Teaching Visual Culture: Curriculum, Aesthetics and the Social Life of Art

Global culture is rapidly shifting from text-based communication to image saturation. Visual culture is everywhere: on television, in museums, in magazines, in movie theaters, on billboards, on the internet, and in shopping malls. As a result, learning about the complexities of visual culture is becoming ever more critical to human development. This is the first book to focus on teaching visual culture. The author provides the theoretical basis on which to develop a curriculum that lays the groundwork for postmodern art education (K-12 and higher education).

Drawing on social, cognitive, and curricular theory foundations, Freedman offers a conceptual framework for teaching the visual arts from a cultural standpoint. Chapters discuss: visual culture in a democracy; aesthetics in curriculum; philosophical and historical considerations; recent changes in the field of art history; connections between art, student development, and cognition; interpretation of art inside and outside of school; the role of fine arts in curriculum; technology and teaching; television as the national curriculum; student artistic production and assessment; and much more.