Dana Katz

ARTE 344
November 23, 2016
Freedman Facilitation Chapter 8
Title: Contributing to Visual Culture: Student Artistic Production and Assessment
Author(s): Kerry Freedman
Source/Date:
Freedman, K. J. (2003). Teaching visual culture: Curriculum, aesthetics, and the social life of
art. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Main Idea/Purpose (2-3 sentences):
In chapter 8, the issue of assessment is discussed. Freedman (2003) goes into detail about
how to correctly assess students in a visual culture world. She also discusses the various types of
assessment that can be utilized, more specifically focusing on group critique, and how it could
actually be more important and helpful than assessing students on an individual basis.
Short Overview (Including at least 2-3 important quotes):
Freedman (2003) defines a studio as, the foundation of a learning community and a
socially interactive environment that involves individuals and groups in viewing, discussing,
analyzing, debating and making art (p.147). The process of making art is influenced by the
imagery and objects that students encounter every day, and empowers them by giving them an
outlet to express their ideas and construct their own identity. Students are able to address
concerns, questions and make judgements through their work. Art empowers students to think
individually and create unique works of art that allow the viewer to enter their minds. However,
because art is all about the individual and forming your own identity, it is often hard to assess the
work that is produced in a classroom. In other subjects, tests are utilized to determine whether
the student matches the status quo, and is achieving at the level they need to. All questions lead
to similar answers, but in art, the solution is not so simple.
In order to fully assess a student, observations, clinical reviews, reflective journals,
projects, demonstrations, collections of students work and student self-evaluations should all be
used (p. 150). Assessment should be a matter of experience rather than scientific. To address the
various outcomes that could come from one project, benchmarks based on student work that are
chosen by an instructor should be created. When assessing a student, the teacher should look at
both the concept and skills that a student is exemplifying. To help the student understand the
process of an assessment, they themselves should learn to be critical viewers by assessing
outside artistic productions.
Group critiques can also be a useful to help students better understand the process and
outcome behind their work. Methods such as scaffolding, traditional critique, student
questioning, individual dialogue, small group critique, peer pairs and role play can all help focus
on individualism in art, and help the student better understand what could be done to improve
upon their own work without feeling like a failure. As Freedman states, As students develop
social knowledge about the visual arts in the process of making or viewing groups forms of art,

they can begin to understand the relationship between their knowledge and its social value
through group forms of assessment (p. 164).
Critical Response: Reflections and/or relevance to personal art educational experiences/or
teaching experience
When it comes to group assessments, I have found that in they have been very beneficial.
I think it can be useful to hear more than just the teachers voice discussing and interpreting
work. It gives a new element to the piece and a variety of people can often pull out different
meaning based on their own personal experiences. Group critiques also seem to aid in overall
confidence. People are often more critical of themselves than others are. When they hear positive
reviews from not just one, but multiple people, it can help them feel proud of their work. It can
also help them understand what others are able to see when they view work. It can often be
difficult to understand how to address work that is so different in nature, but Freedman seems to
address the topic well in order to help guide teachers through the process.