Kelsey Fabrycky

TCHL 879-99

Article Review

Art has always served a function; today, art is used in all aspects of our lives,
how we format papers could even be classified as art; it is aesthetically pleasing to
the eye, and the words written are art in themselves. We do not recognize most
stimulation around us as art, but if we take a closer look, we see that the billboard
of the pretty ladies was shot by a professional photographer, or the logo for your
favorite coffee shop was designed by a graphic designer; as the fight against racism
soars across our country more and more people are being offended by ads. This
link is to an ad that was placed in the inner city of Atlanta. It was reportedly called
racist, http://dailycaller.com/2015/06/08/new-pro-life-billboard-is-apparently-racist/ .
These are all forms of art, that are ever increasing in our society, and that is why it
is so imperative that we teach the next generation how to think critically about the
images that they encounter daily; their ability to make educational opinions about
images will give them knowledge and the ability to think independently and not
follow the crowd. The International Journal of Education & the Arts published an
article titled An Interdisciplinary Approach for Understanding Artworks; The Role of
Music in Visual Arts Education. The article takes us step by step through the process
and results of a research study done in Cyprus. The focus of this research study was
to investigate whether art viewing accompanied by music could encourage the
development of art appreciation skills and thus promote art understanding.
(Pavlou, Athanasiou, 3)

The study used a sample of 59 1st year students whom were studying to be
elementary educators. The researchers only chose future educators who had little to
no previous experience viewing art. There were 18 men and 41 women. The
researchers then divided them into two groups. Group one was the control group,
this group contained 29 people out of the sample group; group two was the
experimental group, this group was comprised up of 30 people from the sample.
The next step was to choose the visual art and the music that would accompany it.
By using Yenawines criteria for a meaningful viewing experience they chose 4
paintings: Tableau II, by Mondrian; The Kiss, by Klimnt; The Two Fridas, by Kahlo;
Yellow, Red, Blue, by Kandisky. The music was selected by emotion. Each artist had
meant to express a story, or a feeling through their work, so they choose music that
corresponded with the general mood and feelings intended to be expressed by the
composer as well. (Pavlou, Athansiou, 8) They chose (paired with the visual works
above in the same order): Big Noise From Winnetka, by Bob Haggart; Song without
words, Op. 109, Erich Mendelssohn; Girea from the soundtrack of Naruto Shippuden;
La Campanella, by Franz Liszt.
 The Control group viewed the art with no music, while the experimental group
had music to accompany their viewing experience. They were asked to write
anything and everything that popped into their minds as they viewed the work with
or without the music. The researchers measured the responses given by how well
each person used art appreciation skills; they found that the experimental group
was able to better express themselves and derive a deeper and more emotional
experience from each painting then the control group. Their responses even talked
about how the music made them feel and interpret the paintings. If you research
these paintings or know them, you will see that Mondrians and Kandiskys paintings
are both abstract. Unlike the experimental group, who were able to elaborate their
feelings and emotions for the two abstract works, the control group was unable to
look past judgmental thoughts such as I do not like this painting. The study
showed that responsive behavior appeared to accumulate from observational
response, to analytic response, to interpretive response. (Pavlou, Athanasiou,
20,21) Overall this study suggest that multimodal messages can be more effective
when certain conditions are met. (Pavlou, Athanasiou, 21)

In my opinion this research study is flawed. The sample group was very small
and the man to women ratio was skewed; women tend to be more emotional than
men. If there were a greater number of women in the experimental group it could
account for the more emotional expressions of feelings towards the paintings. I do
not mean to discredit this experiment, I have very high hopes that there will be
more research done on this subject; I think that it could be a break through method
of teaching students how to develop and refine the capability to think critically
about images around them. The ability to focus, observe closely, imagine and to
offer cognitive and emotional responses are important in constructing the meaning
of artworks. (Pavlou, Athanasiou, 21)

The article did inspire some great ideas on how I could incorporate activities
like these into a secondary art classroom. The researchers stated that the music
needed to match the emotions intended by the artist to truly understand what the
artist was trying to say. It crossed my mind as I was reading the article that art is
truly a personal experience that only the viewer can go through, so why not try to
use this method to show students that there is more than one way of looking at
things; not everybody has the same reactions. Instead of dividing the classes into
two groups I would have them all listen to the same song and write their reactions.
The students could then compare their views. The next class period I would have
them view the same painting, but to a different song. They would then compare
their reactions and see if there were any new thoughts about the painting. At first
they might have crude and undeveloped thoughts, but as the year goes on and they
learn more about the principles and elements of art their ideas and ability to think
critically would become more developed and thoughtful. My creative brain went
even further into the deep end as I started to think about smells. I read once that
the sense of smell is the sense most closely associated with emotional experiences.
Could the same level of emotion be exhumed from students if you exposed them to
different smells while viewing images? I know the opposite situation is true for me;
when I see a picture of McDonalds I begin to imagine the smell of cheeseburgers
and fries.

Currently schools in the United Sates that do still have art programs tend to
focus their curriculum on the making of art, leaving out viewing of art. This is a
shame to me. Art Appreciation skills have the ability to reinforce the capability to
think critically that most teachers try to inspire in students. Such as when an
algebra teacher gives a word problem, the student is to use critical thinking to sift
through the words and interpret the important information needed to solve the
problem and what is not pertinent to achieving the correct answer. Pavlous and
Athanasious study in Cyprus researched the theory that the experience of art
viewing is heightened by the addition of music. They tried to prove that a
multimodal framework for understanding artworks can promote inexperienced
viewers art appreciation skills and enhance their art understanding from non-
reflective viewers to more reflective viewers with an expressed interest on artworks
as a form of communication and expression of ideas, messages and feelings.
(Pavlou, Athanasiou, 21) It is my opinion that this single study has flaws and cannot
be counted upon to base their findings as facts; however, I do hope that more
research will be done and it will lead to a better way to reinforce the ability to think
critically in students.
 References;

Pavlou, V: Athansiou, G. An Interdisciplinary Approach for Understanding

Artworks: the Role of Music in Visual Arts Education. International Journal of
Education & the Arts. 15, 11, Sept. 20, 2014