Project #5/Field Trip #6: You're the Curator!

DUE: 12/13
 
I. Choose Your Topic: A curator is an expert hired by a museum to organize and
arrange an exhibit. The curator controls what we see in an exhibit and how we see
it. Imagine that you’ve been hired as an assistant curator and invited by the
Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to create a digital art exhibit. Choose
about 12 – 15 works of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and put together a
digital exhibit. Through your choices, make a portrait of yourself that illustrates one of
the following titles or themes.
 
1. Outside and In, or Inside Out: How do others perceive me? How do I perceive myself?
2. Like It/Don’t Like It: How do my preferences or dislikes (of certain activities, or hobbies, or
objects, or works of art, or animals, or people) show who I am?
3. The Climate of My Mind: What types of weather and/or times of day depicted in art express
my changing emotions and/or thoughts?
4. My Kind of Town (or My Kind of Place): What is my idea of an ideal place or ideal places?
In what way are these ideal places reflective of me? 

II. Find Images: To find your images, research the museum’s website and browse
their collection, available online at:
http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/

You may browse by Department (Modern Art, European Paintings, etc.) or by
Keywords (artist’s name, titles of works, description, etc.). Begin a folder on your
hard drive &/or flash drive to collect and sort any images that interest you. It is better
to start with too many images than with not enough.
 
III. Present your Curatorial Project: Following your art professor’s instructions to
create a new post in Blogger. Here is the layout order for your blog content, as well
as the formatting requirements:
 
1. The title of your new blog will be the descriptive theme of your exhibit (see above).
2. Next, paste the text of the short version of your curatorial statement, a 150-300 word brief
description of your project, going over the major points of your exhibition. For your blog,
divulge only the information about yourself that you feel comfortable presenting.
3. After your statement, insert the 12 – 15 images in the order that you want them to be viewed.
Each of these images should be uploaded to Blogger as “Medium Sized.”
4. Finally, underneath each image, you must include a line of information in this order: Artist’s
Name, “Title of Work” (in quotations), year completed, and section of museum.

Field Trip #5: Public Art

DUE: 12/05

Public Art refers to any artwork that has been placed in a location that is freely and openly accessible to the general public. Public artworks are often displayed in public buildings or outdoors, and are commissioned by the government, local organizations or businesses. There are countless public artworks scattered throughout the five boroughs of NYC, and likely somewhere in your own neighborhood!

For this paper, you will conduct your own field trip in search of public art. Check the links below to find what public artworks are on display near where you live or work. Do a little research to find out who commissioned the work, and when. In your writing, consider the following questions: What does the artist seem to be communicating with this piece? How does the artwork interact with its surroundings? Do you find this work to be a benefit or a detriment to its surrounding area? Would your perception of the piece change if it were in a different type of public location, or in a private space?

Your writing should be at least 350 words and posted to your blog under the heading “Public Art Reaction” with the label “Field Trip 5”. Make sure to reference the artist’s name and the title of the work within your writing. Post the following information at the end of your writing:

Artist’s Full Name

“Title of Work” (written in quotations)

Medium

Year Completed

* Public artworks often have labels near them with this information. If not, you can likely find this info online.

Here are a few resources for finding public art near you:

NYC Art in the Parks: http://www.nycgovparks.org/art

Percent for the Arts: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcla/html/panyc/projects.shtml

Public Art Fund: http://www.publicartfund.org/

Project #4: Culinary Design Blog

Due: 11/28

For your fourth project you will take-on the role of culinary designers! Whether you consider yourself a true foodie, or your meals are just a means to survival, food is a topic that is central to our daily lives. There is a long history of fine artists who have worked with the subject of food in their own work. Review the blog “Food Art (A Brief History)” to whet your appetites:

 http://art-food-yum.blogspot.com/p/food-art-brief-history.html

For this project you will use Blogger to contribute to a community recipe book. You will be made an author on the site http://art-food-yum.blogspot.com/ . This means that you have permission to post directly to the site.

To begin, pick a recipe that you feel defines your culinary life. This may be a family recipe that has been passed down through the generations, it may be a selection from your favorite cookbook, or it may be a recipe that you invented yourself. Write a paragraph describing the recipe & how it relates to you. You may discuss the occasions that you have used this recipe (holidays, entertaining guests, Monday’s lunch, etc…), as well as potential food or beverage pairings that you would suggest. If you have chosen a recipe from a cookbook, you must still come up with your own description…do not copy one from the book.  Along with the descriptive paragraph, you will also include an ingredients list and cooking instructions. These need to be clear, concise and easy to follow.

The next step is to prepare and document your recipe. What fun is a recipe if it doesn’t get made? This is when you will need your digital camera handy. As you prepare the dish, I want you to take a series of 4-5 photographs. The first 3-4 should document the cooking process (what you consider crucial moments in the recipe), and the final image should be a documentation of the finished dish. You can either take the photos yourself, as you prepare the food, or you may ask someone else to help. Try to make an appealing presentation for your final image. As the designer, you don’t want to just document the dish…you want to make it look good! Things to consider: Where is the best light in your home for the image? Should you present it on certain dishware or with certain place settings? Should you use any garnish or table props?

If you do not have access to a good quality digital camera, you may take your images with a film camera, and have the photo-lab make you a digital image cd. You may also scan your printed photos on campus using a scanner in the library or in the B-333 lab. As with the written description, your images must be original.

