Sara Montana

Professor Amber Ward

ART 133-07/08
24 September 2015
Unit Paper #2
Visual culture has become an increasingly large part of the human experience. As such, it
is being increasingly incorporated into school curriculum. However, the means by which this is
being done is not considered kosher by many higher thinking art scholars. Two such scholars are
Al Hurwitz and Michael Day, who disagree with the common practice of teaching the strict
basics of artknown as the 7+7 curriculumin elementary classrooms on the basis that it is too
restrictive to students art making processes, and does not adapt itself to the contemporary art
that students are surrounded by on a daily basis (2007). Instead, they suggest a reworking of art
education curriculum to incorporate the analysis of visual cultureTV shows, advertisements,
video games, etc.and teach art as a subset of these forms of visual imagery (2007).
Applying Hurwitz and Days (2007) views on art education to the realm which I inhabit
special needs education and therapyI can see the value of incorporating visual culture into
the conversation of art. In particular, my companys social skills programwhich caters to older
children, ages 8 to 18comes to mind. We, as behavior technicians, are encouraged to
incorporate aspects of so-called youth culture into the lives of our clients, who are affected by
autism, with the goal of making their lives as normal as possible. Exposing these kids to popular
visual culture that they may not otherwise access on their own, goes a long way in keeping them
up with the latest trendssomething their peers do with ease. Further, discussing imagery with
the kids and finding connections to the current political and social climate of reinforces their
knowledge and the tools they have to decipher current events and happenings in popular culture.
Reference
Hurwitz, A., & Day, M. (2007). Children and their art: Methods for the elementary school, (8th
ed.). Thompson Wadsworth.