15 Jan Remember that your initial

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 1 Discussion

DQ1 Introductions

Welcome

Glad you are part of this class! I look forward to getting to know you through your thoughts about art and the creative process. Please tell me a little bit about yourself and how you feel about art.

DQ2 Course Expectations

Growth and expectations

I expect to see your understanding of art grow throughout the duration of this course. I hope you can learn to appreciate the art you find beautiful as well as challenging art that makes you question things and issues around you. Keep an open mind while doing readings and researching. Please tell me what you’re expecting from this course and how you plan on growing.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 3 Discussion

Expressive Qualities of Lines

Search for a visual work that strikes you as interesting. Please copy it onto your desktop and attach the image or copy the link. See menu above the type box. Don’t settle for the first image you find. Look at both, art and non art sources.

Here are a few sources:

http://www.thejealouscurator.com/blog/

http://hyperallergic.com/

http://www.thisiscolossal.com/

Look for a linear component in the work and discuss the type and expressive quality of the lines. Are the lines measured and calculated as in Mangold’s work, do they have a emotional human presence such as Ritchie’s, or are they working on a completely new way? (see pg. 21 in our book)

Your initial response is due Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to reply to two other students by Sunday, at midnight.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 4 Discussion

Reflection

What is one thing you learned from this module that you didn’t know before? What is one thing from this chapter that you still don’t understand?

Post your initial response by Wednesday, at midnight. Students should respond to at least two students’ questions by Sunday, at midnight. I will answer a question only if other students cannot answer it satisfactorily.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 6 Discussion

Painting

Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.” – Artist Jackson Pollock

What do you think Jackson Pollock meant by this statement? Read the section about Jackson Pollock on pgs. 492-3 of your textbook. (You may also use the internet to research Pollock’s life and painting methods.) Then explain how you think Pollock specifically used painting as self-discovery.

Your initial response is due Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to reply to two other students by Sunday, at midnight.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 7 Discussion

Photo Silkscreen and Andy Warhol

Andy Warhol, Marilyn Diptych, photo silkscreen on canvas, 1962

Andy Warhol is one of the best known artists to have used the photo silkscreen medium on a wide scale. When you look at Marilyn Diptych, reproduced above, you will notice there are many “imperfections” in the piece, such as misregistered colors, areas that have received too much or too little ink, etc. Yet Andy Warhol was a consummate draftsman; before becoming a fine artist, he had won multiple awards for his ad designs and was the highest paid commercial artist in New York City. It is safe to assume that these “imperfections” are intentional and designed to add to the piece’s content.

Warhol created Marilyn Diptych in the weeks after her death. In many ways, it is a response to her death. However, Marilyn Diptych suggests a much different reaction to her death than Audrey Flack’s Marilyn. (Audrey Flack’s Marilyn was the painting on for “Decoding Iconography” pg13.)

Carefully observe the Warhol’s stylistic choices in this piece. Why do you think he wanted Marilyn Diptych to look this way? What is Warhol trying to say about Marilyn Monroe, society, or himself via the use of formal elements and design principles? Be sure to back up your response. (Hint: Use the index in the back of your textbook to locate and read the passages on Andy Warhol’s work. They may help stimulate your ideas.)

Your initial posting is due Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to reply to two other students by Sunday, at midnight. Let’s get a dialogue going and see what we can learn from each other!

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 8 Discussion

Photography in the Digital Age

How do you see social media like Instagram, Pinterest, and other image based Apps, influencing the way we view photography? How does viewing an image on a smart phone or online differ than viewing a photograph as a material object in a museum and/or gallery? Be specific in your claims and your examples.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 9 Discussion

Readymades and Appropriation Art

Carefully read the sections in Chapter 11 on Marcel Duchamp and readymades and on Sherrie Levine and appropriation art. Duchamp’s readymades were revolutionary because they shifted the definition of art from a skillfully hand-made object to art as idea or concept. Duchamp’s concept of the readymade has had a profound impact on contemporary art—a 2004 survey of over 500 artists, museum curators, art dealers, and critics voted Fountain the most influential work of modern art ever created. Those that voted most overwhelmingly for Fountain were the artists themselves.

In 1991, artist Sherrie Levine made Fountains after Duchamp. In a sense, Levine has appropriated an appropriation, since Duchamp himself had appropriated the Mott Plumbing Company, who mass-manufactured the urinal in Fountain to begin with. Your textbook says that Levine’s work is meant to question artistic ideas like authorship and originality. How does Fountains After Duchamp do this? What other notions does Levine’s piece bring up or challenge? (You may use the internet to research Levine’s ideas, but be sure to cite your sources.)

Your initial response is due Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to reply to two other students by Sunday, at midnight.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 10 Discussion

Site-Specific Art

In this module we are focusing on site-specific art, art that is made for one particular location and would be diminished or destroyed if removed from its intended setting. Select one site-specific work from your textbook, either from Chapter 11 or elsewhere, and explain how its environment is necessary for the piece to “work.” Choose a piece that another student has not yet written about. Why would the piece fail to work if sited elsewhere? Consider both the form (style) of the piece and its intended message/content. Either post an image of the piece in your discussion board response, or else include the artist’s name, the title of the piece, and the page number for easy reference.

Reply to this thread by Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to respond substantively to two other student posts by Sunday, at midnight.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 11 Discussion

Fallingwater vs. Farnsworth House

In creating works of architecture, architects must not only be sensitive to the aesthetics of their structures, but they must also pay attention to the relationships between their structures and the building sites. Read about Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater (pg. 237) and read ahead on Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House (p. 526). Both were built as single family homes and both incorporate a landscape environment that is crucial to the architecture. Compare and contrast the way these two homes are integrated with (or antagonistic to) their setting. In what ways are they similar, and how does the interaction between building and natural environment function differently?

Reply to this thread by Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to comment substantively on at least two other students’ posts before Sunday, at midnight.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 12 Discussion

Compare and Contrast

1) Venus of Villendorf (p. 249) and Cycladic idol ( p. 266)

2) Victory Stele of Naram Sin (p. 253) and Stele inscribed with the Law Code of Hammurabi (p. 254)

3) Statue of Khafre from Gizeh (p. 259) and Pillar statue of Akhenaton from Temple of Amen-Re, Karnak (see image below)

Use stylistic analysis along with what you have learned from the textbook to discuss the similarities and differences in the paired pieces. Then explain why these observations are important. In other words, what do these attributes tell us about the cultures that made them?

Reply to this thread by Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to comment substantively on at least two other students’ posts before Sunday at midnight. At least one of your responses should be on a pairing you did not choose for your initial post.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 14 Discussion

Non-Western Art and European Modernism

Non-Western art is widely recognized by art historians as one of the defining influences on the development of European modernism. Reread the passage in your textbook on African Art and Picasso (p. 466). How do you feel about European artists appropriating aspects of Non-Western art into their work? Is there a potential problem with this, or is it a positive development? Refer to any information from your textbook as part of your answer.

Note: In this question, I am not asking so much about appropriation, but rather, the appropriation of Non-Western cultures.

Remember that your initial response is due Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to reply to two other students by Sunday, at midnight.

ART105 Introduction to Visual Art

Module 17 Discussion

End of Semester Reflection

Congratulations! We’ve spent the last 8 weeks discussing and learning about art in its many forms and incarnations. What is the biggest thing you think you will take away from this course? What kind of effect do you think the new ideas you’ve acquired might have on your life and/or future scholastic or career endeavors?

Remember, your initial response is due Wednesday, at midnight. Be sure to reply to two other students by Sunday, at midnight. Thanks for a great semester!