Teaching Art History: Engaging the Adolescent in Art Appreciation, Cultural History and the Evolution of Consciousness

A comprehensive study of a lively Art History block in a Waldorf School, this book describes the transformation possible in adolescents when surrounded by beauty and offered awareness of the glorious history of human expression through art and through the ages of culture. The presentation is diverse and comprehensive. Often called "History through Art" this block of four weeks of intensive study, most often in the ninth grade, gives a compelling picture of the drive of human beings to express themselves, create beautiful things and mark history as it is made. In the young uncertainty can fall away when engaged in viewing, appreciating, and understanding the great treasure trove of artistic endeavor through the ages of humankind. This is a bounty of illustrated information that carries anyone -- teacher, student, parent, curious individual, (anyone!) through the ages of time through the study of art. The author brings decades of experience to this treatise and makes the whole process clear and enlivened. Even the nuts and bolts of developing a main lesson book as an accomplished textbook by the student is explained and used to illustrate the great and rewarding task of bringing the young into serious, joyful study of the arts. The students' artwork is breathtaking as illustration of what young high schoolers are capable of producing when inspired themselves to record history through art. Read more