Students in Molly Kerr’s AP Art History class provided presentations on famous artists April 22-24.
On the 1st day of the 3 day project, the students were assigned an artist to research.
According to Kerr, the 1st day was about informing people about the artists. “Students were broken into pairs and I assigned them artists. The purpose is to inform viewers as they come by, and it is like a museum,” she said.
Junior Caitlin Burnite said the artists were part of the modern art movement, the era that the class was currently studying. “We were working on modern art last week and we were working on modern art projects. We would present on the artist that we have picked,” she said.
The course is intended to prepare students for the upcoming Advanced Placement exam. Junior Sharon Maher said, “We needed to get through several decades of modern art. We used this project to knock out several decades. We needed to learn about the artist and their most important artwork,” she said.
“We did research for two days and had an art fare for the third day. We presented the projects to the class and how important the artist was,” Maher said.
On the second day, students had a roundtable discussion about their artists. “It is where the students had to wear a costume that was inspired by the artist. The key issues that were discussed were what is art, is art political, and propaganda,” Kerr said.
On the final day, the students discussed current issues in art. “Students discussed who is the most innovative artist in the modern era [1945-2014],” Kerr said.
According to Kerr, there is a relation between the art and current society. “The art reflects the era that we currently live in today,” she said.
According to Burnite, the project brought several challenges, including creating a unique way to present the information. “The hardest part of the project is putting the poster together. It was difficult to create an innovative way to put the project together and have it different from everyone else’s,” she said.
