Medical Illustration (Secondary Lesson)
School: Vista Peak Prep
Class: Painting Level 2
Investigation:
Students investigate medical illustration as an art form which is informed by scientific inquiry. We discover the many ways (both historic and contemporary) in which medical illustration has informed the art world and the culture that we live in. As critical thinkers, we discuss the ways in which our culture has created in us learned behaviors of disgust and fear when faced with medical illustrations. We dig deeper into this by researching the historical origins of dissection and historical big name artists (Michelangelo, Rembrandt…) who took part in this scientific movement. In pursuit of our own medical illustration, we find inspiration in contemporary artists who are not only concerned with scientific accuracy, but also in the “dissection” of our culture. Jason Freeny’s dissections of toys and characters we are all familiar with suggest that our culture becomes a part of our anatomy in a way. Street artist Nychos has many large scale dissection murals posted on the streets all over the world, forcing the subject matter into the public eye for all to grapple with. As we question and confront these big ideas, we also research anatomy as a discipline and learned about the language that discipline has to refer to specific dissection lines (sagital, para-sagital, transverse, anatomical position…) so that we could use specified language when talking about medical illustrations. After looking at artist Micheal Paulus, many students expressed that they will never see a cartoon character without imagining its ridiculous skeletal structure ever again.
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