(a) Introduction.
  (1) The fine arts incorporate the study of dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts to offer unique experiences and empower students to explore realities, relationships, and ideas. These disciplines engage and motivate all students through active learning, critical thinking, and innovative problem solving. The fine arts develop cognitive functioning and increase student academic achievement, higher-order thinking, communication, and collaboration skills, making the fine arts applicable to college readiness, career opportunities, workplace environments, social skills, and everyday life. Students develop aesthetic and cultural awareness through exploration, leading to creative expression. Creativity, encouraged through the study of the fine arts, is essential to nurture and develop the whole child.
  (2) Four basic strands--foundations: observation and perception; creative expression; historical and cultural relevance; and critical evaluation and response--provide broad, unifying structures for organizing the knowledge and skills students are expected to acquire. Each strand is of equal value and may be presented in any order throughout the year. Students rely on personal observations and perceptions, which are developed through increasing visual literacy and sensitivity to surroundings, communities, memories, imaginings, and life experiences, as sources for thinking about, planning, and creating original artworks. Students communicate their thoughts and ideas with innovation and creativity. Through art, students challenge their imaginations, foster critical thinking, collaborate with others, and build reflective skills. While exercising meaningful problem-solving skills, students develop the lifelong ability to make informed judgments.
  (3) Statements that contain the word "including" reference content that must be mastered, while those containing the phrase "such as" are intended as possible illustrative examples.
(b) Knowledge and skills.
  (1) Foundations: observation and perception. The student develops and expands visual literacy skills using critical thinking, imagination, and the senses to observe and explore the world by learning about, understanding, and applying the elements of art, principles of design, and expressive qualities. The student uses what the student sees, knows, and has experienced as sources for examining, understanding, and creating original artworks. The student is expected to:
    (A) identify and illustrate concepts from direct observation, original sources, imagination, personal experience, and communities such as family, school, cultural, local, regional, national, and international;
    (B) evaluate the elements of art, including line, shape, color, texture, form, space, and value, as the fundamentals of art in personal artworks using vocabulary accurately;
    (C) evaluate the principles of design, including emphasis, repetition/pattern, movement/rhythm, contrast/variety, balance, proportion, and unity, in personal artworks using vocabulary accurately; and
    (D) compare and contrast the expressive properties of artworks, including appropriation, meaning, narrative, message, and symbol, using vocabulary accurately.
  (2) Creative expression. The student communicates ideas through original artworks using a variety of media with appropriate skills. The student expresses thoughts and ideas creatively while challenging the imagination, fostering reflective thinking, and developing disciplined effort and progressive problem-solving skills. The student is expected to:
    (A) create original artworks expressing themes found through direct observation; original sources; personal experiences, including memory, identity, and imagination; and the community;
    (B) apply the art-making process to solve problems and generate design solutions;
    (C) create artworks by selecting appropriate art materials, including drawings, paintings, prints, sculptures/modeled forms, ceramics, fiber art, photographic imagery, and digital art and media;
    (D) use an understanding of copyright and public domain to appropriate imagery when working from sources rather than direct observation or imagination; and
    (E) create experimental artworks using installation, performance, or collaboration.
  (3) Historical and cultural relevance. The student demonstrates an understanding of art history and culture by analyzing artistic styles, historical periods, and a variety of cultures. The student develops global awareness and respect for the traditions and contributions of diverse cultures. The student is expected to:
    (A) analyze ways in which global, contemporary, historical, and political issues have influenced art;
    (B) analyze cultural ideas expressed in artworks relating to social, political, and environmental themes such as environment/nature, conflict and power, relationships to others, and reality/fantasy;
    (C) evaluate the relationships that exist among a society's art, music, theatre, and dance; and
    (D) compare and contrast career and avocational opportunities in art such as various design, museum, and fine arts fields.
  (4) Critical evaluation and response. The student responds to and analyzes artworks of self and others, contributing to the development of the lifelong skills of making informed judgments and reasoned evaluations. The student is expected to:
    (A) create written and oral responses about personal or collaborative artworks addressing purpose, technique, organization, judgment, and personal expression;
    (B) analyze original artworks and portfolios using a method of critique such as describing the artwork, analyzing the way it is organized, interpreting the artist's intention, and evaluating the success of the artwork;
    (C) investigate and explore original artworks in a variety of venues outside of the classroom such as museums, galleries, or community art; and
    (D) understand and demonstrate proper exhibition etiquette.

Source Note: The provisions of this §117.204 adopted to be effective July 28, 2013, 38 TexReg 4575