Review

Reviewed Work(s): Visual culture in the art class: Case studies by Paul Duncum
Review by: William Nieberding
Source: Visual Arts Research, Vol. 35, No. 1 (Spring 2009), pp. 120-126
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20715493
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120 Visual Arts Research Volume 35, Number I Summer 2009

Book Review Paul Duncum (Ed.). 2006. Visual culture in the art class:
Case studies. Reston,VA: National Art Education Association.

Reviewed by William Nieberding

The Ohio State University

In this curriculum, art making is not rephced by questioning and critical thinking,
but instead revolves around it, much as contemporary postmodern art does. (p. 150)

My initial goal in approaching Paul Duncum s book Visual Culture in the Art
Class: Case Studies was to get a picture of what studio practice looks like in art
classrooms dealing with visual culture. Developing such a clear picture, however,
proved to be greatly complicated by the wide range of activities and interpreta
tions described in these case studies. The variety of artistic production possible
under the rubric of visual culture in the art class is as broad as what is found in

visual culture at large. Rather than developing a definition or a picture of what

studio practice looks like through reading these cases, I developed an understand
ing of the relationships teachers were constructing between research (often in
the form of discussion, questioning, and critical thinking about contemporary
images) and studio practice in the classroom. In addition, I began to realize that
these cases reflect a continued evolution of the idea of studio practice itself. In
this review, I look briefly at the grades included in these cases, survey examples of
student production, and more deeply explore the approaches and implications of
several cases. In conclusion, I discuss the importance of concerns raised by several
of the authors.

? 2009 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois

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 Book Reviews 121

A Survey of the Cases

The cases presented in Visual Culture in the Art Class: Case Studies range from
Pre-K through university-level classes. Chapter presents a preservice practicum
for 4-year-olds in a public preschool, chapter 2 discusses a fifth-grade art class
room, and an extended curriculum developed around children's toys in grades
K-5 is discussed in chapter 3. Several chapters discuss curricula employed in high
school and secondary-school art classrooms. One case study describes Saturday
classes for junior-high students at a university. At the university level, cases include
classes for in-service teachers, and courses for preservice teachers. Most of these
cases are from the United States, though chapter 16 details a case from South Ko
rea. Included also is an advanced writing class for undergraduates offered in an art
education department, an undergraduate interdisciplinary class producing "poetic
moving images," and a course for university art majors that goes to Kmart. One
case details a program for teens in a community center in Montreal.

Making Images

The range of objects, texts, hypertexts, and ideas produced across these classrooms
is quite diverse. In chapter 7, Tavin and Toczydlowska's case study, students use
collage to construct a virtual president. In chapter 9, coauthors Amburgy, Knight,
and Keifer-Boyd present cases of four art educators who revisualize self-portraits
and the still life through the lens of visual culture. In these cases, set requirements
were in place, and the teachers adapted their focus to incorporate elements of
visual culture. In the case of Herrmann's class, chapter 17, the process and materi
als were entirely subservient to the idea, and "the assignment was to respond to
the ideas raised . . . [S]tudents worked with whatever materials they thought most
appropriate" (p. 148). Student works described in the case studies also include
Styrofoam head sculptures as a vehicle for examining stereotypes, a poster for
an ad campaign, mannequin sculptures, video poetry, and hypertextual connec
tions developed both through classroom discussion and in a low-tech fashion
using strings and tape to make visual connections. Other teachers use computer
paint programs, Photoshop, photography, and video. The range of material and
products is quite broad, and whether the set product is dictated or open-ended,
the production of art is predicated on, or in some cases replaced by, the research
conducted by the students. Although few commonalities are to be found in these
classrooms in terms of the objects created, in each of the cases, the teachers invite
the students to examine the visual culture constructions that surround the ideas

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122 Visual Arts Research Summer 2009

they are exploring. It is this research before, during, and sometimes in place of im
age making that is common to each of these cases.

