Other Objects to Try
You may wish to try the SIFT exercise with other VMFA artworks. What do you think of these?
Interactive Exercise | SIFT Progress
Why look at art? Art is one way humans communicate ideas to one another. Sifting through the information art presents takes careful and purposeful looking. With this interactive exercise, students can practice connecting to art as intentional inquirers.
At your own pace, click through the slides below to activate your creative thinking as you interpret a complex landscape painting made in the United States in 1853. You may wish to click on the “full screen” icon for the best view.
Placing Art in Context
American Land, American People
When we examine works of art, as you have just done, we are often left with many questions and curiosities. Museum curators and art researchers take a similar approach, looking for connections when considering how to display art objects together in a gallery installation.
Click on the image of Jaune Quick-To-See Smith’s contemporary painting, War Torn Dress, to visit an installation that presents artworks, including Progress, in pairings across time and space. Consider how this installation adds to the lines of inquiry you’ve already opened using the SIFT technique.
You may wish to try the SIFT exercise with other VMFA artworks. What do you think of these?
