All Levels
ArtEd Online
Finding Meaning
in Contemporary Art
Craig Roland
Meaning in a work of
art evolves from the
interaction between
the artist’s choices
and intentions and each viewer’s
unique knowledge, perspective, and
experience. Finding meaning in contemporary art can be challenging for
beginning viewers, especially when
the artist employs personal symbolism, nonrepresentational subject
matter, or unconventional methods
in creating the work. The following
sites offer artist information, lesson
ideas, questioning strategies, and
other useful resources for teachers
and students interested in exploring
contemporary art.
Art: 21 Art in the Twenty-First
Century
www.pbs.org/art21
This is the Web companion site for
the PBS documentary series about
contemporary visual art in America
and the artists who make it. The site
includes biographies, interviews,
an online lesson library with over
100 activities, slideshows, and video
clips on featured artists from each of
the show’s four seasons.
Arts Curriculum Online
www.guggenheim.org/artscurriculum/lessons/ start.php
This area of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s website features
a growing number of curriculum
resource units designed to support use of the museum’s collections and exhibitions, both during
school tours and in the classrooms.
Focusing on either modern or contemporary art, each unit includes
an introductory essay, background
information, a short artist biography, information on specific works
of art, printable color images of the
works of art, discussion questions,
follow-up activities, a listing of additional resources, and definitions of
words that may be new to students.
ArtThink
www.sfmoma.org/artthink
Art Think is the San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art’s curriculum gateway to its rich collection
of interactive programs covering
twentieth- and twenty-first-century
art and artists. It provides teachers and students with a variety of
theme-based activities and resources
in visual arts, language arts, history,
and social studies. The site includes
special features that focus on questions like “Who says it’s art?” as
well as lessons, hands-on activities,
interactive tools and games, and a
glossary of art terms. Whether you
teach young or older students, you’ll
find it easy to locate content and
lessons that are best suited for your
students’ developmental needs.
Art Today
schools.walkerart.org:8083/arttoday
This website examines several
themes related to understanding
contemporary art, which are linked
to K– 12 school tours at the Walker
Art Center in Minneapolis. In addition to background information
and links to selected artworks in
the Walker’s collections, the site
includes discussion questions,
classroom activities, and resources
to download. While the site can be
used to complement school tours at
the Walker, the content and activities can also be used on their own
to support classroom explorations of
contemporary art.
Junior Centre Pompidou
www.junior.centrepompidou.fr
The Centre Pompidou in Paris
designed this interactive website to
introduce young audiences to the
world of contemporary creation.
The site is divided into three areas:
“More art” focuses on the “big
ideas” behind the work of selected
artists and do-it-yourself activities
for children to try in the classroom
or at home; “Media box” includes
video and audio files featuring artist
interviews and works; and “Click
art” offers short interpretive narratives and background information
on certain artists and their works.
The site is available in French and
English.
Young Tate Project Gallery
www.tate.org.uk/youngtate/
projectgallery.htm
This link will take you to the Project Gallery, a part of a larger site
titled Young Tate—a youth art initiative sponsored by the Tate Galleries in Britain. The Project Gallery
features a variety of activities and
projects involving young people
who were inspired by visits to the
galleries, and the work of certain
contemporary artists. Several of the
projects are adaptable to a classroom
setting.
Craig Roland is an associate professor of
art education in the School of Art and Art
History at the University of Florida in
Gainesville, Florida. He is the author of
The Art Teacher’s Guide to the Internet
(Davis Publications, 2005). rolandc@ufl.
edu
