• Requirements
• Grading
• Schedule
• Quizzes/Exams
• Writing Projects
• Main Study Page

• Paper Style Sheet
• Art History on the Web
• Museums 

Photo:  Lucas Munson, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.  2002.

Getlein, Mark.  Gilbert's Living with Art. 7th edition, New York: McGraw Hill, 2005. 

Blank journal with unlined pages - available in the bookstore.  Drawing implements of your choice.  There is a small selection of different weight pencils, conté crayons, and charcoal also available at the bookstore.

Course Description 

An introduction to the arts in various media, their description, production, and composition.  This is a class in visual literacy, that is, the verbal articulation of visual experience.  It concludes with a brief survey of the history of art.

Goals

To hone skills of visual analysis.

To develop an understanding of the various art media and the historical place of the objects studied.

Lectures will focus on developing your critical faculties -- the ability to apprehend and comprehend a work of art. How and why do you see what you see? How is what you see and understand the same or different from the vision and comprehension of the original audience? These skills are strengthened through exercise.  It is proposed that the experience of art is fundamental to human development and should be available to every person, and that an engagement with art is useful in every walk of life.

T.B.A.

Requirements

• Preparation (readings as assigned), attendance, and  participation.
• Four quizzes, 25 points each, total 100 points.
• Mid-term exam, cumulative, 100 points.
• Final, comparisons and essays cumulative, 100 points.
• Four writing assignments, including a journal. 100 points.

Grading

Attendance, Class Participation and Decorum

Using class time effectively is as important as showing up. Think of classes as guided study sessions. The more effectively you use them, the better you will do, and the less time outside of class you will need to spend preparing for exams. Use classes to ask questions, review main themes, try out interpretations, and practice applying analytical terms to examples.  Above all, take good notes. Force yourself to make a thumbnail sketch of each slide shown. Note the artist, title and medium of the work and a date. Remember the overall topic of the lecture and analyze why it is included. If you learn better from audio materials, tape classes and edit them later, but you still need to sketch the images shown. Without a written or audio record, you have nothing to review. Without review, learning is inefficient at best.

For discussion classes, you are to have read the material under consideration and be ready to ask questions about it.  Participation is required. 

 Quizzes

Mid-term and Final Exams

Exams and quizzes must be taken when scheduled. Make ups will be scheduled only by prior consent of the instructor, and only for compelling reasons (as determined by the instructor). If a student, without gaining prior consent, is unable to take an exam due to sudden illness or some other extraordinary event, the instructor must be notified immediately. If I cannot be reached directly or by phone, you may leave a message on my voice mail (ext. 7057). Unexplained absences from exams will result in a F for the test.

Writing Projects

2. Describe an object - Pick a functional object (something whose primary purpose is practical, not decorative).  For the best grade on this project, don't pick something too ordinary like your favorite coffee mug. Take some time in making your selection and pick something a bit challenging.   Determine its most basic purpose (for example, a chair holds a human body in an upright, seated position above the level of the floor).  Analyze how the object’s function has determined its design or form.  Describe the aspects of the object’s design that do not serve its function directly.  How do these purely decorative elements add or detract from the object overall?  Is the object well designed?  Why?  Why not?   If you wish, you may redesign the object. Format:  At least one drawing of the object and one full page of prose (double-spaced, standard margins, 12 point type or Courier 10). 

3. Describe Atkinson Hall or Kirby Field House -  Draw a plan and a front and side elevation.  Include a two-page description of the building that considers the massing (of shapes), materials, color, decorative details.  Also consider the function of the building (both original and present) and how the forms fill that function. Think about how you feel as you enter the building.  Finally, is it successful? 

4. Compare two objects- (to be done in the museum). Select two objects of the same medium or function: two buildings, two oil paintings, two drawings.  Your selection is important. Look for objects that differ in some basic way. Describe them individually, noting their materials, colors, scale, etc. Describe them in relation to one another with particular attention to the resemblances and differences.  Try not to use the words, “similar” and “different.”  Instead use the elements of art and principles of design in your essay.  For example, one chair might be composed of organic shapes, another of geometric shapes.  Worth 25 points. 

Writing Project Requirements (physical): Written assignments must be printed on a word-processor or typed on a typewriter with double-spaced text, a title page, and one-inch margins.  They must include an illustration of the work of art discussed.  When a drawing of your own is not specifically required, the illustration may be a postcard, a slide, a clear photocopy from a book or an image printed from the World Wide Web.  Anyone turning in a plate taken from a book or periodical will fail the paper and be turned into the Honor Court.  The title page will include your name, the course name and number, and the date. 

To preserve my sanity, PROOF READ YOUR WORK AT LEAST ONCE BEFORE YOU HAND IT TO ME.  That means read it out-loud to yourself to see if it is in English.  I will read drafts of papers. Anything put under my office door will be read and returned by the next class period if at all possible.  Submitting drafts is not a substitute for submitting the finished paper.  You must include a bibliography of all sources cited bibliography and footnote or endnote citations must conform to the proper style for the liberal arts.

Click here for Art History Paper Style Sheet (including bibliography and footnote styles)

Honor Code and Plagiarism
The college honor code will be enforced. Plagiarism is the intentional use of another's words or argument without proper credit. This includes copying passages from a source without both attribution and quotation. If you have reproduced the language of your source without quotes and footnote, you have committed plagiarism whether or not you have cited the source and the page number. This includes passages that a student may have modified: for example, changed verb tenses, omission or replacement of occasional words, reshuffling of phrases, sentences or paragraphs, combining of different sources. Writing a bad paper in you own words is far better than writing a good one using the words of someone else. One way to avoid inadvertent plagiarism is to close all your books when writing, and consult them only for specific facts or direct quotes. Also proofread your paper with plagiarism in mind.

Extra Credit

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