Senior Seminar (aka SuperawesomeBFAs)
Fall 2016 M/W 9:30—10:45am
Office
hours: M/W 11:00am-12:00 pm, and by appointment
Course
Description
The course will focus on creating a dialogue
across disciplines and introducing contemporary issues and practices in art,
art criticism, and design. Thematic
topics will be introduced in order to present alternative and integrated points
of view from all areas of study represented by the art history, studio, and
design fields. Critical writing and directed readings
will be assigned throughout the semester.
A focus on research approaches, exhibitions,
and curatorial practices will be central to our approach to the various areas. Lectures,
visiting artist interviews, gallery visits, and student presentations will be
components of the course.
By the end of the semester you will have:
·
expanded your critical inquiry
into your field
·
refined your thesis project
·
learned about and practiced new
research methods
·
researched and written an
artist’s/designer’s statement
·
examined and considered future
alternatives after school, such as graduate school
·
considered ideas and strategies
regarding how work “lives” in an exhibition space
·
presented your research/work to a
diverse, professional audience
In addition to these conversations in class, as a BFA/BA you are
expected to be an enthusiastic citizen of the department. You will therefore
attend the lectures, exhibitions, and events offered by the Department over the
course of the semester (see lecture/event schedule on the Department homepage)
Above all, you should feel comfortable
getting feedback, guidance, and support from your instructors and colleagues in
the class. Please don’t hesitate to ask
questions, share observations, and contribute to the critical inquiry of the
course.
Research Blog
Each of you will maintain a research blog
that tracks the development of your Senior project. Weekly
(at least) postings will encourage (ahem, require)
you to track articles, images, artists/designers, patterns, colors, mock-ups,
etc. that shape the development and refinement of your thinking over the course
of the year. On weeks when you lack
inspiration of your own, you may choose from one of the suggested readings,
read, and respond to it. These are
readings meant to provoke thoughts and ideas related to your fields rather than
to your specific projects.
The blog will give yourself, your colleagues,
your faculty, and your audience the ability to trace the arc of your interests
and their impact upon your project’s development. In short, the research blog will function as
a combination sketchbook and research index. We will have regular group
discussions about each of your blogs as a way to offer feedback on your project
as it unfolds.
For your first blog post, you should write
about your spring and summer project work. What has inspired your general
thesis topic so far? What work, interests, or previous projects did it come out
of? This will help to get you thinking about the blog as a research tool. After that, we expect about 12 posts over the
course of the semester. N.B. These are
date stamped; keep up with your blogging regularly.
Homework: Article Presentations, Timelines, and other
Assignments
Read and prepare to present on two articles
or book chapters that act as key sources motivating your project. These should
not be general sources on design or art, but rather sources that relate
specifically to your goals, interests, and approaches. You may circulate these by email for others
to read, and you may prepare a handout to help out with discussion. When you come into class, you’ll begin by
telling us about the readings, and then we’ll open up to a general discussion
about the source, its views and significance. These summaries will eventually
be folded into your annotated bibliographies (see below).
These will be worth 20 points each.
Annotated Bibliography
Given that contemporary studio and design
practice is not limited to the making of objects, but rather involves an
artist’s/designer’s critical engagement with their field, you will prepare an
annotated bibliography.
By mid-term, you will collect a bibliography
of sources relevant to your thesis interest.
This bibliography should include a minimum of 30 sources and must include books, articles, and websites. Please
use standard MLA or Chicago citation style. We would also like you to annotate
at least 25% of the most significant sources.
These annotations should include a brief summary of the content of the
source and, more importantly, a few sentences explaining its relevance for your
project. Each annotation should be about a paragraph long.
This will be worth 100 pts.
Attendance and Participation
Since this is a seminar class, it goes
without saying that you need to be here and actively engaged in the
discussions. Therefore you are allowed 2 absences, excused or otherwise. If you miss more than 2 classes, your final
grade will be lowered by 1 whole letter grade for each subsequent absence.
In the event of an absence, you are still
responsible for any information/assignments that are missed and assignments are
due whether you are present or not. Related to this, you are expected to be in
class on time with all materials, ready to work. Excessive tardiness and/or lack of
preparation will be counted as an absence: 3 lates=1 absence. We suggest that you exchange phone numbers
with several people in class so that in the case of an absence you don’t get
behind.
In the case of an extended illness, notify us
immediately, in case special provisions need to be made. You should note, however, that such
situations may require you to withdraw from the course, since the seminar nature
of this class is such that class work/lectures/demonstrations cannot be made
up.
Grading
Your performance in this class will be
determined by: participation in discussions, blog posts, attendance at A|AH|D
lectures, exhibitions, and events, bibliography, writing assignments, and your
thesis presentation.
Assignments will be given a point value and
your grade will be determined by how many points you earn out of the total
possible. At mid-term we will give you a participation grade for the first half
of the semester as well as written feedback about your engagement in the class.
Assignments are as follows:
• Class
participation and Blog (first half of the semester): 100pts
• Bibliography: 100pts
• Homework: 20pts
each
• Statement: 50pts
• Presentation: 100pts
• Class
participation and Blog (second half of the semester): 100pts
·
Homework part 2: 20pts
each
·
Final goal completion: 50pts
For example:
a homework assignment is worth 20 points and you earn 17/20. This equals 85%, which is a B. With this approach, you can keep a running
tally of your grade in this class.
