Class teaches art appreciation
Louis Lankford, a professor of art education at Ohio State, will lead a series on art appreciation at the Columbus Museum of Art entitled ‘Learning to Look at Art.’The series begins Saturday, Feb. 8 at 10:30 a.m., and will be held for three consecutive Saturdays.Lankford has been teaching the class for nine years, said Paul Mollard, the museum’s assistant educator.’Lankford is an expert in art education especially in inquiry based art education,’ said Mollard.’Inquiry’ is when participants give reactions about art so they can gain a greater understanding of it, he said.Lankford claims there are several goals of the art appreciation class that he teaches at the museum.’The first goal is to help visitors become more comfortable with art,’ Lankford said. ‘Often people may be driven to the museum for the love of art but when they get there they may feel intimidated, not knowing what to say, think or do.’The class also teaches people to become more articulate about art by teaching students art terms, ideas and concepts, he said.’I want people to be able to talk about their experiences with art, what they feel, see and how they interpret the piece,’ he said.Another goal of the class is to teach people about the various styles and forms of art you can find in museums, he said.’I teach students how to put more depth into their interpretation and judgment of art rather than them having knee jerk reactions of what they like and don’t like,’ he said.Lankford has been a professor in the Department of Art Education at OSU for 15 years.’I love teaching at the museum because I know that participants want to be there, and I don’t have to grade papers,’ Lankford said.The registration price is $30 for members, $40 for non-members. The registration deadline is Friday.
