Student Comments from an Ancient Art History Summer Course 2009 @ Hartnell Community College

Portrait of a Class

Sincerity, like poetry, is often wrapped in imperfect sentences.
I extracted and condensed but avoided editing student writing.

These are comments from an introductory art survey class that focuses on ancient art. The students have a wide range of backgrounds-- some are still in high school, some are working adults with families, some speak English as a second or third language. Many take the class for required university transfer units. There are no pre-requisites so the field, and often college, is new to most of them.

19 Students commenting on their learning experience, extracted from term papers:

I was very nervous when I first sat down in Professor Angel’s classroom. I had no idea what to expect for this class, therefore I didn’t know how to prepare for this class. Luckily, my professor took the time to thoroughly explain art terms that I didn’t fully understand like stylized, naturalistic, and narrative. I always thought the word “detailed” was the word to describe all kinds of observations. However I quickly learned that the term “detailed" is a very loose term and doesn’t address a specific observation. If it wasn’t for Professor Angel I would have been completely lost in that class, even though I’m usually quiet in class and hesitate to ask questions, Professor Angel would do a good job in explaining what she is trying to say and what others might be trying to say.
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History of Art is a class that tells the story of Art through historic references and shows us our history through its art. However there is one key factor that people seem to ignore and that is that “Human’s made art, but art made us Human” (Dr. Nigel Spively). This is an excellent quote because we are all connected by art in one way or another, we are the only species that has been able to recognize a series of lines and exploit [this] potential.
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Before I took History of Art 1A I would look at a piece of art and my mind would register only a few things like “it’s a cave painting” or “it’s just another sculpture,” as a result I would look at art as being dull and uninteresting. However reaching the end of this class I now see that art is actually very interesting and has many secrets that are yet to be discovered. Art is not just an artist jotting down his feeling onto a canvas, but it’s more like a culture preserving its way of life into a vessel that we today call artifacts. You can tell a lot about a culture by its art.
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This class has taught me so much more than I could have imagined. I can no longer look at a piece of art without noticing little things in the art that lead me to think about their meaning. Not only did I learn about art and its history but I learned how to study for midterms and finals, how to do a bluebook test and how to rationalize my time and efforts to achieve the grade I want. Taking History of Art 1A I feel like I’ve gained a whole new perspective on how to view certain aspects of my life.

“ Art is the Queen of all sciences communicating knowledge to all generations of the world. - Leonardo Da Vinci” As Leonardo Da Vinci stated art truly is a means of transferring processed information.

What is Art History? When I first began this class I thought I knew the answer, the study of past artists, their works and techniques. However, I was quite off on my interpretation of Art History. I have come to realize that Art History is actually analyzing the art pieces to learn more about the culture (not just the life of the artist), time period, and evolution of art. Art and history which I had always seen as separate fields are actually intertwined.
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To tell the truth art has never been my thing. My lack of interest in art was actually my motivation to take this class. I wanted to avoid taking a whole year of art at my high school and this class fulfilled the fine art requirement. I have always been more attracted to the subjects of math and science and unconcerned with the arts and English. On the other hand, after taking this class I have come to realize that art is a large part of the fields that hold my interest. Mathematics uses a symbol system that is in itself art, they are simply images that we have attached meaning to. Examining the art of past cultures can aid our understanding of their interests whether it is scientific or ideological.
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Not only have I learned how art relates to other educational fields, but this class has allowed me to strengthen my critical analysis skills which will prove helpful not only when analyzing poetry and other written arts in my English classes but also as I pursue a career in the sciences. Like art history, the sciences are based on analyzing data to reach some sort of supported conclusion or interpretation. In addition, this summer, through taking written exams and participating in discussions, I have discovered a greater understanding of how to express my thoughts in a way that is clear and comprehensible.
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By taking Art History this summer I have discovered a new found appreciation for art. Art no longer seems to me as simply frivolous pass time that lacks any significant importance, but an essential and interesting part of our world.

