Art Works — the first Canadian visual arts textbook in over 20 years — focuses on the issues, ideas, and themes that inform the art world today. Students will uncover trends, patterns, and approaches in art; understand connections, relationships, and causes and effects in art; and learn to recognize the factors that maintain, or change, the world of art.

Art Works is organized in a handbook-like format. Each topic is presented in discrete spreads of 10-14 pages to allow for easy reference and manageable, in-class reading. Topics are complemented by colourful, well-reproduced images of both professional and student artwork. Special emphasis is given to artwork by Canadian and contemporary artists.

• Provocative: The illustrations and artists featured — historical and contemporary, Canadian and international, professional and student — have been selected to clarify concepts, engage students, and encourage them to talk about related issues.
• Analysis Skill Building: Students are guided to develop their ability to assess and evaluate art from a variety of perspectives. These perspectives include reference to other disciplines like psychology, cultural anthropology, and the humanities.
• Your Project: Each topic has a suggested project for students, followed by a series of prompts to assist them in exploring the various components of the creative process. That's 26 different project ideas for your class!

Unit 1  Understanding Art

• Topic 1  Art and Visual Culture
• Topic 2  Looking at Art
• Topic 3  Elements and Principles
• Topic 4  Visual Arts Disciplines
• Topic 5  Art, Culture, and Values

Unit 2  Creating and Presenting

• Topic 6  Finding Ideas
• Topic 7  Components of the Creative Process
• Topic 8  Documenting the Creative Process
• Topic 9  The Finishing Touches
• Topic 10  How to Talk About Your Art
• Topic 11  Safety in the Studio

Unit 3  Making Meaning

• Topic 12  Applying the Elements and Principles
• Topic 13  Visual Conventions
• Topic 14  Kinds of Meaning
• Topic 15  Media and Meaning
• Topic 16  Language of Symbols
• Topic 17  Words and Pictures
• Topic 18  Points of Viewing
• Topic 19  Personal Expression

Unit 4  Art and Society

• Topic 20  Functions of Art
• Topic 21  The Art of Stories
• Topic 22  Portraying Identity
• Topic 23  Environmental Art
• Topic 24  When Science Meets Art
• Topic 25  Art, Law, and Ethics
• Topic 26  Art Connects!