In Unit 1 of my art history class I have learned many things about art, such as what it is and how it is viewed through formal analysis and critical pedagogy. Art is an expression that comes in all different shapes and sizes, such as musical arts, performing arts, and etc. Art can also be found in fields like Science, Math, and English. Art is a creative platform for people to express their feelings and emotions in a piece of work. Art is a way for me to express myself and interact with other artists about how they feel about a certain piece. Some people are inspired by certain art pieces while people like myself look at art as a way to escape boredom.
Formal Analysis is a way to specifically describe a piece of art work. It is a representation of how a piece of art is viewed. The viewer evaluates the piece of art through a series of questions such as how the piece came to be, who or what it portrays, when the piece was created, and etc. There are multiple characteristics used when the viewer uses formal analysis to describe and explain a piece of art. Characteristics such as contrast, size/scale, line, color, position, composition, material, illusionism, mimesis, modelling, chiaro/scuro, and depth. The main reason formal analysis is used when evaluating and describing a piece of art is to show the central focus, what is most important about a piece of work, and for the artist to express the painting, drawing or etc. by showing the viewer instead of telling the viewer what goes on in the piece of work. When we say formal analysis it basically means evaluating what the artist left us to view and how this work came to be, historically and physically throughout time. With formal analysis we can conclude what the artist has done based on their piece of work and how that brush stroke or whatever it may be represents what we see and not what we know.
Paulo Freire was a Brazilian educator and philosopher that used the term “banking model” to describe and critique the traditional educational system. According to Freire, it is a method of educating where an educator teaches a student and the student must retain that knowledge, for example, the students are empty containers that need to be filled with the knowledge from the educators. This method allows educators to be empowered because they are the ones who can differentiate right from wrong and their teachings are passed down to the students. Meanwhile, the students are the ones that are dis-empowered, due to the lack of freedom of expression and creativity towards these teachings, and being forced to only accept the information given to them by the educator. This comes out of the students expense since they are not able to express themselves through questioning and creativity, while they are only being filled with information from the educator temporarily and will soon forget the teachings once the course is complete.
What I have learned from Unit 1 so far is the basics of art, how it was created and noticed as art. I have learned many ways to evaluate art by including various components to view it from different perspectives. When artists create a piece of artwork it is for the viewer to determine and discover what the story of that piece of art is and the meaning behind it. Through Unit 1 I have learned to look at art differently than how I used to, by using formal analysis it has taught me to look at the pieces of art with a different perspective.