High School Studio Lesson
OUR WORLD
THEIR WORLD
Build, create, make, blog, develop, organize, structure, perform. These are just a few verbs that illustrate our
visual world. These words create
images that allow students to respond
to their environment. Are your students communicating through information and imagery from our visual
culture? What imagery can they use to
define their generation?
Visual culture studies recognize
the predominance of visual forms of
media, communication, and information in the postmodern world. How
Nicole Brisco
are your students using these concepts
to communicate through art-making?
How are these visual language skills
used to develop student work?
Communication
Communication is the heart of a work
of art; it allows students to tap into
their inner feelings. In today’s society,
students are almost overloaded with
information which can produce a
watered-down effect in their work.
If you think back to when you were
a child, the newspaper provided the
basic information about what was
going on in the world around us. Now
fast forward to today. Our students’
“front page” is now millions of pages
of text and opinions that range from
comical to extreme. With all of this
information, how can students com-
municate an opinion on a single topic
effectively?
Media
Media is the response to
mass communication and
the bombardment of imag-
ery and information. Stu-
dents tend to be connected
to this form of visual
culture but not personally
vested in it. This is the
streaming video, blogs,
mass marketing, and tele-
vision that we see around
us. Students understand
this concept often better
than their teachers. They
have grown up with
these flashing images,
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April 2011 SchoolArts