Upon registering for this Art history course, I was under the impression that most of the requirements for the class would include memorizing of dates, artists, and art work names, and I admit I was not expecting a very interesting course. The reason for my initial lack of interest was not because of art itself—I actually found it fascinating prior to this course—but I was not expecting to retain anything useful besides identifying various art works. However, my perception of this class changed quickly when I was informed that the course was not going to focus on memorization, on the contrary, this class was going to teach us “learning to how to learn.” As cliché as that might sound, it is not far from the truth.

In this class, I not only learned to identify various important and historical works of art, but I also learned how to analyze pre historical and historical art in terms of form, content and context. Meaning that I have learned different media of art used in the past, why particular art works were made and what purpose they served, and how and why it was important to particular ancient cultures. In order to better articulate my analysis of art, I was taught basic terms that would allow all of us to properly and in art historical terms express our observations. Along with learning about art, I also grasped some historical knowledge, particularly its involvement around art and visa versa.
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The most important aspect of the class was that I learned how to analyze and put it into words. This was achieved, in my case, by practicing writing. While I may not have participated in this class quite avidly, I did in fact practice at home by writing about the artwork. In a sense I was not only developing my analytical skills of art but I was also imposing on myself a way of learning, by practicing and spending extra time outside of the classroom. A habit which I hope will remain with me through my remaining years of college.
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The newly acquired knowledge of interpreting art according to its historical and cultural background does not end with art alone, for example, while I may not be asked to use specific art terms to analyze a poem, I will however be asked to analyze and interpret poems or articles and the same method will apply. For example beginning with the obvious and then asking questions as to why something was written a certain way, for what, by whom, etc.—this is the universal way of learning.

In our Art 1A class I’ve learned so many things. I feel that everything discussed was new to me, making it the number one reason why I found the material so intriguing. In our class I also learned how to read closely. This helped me understand the material I was reading. [Before] when I read material I didn’t read to learn anything from it, [I] just read it to answer questions.
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I feel that the class is important to my education because I realized I didn’t know anything about other cultures and their art. Now that I’m in college taking this Art 1A class I’ve learned that art is not just there to entertain us but to teach us and inform us about people and the influences they had to bring art into our world.
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Seriously, the material learned in this class is crucial. I’ve acquired information and skills that I know are going to help me in my future. To have the ability to read closely and being able to analyze pictures and being able to think critically has helped me in my English class. Having these skills have helped me write longer essays. It has also helped me to think deep into my head. Now when I read, I enjoy what I read because the information presented is interesting and not to mention new to me. I know now that the things I learned are going to help me not only through out classes I take in college but also in life.

* I think you’re a great teacher. Hope you come back for sure in the in the Spring.

Through this summer session I have learned many things about the history of art and how it relates to our world today. I have learned a lot about not only the different cultures and major eras, but the different types and styles of art which they produce. I now understand things about art that would never have occurred to me in the past, such as the way things like religion and politics affected the way people created their artwork. I truly believe that without art humans would not have come as far as we have, because we take things that people did before us and build upon them for the better. Art is important for everyone whether we realize it or not.
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I’ve learned tons of things from Ms. Angel that I am sure will be useful throughout my life. Many of the things I learned from her are not only useful in a History of Art class, but are tools that I have and will be useful during my life outside the art world. I am naturally a shy and quiet person and one of the most important tools that I have learned from this class is how to articulate my ideas. I feel like I am a fairly smart person, but sometimes when I’m with my friends and we are having a conversation I have all the thoughts and ideas in my head and yet I have a hard time putting it into words so that my friends understand what I am trying to say. Throughout this class we practiced how to articulate what we see in pictures and I think it has helped me tremendously. Two of the quotes I will take with me from this class is to “Say what you mean” and to “Take it further”. Many times we say things that make sense to us but don’t make sense to others and sometimes we cut our thoughts short when we have conversations, We stop when we have so much more to say, when we can take it further.
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I not only learned from my teacher and the textbook, but I learned from my fellow students. I saw how people in the class reacted to others about art when we were put in groups. I noticed that a few people really engaged in the lectures and put forth their best efforts to articulate their ideas about the artwork in front of the class. Hearing other students talk about the artwork really helped me memorize certain things, because it is interesting to hear what other people think and to hear different views about one piece.
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Since the beginning of the class I started to notice art everywhere, I notice it in my house, I notice it when I am driving, and I notice it in movies and on the covers of CD’s, almost everywhere I look I see a piece of art. Now when I see art I start to analyze and understand more about it and its kind of fun. I caught myself laughing the other day while watching a superhero movie called “Hellboy 2”, because in the beginning it shows the characters in a museum and they walk past a ten foot tall “Venus of Willendorf” when in real life the statue is only about four and a half inches tall. I found this class very enjoyable and look forward to visiting museums and seeing many different types of art in the future.

