Art-203 / Intro to the Visual Arts (3 Credit Hours)
Instructor: Ping Xu
Class Meets: MWF / 8:30 am – 9:20 am (Section I)
Class Meets: MWF / 12:30 pm – 1:20 pm (Section II)
Date Range: Jan 12 – May 8, 2014
Classroom: OP-2210
Office: OP-1231
Mobile: 234-5558
E-mail: pxstudio@gmail.com or pingxu@truman.edu

Office Hours:
MWF: 9:30 am – 12:20 pm ;
Other times by appointment

Course Description:

Art-203 Introduction to the Visual Arts is a non-major lecture class that counts towards the Liberal Studies Program. It is an entertaining and educational class. The relationship of the student to visual environment studied through a survey of the aesthetics of the visual arts and through a survey of historical periods.

Course Objectives

• To develop a sensitivity to art as a form of non-verbal communication
• To introduce the formal elements of visual composition, and offer opportunities for analysis and application through both verbal and non-verbal means
• To acquaint students with the relationship between cultures and the visual images they produce
• To offer opportunities to examine, discuss, and evaluate art, both inside and outside the classroom
• To encourage analytical thinking about current political issues which involve art and its relationship to society and government
• To develop study, writing, and critical thinking skills applicable in multiple disciplines

It is assumed that students in this course possess:

• A desire to achieve the above objectives
• An open minded outlook and desire to participate in class

Policies, Attendance, etc.

Attendance is expected. Students agree to arrive before the start of class and to stay until the end. Students are expected to keep up with assigned reading and be prepared to discuss it in class. Turning in assignments late without a well-documented excuse will result in ½ letter grade reduction per day for that assignment (assuming it is even possible to make later arrangements).

Please refrain from making or receiving phone calls or text messages during class unless it is an emergency. Also, you must ask special permission to open your laptops in class so don’t plan on using them for note taking.

Copying someone else’s work and presenting it as your own (plagiarism) will result in immediate dismissal from the course and/or failing grades for the assignment and semester. Then there’s whatever the University would have to say about it – check out Student conduct code section 8.050.1 Proscribed Conduct.

Textbook : Prebles’ Artforms, 11^th. Edition
The textbook is suggested. You may choose one of the following options:

• Rent a copy on Amazon
• Purchase a used book
• Purchase a Kindle edition, and download an app to open the eBook: Mac | PC | iPa

Cultural Events Reports (CER)

You will attend three cultural events on the campus of Truman State University this semester and you will then write a brief report (no more than one page) on your experience.

Writing About Art (WAA)

These activities will drive much of your learning both in and out of class. We will write two short essays (each essay no more than two pages) about art. Then we will re-write them. Then we will re-write them and type them out and turn them in for a grade.

Big Paper

We will write a paper that is bigger (10 – 15 pages) than the short WAA assignments. It will also go through several drafts. It will also be about art. It may require you to make a personal field trip to a major museum outside the Adair County.

Final Exam

We will have a final exam at the end of the semester. It will both reinforce key elements of the course and seek to assess anything we ended up putting effort into that didn’t really get assessed in some other way.

 Grading

• Cultural Event Reports                                              – 20%
• Writing About Art                                                      – 20%
• Group Project (Big Paper + PPT Presentation)          – 20%
• Final Exam                                                                – 20%
• Class Participation                                                    – 20%

Looking at art

• Form
• Content
• Context
• Further Research

Cultural Events Reports (CER) – Assignment Guidelines

• Every time you do a CER, write “CER” and your name and the date at the top.
• Always type these up on a computer, save a file for yourself, and print out a hard copy for me.
• You will turn these in to me in person in class. Be sure to turn in two by April 3 and a third by April 27.
• CER assignments are meant to be quite brief – no more than one typed page with 12 point font size and one inch margins.
• CER should be about events on Truman’s campus that are fine arts in a more restrictive sense – so not culturally themed dinner parties, not movies shown in the SUB, etc. Most of the acceptable ones will take place in this building – events put on by the Art, Music, and Theater departments. Two of your reports need to be focused on visual art events – Lectures or exhibits. The other one can be a lecture, play or musical performance related to music or theater.
• Your CER should briefly give the whom what, when and where. Then you should give some reflective response to both the content of the event (what was said, what the art was like, etc.) but then also discuss the event itself. Was it fun? Crowded? Disappointing? And explain why.

Writing About Art (WAA) – Assignment guidelines

• Every time you do some WAA work, write “WAA” and your name and the date at the top.
• Always write as neatly as possible. Unreadable work will not count.
• WAA assignments are meant to be quite brief. When writing by hand keeps them to less than half a page (but typed paper should be two page long). The goal is to reflect, write, reflect, edit, and write again in order to find something thoughtful to say about the art you are encountering. The goal is not to puff up a bunch of fancy sounding terms and string them together in an endless maze.
• Each WAA assignment will begin with you writing a brief essay, usually in class.
• Then you will take it home, edit off the rough edges, and re-write a slightly more polished draft.
• Then you will share these in class with a few of your peers, at least one of whom will mark it up with their comments (see below for peer review standards).
• Then you will take it home again, re-write it and type it up to turn in to me for a grade.
• When turning WAA work in for a grade securely paper clip or staple all previous drafts and notes to the back in reverse chronological order. That way as I read through the stack I will see the essay becoming less and less refined.
• Deadline of turning WAA-1 paper: March 25
• Deadline of turning WAA-2 paper: April 24

Here are some basic things you will note when doing peer reviews of each other’s work.:

• Is the work legible? Are “WAA” as well as the name and date at the top?
• How is the overall form of the essay? Does it flow logically from beginning to middle and end or does it seem to jump around?
• How are the grammar and the spelling?
• Does it address the assignment/Do you feel that something is missing?
• Is the author saying something trivial or outrageous? Or does it seem reasonable? Do they back up what they say?
• How interesting is what they say? Do they move from the abstract to the particular or are they stuck either in lofty generalizations or busy little details?

The Final Exam Schedule:

• Section I / 8:30 am – 9:20 am: 8:20 am – 9:20 am, Friday, May 8
• Section II / 12:30 pm – 1:20 pm: 11:30 am – 12:30 pm, Friday, May 8