Tips from the Getty Museum: Re-creating Art to Teach Visual Literacy [16:11]

When it comes to helping students analyze visual texts, famous works of art can be a great starting point—and a slightly intimidating one. It's true that some students (and even some teachers!) may feel some hesitation before attempting to deconstruct important paintings or sculptures, but it turns out that a uniquely fun way to engage with those works is… to re-create them!

I recently spoke with Rebecca Edwards, Education Specialist at the J. Paul Getty Museum, who describes a recent challenge the museum offered on social media: re-create a work of art at home using three household items (https://blogs.getty.edu/iris/getty-artworks-recreated-with-household-items-by-creative-geniuses-the-world-over/). Rebecca describes the wonderful engagement she and her team saw, and we talk about how the challenge itself can do more than give people stuck at home something fun to do; it can be a tool to help students employ key critical thinking skills as they consider a visual text's deeper purpose.