Flexible and modular—to support the way instructors teach their course.
Gateways to Art—the product of three experienced instructors—is the only intro to art textbook that is entirely flexible. Gateways to Art is made up of short, self-contained, and modular chapters focused on clearly defined topics, allowing professors to teach them in any order and give the course the emphasis they wish. Chapters are short (about 14 pages) and new terms are defined on the page as they occur to ensure that students can always follow the discussion in the text, regardless of the order in which it’s taught.
Eight “Gateways to Art” teach students to analyze art in multiple ways.
The “Gateways” are famous works of art that span time and place: the Pyramids of Giza, the Colossal Olmec Heads, Raphael’s The School of Athens, Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith and Holofernes, Goya’s Third of May 1808, Hokusai’s The Great Wave off Kanazawa, Matisse’s Icarus, and Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother. Each “Gateway” image is analyzed from four different perspectives: visual analysis, media, art history, and themes. This approach allows students to build on what they already know and provides a unifying structure for the book as a whole.
Inclusive and balanced
No other book on the market has the same focus on putting art in a global perspective. Through the “Gateway” images and the many global examples in the text, Gateways to Art helps students make connections between the seminal historical works they may have seen or heard of and those that are new to them. Students can see how artists address common formal concerns through the lens of their culture and history, and how artists of different cultures address meaning and content in art: e.g. spirituality; the body; gender; the power of rulers.
Connects art with everyday life
Graphic design, logos, advertising, computer game and website design, interior design, movies, and street art are juxtaposed with traditional, “great” pieces of art, showing students how they live with art everyday. Examples include:
o the use of Nike and AT&T logos in a discussion of line and shape
o a comparison of the use of isometric perspective in Chinese scrolls and the computer game The Sims
o use of the Disney movie Finding Nemo alongside “fine art” examples in a discussion of motion
Reveals the people behind the art
Perspectives on Art boxes highlight the experiences of artists, art historians, critics, and others involved in the art world. First and foremost, these boxes show students that art is a living entity, created by real people.
o Bill Viola discusses how he became a video artist.
o Antony Gormley talks about one of his sculpture projects.
o Kimono maker Sonoko Sasaki (declared a Living National Treasure in Japan) explains how she works within the traditions of her art.
o Art historian Whitney Chadwick examines identity in the work of Mona Hatoum.
o Tracy Chevalier recounts how Vermeer’s Girl with a Pearl Earring inspired her best-selling novel.
o FBI agent Robert Whitman explains the economics of art theft.
Supports student learning
The author team has crafted Gateways to Art with students in mind. The text includes 1,013 illustrations, 865 of which are in color. Chapters are self contained, and new vocabulary is defined on the page where it’s introduced. Chapters are short and manageable with in-text features specifically developed to connect students to the world of art around them.
A media package developed specifically for the book, by the authors
The media package reinforces and supplements the book’s learning objectives. All the materials have been conceived by the authors and produced by art educators at the Bowling Green State University Department of Art. The extensive media and instructor support package includes an instructor’s manual and test bank, jpeg and PowerPoint files of all 1,013 images in the book, 51 Flash animations and 15 process videos prepared specifically for the textbook by the authors, and an additional 20 videos on historical topics and themes.