*I recently watched a movie called Watchmen and at the end it shows the pallet of king Narmir and the head of Nefertiti

My experience in this class was surprisingly difficult and time consuming. Amazingly I enjoyed this era more than the Renaissance era, I appreciate the artwork that people created without the help of machines, electricity, and technology, certain abilities we take for granted. As class went by it is clearer to me that art is an important factor in today’s society. It is used by politicians, teachers, businessmen, everyone to get something across.
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Overall this class was truly enjoyable, and worth taking. It is interesting how art is incorporated in many things, and how many people take ideas from art to express what they are trying to say without words. This class was more difficult than what I could have imagined, for example as we analyze one object before I ever took this class I would have described it without going into great depth. Now I am somewhat capable of describing the sculpture, painting and monument by using the terminologies such as decorative, narrative, symbolism, content, context, form, naturalism. This class has been my first class to analyze the artwork of artist, it has been more of a challenge than what I could have expected, but I was able to take more out of the class also. I will be looking forward to visiting museums and a little bit more about ancient art.

* Thank you. This was an enjoyable class and I learned a lot about art.

In this class I have come to learn quite a lot. I had hoped to learn art and how to depict it. I have learned a considerable amount of things that I wasn’t privy to before. I have learned how art and history are related and intertwined and how their association is very critical to one another in understanding them overall. Art is truly interesting and fascinating. It lets you see and scope out how past people drew or constructed things, to let you get into their world and try to figure their purpose and significance. Art s all around encompassing every aspect of daily life whether we recognize it or not it’s there! Every where. Before this class I might have overlooked things. But now I can begin to attempt to understand the contributions more clearly and see the significance of past art and how it relates to today.
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Today Obama fits in with the theme of the past use of symbolism. His stature his posture like that of past Gods or royalty. The art work of [him] showing him flawlessly. The white house and it’s design related to Greek/Roman influence. I have learned valuable information about many key things like the origin of written language and different people and cultures and how that is useful in understanding how things got to this point.
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The class was taught in a very fun way. I liked the group interaction’s they were a big help in trying to compare [my] level of comprehension and sharing of ideas that maybe I wasn’t aware of. I liked the method of allowing us to learn the material for ourselves and not for the simple manner of passing the class. I liked that we were pushed to thoroughly express ourselves. I found the class very interesting because it was challenging. It made you think critically. Sadly, a lot of the classes are not very challenging and seem not to care if one has learned the material correctly.

*I learned a lot of meaningful stuff.

