12. Meaningful Interpretations
“...*students+ want to be
certain to get the “right”
interpretation, to get the
best grade, and they do
not trust that their own
experience ... They are
not confident enough
to take risks, and to
create meanings
based upon visual
signifiers and their
own experiences”
(Smith-Shank, 2004, p. 2)
13. What is Unpacking?
• A five step process for the
interpretation and
production of creative visual
imagery
• Phrasing for students:
“Images are like
suitcases, they have a lot of
‘stuff’ in them. Since they
are not real things, they
can be understood in many
ways. We have to unpack
them, like a suitcase, to see
everything inside of them.”
14. Why use Unpacking ?
• Unpacking:
– Honors a variety of
creative visual work
– Develops student
interpretive process
– Can be reversed and
applied to production
– Utilizes best practices in
teaching and learning
– Highlights multiple points
of view simultaneously
– Fosters inquiry
15. Why Unpack?
• Integrates symbol processing and socio-cultural learning into student-owned strategies, an
approach advocated for by Efland (2002).
• Address James’s (1997) call that art educators should develop “instructional strategies that
help both non-art and art majors to feel confident and knowledgeable about the personal,
social, domain-specific, and process-based aspects of engaging in artistic creativity” (James,
1997)
• Unpacking is best instructed through a student-generated visual organizer, which aids in the
development of schemata and increases learning retention (Efland, 2002; Glenberg&Kaschak,
2002; Moreno & Valdez, 2005).
• Unpacking highlights connotative and denotative interpretations, as advocated for by Barrett
(2003).
• Unpacking provides a way for students to understand that images are created for contexts, as
well as that images represent a point of view (Duncum, 2010; Freedman, 1996).
• Finally, this device provides students a way to metacognitively reflect on their own thinking,
an important goal for middle-level learners (Arredondo, Blackburn, Brandt, Marzano, &
Moffett, 1997; Marshall, 2005).
• Unpacking should be viewed in contrast to interpretive guides like Visual Thinking Strategies
(VTS) (Housen&Yenawine, 2000).
19. Elevated Conversations around
Emotion
“I think that if someone created a
spider this big, they are trying
to show… if you are afraid of
spiders, they would seem
big.”
“Interesting theory. So a possible
conclusion might be that fear
can cause thing to be
noticed?”
20. Image References
• What images does this
one remind me of?
• Encourage knowledge
from popular
culture, personal
experiences, social
knowledge and, when
applicable, art world
knowledge.
21. Audience
• Who is this image for?
• Who would this image
appeal to?
• What about this image
would make it appealing
to that group/individual?
• Students can identify
gender, age, and interests
of the audience as a
starting point.
22.
23. Metaphor
• What might this image
symbolize?
• How can I summarize
the theme of the
image?
• Challenge students to
develop one-word
themes
24. Getting started
• Description: “What do I see?”
• Emotion: “What feelings are being
communicated? What feelings am I
experiencing?”
• Image References: “What images
does this one remind me of?”
• Audience: “Who is this image for?
Who would this image appeal to?
What about this image would make
it appealing to that
group/individual?
• Metaphor: What might this image
symbolize? How can I summarize
the theme of the image?
• Continued Inquiry: What questions
do I still have?
Led to disconnections in the ways we talk about contemporary artDescribes a process, but doesn’t help a student understand the workings of a processComputer exampleEnlightenment thinking about images as self-contained thingsDoes not work backwards!
The 4 step process is not reflective of many of the actual ways we interact with a work of artworkOur actual interactions with art and visual culture are more rich and less “heady”
In using a four-step process, we have ended up with impenetrable mental and linguistic gymnastic games that don’t communicate our actual experiences with creative visual imagery Liz Hickok, Alamo Square, 2011Sexy fish exercise There is so much to know in a work of contemporary visual culture that reflects more than just art for art sake
Matrix MorpheusBemoan their abilities and state that they should know more, but haven’t questioned enough if our approach is the right one for them…We also need a way to teach and assess for the social, cognitive, and emotional complexity that actually reflects what experts on imagery do
Yayoi Kusama at Queensland Gallery of Modern Art in Australia 2012There is also an importance for students to understand that creative visual works are debated.Giving students answers only relegates the richness of visual culture to what can be taught in a fill in the dot test.
Ultimately, we want students to know that meaning and interpretation are not an equation, but that interacting with creative works is a dynamic and changing process…
Dartmouth professor Dr. HanyFarid’s tool for identifying the levels of “varnish” in photo shopped images.It doesn’t consider the way social and personal values animate and change realityAlso the values that shift the way we interpret art and images
…and can be evidenced and argued based on their own experiences
The ground work for later student production and meaning makingthe goal = to confidently create meaningful interpretations that are multi-facetedThen repetition of this initial skill is key before introducing more complexityStudents can’t meaningfully break boundaries if they can’t create meaningful interpretationsDescription/Actual Function = DenotationMetaphor = Connotation Emotion= Denotation and personal connectionAudience & Popular Culture=Socio-cultural learningWHY VTS IS BAD & how to be proactive with Common CoreBig group, small groups, individuals (I do, we do, you do) (advance notice)- built in successAssessmentFirst, are student interpretations meaningful relative and to personal and cultural experiences?Second, in what ways can student interpretations be challenged to become more reasonable, varied, and reflective? Third, can students identify other possible elements of unpacking in each other’s work? Finally, can students disagree about identified conclusions from each other’s unpacking?
Students continually reinforced on support and conclusion in meaningful interpretations. Example of activity where students examine the statements of others to identify if there is a missing conclusion or a missing support and were asked to provide, for their peer, the missing element.
Lei Xue, Tea drinking, 2007 PorcelainTeaching for ambiguityINTRODUCTION TO Activity TWO
The production in this case, an activity used at the start of a course, is focused on creating narratives. These narratives help students to to understand how images work in conjunction with one another to create narratives. They are also used as a reference point to help students develop meaningful interpretations in their interpretive and production work. Since narratives generally emerge from conflict, students write about the ways the images compare and contrast. Students also include popular culture references, which helps me further place student’s background knowledge. This combined organizer, however, is less visually appealing. Yet the narrative comes about, we see, from a background knowledge that includes 1. the Great Depression, 2. Child Labor Laws, and 3. Symbolic knowledge that has the hamburger representing a “full appetite” and the boy as a symbol of “poverty” and “lack of food”Clearly this student’s capacities for narratives creation are more advanced, and production and interpretation goals for this student needed to be more challenging to meet developmental needs. Provides a reason to at least be grading for concept knowledge and craftsmanship separatelyHowever, this example is on the surface successful. The elements of the organizer highlight a few things about the student, and where this student lies relative to the chart (from the previous slide). Not only is the narrative simple, but the compare/contrast and popular culture points reveal little background knowledge about alligators and dogs!