1. Create a three-dimensional art project that integrates
the week's texts, lectures, class discussions, and performances on
identity.
2. Write a 6-page collaborative group essay that analyzes
the group's creative process and that justifies the project with evidence
from the week's texts on Identity.
This week's assignment provides an opportunity to experiment with
new art forms as well as to interact creatively and intellectually
with group members. Your challenge will be to demonstrate genuine
knowledge of the visual and written texts of Week Four of Unit 3,
through a well-developed visual and written presentation.
The week's texts move you from theories of the formation of the self
as a complex psychological construction to concepts of individual
identity as a social and cultural construction. You have observed
how concepts of masculinity and femininity and ideas about color and
class consciousness change over time and from one culture to another.
As you consider this art project that focuses on identity, you must
be sure that the project has an internal logic that can be supported
by at least three texts and that it incorporates the key concepts
of the week.
Key concepts:
-
Social construction vs. biological determinism (of
gender, race, class)
-
Eunuchs, castrati, transgender, transsexual, Hijras
-
Id, Ego, Superego; Oedipus complex; unconscious
-
Disenfranchised (figuratively and literally), colonized
(figuratively and literally), marginalized.
On Wednesday, February 12, you will meet with your seminar
leader as a group to discuss your project ideas and, individually,
you will turn in your own definitions of the four groups of concepts
listed above.
On Monday, February 17, you will turn in your group papers
and set up your projects in JC Seminar C for public display. Each
group member must be prepared to discuss the project.
Evaluation
The visual component of the project will be evaluated on how well
it:
-
Integrates the ideas covered in the texts on Identity
-
Demonstrates genuine knowledge of the subject and
incorporates key terms in innovative ways.
-
Demonstrates thinking beyond the traditional art
project to incorporate new artistic forms and ideas
-
Includes all group members in the plan and implementation
-
Appeals to an aesthetic (or anti-aesthetic) sense
-
Uses a variety of different media
The written component of the project will be evaluated on how well
it:
-
Provides evidence from the week's written and visual
texts that justifies the intellectual underpinnings of the visual
art project.
-
Conforms to university-level writing.
-
Analyzes the collaborative creative process.
-
Seamlessly incorporates the work of all group members.
Artistic Guidelines
The project MUST:
- Be the result of real collaboration where every group member has
a voice and a presence.
- Be 3-dimensional and free-standing.
- Integrate the concepts covered in week four on Identity.
- Demonstrate planning, time and effort
- Be for public display
The Project must NOT:
- Be newspaper/magazine collages on poster board
- Use glitter, Food Court supplies picked up on the way to class or
other grade-school concepts executed hurriedly.
- Be entirely textual.
- Require computer access to display.
Process
- Brainstorm with group members. Start with texts that interested
you most this week rather than from the kind of "art" you want to
make. Your passion for the concepts must drive the artmaking; not
the other way around. Be expansive during this phase.
- Reach consensus about the topic you want to explore through
your art project. Then brainstorm ways you can make the topic come
alive through a visual project. (Who in the group has what kind of
skills that could be used effectively? In what way can you best prove
your particular thesis through a visual medium?)
- Outline your concepts and your evidence. This will be the
basis for your group paper justifying your particular project. (Remember,
this project will be fun, but it is much more than simply creating
a gender-bending cut-out. The object may have some gender-bending
elements, but it must also demonstrate a depth of understanding of
the concepts from the week and the ability to integrate the newly
gained knowledge.)
- Sketch your ideas for the free-standing art object. You may
want to consider creating thumbnail sketches of two ideas to bring
to the meeting with the seminar leader.
Ideas
When you get to the stage of deciding on the best artistic vehicle for
your project, you may use the list below to help you generate ideas.
Do not limit yourselves to these ideas, however; use them as springboards
for your own innovative creations.
- Sculptures - using found objects (tin cans, clothes pins,
old computer parts, etc.), papier maché, fabric, wire, boxes, clay
(not Play Dough), etc.
- Installation art - using space in a creative way to produce
an illusion or as a performance space. You might add elements such
as painted boxes or cardboard, everyday objects, etc.
- "Sound sculptures"- using recording or sampled sound positioned
around a space with artistic elements incorporated (computer monitors
sculptures, chairs or tables with fabric draped over them, etc.) Remember,
however, that you are responsible for having someone other than a
Unit 3 student available to stay with electronic equipment throughout
the day if you choose this route.
- Murals - using a series of large poster boards or cardboard
with paintings/drawings/text designed for a space that the audience
walks through.
- Art book - using visual art, design and ext to create a fold-out
book that is "readable" on two sides
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