In Visual Arts, the use of the Analytical Frameworks helps students to interpret and analyse the meanings of artworks. This is because they can support students "to appreciate how an artwork may contain many various aspects and layers of meaning." (VCAA, 2016, p. 10).
Analytical Frameworks supports students to:
- decode and make meaning from artworks
- generate personal, creative, and critical responses to artworks
- identify research questions about artworks
- interpret and critically view artworks.
Analytical Frameworks supports students to analyse artworks through four lenses:
- Structural: students analyse how style, symbolism and structural elements of artworks contribute to meaning
- Personal: students consider how the artist's or viewer's personal feelings, thinking and experiences impact the creation and interpretation of artworks
- Cultural: students identify how the time, place and society in which the artwork was made has influenced the creation of an artwork
- Contemporary: students consider how the making, interpretation and analysis of past and present artworks is influenced by contemporary ideas and issues (VCAA, 2016, p. 10).
Using an Analytical Framework graphic organiser, such as the one below, scaffolds students into planning and writing extended analytical responses to artworks.
See: Analytical frameworks graphic organiser
For students to respond to artworks via the structural, personal, cultural, and contemporary lenses, they will require access to resources about the selected artist, their artworks, cultural and contextual factors, and other details. Online resources, such as gallery/museum websites or exhibition catalogues allow students to develop digital literacy as well as to conduct their research.
The activity below considers all four lenses of the Analytical Framework. However, teachers may focus on only one lens, or use a jigsaw activity which sees groups of students focus on one lens and then collaborate to share their ideas.
- The teacher selects an exhibition or collection that works within the unit of work and/or genre (physical or digital visit using Google Arts & Culture Collections).
- The teacher introduces Analytical Frameworks and selects an artist to research as a model for students.
- The teacher guides students through the navigation of the online resource and, with students, locates information relevant to analysis via Analytical Frameworks.
- The teacher uses prompts relevant to each framework, for example:
Structural framework:
- How are art elements and principles represented in the work?
- How do the above create meaning in the work?
- What materials and practices have been used?
- How does the work compare to the artists' other work?
Personal framework:
- How does the artwork reflect the experiences of the artist?
- Is a personal philosophy reflected in the artwork?
- As a viewer, do the above factors influence your interpretation of the artwork?
- Has the artist used symbolism or metaphor to create meaning?
Cultural Framework:
- How do the social, political, cultural, artistic, and/or religious contexts of the artwork contribute to its meaning?
- Do these influence the viewer's understanding of the artwork's meaning?
- How does the cultural background of the viewer influence the interpretation of an artwork?
- How does the placement or location of artworks affect their interpretation?
- How was the artwork received in its original historical context?
Contemporary Framework:
- How do contemporary art ideas and issues challenge traditional understandings of artworks and their significance?
- How does the placement or location of the artwork in a setting other than the intended setting impact on its meaning and value?
- How is the artwork of the past interpreted from a contemporary point of view?
- What new media or technologies has the artist used to make or produce the artwork?
- What is the impact on the viewer of new media applications or technologies and other emerging art forms?
- How does the choice or the presentation of subject matter, or media, materials, and techniques or processes reflect or challenge artistic or social traditions?
- Are political concerns such as globalisation, and environmental and social issues represented in the artwork?
(Prompts adapted from VCAA, 2016, p. 10-12).
- Responses are recorded on a graphic organiser visible to the whole class.
- Teacher allocates different artists/works to smaller groups or for the whole class.
- Students research information and discuss ideas related to the most relevant aspects of each Analytical Frameworks and record on the graphic organiser.
Curriculum links for the above example: VCAVAE033, VCAVAE034, VCAVAR038, VCAVAR039, VCAVAR045, VCAVAR046.