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Art and Physics:

Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion


High School Art Curriculum Rationale
MacKenzie Powell
Northern Illinois University
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Introduction:

Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion is an

interdisciplinary art curriculum designed for high school students that relates the

properties of light and principles of classical mechanics to artistic concepts and practices.

In learning the relationship between these two disciplines, students will be introduced to a

new way of viewing their world by coming to the realization that two apparently unlike

subjects can be related through an analytical perspective. By connecting light, physical

force and motion to art forms, students will understand the science behind pieces of

historical and contemporary works of fine art and visual culture.

It is beneficial for students to comprehend and communicate the relationship

between science and art. As Mae Jemison (2002), an astrophysicist and art collector,

states in her TED talk "The difference between science and the arts is not that they are

different sides of the same coin… or even different parts of the same continuum, but

rather, they are manifestations of the same thing. The arts and sciences are avatars of

human creativity." Her unique approach to thinking about science and art inspires

curriculum that carries that same philosophy.

By combining these two subjects, students will be encouraged to invent new

ideas, create works of art by applying scientific knowledge, and be able to communicate

ideas through a multidisciplinary perspective. Students should be offered the opportunity

to learn such a useful skill. Throughout the curriculum, students will be required to use

scientific problem solving skills to complete each project. They will relate skills learned

in physics to their visual arts projects, naturally reinforcing the topics and building a

stronger understanding of the concepts. Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through
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Light, Force and Motion will appeal to several types of learners. The curriculum will

encourage learners of logical-mathematical intelligence to explore more creative concepts

and inspire learners of visual-spatial intelligence to investigate scientific content.

This curriculum is designed to follow the spiral model that teaches higher order

thinking skills. Students will gain a clear understanding of the topics throughout the

curriculum as the information gets more complex each time we start a new unit. The

concepts taught in the first unit will be revisited in the second unit at a higher level. The

same pattern occurs for the final unit. Each time we revisit a particular concept, this

information becomes refined and more concrete for the students. By the end of the course

students will be working collaboratively to combine what they have learned about light,

physical forces, motion and art techniques to create a hanging kinetic mobile that

communicates a controversial message to its viewers. This project demonstrates a

postmodern curriculum model known as the lattice or web model by allowing students to

work from all different directions and bring multiple perspectives to collaborate with

other students in order to reach one specific goal.

The conceptual framework of this curriculum also serves as the cover. On it, you

will see images that represent each of the three units that make up Art and Physics:

Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion. The first unit, Analyzing and

Interpreting the Visual Properties of Light, is represented through the use of a color

wheel, the cornea and a section of the famous pointillist painting “A Sunday on La

Grande Jatte” by Georges Seurat. Unit 2, Form and Context: The Relationship between

Artistic Processes and Force is visually presented through the imagery of the baseball;

this foreshadows a multidisciplinary lesson that teaches applied force in regards to


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aesthetics. The final unit, Making Motion Meaningful: Combining Art with Physics to

Communicate is symbolized by the gear in the background, also foreshadowing a lesson

on mechanical force and motion, a study done through artistic approaches to automaton.

Lastly, the infamous kinetic sculpture seen right in the center created by Marcel

Duchamp predicts concepts learned within the final project of the curriculum, a

collaborative hanging kinetic mobile that uses skills learned in all three units.

Aims and Goals:

Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion includes

three specific aims and goals that relate directly to the Illinois Learning Standards of Fine

Arts. These aims and goals provide a general framework for the curriculum.

Aims of Curriculum:

1: To inspire inventive ideas.

2: To encourage the creation of new knowledge.

3: To investigate the impact of natural physical occurrences on human creativity.

Goals of Curriculum

1: Develop scientific explanations of creative forms and visual culture.

2: Create connections between physical phenomenon and art forms.

3: Promote an understanding of physical properties through the process of

working with various art media.


