This is an exploration of visual art forms and their cultural connections for the student with little experience in the visual arts. The course includes a brief study of art history and in depth studies of the elements, media, and methods used in creative process and thought. Visual and performing arts are part of the Humanities: academic disciplines that study the human condition and, in addition to the arts, include languages, literature, law, history and religion. This course will teach students to develop a five-step system for understanding visual art in all forms based on description, analysis, meaning, context and judgment.

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The Western landscape which George Catlin encountered on his travels was dominated by the great expanse of the tall and short grass prairies. Home to countless species of plant and animal life, the great prairies once spanned millions of acres across North America. Today less than ten percent of the complex ecosystem remains, largely under the protection of parks and nature preserves. In this lesson students will gain an understanding of the interdependence of living organisms on the prairie and the fragility of their existence by investigating life on the prairie and relating their findings to their own experience.

This class is an interdisciplinary survey that explores the experiences of people of African descent through the overlapping approaches of history, literature, anthropology, legal studies, media studies, performance, linguistics, and creative writing. It connects the experiences of African Americans and of other American minorities, focusing on social, political, and cultural histories, and on linguistic patterns. Activities include lectures, discussions, workshops, and required field trips that involve minimal cost to students.

Artists across cultures and throughout time have sought to incorporate the multifaceted connections between past and present in their artworks. In many ways, Catlin's lifelong quest and the eventual creation of his "Indian Gallery" can be seen as an attempt to connect what he felt to be the "past" of American Indian society to the "present" of nineteenth-century westward expansion by European Americans. As is evident today, Native American culture is very much alive and present in the fabric of America. Catlin, however, made it clear that he viewed his subjects as a "vanishing race" and sought to preserve their images for future generations. In this activity, students will create their own memory box, linking the past and the present, and in so doing examine Catlin's ideas and motives.

This is a creative approach to teaching basic skills involved in the formal visual analysis of works of art. Students will learn how to interpret artworks in cultural and historical contexts by becoming "art detectives." Students will analyze Catlin's formal compositions to learn about the Native American leaders he painted. They will examine visual clues and write a final "case summary" in which they "crack Catlin's code."

After studying the historic events of Catlin's life, this project allows students to imagine the material culture of the time. They will become archaeologists and anthropologists, looking back on previous cultures for clues as to the motives and inspirations for the choices that shaped their lives. Each student will bring in a fabricated artifact from Catlin's life, resulting in a museum exhibit in the class.

This lesson plan is intended to encourage learners to integrate the visual arts with science and appreciate nature. Students will create a round or square stepping stone using colored glass pieces with a mortar and sand mixture.

Sometimes it is challenging to comprehend the forces that effect out everyday life because most forces we can't see. This video segment from SPARK shows how one artist makes them visible.

RoseLee Goldberg South African-born world authority on performance art spoke at the Gordon Institute for Performing and Creative Arts GIPCA Great Texts Big Questions lecture on 11 March Goldberg illustrious career as art historian critic curator and author has spanned almost three decades and has helped shape the public view of live performance as a visual art form Her book Performance Art from Futurism to the Present was first published in 1979 and pioneered the study of performance art even today it is considered a definitive text on the topic Career highlights include directorship of the Royal College of Art Gallery London and curator of exhibitions at The Kitchen New York the Museum of Modern Art MOMA and the Guggenheim A graduate of Wits University and the Courtauld Institute of Art London University Goldberg has taught at New York University since 1987 and lectured extensively at Yale Princeton and Tate Modern among others Born and bred in Durban Goldberg has lived and worked predominantly in the USA and is currently visiting South Africa as a judge for Spier Contemporary. Committed to initiating new directions in visual art performance and to providing a framework for its history and reception Goldberg founded Performa www.performaarts.org New York in 2004 A multidisciplinary nonprofit arts organization Performa is dedicated to exploring the critical role of live performance in the history of twentieth century art and to encouraging new directions in performance for the twenty-first century. Rob Baum Director of GIPCA is thrilled to be hosting a speaker of Goldberg stature Performance art is a discursive arts practice that descends from early 20th Century antiart models It is an overt and interactive form one that is politically vocal and publicly accessible and can change the way people perceive the world she said TodaysArt 2005Nederlands. Dans Theater image by Haags Uitburo shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license