In Unit One, there were many things that I’ve learned. First, I learned about formal analysis. In formal analysis, the viewer looks at the visual components of the work of art. Some components of formal analysis includes color, line, scale, and space/mass. In color, I would examine how the artist uses the range of colors (from warm to cool) in the work of art. In line, I would examine how the artist uses smooth continuous lines or broken lines in a painting. In scale, I learned that an artist uses this component to indicate the importance of a figure. In space and mass, I learned that these two components mainly refers three dimensional works of art and to the weight of the artwork.
I also learned about the banking model/concept. This model was created by Paulo Freire. The model was created for educational purposes and it basically stated that teachers knew everything and that students didn’t know anything except what the teachers told them. In my opinion, the model was created to lift up teachers and degrade students. The model stripped students in expressing themselves and their creativity. I believe many people has experienced this model at least once in their years of schooling. The teacher would know the material but not know how to teach it. This caused students to then space out or fall behind and possibly fail the class.
Lastly, I learned about art in the Ancient World. In the Ancient World, I learned that in most works of art, the king was always the biggest figure in the entire piece. My favorite work of art was the “Standard of Ur”. It was cool to see the various layers in which the work was portrayed. Seeing both sides that told two different stories was also nice to see. It was also great that it has many colors instead of one specific color. One side of piece was about social class and status. You could easily distinguish the different classes from laborers (who were at the bottom) to the king and his wise men (who were at the top). On the other side, it showed a battle scene in where there were enemies who trampled by chariots and people who were taken into prison.
Overall, I learned a lot in Unit One. I learned the various ways to view a piece of art. The many components that goes into evaluating a work of art is important because not all artworks are the same even if they were in the same time period. I then learned about the banking model which really empowers teachers and students have a disadvantage in showing their capabilities. From the banking model, we finally moved on to the Ancient World. I saw the different works of art that the people of Mesopotamia and Egypt did. It was interesting to see how the pieces of art flowed as time went on.