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The first aim, to inspire inventive ideas, responds to our society’s growing need of

new ideas and change. In schools, art is important because of the inventive process that

the subject encourages. Without aims like this, it would be hard for students to step out of

the box and express themselves through a creative manner or come up with innovative

ideas. In Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion, students

will achieve this aim through a process of goals and objectives. By developing scientific

explanations of creative forms and visual culture, students will understand how science

and art work together to create the items that make up their specific visual culture. By

analyzing aspects of each subject, students will learn how to make connections among

several different disciplines. These connections will guide students to an optimistic

thinking approach, which leads to the second aim, to encourage the creation of new

knowledge. We have been teaching in the same style since the Industrial Revolution when

the purpose of school was to teach students basic skills and prepare them to work in

factories. Our world has evolved since then to include phones, cars, and technology to

name a few. Those basic skills will no longer guide students to success, “The world has

progressed, and now we need people who think creatively, innovatively, critically,

independently with the ability to connect” (I Just Sued the School System, 2016).

Teaching an interdisciplinary curriculum will encourage this mindset in students. The

second goal of this curriculum, to create connections between physical phenomenon

and art forms is just one of many ways students can exercise this approach to learning.

The final aim and goal pair is less broad. Students will promote an understanding

of physical properties through the process of working with various art media (aim) to

investigate the impact of natural physical occurrences on human creativity (goal).


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Throughout the curriculum, students will be presented with projects and tasks that require

them to connect what they know about the properties of physics and characteristics of art

media. They will apply that knowledge to help build new knowledge and understanding

of both art and physics as they learn them simultaneously. Students will explore diverse

outlooks on pieces of fine art and other forms of visual culture as they learn how to relate

science to creativity. This new approach to interdisciplinary education is beneficial for all

types of learners.

Illinois State Goal 25.B., “Understand the similarities, distinctions and

connections in and among the arts” is met through the connection of science, specifically

light, physical forces, motion, and art in its interdisciplinary nature (Illinois Fine Arts

Goal, 2011). Through the process of relating the properties of physics such as color,

centrifugal force, and mechanics to the creative process of art making, students are

meeting this standard by studying the science that supports the arts. The final project

satisfies State Goal 25.B. by requiring the students to work collaboratively on a hanging

kinetic mobile that exhibits a variety of scientific and artistic skills learned throughout the

curriculum.

Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion is

supportive of Illinois State Goal 26, “Through creating and performing, understand how

works of art are produced” in several ways (Illinois Fine Arts Goal, 2011). State Goal

26.A., “Understand processes, traditional tools and modern technologies used in the arts”

is met through the process of examining how each tool and form of technology works in

relation to several artistic techniques. The examination will be supported by examples of

physical properties for each process in each project in each unit. Students will apply their
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knowledge of these processes and demonstrate their understanding of the physical

properties behind each process through their creation of artistic work. The final project

will encourage students to explore conveying meaning through evaluating how their

choice in art media communicates an idea. Furthermore, each lesson or project leading up

to the final project will guide the students to use drafting, planning, research and problem

solving skills, demonstrating meeting State Goal 26.B. “Applying skills and knowledge

necessary to create and perform in one or more of the arts” (Illinois Fine Arts Goal,

2011).

Analyzing the relationship that art has to physics will broaden students’

understanding of the subject matter. Students will begin to realize how many connections

art has to the real world. This will guide them to understand how creativity leads to

success and innovative ideas. In an interview done with Richard Florida (2015), an

American urban studies theorist, he supported the importance of teaching creativity in

schools by explaining, “The creative class is truly a broad, perhaps universal class

spanning not just technology, innovation, business and management but also arts and

culture.” Our future demands that people think outside the box. Through the lessons in

each unit, students will “Understand the role of the arts in civilizations, past and present”

as stated in Illinois State Goal 27 (Illinois Fine Arts Goal, 2011). Students will view

historical and contemporary works of art and explore how the artist’s respond to the

current scientific knowledge and societal interests of that particular time period in which

the work was created.


