Students will consider the ways in which the contemporary world and events affect artists, and how artists respond to and record these effects; investigate how artists use symbols to convey meaning.

The Cyrus Cylinder, a proclamation by the Persian king Cyrus the Great, gives rare historical insight into ancient Persian culture. These guides can be used to explore the Cyrus Cylinder and related objects in the Getty Villa's collection to learn about Persian culture and Persian interactions with the Greeks. Each guide contains information for teachers as well activities for students that can be carried out in the classroom. Resources include:

Students will become familiar with the terms landscape, iconography, abstract, and will revisit the terms foreground, middle ground, and background; explore how the artist's perception impacts the way he or she interprets and represents a subject.

Students will be introduced to some of the conventions of portraiture; consider how symbols can be used in a portrait to add meaning; be introduced to the technique of photomontage.

Students will be introduced to the strategy of collage; be introduced to the concept of chance and how it has played a role in the production of visual art; explore how artists incorporated materials from everyday life into their works of art, including images from the mass media.

Students will consider their own definitions of art; consider how Dada and Surrealist artists challenged conventional ideas of art; be introduced to Readymades and photograms.

Students will look at Ortega's installation art "False Movement (Stability and Economic Growth), read about the work, and describe the work in detail. Students will explore the concepts of capitalism, politics, and social issues and how they may be addressed through art by investigating aspects of form and structure such as fragility, levity, gravity, and weight; balance and tension. Students will participate in The Marshmallow Challenge (link provided). Students will also create a digital collage on a topic that concerns them.

Students will analyze how a portrait reflects the events and trends of its time and then create a portrait of a public female figure today. Students will be able to research the effects of European expansionism and colonialism on different groups of people during the Age of Exploration; discuss the notion of "exoticism" as it relates to a 19th-century painting, the burgeoning of stereotypes, and modern-day stereotyping in the media; and create a portrait of a female public figure from a different culture.

Students will be able to discuss and analyze the sculpture Sketch for a Fireplace Overmantel by Francesco Antonio Franzoni; consider current styles of home interiors; create studies in 2-D and 3-D for a decorative overmantel for the celebrity patron of their choice; research and read about the life and style of an arts patron and create a design for an overmantel that reflects the patron's life; and articulate in writing the processes they followed to create their overmantels.

Photography, as a nonverbal language, allows students to increase their visual perception and provides a medium for creative expression. The history of photography will be evaluated in the context of historical, social, cultural and artistic developments. Students learn to understand the artistic qualities of the photographic medium while acquiring the techniques for utilizing photography for expressive purposes. Instruction includes studio and field techniques, photojournalism, fashion photography, and commercial, portrait, scientific, nature, wildlife and sports photography. In producing their own works and by studying the photographs of others, students will develop a base for making informed aesthetic judgments. Integrated throughout the course are career preparation standards which include basic academic skills, communication, interpersonal skills, problem solving, workplace safety, and technology and employment literacy.

Students will be able to discuss depictions of the civil rights movement; analyze the effectiveness of juxtaposing image and text; create an image that addresses a social, economic, or political problem in their community; and write accompanying text to an image that addresses a social, economic, or political problem in their community.

Students will be able to respond in written and/or visual form to photographic stimuli; create a movement theme (phrase) based on elements perceived in a photograph; and choreograph a solo composition based on chosen photographic stimulus.

In this lesson, students examine fine art reproductions and discuss the various artists' interpretations of what they saw. Then students will participate in a blind line drawing exercise.

In this lesson, students examine Roy Lichtenstein's artwork. Students will then either replicate a Lichtenstein artwork or create an original one in his style.

In this lesson, students examine Henry Matisse's artwork, making note of how his art changed throughout his career. Students will then work collaboratively to either replicate a Matisse artwork or create an original one in his style.

Students will be introduced to artists who developed new visual forms through experimentation; consider artists' choices of material; introduced to the term "Constructivism."

Students will be introduced to the principles of the Bauhaus; consider the elements of chair design; introduced to the printmaking technique of lithography; consider how technological progress affects art and design.

Students will make connections between two design objects intended for different purposes; be introduced to the ways in which artists can affect social and political behavior through design.

Students will compare two different designs for theatrical costumes by artists Oskar Schlemmer and Lissitzky; consider how these artists applied their artistic ideals to theater design.

Students will be introduced to two artists, Kazimir Malevich and Piet Mondrian, who pioneered different systems of abstract painting; consider how the two artists' use of shape, line, composition, and color reflect both similarities and differences in their artistic ideologies.