Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Facilitation Sheet Title: Chapter 1-The Professional Field: Theorizing Visual Culture in Education Author(s) : Kerry Freedman Source/Date
Facilitation Sheet Title: Chapter 1-The Professional Field: Theorizing Visual Culture in Education Author(s) : Kerry Freedman Source/Date
Facilitation Sheet Title: Chapter 1-The Professional Field: Theorizing Visual Culture in Education Author(s) : Kerry Freedman Source/Date
FACILITATION SHEET
Source/Date:
Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the social life
of art. New York: NY: Teachers College Press.
Freedman (2003) discusses the many aspects of visual culture in this chapter. The
visual arts are most of visual culture, and Freedman covers the common misconceptions
of an education of visual culture. This means that visual arts education spans art in muse-
ums as much as the art that surrounds students (p. 2). Freedman also discusses the impact
of visual culture on identity, the importance of representation by including many visual
cultures in the art classroom, and considering visual culture as part of the everyday expe-
rience.
Freedman (2003) discusses the evolution of the visual arts to include visual cul-
ture. She expresses this by saying:
What was once considered an elite and isolated form of human production is
becoming increasingly realized as part of daily life. The visual arts are expanding
not only in their forms, but in their influence through connections to the range of
social issues, including social issues not always thought of as social in character,
such as ecology and conception of self (p. 1).
This framework establishes visual culture in the arts classroom as far more than the typi-
cal visual arts. It pushes the boundaries and calls on teachers and students to be critical
thinkers and agents of social change. While touching on identity, Freedman goes on to
say, “An important educational aspect of visual culture is its effect on identity, in terms of
both art-making and viewing, which is perhaps the greatest issue in education” (p. 2).
Students are learning in school, which is aiding them in forming their identity because we
“change as we learn” (Freedman, p. 2). This profound changing process while being ex-
posed to visual culture both in and outside of school is impacting students for the rest of
their lives.
Due to this impact, it is also especially important for teachers to be thinking about
representation in the visual arts classroom. Freedman (2003) explains this by saying
Name: Laura Murphy
Fine art is still critically important but is is only one form of visual culture worthy
of study. Visual culture as a whole must be seen as real in the sense that it is a
major part of everyday experience (p. 20).
This summarizes the idea of putting the evolved visual culture classroom in a historical
context. Fine arts are still an important element to visual arts learning, but must be seen
as only part of the art students are surrounded by. This approach will create an environ-
ment of critical thinking in the classroom.
Freedman (2003) does an excellent job explaining the importance and value of a
visual arts curriculum. As a student who grew up with a DBAE curriculum, I knew there
were major elements of learning that I was missing, even if I could not pinpoint what
they were exactly at the time. In hindsight, I realize that my teachers were not allowing
me to explore topics I was interested in. The lessons they were teaching were also not
ones that allowed me to be creative when I so desperately desired that. This approach that
Freedman discusses accounts for a holistic curriculum that incorporates fine arts, but also
the everyday experience of the visual culture that surrounds you. The topic of identity
formation through visual culture is quite relevant to me as I am teaching that lesson to my
5th grade class right now and it is a topic I feel very strongly about. I think it is an essen-
tial area to consider when teaching in the visual arts classroom. Students are being con-
sistently influenced by their visual culture and addressing that visual culture and assisting
with that identity formation process is an important job of an educator.
Name: Laura Murphy
FACILITATION SHEET
Source/Date:
Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the social life
of art. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Freedman (2003) discusses aesthetics in art education. This has been increasingly
discussed in the classroom, which Freedman explains by saying:
Since the 1960’s, attention has been increasingly given to given to making
aesthetics overt in K-12 art curriculum by, for example, teaching elements
and principals of art and design as aesthetic qualities, addressing the ‘big
questions’ of art and aesthetics, and discussing the work of aestheticians
as a professional field (p. 23).
There are two sides to the curriculum of aesthetics. Freedman (2003) discusses that
“Aesthetics can promote feelings of righteousness, communicate vital messages, and il-
lustrate excellence” (p. 24). On the other side, Freedman explains “they also remind us of
our weaknesses… Aesthetics can seduce us to adopting stereotypes, convince us to accept
unrealistic body images, and persuade us to buy products without critical reflection” (p.
24). It is important to be aware of this duality, but also be aware of the interdisciplinary
aspect of visual culture. Freedman extends on this idea by saying “Imagination develops
through interdisciplinary and disciplinary experiences with visual culture, which are con-
texts that play a part in the extension of meaning and learning” (p. 32). When talking
about meaning, form is an essential component to meaning in visual culture as well.
