Art 101, Project 1: It’s a Visual Reading!
Project Objective: Properly display how to visually “read” a work of art by analyzing an artwork’s form using appropriate visual art terms to align connections to the artwork’s deeper meaning. This is shown by synthesizing your knowledge of how to describe artwork to your informed opinion of the artwork, while utilizing research provided by the Chrysler Museum’s collections website. This project involves choosing artwork(s) from the Chrysler Museum; make sure that you find time in your schedule to visit the museum, all projects must include photos of the chosen works of art from the time of your visit (and if applicable, from the museum’s website). Please see addendum for a list of artworks that can be used during times of social distancing when museums are not open.
Requirements:
This project is a written assignment, as such all work must be original, and any information quoted or paraphrased from outside sources (only information from Chrysler Museum collections website).
Chrysler museum website
• Bibliography citing Chrysler Museum website
• Project follows requirements of chosen project prompt – described below
Project: Creative Writing Short Story/Letter to the artist from a friend
Write a 2 ½ – 3-page fictional story or letter to the artist using the artwork’s form as your creative impetus. For the short story, be as creative as you wish in order to convey the artwork’s meaning by using visual elements and design principles as your method to describe the artwork. Be sure to use the artwork’s form to back up your story (it could help to imagine yourself as a character in the painting). For the letter, imagine that you are a friend of the artist who has watched the work of art develop over a period of time (that time is up to you…has the artist been creating for a month, a year, ten years?). Write your letter to the artist describing how you feel about the artwork and why. For both options, be sure to use appropriate visual art terms and make references to the composition, color, line, subject, focal point, etc.
Use this Painting: https://chrysler.emuseum.com/objects/19880/adoration-of-the-magi?ctx=864fb81f-f3e9-4b33-9270-ae04ffb635bf&idx=1
2. Choose a work of art from your reading (Chapters 15 in Prebles’ Artforms and the videos listed below).
· Khan Academy, Lion Man
· Khan Academy, Stonehenge, Avebury, and Associated Sites
· Khan Academy, Hippopotamus
· Khan Academy, Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Three Daughters
· Met Museum, The Temple of Dendur
· Met Museum, Imhotep’s Book of the Dead
Respond to this work of art in 4-6 complete sentences.
Consider these questions:
· How would you describe the work of art?
· What visual elements or design principles do you notice? Explain.
· What do you like about it?
· What don’t you like about it?
· Does this create any emotional or mental response for you?
· What artistic aspects appeal to you?
Grade is based on your ability to write complete, cogent sentences, and your ability to analyze the work in a comprehensive manner.
Discussion #5: Human figures in Prehistory and Ancient Egypt
This module we started investigating how art has changed over human history. While the artwork is vastly different in the earliest cultures from the more developed society of Egypt, there is a commonality: depictions of women. For this discussion, choose one aspect to compare between these two sculptures and what that aspect tells us about prehistoric and Egyptian culture. This can be a visual element OR a design principle (remember than any aspect of a work of art will translate back to visual elements and design principles).
Venus of Willendorf (view from all sides), Krems, Austria, 28,000-25,000 BCE, oolithic limestone, Naturhistorisches Museum, Austria.
Statuette of the Lady Tiye, Egyptian, New Kingdom, ca. 1390-1349 BCE, wood, Egyptian blue, paint, Met Museum.
Pick whichever painting.