I see a lot of difference before taking this class, before I would see some art and it didn’t call my attention or the only words that I used were: that it is pretty, ugly, rare, scary, I was not interested in looking more ahead of what it represents. I was not aware of in the [art] form content, context, symbol, narrative, stylized, naturalistic, humanistic, now little by little I have been learning how to learn as Ms. Angel said at the beginning of the class. Now I see when a sculpture or Art painting what it comes to my mind is what is the influence of this art, the culture, who made it, when it was made, the material, and I started to look for symbols in the body, face, hair, posture, cloth, and decoration and I started to compare with chapters in the book, and asking this kind of questions does it look like a Roman art, Paleolithic, Aegean, Tuscany art. And I started to compare the art objects with the chapters in the book.
Now I can said that I feel more confident about the context of art. What make it relevant is that every chapter in the textbook is very different; it all has different content and context.
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Alexander the Great, [Augustus] and Constantine represent the youthful ruler. They used idealized figures to persuade people and up to today we are still influenced by the picture of the person, we still idealize people. For example in the Obama Election when I first saw Obama and Mc Cain; Obama looked more humanist, he had a young smile in his face, Mc Cain more older more rigid image, I idealized Obama because he was young, what it came to mind “a younger president will make the difference here in the United States.
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What I have learned is that we are influence of what our eyes see. We are living in 2009 but we have so many influences from our ancestors. After taking this class I learned that we have a lot in common with ancient culture. Now I understand more the humans beings and it sounds funny but it will be much fun to compare myself with our ancestors.

* Thank you Ms Angel for the class. It was not easy but I learned a lot. Keep teaching the way you teach.

In order to learn from art, one must be able to analyze the art and process the information being viewed to gain knowledge through the art piece. Humans make art to teach of their culture and ideas; much of history is learned through art. A form of analysis must be possessed to understand art, I acquired the skills to process the information in art from this course.
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In art, aspects that seem minor can change the meaning of art greatly. Whether the art piece is small, large, naturalistic, stylized, or has other traits, the piece has its own meanin. I learned that Art history is a major part in the world.

* After taking the class I leave with more knowledge. I am happy to be able to learn from someone that likes their subject although the class wasn’t easy for me I am able to leave with knowledge that broadens my view of the world.

When one thinks about art history many obscure and vague pictures come to mind. To those who don’t know much about either, they probably never thought about the two words together- art and history. Yet, little do people know that a simple drawing of an animal or object can tell a story of the people that once lived in a certain area and how art has and continues recording history. From my experience in studying the history of art I believe I have formulated an improved way of thinking for myself that will help me make sense of many of the issues, architecture and overall quality of life around me. There is more to a piece of art than the colors, texture or details entail.
The first day I stepped into this Art history class I thought the material was going to be easy. I had heard from a person who had taken this class previously that “ it was an easy class, you just sit and look at pictures.” I took this class because I wanted to complete my art credits before going into my senior year of high school. Before the class I never really considered how art has played such an imperative role in society.
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I feel like after looking at so much artwork I have opened my mind to thinking in a new and improved way. The world makes that much more sense. I have come to understand how art has evolved to attract people and how ageold media has brainwashed us to think a certain way about things. Everything I have learned in my past history classes, like the Crusades, the fall of the Roman Empire, the innovation of hi-tech architecture, seems to tie-in. I never really thought of why the white house and buildings in Washington D.C. have so much Roman influenced architecture. Now I know it is because of the ideology behind those types of structures.

I learned that the Greeks came up with really good ideas and creations but they shouldn’t be given full credit for that, because what I didn’t realize before was that cultures overlap each other and they live during the same time as others. Rather than when we learn about world history we never really learn how cultures interacted and mingled with each other. Cultures like the Egyptians and Mesopotamians had quite a significant influence in the Greeks’ crafts, ideas and conventions. I also learned about the Etruscans, a group of people that have been marginalized from history books. And we find cultures like this one, marginalized everywhere. For example, we do not receive much of the native American perspective in United States history books for the same reason that they seemed inferior to the superior Anglo people.
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Therefore not only did I learn about techniques used to create painting or sculptures but I learned about the content and context behind each piece of art, like why it was built or created, by who it was made and what the actual piece symbolizes. It is safe to say that everyday I learned something new each day, whether it was from a lecture about “learning how to learn” or the word “warbley” and most importantly I learned that we cannot label a piece of art as “the best” or “the most beautiful” because all art was considered and is considered a certain way by different people of differing views.