Research as a Defining Factor

"One of the criticisms leveled against it [visual culture] is that it has little or no
place for studio activities" (Duncum, 2003, p. 46). In chapter 10, Barney's case
study about his high-school Advanced Placement studio art classroom, he writes,
"[A]t first, I too questioned the amount of time necessary to teach more than stu
dio processes and techniques in a studio class" (p. 81) He expressed concern that
the quality of student work would be reduced, but hoped "that a visual culture
approach would enhance the studio experience" (p. 81). Barney's students conduct
research of several types in his class and keep a process portfolio containing the
products of their research. Students are asked to research the construction and
uses of three-dimensional displays "such as billboards that use three-dimensional
objects . . . cardboard advertising displays like those found in movie theaters . . .
dioramas as used in museums. . . and pop-up storybooks" (p. 82). Afterward,
students create their own three-dimensional displays as part of their process jour
nal. In another series of lessons, students research the conventions of portrait
lighting online, and the conventions of yearbook photography by examining past
yearbooks. They hold class discussions to examine what they have found. After re
search and discussion, students photograph each other by using these conventions
and create a yearbook of virtual identities by using Photoshop to disassemble and
reassemble parts of each person's face and backgrounds. In yet another unit, stu
dents examine sketchbooks made by historical and contemporary artists, and look
at popular scrapbooking for "ideas and approaches to research, documentation,
and artistic creation" (p. 83).
Incorporating a visual culture paradigm into his classroom and directing the
students to research before making images benefits his students in several ways,
Barney explains. Students are more likely to consider the classroom as a community
of learning rather than as a competition and "are better able to formulate their own
assignments or research out of the classroom" (p. 87). In conclusion, Barney found
that students' AP Studio Arts test scores didn't drop, the number of scholarships
earned was not reduced, and the number of student awards was not compromised.
This chapter shows one way of incorporating the research associated with visual cul
ture into an advanced studio classroom to inform the student's image making.
In chapter 11, Cummings also writes of a departure from older models un
dertaken in order to improve her students' learning experience:

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 Book Reviews 123

Students were no longer relating to the topics discussed in the curriculum, and
they clearly indicated that many of the studio projects were monotonous and
irrelevant. ... By directing the curriculum to focus on popular visual culture
imagery, the students became engaged in their studies and through the process
of critical inquiry of contemporary texts and images, they became cognizant of
the social representations inherent in contemporary imagery, (p. 90)

The first days of each unit in Cumming s classroom include teacher-directed

analysis of contemporary and historical artwork and group discussions. Throughout
the units, students are directed to keep a journal of contemporary images that in
form the concepts discussed. The process, she writes, "involves planning, research for
information, peer critique and group discussion before production begins" (p. 91).
Her case study includes an abbreviated look at the curriculum units covered. In the
unit on consumerism and power, she invites students to investigate their connec
tions to and understanding of corporate brands. "The students were asked to inter
pret the meanings of popular trademarks and company logos as displayed on their
clothing," she writes (p. 91). She promotes discussion through leading questions
such as "What do trademarks represent? [and] What power is held by the symbols?"
(p. 91). In one of her classes, students studied the Nike logo, researched the corpora
tion, analyzed Nike advertisements in teen magazines, and compared them against
Nike's corporate marketing strategies. In conclusion, the students developed a sym
bol of their own to "convey a personal visual message" (p. 91).
In the unit on stereotypes and individuality, Cummings directs a class dis
cussion about stereotypes and gives an assignment for students to analyze their
own favorite television program. They are asked to "critically view the main char
acters for stereotypical representations" and discuss their findings in small groups
(p. 92). These activities, and the associated journaling that students did, "became
points of entry for creative expression," Cummings writes (p. 92). The students
in this case, were then each given a Styrofoam wig form upon which they based
a three-dimensional sculpture "illustrating their feelings, attitudes or concerns
regarding stereotypes" (p. 92). These examples, as well as other units discussed
in this case, show Cummings putting the process of inquiry ahead of traditional
models of studio practice.
Herrmann's case study in chapter 17 describes her university experience
teaching preservice elementary teachers. To broaden her students' views of art
curriculum, she took her class to Tavin's presentation, "Using Hypertext to Con
struct Curriculum." In her classroom, students based their cultural research on
the television program The Swan (Fox Television, 2004). Students viewed the
program and critically examined what was being said, who was saying it, and the