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Importance of the Theme:

As mentioned above, the style of teaching has not changed since the Industrial

Revolution. Then, it was important to learn basic skills to work on an assembly line for

mass production; students were treated as if they were products on an assembly line.

They were each shaped and molded into copies of each other and were all expected to

have the same level of intelligence and learn the same way. Society has changed; we have

already met our goal of creating a working class and that is no longer good enough.

Schools need to be producing creative individuals, people who will be innovators and

inventors, people who will come up with creative solutions to problems, people who will

think critically about what came before them instead of just accepting it. We now live in

the postmodern era and should teach in a way that makes sense for our time, “postmodern

theory brought about profound changes of meaning in the content of [schools]

disciplines, as well as a blurring of their boundaries with other subject areas” (Efland,

Freedman, & Stuhr, 1996, p. 67). This starts with teaching creativity in schools and it

goes way further than traditional methods and techniques in the art classroom. This can

be done easily in an art classroom because “art is inherently interdisciplinary and art

curriculum should include content that integrates knowledge traditionally separated in

various school subjects” (Freedman, 2003, p. 114). By combining two different subjects

and teaching them simultaneously, students will gain a new outlook on their visual world

and start to appreciate the connection between disciplines. It is important for students to

understand how to work collaboratively and be comfortable crossing curricular lines

because the real world is not strictly separated into categories of subject matter.

Studying the connection between art and physics is important because students
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will understand that all professional fields, not just careers in the arts, require creative

thinking skills. Throughout this course, students will be required to communicate ideas

and feelings visually. They must do so with an understanding of a concept in art and in

physics. Learning this skill is important because it teaches students how to be an activist

through art. It also provides them with the skills needed to communicate to a larger

population by requiring interdisciplinary knowledge. These concepts will support

learning skills that are authentic to professional disciplines in and out of the arts.

Studying works of art through a scientific lens allows students to comprehend the context

in which the work was produced and to “develop an understanding of the conditions that

made the production of the object possible and the study of it worthwhile” (p. 119).

Course Description:

Through the progression of the units, students will build on what they already

know about light, force, motion and art as they explore the two disciplines

simultaneously. The scope and sequence of this curriculum includes the following

concepts: imagination, exploration, popular culture, contexts and multiple readings.

Within the development of each unit, the concepts become more challenging and

intellectual, following the spiral curriculum model.

The “imagination” conceptual organizer will lead students to the understanding

that “The combination of art with physics to communicate an idea takes innovative

planning and imagination”. This starts with a smaller concept in the first unit,

“Imagination has lead to artistic and scientific discoveries about light”. Students will

learn this skill through a series of projects that require the decoding of artwork and

scientific facts.
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“Exploration” concepts are gained through artistic and scientific experimenting.

After learning basic concepts, students will be able to transition into independent research

and hypothesis in the final unit. This will be presented in the form of a project proposal.

Students will work towards the understanding that “The desire to artistically

communicate through moveable works of art takes the exploration of combining several

types of physical forces to create meaningful motion”.

Several items of popular culture will be embedded into each unit. Through

analysis and playing with interpretation, students will become aware of visual

manipulation and targeting tactics. The progression to the final unit will lead students to

the understanding that “The combination of art and other disciplines is used every day to

communicate to a larger population”.

In the first two units, students will learn how to analyze a work of art in relation to

the scientific knowledge that was prevalent at the time that the work was created.

Learning how art can be inspired by scientific evidence will provide students with

contextual clues when looking at art. The final unit will focus on a larger contextual

concept in which the students will become aware that through the use of art and physics

to communicate, their projects “will contribute to educational contexts and environments

beyond our school”.

Most art, especially contemporary artwork, can be read differently depending on

the education, cultural context or prior experiences of the viewer. Students will become

familiar with this concept throughout the curriculum and eventually understand first hand

how they can use their knowledge of physical properties to purposefully create many

multiple readings within their artwork.


