For as long as I can remember I have bought and collected postcards of featured artworks from every museum I have gone to. This has equated to a huge old pile of cards from museums across the country, and now from across the world!
Any easy way to get postcard sized artworks is to find packs based on a style, movement, or even a museum’s collection. You could buy one of these postcard sets from Amazon. Or you could try my other favorite source, the Art Book! Check out these pocket sized versions of The Art Book.
I know it may sound sacreligious, but I pull pages right out of these books (after making sure both side are school appropriate!), laminate them, and then they are just as durable as the post cards with the benefit of being double sided! You could also pull images out of that huge stack of art books that have been collecting dust on your shelves for the past 10 years.
The beauty of buying card packs or books is that you can customize your collection to whatever best fits your curriculum! You’re a classicist? Buy a set from the Louvre! Work in artworks from around the world, different eras, artists of color, street and outsider art! Most of the activities below will work with whatever style of deck you build!
So now that you have your art reproduction cards, how do you actually use them in class? Honestly, any activity you can think of to utilize these small reproductions is worthwhile as it gets more artwork in front of your students’ eyes. I like using the cards sometimes as opposed to random google searches because it can lead to more random choices and discoveries as students just pick a card out of the pile. It also helps me curate a collection to a degree, which is especially good with younger students. Below are a number of activities I have done with students K-12.
Sorting for specific criteria
In my level one classes we spend a fair amount of time learning to talk about art, and finding the vocabulary to do so. Because we talk about a wide range of artists throughout the world and time, I often start with ways to categorize what you see. Here are a few ways we begin sorting the cards. For each of these activities I simply lay a pile of the cards down on the tables and we start sorting!
Realism, Abstract, Non-Objective
This is truly the activity that truly started getting me to think of new ways to use reproductions in class. To begin with, students are asked to just sort ALL of the cards into three categories. They choose the categories, and the only rule is that one of the categories cannot be “I don’t know” or “all of the rest” or some variation of that. Students generally choose categories based on subject or color, and nearly every group has one category the call something along the lines of “colorful,” or “abstract.” This is when I introduce the terms realism, abstract, and non-objective and discuss the differences between them all. They recategorize the cards into these three groups and complete a small assignment. We frequently go one step beyond and complete small drawn examples of each.
Sorting for groups
This same sorting style can be used a million different ways! You could sort for color, emotion, country of creation or even when it was created!
Description
Tell Me What it Looks Like Drawing Challenge: Full disclosure, I am not the first, nor will I be the last, to do this activity. The art cards just make it easier to pass out reproductions!
Split students into partners and give each an art postcard. Make sure they do not show their partner their card. The first partner will try to describe what they see in the artwork to their partner, who tries to draw the image based only off the verbal description. Once completed, switch partner roles. Much hilarity always ensues from this activity! But it does show students how word choice matters!
Analysis
Often we will spend a whole class period just sorting and organizing the cards in different ways. Each new task encourages students to look at new aspects of the artworks, often leading to a more indepth discovery of what is in each! Make up your own categories, or use the ones below!
By Color: using the predominant color in each artwork, arrange in a colorwheel or spectrum. Which do they seem to be drawn to the most? Cards could also be arranged by value to create mono-chormatic studies. This could begin a more in-depth look at color and its symbolism in art and around the world.
By Age: have students arrange artworks according to creation date (this info is often found on the card itself near the title). This allows students to potentially see big shifts in style throughout the ages. We use this to talk about the advent of abstraction and how it coincides with the invention of the camera.
By Media: Have students best guess what media each piece is made with. PIck one piece, then research or look up other artworks with the same subject done in a different media. Discuss merits or differences of each media in relation to the given subject.
Interpretation
Having a wide variety of cards to choose from allows students to dig deep into the meaning or messages shown in each.
A Difference of Opinion: Is there one correct interpretation of an artwork? Give a group of students the same image to work from. On a post-it have each write down what they think the artwork’s message, story, or meaning is. They should give 1-2 pieces of visual evidence. After writing, share with group members and discuss any differences in opinion/interpretation.
Tell Me a Story: the visual thinking routine where you put yourself in the picture. Check out some Harvard’s Porject Zero Visible Thinking Routines for more ways to interpret an artwork. They have a whole section of thinking routines for the arts here: https://pz.harvard.edu/thinking-routines. But I especially like the “Step Inside” routine where students imagine themselves directly in the picture. Check it out here: https://pz.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Step%20Inside_2.pdf
Evaluation
To students evaluation frequently means just giving a quick opinion of a piece, without a whole lot backing it up. You can use the art cards to work through several evaluation exercises to get them to utilize different avenues to evaluate artworks.
This Cost How Much? Have students try to guess which of the cards in a given pile is the most valuable. What are they basing this opinion on? Discuss what makes an artwork valuable. After giving their reasons for why they chose the piece they did, have them research to see if they can find how much the piece is valued at, or has sold for at auction.
I’d Hang That In My House! Recognizing personal preference in judging art is an important step to understanding evaluation. Have students pick from the art cards a piece that they would hang in their home. What room would it hang in? Why did they pick this piece? How would their family members react to the artwork? Have them pick a piece for a family member or a friend.
Full Critique
Obviously you can put together all of the steps of Feldman’s Critique and use the cards for a full critique. These are great for writing samples, pre and post assessments, or even as the basis for group presentations.
Make New Art!
The art cards can be used for more than just art history and critique lessons. They can also be a great starting point to create new art!
Parodies & Memes! My students always have fun with this assignment. As a class come up a set of rules about what makes a parody or spoof, and how to apply it to one of the art cards. This could be a traditional or digital project. Break into pop culture and use the cards to have students make memes about something important in your class. Maybe its the class rules, silly art knowledge or even artroom jokes!
Digital Collage: Art cards also make a great starting point for collages, often with a surrealist twist. Students with digital art capabilities can use the art app or website of their choice to cut and paste works together to create juxtaposition. They could combine works from vastly different eras or media or subjects to create interesting new compositions. Check out modern surrealist collage artists like ___________ for some examples.
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