Macroeconomics Class at the Stanley Museum of Art. 04/15/2025. Photo by Justin A Torner
Welcome to the Stanley Museum of Art’s instructor toolkit. Each section has distinct objectives to help instructors incorporate art and art research into their classrooms no matter their subject. You will find concepts, worksheets, and/or links to explore that will help students engage with art whether they are at the museum, in the classroom, online, or doing an independent project.
Guides to Art Terms and Timelines
Get acquainted with the terms, general art movements, and art timelines with these links.
- Stanley Slang
- SmartHistory: The Center for Public Art History
- Getty Elements of Art and Getty Principles of Design
- Timelines of World Art (Oxford Art Online – University student or staff access only)
- Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
- Britannica Guide to Art Movements
- Iowa Digital Library - SMA
Art Analysis
Art analysis asks the student to use what they see in the artwork to form conclusions about its meaning and how it relates to art made before, concurrently, and after it. The following exercises are great for classes exploring the vocabulary around art, creating detailed descriptions, and crafting arguments for art and art spaces.
- Formal Analysis Worksheet
- Contextual Analysis Worksheet
- Looking at Photography Worksheet
Art Research
Every work in our collection is an opportunity to explore art, history, and/or artists. Here we have a few links to guides and videos that will help organize your thoughts around the artistic research process and shape your art research journey.
- Art Library Home Page
- Art Research Guide
- Using Our Archives for Artist Research Workshop
- Without Work There is No Kolach
Close Looking
Close Looking activates students' observational skills and focuses on personal interpretation before historical context. The key to this exercise is allowing time for observation and questioning before interpretating the work.
- Close Looking Questions Worksheet
- 10 x 2 Fill in Exercise and Reflection Questions
Tip: These activities call for an artwork that has details that engage students over a longer observational period. Choose artworks for the class that meet these criteria if not partnering with staff.
Rhetoric & Writing with Visual Art
Visual art can be a wonderful prompt for written art. In this section, students are encouraged to express their thoughts on art through descriptive and creative writing. How would you describe an artwork to someone who cannot visually see it? What narrative can you see?
- Getty Ekphrasis Poetry Explanation
- Explore Ekphrastic Poems: A Reading List
- Art Inspired by Poetry: For My People
- Ekphrasis Poetry Worksheet
- Creating from Artworks
On another track, persuasive writing is essential in many fields. Skills students practice in the museum to persuade peers and their instructor to support their interpretation of an artwork and its significance have direct corollaries in persuasive writing in business, science, medicine, and the humanities. How does one convince others of the importance of art? What about the worth of creating museum spaces in general?
- Rhetoric of Space worksheet
- The University of Iowa Stanley Museum of Art | BNIM
This video pairs nicely with the Rhetoric of Space worksheet above. Showing various parts of the building inside and out, including the inner courtyard, aerial shots, and different points of observational perspective.
Talks & Lectures
Here are a few artist’s talks and lectures that give insight into different approaches to the artistic process. These are great for understanding artworks from individual perspectives as well as contemplating creative research approaches in the field at large.