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Developmental Level:

High school students often explore several avenues to career paths. They are

discovering what they enjoy, what they are good at, and what they are passionate about.

Typically, in the high school setting, science and creativity, facts and ideas are separated.

Often adolescents and young adults typically do not show interest in concepts or ideas

presented by teachers or other adults (Wood, 2007). To engage and motivate these

students, we must relate our lessons to topics of their interest. By combining physics and

art to visual and popular culture, a more diverse range of students are more likely to pay

attention and enjoy what they are learning. Breaking down the curricular barriers within

the school is another way to reach several types of learners. In his book Art and

Cognition, Efland (2009) states that “If the aim of education is to fully activate the

cognitive potential of the learner, ways have to be found to integrate knowledge from

many subjects to achieve a fuller understanding than would be provided by content

treated in isolation” (p. 103).

According to Erik Erikson’s stages of psychosocial development, high school

“students will experience a period of withdrawal from their responsibilities and have a

lack of motivation” (Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development). Presenting new and

interesting content to high school students will help keep motivation and interest levels

high in times of psychological withdrawal.

By the time students enter high school, they are aware of which subjects they

succeed in. The students who are excelling in science and mathematics typically stay

away from creative courses such as the arts. Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through
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Light, Force and Motion is designed to merge the two opposites in efforts to attract those

who deny their ability to be creative.

Resources:

Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion will

integrate a variety of resources throughout the entire course. These resources will assist

students in making the connection between the properties of physics and visual arts:

 Fine art examples

 Contemporary art examples

 PowerPoint presentations

 Several art websites

 Pixelstick software

 Pottery wheels

 Sports balls of various sizes and weights

 Comic books/ comic strips

 Various art supplies

 Personal visual culture representative of a property of physics

 Smart phones and computers

Conclusion:

Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion will guide

students to understand the relationship between two subjects that often get perceived as

opposites. Students will finish the course with a better understanding of how art and
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science cannot only be related but also work together. Students will develop a more

critical lens when looking at and analyzing visual aspects in their world. They will realize

that even people who are logically and mathematically intelligent can be creative.

Additionally, Art and Physics: Creating Aesthetics through Light, Force and Motion will

challenge students in ways that will better prepare them for professional careers by

teaching them collaboration skills, planning and drafting skills and pushing them to come

up with creative solutions to problems.


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References:

Clegg, B., Ball, P., Clifford, L., Close, F., Evans, R., May, A., & Rawlings, S. (2016). 30-

second physics: the 50 most fundamental concepts in physics, each explained in

half a minute. New York: Metro Books.

Efland, A. D. (2009). Art and cognition: integrating the visual arts in the curriculum.

New York: Teachers College.

Efland, A., Freedman, K. J., & Stuhr, P. L. (1996). Postmodern art education: an

approach to curriculum. Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.

Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development. (2015, December 02). Retrieved

December 04, 2017, from https://zanl13.wordpress.com/about/

Florida, R. (Spring, 2015). A Creative Economy for the 21st Century [Interview by C.]

Retrieved September 13, 2017, from

http://www.creativeclass.com/rfcgdb/articles/Catalyst.pdf

Freedman, K. (2003). Teaching Visual Culture: Curriculum, Aesthetics and the Social

Life of Art. New York, NY.

Illinois Learning Standards for Fine Arts (2011). Illinois State Board of Education.

Retrieved January 29th, 2015 from

http://www.isbe.net/ils/fine_arts/standards.htm

Jemison, M. (2002, February). Retrieved September 13, 2017, from

https://www.ted.com/talks/mae_jemison_on_teaching_arts_and_sciences_to

gether

Kakalios, J. (2009). The physics of superheroes. New York: Gotham Books.


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I Just Sued the School System. (2016), September 26. Retrieved September 18, 2017,

from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqTTojTija8

Wood, C (2015). Yardsticks: children in the classroom, ages 4-14. Turners Falls, MA:

Center for Responsive Schools, Inc.

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