Art has been around for a long time, and in ancient times, people used it to scare enemies, appease the gods, and as a cultural identifier. Currently, art is also important, especially in teaching history.
While it’s not a highly conventional way, art in the form of paintings, drawings, and photos contains a lot of information about various historical events.
What does studying art history mean?
Studying art history just helps some people achieve extra credit, and others do it because they have to. However, to some, it allows them to have a deep interaction with nature.
Art history involves studying art pieces and focusing on how the artist used shapes, lines, composition, approach, and texture. The discipline also incorporates other fields like economics, politics, social history, anthropology, and aesthetics.
Just like other courses, there are different categories you can choose from when studying art history. For example, you can decide to get your bachelor’s degree in music, creative arts, performing arts, or literature.
You also don’t have to be an expert in any of the fields you choose. You only need to deeply appreciate the world and have a unique way to view things.
A bachelor’s degree in art history gives you a solid foundation for courses like education, liberal arts, and philosophy.
What Are The Benefits Of Art History?
Art history, through the incorporation of other disciplines, exposes you to other humanities that you relate to the arts to help you critically evaluate and draw relevant conclusions from the arts.
As you learn using different art pieces, you learn about some crucial historical times and get to know how the experience at that timeline was.
The history behind different art pieces at different times helps you learn about different tribes, traditions, and cultures. You also get to understand the time transition in political, social, and economic stages.
Through art history, you get inspiration and knowledge that contributes to how you view the world and speak.
How To Use Art To Teach History
Before you start teaching art history, you need to understand how best the arts will enable students to understand historical events.
Select art pieces
When selecting art history teaching resources, you should decide how to incorporate the art pieces in your lesson. For example, you can use an art piece to introduce a topic or explain something in the topic. You also need to determine how familiar your students are with the art pieces.
If you have beginner students, do not use art pieces that are too abstract. Also, do not limit yourself to one type of art piece to encourage more discussion among the students.
You can get supplemental materials and additional art history teaching resources online, through platforms such as the Adobe Education Exchange.
Model the process
To help your students understand how to interpret art pieces better, walk them through the process. Point out different techniques in the art pieces and elements students need to look at, like color, framing, body language, symbolism, and lighting.
Connect to history
Once your students understand the techniques and elements in the art pieces, explain how they can connect them to history. Identify what the goal is and start with the basic connections.
Getting your bachelor’s degree in art history does not have to be because it’s compulsory or it helps you get more credits. It helps you understand a lot of historical aspects you wouldn’t have and helps you enjoy art from a different perspective.