Heather Bode

ARTE 344
FACILITATION SHEET
Title: Chapter 3: The Social Life of Art: The Importance of Connecting the Past with the Present
Author(s): Kerry Freedman
Source/Date: Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the
social life of art. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences): Teaching art history to students is vital in order to inform
them of different cultures and depict different aspects of human behavior (Freedman, 2003, p.
43-44). Visual culture is connected to meaningful aesthetics and influences students perceptions
through imagery (pp. 51, 53). The essential ideologies for making modifications in school
curriculum stems from prior academic knowledge in the visual arts, which set the framework for
discussions of diversity and social meaning (p. 62). These changes in academic principles come
not only from prior knowledge, but also from personal experiences and art that students see
every day, which varies depending on culture (p. 62).
Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):
In chapter three of Teaching Visual Culture, Kerry Freedman states, Studying history helps us to
understand the cultures and societies that provide us with the conceptual locations we now
inhabit and illustrates the limits and possibilities of human behavior (p. 43-44). Freedman
discusses how art history is the past reformed and does not focus on considerable social,
political, and economic issues or social history, which are used in art (p. 44). Preziosi declares
art history results in modernity (Freedman, 2003, p.44). According to Rudolph Arnheim, (1974)
All aspects of the mind bear on art, be they cognitive, social, or motivational (Freedman, 2003,
p. 49). The two types of contexts discussed are production contexts (artists and milieu) and
viewing contexts (viewers and milieu) (p. 50). Throughout original contexts, reactions to visual
culture are created and at the same time they are altered (p. 51). Freedman affirms, The
transformative power of contemporary visual culture exemplifies the ways in which aesthetics is
now conceptualized as tied at its foundation to experience and meaning (p. 51). A significant
problem existing in art education is what quality is expected in art; teachers are focusing on
students choosing objects before analytical concepts (p.53). As stated by Freedman, The term
has been used in education to represent something inherently good; in fact, the term art carries
with it assumptions of quality, value, and enrichment. However, the visual arts are not inherently
good in their effects (p. 53). Visual culture can influence students lives in a positive and
negative way (p.53).
Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or
teaching experience
My high school art teacher did not discuss social history but my professors in my three art

history courses in college did; therefore, I plan on educating my students on social history in
my art classroom so they can gain knowledge of superior issues (p. 44). Also, I plan on including
visual culture in my lessons since the aesthetics involved affects the meaning of students art (p.
51). Visual culture in magazines often depicts thin models with all their blemishes edited or
erased in Photoshop, which gives young girls and boys unrealistic expectations for their bodies.
Teachers need to inform students that they should not be manipulated by or try to resemble these
unrealistic expectations in their own lives especially during a collage art project (p.53). My sister
developed an eating disorder called anorexia in high school, which affected my weight as well. I
remember her reading the Seventeen Magazine where she looked at diets and skinny girls. I
believe that if my sister would have been educated at a young age that trying to look like models
in magazines is unhealthy, it could have prevented her anorexia.