An introductory course using visual materials with emphasis on methods and motivations that generate the visual experience, both past and present. Art practices from around the world are examined for form and content. Emphasis will be on Western Art.

Course Outcomes:
1. Articulate verbally and in writing a general understanding of the significance of visual art in a wide variety of culture and media.
2. Create a personal work of art. Articulate verbally and in writing the form and content of the piece, along with information about significant artists and art works relative to the created artwork, and to visual art.
3. Articulate verbally and in writing appropriate art vocabulary, and art evaluation concepts, when viewing visual art.

This art history video discussion examines Jackson Pollock's "One: Number 31", 1950, Oil and enamel paint on unprimed canvas, 1950 (MoMA).

In this art history video discussion Beth Harris and Steven Zucker look at Albrecht Durer's "Self-Portrait, 1500." (Alte Pinakothek, Munich).

In this art history video discussion Beth Harris and Steven Zucker examine Albrecht Altdorfer's "The Battle of Issus," 1529, oil on panel. Alte Pinokothek, Munich.

Students apply the analytical skills that they use when reading literature to an exploration of the underlying meaning and symbolism in Hieronymous Bosch's early Renaissance painting "Death and the Miser".

This art history video discussion examines Antoine or Louis Le Nain's "Peasant Family in an Interior", 2nd quarter of the 17th century, oil on canvas (Musee du Louvre, Paris).

Art 200 is an introductory course that chronicles the major developments in art that span from the Upper Paleolithic Period through the Fourteenth Century. This broad, comprehensive survey details this time period’s diverse range of artistic output while identifying the wider contexts (historical, social, cultural, religious) that affected the characteristics and motivations of early art production.

This course is particularly focused on helping you develop visual literacy skills, but all the college courses you take are to some degree about information literacy. Visual literacy is really just a specialized type of information literacy. The skills you acquire in this course will help you become an effective researcher in other fields, as well.

The Art Appreciation course explores the world’s visual arts, focusing on the development of visual awareness, assessment, and appreciation by examining a variety of styles from various periods and cultures while emphasizing the development of a common visual language. The materials are meant to foster a broader understanding of the role of visual art in human culture and experience from the prehistoric through the contemporary.

This is an Open Educational Resource (OER), an openly licensed educational material designed to replace a traditional textbook. The course materials consist of 24 lessons each with a presentation, reading list, and/or sample assignment. For ease of adapting, materials are available as PDFs and Microsoft PowerPoint or Word documents.

This course is an exploration of visual art forms and their cultural connections for the student with little experience in the visual arts. It includes a brief study of art history and in depth studies of the elements, media, and methods used in creative processes and thought. Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to: interpret examples of visual art using a five-step critical process that includes description, analysis, context, meaning, and judgment; identify and describe the elements and principles of art; use analytical skills to connect formal attributes of art with their meaning and expression; explain the role and effect of the visual arts in societies, history, and other world cultures; articulate the political, social, cultural, and aesthetic themes and issues that artists examine in their work; identify the processes and materials involved in art and architectural production; utilize information to locate, evaluate, and communicate information about visual art in its various forms. Note that this course is an alternative to the Saylor FoundationĺÎĺ_ĺĚĺ_s ARTH101A and has been developed through a partnership with the Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges; the Saylor Foundation has modified some WSBCTC materials. This free course may be completed online at any time. (Art History 101B)

The history of Art is long and varied, spanning tens of thousands of years from ancient paintings on the walls of caves
to the glow of computer-generated images on the screens of the 21st century.

This is a popular website/resource that describes itself as "fair use". It has many lists and categories of art and artists with some biographical material and images. It is useful for looking up basic information on a wide variety of artists and subjects. It is not suitable for an entire course.

Artists are often particularly keen observers and precise recorders of the physical conditions of the natural world. As a result, paintings can be good resources for learning about ecology. Teachers can use this lesson to examine with students the interrelationship of geography, natural resources, and climate and their effects on daily life. It also addresses the roles students can take in caring for the environment. Students will look at paintings that represent cool temperate, warm temperate, and tropical climates.
In this lesson students will: Identify natural resources found in particular geographic areas; Discuss ways in which climate, natural resources, and geography affect daily life; Apply critical-thinking skills to consider the various choices artists have made in their representations of the natural world; Make personal connections to the theme by discussing ways they can be environmental stewards; Identify natural resources found in particular geographic areas; Discuss ways in which climate, natural resources, and geography affect daily life; Apply critical-thinking skills to consider the various choices artists have made in their representations of the natural world; Make personal connections to the theme by discussing ways they can be environmental stewards.

This site presents a program that places art in the context of people's lives so our students will understand how important and effective a tool art is in solving problems and overcoming adversity. The student will recognize that Africans sometimes face problems that are similar to his own, and while the solutions Africans create may look different than ours, they are logical and effective.

The visual narratives and abstractions of this preeminent African American artist explore the places where he lived and worked: the rural South, Pittsburgh, Harlem, and the Caribbean. Bearden's central themes: religion, jazz and blues, history, literature, and the realities of black life he endured throughout his remarkable career in watercolors, oils, and especially collages and photomontages from the 1940s through the 1980s.

This text was compiled, edited, and modified from Boundless Art History and Saylor Academy Art Appreciation and Techniques. It is intended as module reading for an undergraduate level introduction to art. I have uploaded it as individual pdfs to make its inclusion in LMS modules easier but if an educator chose to compress into a single document they would be welcome. Additionally, this is intended as a text that can be modified by educators to satisfy the interests and needs of their own course with only a non-commercial string attached.

This art history video looks at "The Painting Techniques of Barnett Newman: Vir Heroicus Sublimis" Abstract Expressionist New York, The Museum of Modern Art, October 3, 2--April 11, 2011. Filmed by Plowshares Media; Music by Chris Parrello, Ian Young, Kevin Thomas, Ziv Ravitz.

This art history video discussion looks at Johannes Vermeer's "Young Woman with a Water Pitcher", oil on canvas, c. 1662 (Metropolitan Museum of Art).