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124 I Visual Arts Research Summer 2009

implicit meanings within the program. Herrmann's case study includes a list of
what the students believed was being stated or implied: "Women should 'suck it
up,' thin is good, beauty equals happiness, there is one ideal body image which
men get to determine . . . , it is possible to fix insecurity through cosmetic
means" (p. 145).
Her students created textual responses to the program and. during a class
exercise, linked their ideas with other students' ideas and with artworks of con

temporary artists such as Barbara Kruger, Meret Openheim, Jenny Holzer, Cindy
Sherman, and others by using a low-tech string-and-tape form of hypertext. After
the research, the hypertext exercise, and discussions, students were asked to "to
respond to their inquiry and discussion through art making" (p. 147). "The assign
ment was to respond to the ideas raised," she writes, and the students used what
ever materials they thought appropriate (p. 147). "As the instructor," she writes,
"I suggested materials when a student told me what they wanted to do or taught
techniques as they became necessary for the student's work. The student's ideas
came first, followed by an investigation to find a material or process that might
best communicate their idea" (p. 148). The student artistic production in this class
ranged from an "improved" rubber duck to self-portraiture, to collage of media
images, to sculpture involving beauty products and a bathroom mirror. These
three cases?Barney, Cummings, and Herrmann?exemplify the ways in which
the teachers in this book employ research, cultural inquiry, and idea development
to inform classroom studio practice.
In the following two examples, the students conducted visual culture re
search, but did not conclude their efforts with the production of images. In chap
ter 15, Wightman's university-level art students tour the local Kmart. "Our time in
Kmart focuses on the idea of consumer aesthetics which shape how we respond to
products intended for sale," he writes (p. 126). Students in his classes research the
history of retail stores, examine products for their aesthetic qualities, and perform
in-depth research into companies like Kmart and Wal-Mart and the sophisticated
techniques they use to market their products. The goal of this research is to help
the students develop a critical eye toward the constructed consumer environment.
Students in Wightman's class write about their experiences, but unlike the stu
dents in many of the other cases examined, they are not guided to produce images
as part of their coursework.
Jong Ae Park's case study, chapter 16, is from South Korea. It also takes
place in a university class with preservice teacher educators. In this case, as in
Wightman's, the end result is not studio production. The students are asked to
collect images that stimulate critical thinking. One student researched and inter

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 Book Reviews 125

preted advertisements for a gym in which obese women are depicted as invisible.
A second interpreted the Disney movie Mulan (1998), and a third examined the
television news. Each of these investigations takes place against the background
of the changing cultural dynamic, which is heavily influenced by visual culture.
All students wrote essays, and developed lesson plans based on their research, but
were not directed toward image making as part of the course work. These two
chapters, and several others as well, work to expand the range of visual culture in
art education.

Concerns

One of the strengths of this book is the self-reflection evident in the concerns
raised by a number of the authors. In chapter 14, a case study titled "When Look
ing and Making is Not Enough," Taylor, Carpenter, Golden, and Church examine
their own past uses of contemporary culture in the classroom, and find room
for improvement. In one example, Taylor writes about her use of a clip from the
movie Philadelphia (1993) in a high-school class as an example of the emotional
impact of color:

Taylor used this clip because the film was popular at the time and because she
believed that it epitomized the ways color can affect emotions. Unfortunately,
she admits, that is all she did. . . . She missed many opportunities to look fur
ther, deeper, and in more meaningful ways. She may have made her point that
color has strong emotive qualities, but she feels that she failed her students mis
erably in the process, (p. 120)

Polaniecki recognizes that, although her visual culture curriculum appeared to

empower her students with a critical viewpoint, she questions "the extent to which
students were truly looking inward or just learning to use rhetoric they thought
I required" (p. 46). Other authors express similar concerns about the depth to
which students internalized the issues explored, and several mention the students'
desire for less discussion and more art making.

Conclusion

It was my intention, when I opened Duncum's book, to develop a clear picture

of studio practice in the visual culture art education classroom. The diversity and
scope of the image making described in these case studies made such a simple defi
nition untenable. Each of these cases, however, shows a strong focus on student

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I Visual Arts Research Summer 2009

based research built upon critical thinking and inquiry, and each reflects a differ
ent interpretation of the definition of studio practice in the classroom. It is these
elements that define the practice of image making in the art education classrooms
described in these cases.

Reference

Duncum, R (2003). A special issue on visual culture [Editorial]. Visual Arts Research, 28(2), 1-3.

Contact I William Nieberding 258 Hopkins Hall

128 N. Oval Mall
The Ohio State University
Columbus, OH 43210
E-mail: nieberding.10@osu.edu

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