
Standards Department © 1995 Copyright

Maintained by: Fine Arts Coordinator - Visual Arts

Revised: March 13, 1996

Ministry of Education Home Page