Art as a Career

Lesson Content

• Lesson Plan Template:

  CTE Lesson Plan

• CTE Course Info and Benchmark Notes

  
  

  Program Title: Commercial Art Technology

  Course Title: Print Media Artist

  Course Number: GRA0038

  Career Cluster: Arts, A/V Technology and Communication

  CIP Number: 0650040208

  Course Type: Career Preparatory

  Standard(s) or benchmarks:

  • Focus: CTE 08.07: Identify potential career pathways.
  • Supporting: CTE 08.04: Identify common industry questions.

• Unit Outline

  
  

  This unit consists of five lessons. In lesson 1, students will identify the work of local artists and become familiar with several visual art related careers, including a broad spectrum of art-related careers. In lesson 2, students will research an art-making career of interest to determine potential requisite skills, qualifications, supply-and-demand, market location, and potential earnings. In lesson 3, students will interview 2-3 individuals who work in different art-related careers to gather additional information about the knowledge and skills necessary for art making and art-related careers. Additionally, non-income factors that influence career or job choice such as job satisfaction, independence, risk, family, or location will be discussed. In lesson 4, students will construct a one-year budget plan for a specific career path related to a visual art related career. In the final lesson of the unit, students will create a project incorporating their visual art skills to compile their research, interview, and budget plan.

• Career Connection

  
  

  Through research of a visual art related career, students will demonstrate knowledge of employability in this field by identifying necessary skills and qualifications. Additionally, students will demonstrate comprehension of entrepreneurship and business in the visual art industry by analyzing supply and demand, comparing market locations, and estimating potential earnings for this career.

• Learning Objectives

  
  

  Students will be able to:

  • Choose a visual art-related career of interest.
  • Research the chosen visual art-related career.
  • Determine potential requisite skills necessary for the visual art-related career.
  • Identify qualifications necessary for the visual art-related career.
  • Analyze supply and demand patterns related to the visual art-related career.
  • Compare four market locations within the US for the visual art-related career.
  • Estimate potential earnings of the visual art-related career.

• Prior Knowledge

  
  

  Students should be familiar with:

  • the work of local artists.
  • visual art-making careers, including a broad spectrum of art-related careers.
  • the elements and principles of design.
  • applied design.
  • graphic art computer skills.
  • art and design skills..
  • the term entrepreneurship.

• Guiding Questions

  
  
  • What skills and qualifications would be required to pursue this career?
  • How does analyzing supply and demand, market locations, and estimating potential earnings support you in considering potential career pathways?
  • What do you determine would be the best way both in a financial and sensible manner to reach this career goal?
  • How might the supply and demand pattern of the career attract or deter future artists?
  • How might location influence the earning potential of a visual arts-related career?

• Procedure

  
  

  1. To introduce the lesson, engage students in a brief discussion about the careers they identified and learned about in lesson 1 of this unit.

  • Discuss the key information students will need to gather about their chosen career which includes:
    • What skills do you need?
    • What are the required qualifications?
    • What supply and demand patterns did you notice?
    • Compare market locations, what did you find?
    • What are the estimated potential earnings and how did you determine that?
  • Brainstorm websites and resources students can use to find important information.

  2. Provide students with the graphic organizer (see graphic organizer attachments). Two options are provided.

  • Provide students with sufficient time to collect information while researching their career of choice. (See pacing ideas for additional ideas on grouping students).
  • Facilitate discussion using the guiding questions.

  3. To bring the lesson to a close, devote a few minutes of time for students to think about non-income reasons why people choose jobs or careers. These could include job satisfaction, independence, risk, family, or location.

  • Based on the research gathered in this lesson and potential non-income reasons for choosing a job or career, have students create one question they could ask an artist in the industry as part of their interview in lesson 2 of this unit.

• Teacher Notes

  
  
  • Teachers are encouraged to monitor students as they conduct their research and provide feedback and support as necessary.
  • Pacing Idea:
    • Consider allowing those students which are researching the same or similar careers to work with a partner.

• Optional

  
  

  Formative Assessment Ideas:

  • The teacher can informally assess students’ understanding of employability for a specific visual art related career through student discussions.
  • The teacher can collect students’ graphic organizer to check for completion and adequate information.

  Accommodation Ideas:

  • Two versions of the graphic organizer are attached to provide students with varied support. Art Career Graphic Organizer 1 provides students with mostly blank boxes to be completed as they research. Art Career Graphic Organizer 2 contains guided questions to help students narrow the important information necessary for each section.