An amazing course taught by a caring, knowledgeable teacher!
Posted by Kaylee Kimbrough on 05/18/2017The extent of my knowledge of art history prior to this course was knowing that Picasso had a blue period, but after this year I have knowledge of all of the major western artistic movements from antiquity to modern art, and also have a basic understanding of the art of Africa, Oceania, Asia, and the Americas.
For me, a typical week in this course involved reading from the textbook, watching videos by art historians, writing short essays (just a couple paragraphs), participating in the (optional) live call, taking an MCQ quiz, and in some weeks completing a creative assignment such as mind-mapping or drawing a sketches of our required images.
Throughout the year we had three major writing-intense assignments- a paper on "the best artist of all time" and the curation of two "art exhibits" on the theme of our choosing. I truly found all of our assignments enjoyable and valuable for mastering the content and preparing for the exam. I also really appreciated our weekly live calls. During these calls Mrs. Kane would go over exam info and tips and interesting art topics such as the design process (she has great insight into this as a textile maker herself), but it was always much more of a conversation than a lecture. We would discuss such topics as, are there any events that should never be photographed? Our calls generally had three to five students in attendance, but on one occasion when I was the only student who could attend, Mrs. Kane delivered the entire lesson just for me and helped me one-on-one with essay writing.
The care and creativity Mrs. Kane put into this course transferred into me being excited to study art history, a subject I had no particular interest in before. I had an opportunity to visit the MOMA this semester, and it was incredibly fun and fulfilling to be able to identify the artist and artistic movement of works without reading the info label. I plan to pursue computer science and engineering in college, but thanks to this course I would love to take more art history courses and potentially integrate urban design into my studies as a minor or second major.
I highly recommend this course for all students! I took AP World History prior to APAH, and the historical information I had was super helpful, but it wouldn't be hard to pick that up in APAH. I took APUSH this year as well, and it was fascinating to see the crossover in the subjects in such works as Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and Thomas Cole's The Oxbow.
Other things of note: ---I felt extremely well prepared for the exam, which contains a super wide breadth of information. ---You may have to spend extra time studying in May, but it's definitely possible to spend less time on this class than 10-12 hours. There's a lot of material to cover, but I don't think the assignments are super time consuming. ---Also, Khan Academy's AP Art History materials are incredible, and the YouTube channel 'The Art Assignment' is great too!
AP Art History with Amber Kane
Posted by Ingrid Uhe on 05/05/2017This course is great preparation for the AP Art History test. If you do everything that Ms. Kane suggests, you will be prepared. Everyday I put in about 1 to 3 hours of work. How much time I spent on the class had to do with how long an assignment took, and how long I studied on my own. The writing assignments were great for me becasue the thing I am most nervous about on tests is the essay sections. Practicing writing about works of art gave me a lot of confidence when I was taking the AP test. This class is for students who are willing to put in the time required and who have a good work ethic. If you don't do all the reading and assignments, then you will miss a lot of important information, and you will not be prepared to take the AP test.
I would definately recommend this class to other students. By the end of the year you will be able to take the AP test with confidence and be more prepared to take future college classes.
Challenging, but great experience
Posted by Margaret on 05/12/2015Great Class
Posted by Chloe Graham on 05/12/2015I really loved taking this class . It was really challenging (in a good way!) and interesting. I really loved the assignments, especially the paper. Amber Kane made it fun, and the assignments were educational, not just for preparing me for the AP test.