A range—90% and above—Exceptional level of
commitment; Exceptional solution to the assignment; Highly engaged in
discussions; Attendance at all departmental lectures, exhibitions, and events
B range—80%-89%-- Above average level of
commitment Above average solution to the assignment; Occasional comments and
questions during discussions; Attendance at most all departmental lectures,
exhibitions, and events
C range—70%-79%--Meets minimum requirements;
Average level of commitment; Minimal comments and questions during discussions;
Attendance at 50-75% departmental lectures, exhibitions, and events
D range—60%-69%--Does not meet minimum
requirements; below average level of commitment; Infrequent comments and
questions during discussions; Attendance at 50% or fewer of departmental
lectures, exhibitions, and events
F range—59% and below—Failing, incomplete,
not turned in.
Academic Honesty
It is
expected that students have familiarized themselves with the University’s
Academic Code of Honor. Should it be
determined that a student has violated the Academic Code of Honor the maximum
sanctions available will be pursued.
Working
Outline
Wednesday
8.24 Introduction
to the class; setting up research blogs
Monday 8.29 Critique of past BFA/BA exhibitions (part 1)
Wednesday
8.31 Brainstorming and Mind Maps and Research methods
Homework 1: read and prepare to present on two articles or book chapters that
act as key sources motivating your project.
(See above.)
Monday 9.5 Article
presentations part 1 – all article summaries due by email or in class today.
Wednesday
9.7 Article presentations part 2
Homework:
Attend talk (9/8) and conversation (9/9 @ 1:30 at the Snite) with photographer
Paulette Tavormina. More details to
follow.
Thursday 9.8 Paulette Tavormina talk - Snite Museum Auditorium - 5:00pm
Friday 9.9 Tavormina seminar - Snite Museum galleries - 1:30 p.m.
Monday 9.12 Class rescheduled for Friday 9.9
Friday 9.9 Tavormina seminar - Snite Museum galleries - 1:30 p.m.
Monday 9.12 Class rescheduled for Friday 9.9
Homework: Try to think about how what
we discussed this week might be transformed into a visual slide depicting your
research as part of your presentations. Create at least two slides that
demonstrate the type of research you’re undertaking for your thesis projects.
Wednesday
9.14 Article presentations and Workshop
Monday 9.19 Research slide presentations.
Wednesday
9.21 Research slide presentations; writing a statement and preparing a presentation.
Homework:
Create a provisional timeline for your
projects and visualize it in one or two slides as you would for your
presentations. Bring these into class.
Monday 9.26 Ideation workshop.
Wednesday 9.28 Timeline
presentations; blog review.
Homework: complete annotated bibliographies and prepare biblio
presentation.
Monday 10.3 **Annotated
Bibliographies due with discussion 1; discussion
of exhibition deadlines and requirements (all bibliographies due today by email
or in class).
Wednesday
10.5 Annotated
bibliography discussion 2.
Homework:
finish refining thesis statement and bring
copies for everyone in class. Be able to discuss and defend the various
elements that you include or exclude.
Monday 10.10 Thesis statements due (all due today); workshop part 1
Wednesday
10.12 Thesis statement workshop part 2
Monday 10.17 FALL BREAK---Go to a museum and see art!
Wednesday
10.19 FALL BREAK---Go to a museum and see art!
Monday 10.24 Catch up; blog discussion and project updates
Wednesday
10.26 Project Defense
practice part 1 (bring potential solutions to
share with the class)
Homework: finalize defense presentations
Monday 10.31 Project
Defense Practice presentations part 2
Wednesday
11.2 Project Defense
Practice presentations part 3
Homework:
based on critiques and feedback, come up with
one goal to be completed by end of the semester-to be presented to the class
during our final weeks.
FRIDAY 11.4 * PROJECT
DEFENSE PRESENTATIONS TO FACULTY – 8:00am
Monday 11.7 Project defense discussion
Homework: Formulate new goals and research for end of semester. Turn in in written
form on Wed. or beforehand by email.
Wednesday
11.9 Project defense discussion
2 – turn in written proposal for goal for December.
Homework:
revise artist statements and prepare
presentation on new version.
Monday
11.14
Artist Statement revisions and
discussion
Wednesday
11.16
Artist Statement revisions and discussion
Monday
11.21
Blog update; Snite guidelines discussion (Ramiro Rodriguez).
Wednesday
11.23
Thanksgiving Break
Monday
11.28
Discussion of BFA/BA Program and spring timelines
Homework:
Revise project presentation based on critiques.
Work out at least 2 changes that you will make to respond to criticisms;
Complete one goal for your projects (specified at last project update).
Wednesday
11.30 Final project revision presentations 1
Monday
12.5
Final project
revisions presentations 2
Wednesday
12.7
Final project
revisions presentations 3
•This is a rough outline, as the semester
progresses we will most likely have to adjust•
If you have any questions or concerns over
the course of the semester, please don’t hesitate to see me. Work hard!!!! Have Fun!!!!!
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