Welcome to Seminar! HU 300: Unit 2 Enjoy the “Calliope music” and feel free to chat as you come into the course. We’ll begin at 2pm. Music Courtesy of.

Welcome to Seminar!

HU 300: Unit 2Enjoy the “Calliope music” and feel free to chat as you come into the course. We’ll begin at 2pm.

Music Courtesy of Steamboats.org

ART!

Today’s Agenda:

1. Considering your final project – Due Week 9, but begin thinking about it today!

2. Week 2’s Project: Due next Tuesday, 12/21 by 11:59PMWinter Solstice + Total Lunar Eclipse at 3:17am!!!

3. Realism vs. Abstract Art

Post-Impressionism, Surrealism, Cubism and other forms of Modern Art

TIME CAPSULE: Due in Unit 9

A letter of introduction to tell someone in the future about your day-to-day life

An example of morality and decision-making in current culture

Your definition of happiness

Your definition of freedom

A significant literary work (poem, short story, or novel)

A significant example of art or architecture

A significant song or group of songs

A significant film

A significant item from popular culture (a toy, gadget, fad, etc.)

Part I

“Take a field trip around your neighborhood, city, or region.

Find one example of architecture that catches your attention.

Explain what you see in detail. Discuss the elements of form and function. Which concepts from the chapter reading are

applied in this work?”

Part II

“Next, you will analyze a single work of art. If you live near a museum or art gallery, take a trip and choose a piece you find there. If you can't make it to a museum or gallery, find a work of art from the list of museums located in this Unit's Web Resources. Choose a work of visual art from any media: sculpture, photography, painting, drawing, printmaking, fiber arts, installation art, graffiti, or even public art. Be careful to choose something that is new to you. Avoid selecting a piece you are already familiar with.”

You may find the flashcards in “My Humanities Kit” a helpful resource . . . .

Next…Start by describing the work of art. Try to use terminology from the text. You may consider the following questions: What is the medium? What are the dimensions? When was the work made? Is the work abstract or representational? You may find the flashcards in this week's Web Resources to be helpful.

Then, add to your discussion: What is the purpose of this work of art? What does it mean to you? Which concepts from the chapter reading are applied in this work?

The essay should be at least 500 words and should employ terms from the text. The project may be completed in Microsoft Word or in PowerPoint. However, the assignment word count must be communicated on PowerPoint notes or slides. You are welcome to attach or include photos of the works of art and architecture that you have chosen. Cite any sources in APA formatting.

Essential Advice

As with every assignment in this course: learn the grading rubric! This is what the rubric offers for an A paper (108-120 points):

Essay demonstrates ability to express and evaluate values and terms of art or architecture.

Project explains the purpose of art to the individual and its universal appeal.

Project uses vocabulary terms from the unit.  

Project is clearly written.           

Project meets posted length requirements.

Art

What is the purpose of art?

Michelangelo’s DavidMichelangelo’s David

What is Modern Art? Until the last quarter of the 19th century, art was bound by tradition – it sought

to imitate the world.

In the late 1800’s, artists broke tradition by beginning to create images that was based on what they as individuals saw and not necessarily how the rules of the past said they had to create.

Modern and postmodern art seeks to alter. “They want to impose something new on the world, some secret part of themselves” (Janaro p. 107).

Modern art might, at first, seem to have no point! What’s the logic behind it? “Modern artists impose their own rules upon their own work” (Janaro p. 107).

Let’s talk about context. What shaped these artists’ ways of thinking (turn of the twentieth century and beyond…)?

“What’s it a painting of?”

Some art aims to be a clear imitation of the physical world. “Representational” is one word to describe imitative art, because the artwork

represents the physical world. “Realism” is another word for representational art. When realism extremely exact

it’s generally called “photo-realism”.

Other art doesn’t imitate anything from the physical world at all; in fact, none of the objects are recognizable. We call this Abstract art. I see a square with a line. “Abstract art renders a visual depiction of concepts in the artist’s mind”.

And in some art we can make out what certain things are, but they are arranged in a very unrecognizable contexts. Ants on a dripping clock with a tree growing out of the table? Come again? Surrealism. This is still representational art, but deals more with the subconscious, than our conscious world.

Central questions . . .

What does the art do or offer that’s different from the scene itself?

Why is every artist’s version of the same scene different?

POST-IMPRESSIONISM

Starry Night Over the Rhone, Vincent van Gogh, 1888.

CUBISM

What is it?

Who are the key artists?

Woman Seated In A Garden by Pablo Picasso, 1938

SURREALISM

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali, 1931

Kandinsky

What is your reaction to this work of art?

Does it speak to you?

It only vaguely suggests recognizable images.

Improvisation 30. Wassily Kandinsky. 1913.

Art can often mean different things to different people. Is this a strength or a weakness?

Does art have to be beautiful to be art? No 63. Mark Rothko, “Multiform painting”. 1953.

How is art used to convey messages

other than beauty?

Olympia. Edouard Manet. 1863.