Class Project

Certainly by this time you’ve sensed a little bit of how art and art history just keep expanding and moving off into so many areas.  We’ve barely scratched the surface of possibilities. 

Project Beginnings: In this project, you will narrow that scope and center in on one artist or work.  You may choose any one in our timeframe that is also in our text (for Art 201 students, that would be anyone or place/object from pre-historic through 14th c. in our text; for Art 202, that timeframe is late 14th c. through modern times, for Art 211 students, that would be anyone or place/object within the first 4 chapters; for Art 212 students, that would be anyone or place/object within the last 4 chapters).  If you have selected an artist, you can then select any notable piece by that artist, even if the work isn’t in the textbook.  If your work is from a much earlier time when specific artists were not noted, the work must be one in our text.  This option gives you a wide range so look carefully and thoughtfully. 

To begin this assignment, you’ll need to peruse your book and do some digging.  My suggestion is to set aside some time to move slowly through your text.  Perhaps you already have a period you love or an artist you really want to know much more about.  Hang on to those ideas, but if you haven’t already done so, give the book a thorough “look-through.”  You will probably find a few individuals you had not considered who are fascinating. 

Project Proposal: Once you’ve checked out backgrounds and looked at some of the works for these artists, home in on the one you want to spend some time investigating.   Write a proposal for your selection by "talking" about the artist/work/place and describing what drew you to this particular choice and what you find fascinating about it.  Add some information, if available, about the artist and then speak to the creation of the piece, its importance, where it resides currently, and what impact you feel it reveals.  Then identify some of the sources you've already looked at and ones you think will be advantageous for you as you continue digging into your selection.  This writing should be about 1 page in length and in standard MLA format.  **Due date for your choice will be posted on the webpage assignment page for your section or for online students, in the weekly folders.**  After this date, you cannot change your topic selection because you won’t have time to complete the project. 

As you start more research, use the Web links to begin gathering basic information as well as first looks at the artist’s oeuvre or the specific work you’ve chosen.  Then, jump to other resources that will take you a little deeper in information.  “First Search” is a great place to start, using the Art Index (see DSLCC Library Resource Center’s WWW sites, Reference Resources).  Here you can find journal and news articles as well as suggestions of books.  Another good spot to find books available is to search “Books in Print,” also on the DSLCC reference list, or go to Yale University Libraries homepage and click on “Orbis and Library Catalogs.”  Checking out the W&L library (click on Annie catalog) is also a good place to begin.  Select “Keyword,” type in your artist’s name or the work title and hit search.  You’ll be amazed—one quick search at Yale on Vermeer yielded 186 entries.  The titles are then at your fingertips to browse, look at the description of the ones you find interesting, and then decide if this may be a book you could use for your project.  Finding a good folio of the artist’s works is a must, and W&L offers a great selection. 

For interlibrary loan service, write down the information you find—Title,  Author name, and ISBN number—and take it to the DSLCC librarian.  A word of caution:  Be VERY choosy.  Limit your selections to only those title you intend to read and use.  If you bombard the library with requests, they may have to set limits. 

Project Timeline: Your next “requirement” is to create an annotated timeline for the artist/work.  Read several sources for bio information or timeline history and create a detailed look at her/his life and the history of the work you've selected.  While this paper does not have to be in essay form, you need to do more than form a bullet-list of dates.  Be choosy on what you select to show the course of the artist's life.  Certainly the date of birth is important--and the place--and parents, but give some commentary on that data--what's the impact?  Follow this guide and leave out dates that are not "hallmark moments" in the artist's life.  Give that "impact commentary" on each date you choose to include, and highlight the place of the work you've chosen to explore.  Be sure to connect the importance you see with the dates you've chosen as the most significant in this artist's life.

As an "informal" writing, you are not required to give citations within your timeline UNLESS you quote a source directly.  You should include a list of works you referenced to create your timeline, but you only need to cite an information in the text of your writing if you have quoted it directly.  At the end of your timeline you should have a short section that lists the sources you used with basic document MLA as you would use in any works cited listing.

  **Due date for this paper will be posted on the website assignment page for your section on campus or the weekly folder for students in web-based courses.

Project Essay: The next stage of this project is to dig a little deeper and add to your understanding of the work.  Search sites like the Arts Journal and Project Muse (on the DSLCC Reference Resources section for Periodicals and Journals) to find current articles and publications that may have come out.  Begin your research paper (minimum: 5 pages), documented in Chicago (Turabian) style, in which you discuss your understanding of the artist and the work itself.  Home in on what you see as a defining characteristic(s) or significant impact of the work, making that work the center of your analysis.  You may even want to include some comparison of this piece with others, but your focus needs to clearly examine your chosen work.  Be sure to document your information and if you choose to include visuals in your paper, remember you must have at least the equivalent of 5 pages of text.  Clear and accurate support of your thesis is a must in this paper.  Without a specific focus, this critical analysis will fall flat. 

Your paper should include a minimum of 5 resources, 2 of which must be books.  Others can come from academic articles or art magazine critiques/information.  You may use online periodicals as well, but they need to be reputable, recognized sources.  For documentation, Chicago style is explained in the Little Brown Handbook reference and the library as well as the Achievement Center have copies of this book for student use.  If you are in an on-campus class, we will go over samples of this documentation style in class.  If you are in an online course, you will have websites posted in your Weekly folders to give you examples of this form of documentation. 

For Web-based and Hybrid Courses only--Working Bibliography Submission:  Your final submission for this project is an annotated list of online sources you've looked at through the creation of your project.  You should include sites that you gained awareness from as well as sites you used in you paper.

** Due date for your essay will be posted on the website assignment page for your section or for online courses, in the weekly folders.