Freedman (2003) connects the theory of meaning making to the theories of
Dewey. When talking about the notion of aesthetic experience, Freedman describes this,
saying “He [Dewey] viewed art as fundamentally providing an integrative experience
connecting body and mind and criticized the idea of an aesthetic that sought to separate
Name: Laura Murphy
the two” (p. 38). It is important to note that meaning is essential to visual culture but “has
not always been reflected as so in art education” (Freedman, p. 38). It is important to note
what is being done in art education, versus what is actually being done. Freedman contin-
ually points out these shortcomings in curriculum.
FACILITATION SHEET
Source/Date:
Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the social life
of art. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Freedman (2003) discusses merging art history and the history of visual culture in
a modern curriculum. This chapter covers this subject in three broad topics of critically
examining the discipline of art history, the importance of contexts and reconsidering
quality for teaching, and the future of postmodern visual culture.
Academic structures of the visual arts have expanded to include the visual culture of daily
life, and the art history of the past, present and future. Reconsidering quality and contexts
are as important as our history as well.
Freedman (2003) really pushes the boundaries of what visual culture is and how it
fits into a traditional visual arts curriculum. More accurately, Freedman shatters the con-
struct of the traditional visual arts curriculum. The separate disciplines become one, and
the things we often consider as “givens” like art history, fine art, and judging art are
called into question. Most profoundly, Freedman states, “Issues of quality centered on the
selection of objects rather than the selection of critical concepts” (p. 53). I found this
whole page to be especially important, but that quote mostly. I wrote a research paper last
semester on this very topic. It was titled “The Right to Creativity: Integrating Creative
and Process Learning into the Visual Arts Classroom.” One of my main sources for the
paper was an article written by Freedman (2007) titled Artmaking/Troublemaking: Cre-
ativity, Policy, and Leadership in Art Education. All of this ties back to her concepts here
as well. This chapter is explaining that the world of visual arts and the way we approach
it in the classroom have changed. Subjects have merged, research shows there are new
ways we should be teaching, and it is time that we change with the time. My research pa-
per was based on this idea and on my teaching philosophy. The days of DBAE are over,
and the research shows that classrooms should be based on creativity and process based
learning. Why are we shifting to a visual arts curriculum, yet we still judge on the idea of
objects, technical, and formal qualities? Why don’t we have a curriculum based on criti-
cal concepts and creativity when those are the most essential building blocks of the visual
arts? We know what needs to change, but we will not change it. Freedman’s entire phi-
losophy and the majority of this book confront that idea very poignantly.
Name: Laura Murphy
FACILITATION SHEET
Source/Date:
Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the social life
of art. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Freedman (2003) discusses the recent development of cognitive science and its
relationship to the arts. In the past, there have been associations made about the
simplicity of the visual arts, when there is a complexity to the visual arts that involves our
own knowledge, experiences, and cognitive development that influence how we view
visual culture and make meaning in the visual culture we see every day.
Freedman (2003) discusses the recent developments in the study of visual arts and
visual culture. Freedman introduces this concept by saying, “Cognitive scientists have
become interested in the realm of the visual arts and the relationship of the arts to
cognition” (p. 63). Freedman expands on this by stating, “Some of the processes involves
in viewing visual culture are psychobiological” (p. 63). There are many complex
processes involved in viewing art and why we believe art to be good, and why each
individuals views are different. Your personal experiences and cognitive development
play a large role in the way you view and understand art. When talking about meaning in
visual culture, Freedman explains, “The meaning of visual culture will be different to a
person well educated and greatly experienced in the visual arts than a naive viewer” (p.
68). Other new developments include a shift from Stage-By-Age to Expert-Novice
Development models. Freedman describes these by saying, “In contrast to the stage-by-
age models, expert-novice stage models of development are based on the steps of
learning required to advance from a novice level of knowledge to higher-order
expertise” (p. 72). This shift is a more natural development than the stage-by-age model.
Another important factor to consider in learning and understanding visual culture
is sociological perspectives. Freedman (2003) states, “Much learning takes place in the
context of social conditions that shape what and how people come to know” (p. 74).
Freedman further addresses this by saying, “Researchers who have studied the
sociological aspects of artistic development argue that several aspects of drawing are
connected to a wide range of cultural influences” (p. 75). We know that because of this,
all students learn and understand visual culture in a unique way. It is also important to
Name: Laura Murphy
note that students may collect their knowledge both in and outside of the classroom.
Freedman connects all of this information by stating, “These methods should take into
account the variety go experiences people have with visual culture and how those
experiences direct learning” (p. 85). It is important to consider each student’s contexts,
and allow their experiences to be a part of their learning experience. It is also important
for educators to let students know that those experiences that have guided their
knowledge and meaning making are valid when viewing and understanding art.