Unit 1 of Art 1010 this semester has been enlightening for me. I learned about 2 interesting concepts/topics, which include the concepts of critical pedagogy & formal analysis. Firstly, critical pedagogy has to do with Paulo Freire’s book known as “Pedagogy of the Oppressed.” In this book, Freire came up with the concept known as The Banking Model. The “Banking Model” touches upon the relationship of students and teachers, specifically how students learn and teachers teach in a classroom. The role of students in a classroom is to remember the information their teacher gives them. The students just take in the information that’s given to them and memorize it for the exam. The “Banking Model” is prevalent and it stops students from developing certain skills that make them critical thinkers. It doesn’t give students a chance to say their opinion or to bring out their creativity, but to just absorb the information the teacher teaches in a classroom. This leads to the disempowerment of students and empowerment of teachers at the expense of students.

Secondly, formal analysis is describing visually and emphasizing the formal elements of an art piece. Formal analysis affects what the art piece represents. The ‘how’ and ‘why’ when it comes to art include interpretations on visual evidence which come from formal analysis. Formal analysis is a RE/presentation when it comes to analyzing the formal elements of the art piece. The properties of formal analysis include line composition, texture, color, size/scale, modeling (chiaro/scuro- illusionism), material, contrast, position, mimesis, etc. All of these elements bring out the meaning and evaluation of the art work. All components are the artist’s choices, everything is intentional & no detail is insignificant. The question that formal analysis answers is “What do you see in this piece of art?“ In class, we formally analyzed the art piece of Titan, Venus of Urbino (1538). Some observations we included were the lines (soft lines on woman’s body), dark outlines, and color (red/ brown).

Formal analysis helped teach me that art pieces have deeper meanings and every little detail in the piece counts. Now, when I will go to a museum, I will have a different outlook than I did and I will be able to approach the art pieces I see in a proper manner. I’ll take all the concepts of formal analysis and it will help me figure out the meaning of the artwork displayed in front of me. Every little detail in an art piece has a reason as to why it’s there and I will make sure to take that into consideration.

In addition, learning about the banking model mattered to me because I was able to relate to it because that’s what I went through in high school. I don’t feel like my high school experience led me to become a critical thinker. Instead, college is what helped, through the amazing professors I had and have. I am more encouraged in college to voice my opinion because of the discussions in class. In high school, most topics were censored because I went to  Jewish school and some teachers were closed-minded. In Brooklyn College, thus far, I never experienced the banking model. My college experience has helped me become the critical thinker I am today and helps me be more creative in the way I think because of the open-mindedness.

I enjoyed learning these concepts in unit one and I can’t wait to see what equally better or better concepts unit 2 has in store!