Topic outline

  • General

    Art Criticism Through Photography

  • Topic 1

    Activating Prior knowledge...in order to begin to look at art with a critical eye, a working knowledge of the elements of art and the principles of design is necessary.  Please complete the Elements of Art and Principles of Design Poster Project to prepare you for the upcoming assignments dealing directly with art criticism.

  • Topic 2

     4 Step Process to Critiquing Art

    Now that you understand the Elements of Art and the Principles of Design, you can use your knowledge in the art criticism process. Of course, we will look at Photography! You will also learn a 4 step process of how to critique a photograph. Looking at artwork with a critical eye is a learned behavior! Don't just say "It's tight!" or "ooh, ugly!" Learn to back up your opinions with thoughtful commentary of global photographers, local photographers, and the photographers in our classroom. Let's begin! You can look at the Introductory Prezi for an overview of the topics we will cover.

  • Topic 3

    Global and Local Photographer Critiques

    These assignments are designed for you to learn how to use one art criticism process (there are many!) to look at art with a critical eye, be comfortable talking about art, and to connect what you learn in class to your life.

  • Topic 4

    Photography Assignment You need to grab a camera and apply your knowledge of the elements of art and the principles of design by taking 5 photographs that incorporate one element and one principle.  Remember the "principle of element" phrase?  Use it here.  For example, using the phrase "emphasis of color", I could take a color portrait and remove the color from all the areas except the person's eyes. Their colored eyes would become the focal point.  Again, you will compose 5 photographs using the principle of element phrase. 

  • Topic 6

    Final Prezi Portfolio  Your final assignment for this Art Criticism through Photography Unit will be to create a Prezi presentation highlighting your best 3 works.  Your selections should showcase your best writing and artistic skills.  Prezi Presentations can be a bit difficult at the beginning, so after you create your own account, please be patient with yourself as you include your samples.  With each written or photographic sample, you will be required to reflect on why the sample is your best work.  Here are the basic steps of creating a Prezi presentation.  Watch the video as well!

    01 Double click anywhere to write

     When you create a prezi, the canvas is your workspace. You can double-click anywhere on the canvas to add a text box to jot down your key ideas. As your ideas fill the canvas, you can drag it around to create more space.

    02 Zoom in to develop your ideas

     Once you have added your ideas to the canvas as text, you can zoom in to these ideas to develop them and add more text. You can use the zoom buttons on the right side of the screen or scroll your mouse wheel to zoom in and out.

    03 Use the zebra for structure and size

     Now, you can arrange your ideas and create hierarchy through size. When you click on one of the text boxes, you'll see the striped transformation zebra, which lets you move (center of the zebra), size and scale (inner ring of the zebra), and rotate objects of any kind (outer ring of the zebra).

    04 Add images from the Insert menu

     When you're ready to add images, you can simply click Insert on the menu in the upper left, and click on the image you want to use. Once the image appears on the canvas, you can click on the image and use the zebra to move, size, or rotate it. Quick tip: before you get started, collect images you plan to use in your prezi and place them in a folder for easy access.

    05 Create your storyline

     After you've added and arranged your text and images, it's time to add the storyline or path. Use the zoom buttons or mouse wheel to zoom out, as seeing the "big picture" can help you determine the right path for the ideas in your prezi. Click on Path, and add your storyline by clicking on the parts in the order in which you want to show them. If you want to change the order of your path, you can Delete All and start again or drag the unassigned path ball (that appears between path numbers) to the object you want to show.

    06 Click 'Show' to present!

     Ready to present? To move into presentation mode, click on Show and step through your prezi with the arrow buttons or arrow keys. In Show, you can click to zoom in and out of your ideas at any point and press the arrows to get back to the path. Publish from Prezi.com with a click After you present, you can publish your prezi by clicking on it from prezi.com/my and checking the box marked Publish. On the Share tab, you can invite others to view or edit your prezi, and obtain an embed code to easily add the prezi to your blog.