AP Art History, a class that hasn’t been active for six years, has a high possibility of becoming a new class taught next year due to a spark of interest among students. The class will be taught by art teacher Marisa Marsico, who taught the class in prior years at Clear Lake High School in Houston.

“I enjoy teaching studio art classes like painting and Pre-AP studio art, but I also enjoy the challenge of teaching the story of art from the beginning of time to modern day,” Marsico said.

Art history tells a vivid, intricate story about countries, people and their various cultures.

“I am surprised that there is a resurgence of interest among students to take the class, it is not a class for the weary minded.,” Marsico said.

According to http://arthistory.ucdavis.edu, Art History is the study of the visual arts in civilization. It examines changing values in all fields of visual culture, including painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, architecture, film, the mass media and forms of popular expression. Its interdisciplinary reach encompasses literature, history, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, gender studies, critical theory, and cultural studies. Art History emphasizes visual as well as verbal and written literacy, providing more than the standard advantages to a liberal arts education.

AP Art History is a college-level course that specializes in teaching the student to examine, critically analyze and apply their knowledge of history to understand and find (interpret) the meaning of the various forms of art and artworks from ancient to present, from several cultures. There is an emphasis in developing analytical skills, theme and chronological framework.

The class will consist of discussions of specific works, historical contexts, art periods and styles and themes. The development of a student’s ability to articulate visual and art historical concepts, and the purpose and functions of art, will be encouraged in the sense of producing verbal and written forms such as essays and presentations pertaining to the description, analyzation and comparison of various assigned works of art. Gender, politics, audience, religion, patronage, function and ethnicity are issues to be considered in thought of analyzing various works of art within diverse historical and cultural contexts. Architecture, sculpture, painting, drawing and other media of artistic expression (photography, printmaking, ceramics…etc), from various cultures will be explored.

Many of the students interested in the class are already art students looking to add another AP class to their schedule and are prepared for the challenges of the class.

“It’s been years since I have taught the class and it will not only be challenging for my students but for me as well,” Marsico said. “I will have to clean up the cobwebs from my memory and be ready to teach a grand story.”

According to collegeboard.com, the main objectives of AP Art History course are to develop the following in students:

• The ability to apply fundamental art and art historical terminology.
• An appreciation for the process of making and displaying art.
• An understanding of purpose and function of art.
• The ability to analyze works of art in context of historical evidence and interpretation, examining such issues as politics, religion, patronage, gender, and ethnicity.
• An understanding of cross-cultural and global nature of art.
• The ability to perform higher order thinking skills and articulate visual and art historical concepts in verbal and written forms.

Some of the beneficial factors of taking this course is the gain of knowledge due to the teaching of cultural, philosophical, scientific, religious and historical issues of various societies. When aware of the countless number of cultures and their different perspectives and lifestyles through art, there is a gain in the understanding of the world and in abstract reasoning skills.

Taking an art history class can be beneficial encouraging to the understanding of art itself, history, sociology, foreign languages, classics, religion, philosophy, literature, anthropology/archaeology, gender studies, cultural studies and foreign languages.

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-history is a learning site that can help students and anyone else interested in understanding and learning about art history.