15 Aug For this assignment you will be creating something of your choosing, then you will analyze in a two-page essay the art you created. Im leaving the choice mostly up to you
For those who are especially artistic, consider one of the following projects: sketch, short video, create a piece of music, write a song, build a sculpture, or write a very short story or poem. These are just a few of the possibilities.
However, if you seem to believe that you’re not in any way artistic, then there is an alternative: write a two-page essay analyzing a specific piece of art (a film, play, painting, building design, song, one of your past works of art, etc.).
If you cannot provide the artwork as a reference (by attaching a picture), then please attach an additional page with a summary (description) of the chosen art piece (I will not grade the summary; it will not count as part of the overall page length requirement). The summary does not need to be more than a paragraph or two. Choosing a movie would require a summary, whereas with a music video, providing a link would be fine.
This assignment is designed to help you develop creativity and critical thinking. Moreover, I want you to identify and create claims associated with an individual piece of art. You will ultimately be analyzing that piece of art in order to explore its purpose. Approach this assignment with a critical strategy, which also facilitates the making of claims. I will Introduce Critical Strategies in a video lecture coming soon.
- Introduction: provide a little context (genre and cultural relevance) regarding the artwork and have a thesis statement (your ‘Claim Types’ with ‘support’ included). For example: Symbolic speech such as flag desecration should be protected (ßclaim of policy) since The First Amendment to the United States Constitution would be under threat if legislation seeks to highly regulate patriotic statements.(ßsupport)
- Body: I want the analysis to mostly focus on arguing your thesis claim. By focus, I mean to specify a claim and tie details from the artwork to that claim. Unify the piece of art with your claim and support. We will discuss examples in class.
- Conclusion: summarize the essay by restating the thesis and going over the evidence that supports it. Leave the audience with something to ponder.