Finally, name your blog with the name of your recipe, and add any labels that relate to your post (i.e. pasta, family recipe, Cuban cuisine, etc…).

Layout Order: First, your written statement, next, the ingredients list and cooking instructions, then the 4-5 images. When you upload your images, set the image size to “medium.”

Materials:

-camera (digital or otherwise)

-favorite recipes

-food for cooking

-access to our Blogger site, http://art-food-yum.blogspot.com

Field Trip #4: Lower East Side Galleries

DUE: 11/21

The Lower East Side (LES) is one of the newest gallery districts in Manhattan, stretching from Canal St. north to Houston. Like Chelsea, these are commercial spaces. However, they tend to feature more-experimental work by younger, less-established artists. This creates a unique energy that sets the LES galleries apart from their counterparts in Chelsea.

For this writing, compare your impressions of the Lower East Side galleries to those in Chelsea.
Identify three separate galleries, and consider the following questions: Do they seem to show a different kind of work than those in Chelsea? Do you think that they cater to the same type of collectors? Does the surrounding area of the LES affect how you view the work? Does the Chelsea area differently affect how you view the work that is there?

Your writing should be at least 350 words and posted to your blog under the heading “LES Galleries Reaction” with the label “Field Trip 4”. Make sure to cite the three galleries within the body of your writing.

Here is a map of the galleries in this district:

Field Trip #3: Chelsea Galleries

DUE: 10/31

The galleries in Chelsea represent the art marketplace. Unlike the museums and other non-profit art spaces that we have visited, the majority of these galleries are commercial spaces. This means that their primary function is to make money. They do so by selling artwork. Galleries generally have a list of artists whose work they represent. The galleries regularly change their shows to display work by each of their represented artists. 

For this reaction, you will assume the role of an art collector. Collectors are part-art lovers, part-investors. Their big-money purchases help keep commercial galleries in business, and by proxy, help keep their favorite artists making work. However, the art market is a fickle beast…an artist whose work is fashionable today may be all but forgotten in ten years. This is why the best advice for any collector is to buy what you like. Even if your investment doesn’t make any returns, at least you have something that you like to look at!

For your writing, select exhibitions from two galleries: one artist whose work you would like to collect, and one artist whose work you would not like to collect. For each show, consider these questions: What do you like/dislike about this artist’s work? Why do you think that this artist’s work is/isn’t a good investment? Would you want to display the artwork, or keep it in storage?  Describe two examples of artwork from each exhibition to back-up your decisions. Also, make sure to reference the gallery names as well as the artists’ names in the body of your writing. Your writing should be at least 350 words and posted to your blog under the heading “Chelsea Galleries Reaction” with the label “ Field Trip 5”. At the end of your post, cite your four artworks in the following format:

Artist’s Full Name

“ Title of Work” (written in quotations)

Year Completed

*At most galleries, this information is available at the reception desk.

There are literally hundreds of galleries to see in Chelsea, so here is a short list of galleries that I recommend. However, you are free to explore and find galleries on your own. A list of galleries and exhibitions can be perused online at: http://www.artcat.com/neighborhoods/1

Gallery: Jack Shainman Gallery

Location: 513 West 20^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Hank Willis Thomas

Description: Slickly-produced commentary on advertising, media and African American culture.

Gallery: Matthew Marks Gallery

Location: 522 West 22^nd St.

Artist(s) on Display: Tony Smith

Description: Large, historically important metal sculpture from the 20^th century.

Gallery: Andrea Rosen Gallery

Location: 525 West 24^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Andrea Zittel

Description: Hand-made, abstract textile works.

Gallery: Mary Boone Gallery

Location: 541 West 24^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Ai Weiwei

Description: Chinese artist who is as well known for his challenging cultural commentary, as for his clashes with the Chinese government including a recent detainment.

Gallery: Pace Gallery

Location: 508 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Lucas Samaras

Description: Psychedelic collages and Photoshop prints.

Gallery: Pace Gallery

Location: 534 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Chuck Close

Description: New paintings and prints by the most important contemporary American portraitist.

Gallery: Betty Cunningham Gallery

Location: 541 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Rackstraw Downes

Description: Gorgeous landscape paintings by one of the most respected living realist painters.

Gallery: Marlborough Gallery

Location: 545 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Jonah Freeman and Justin Lowe

Description: Hallucinatory, multi-room installation that feels like an artist’s  take on a haunted house. Not for the claustrophobic!!

Project #3: Illustrate a Story

DUE: 10/31

For your third project, you will take on the role of an illustrator. An illustrator is a commercial artist who brings somebody else’s story or idea into the visual world. For this scenario, you have been hired by the non-profit organization StoryCorps to illustrate one of their archived stories. Since its founding in 2003, StoryCorps has worked with the Library of Congress to record and catalog more than 35,000 oral stories. The participants in this project are Americans from all walks of life. The stories that they tell run the gamut of human emotions and experience. To begin, start listening to some stories at the StoryCorps website: http://storycorps.org/ . Click “Listen to Stories” from the left-hand menu, and you can browse by category.

Select any one story to illustrate. Your illustration may be created by hand (drawing, collage, etc…) or you may create a digital collage using Adobe Photoshop. Either way, your illustration must convey the essential nature of the story. I expect a minimum of four hours invested in this project. As with your digital collage project, do not include text in your illustration. Instead, use your understanding of formal analysis to tell the story with visual language alone.

When you are finished, upload a digital image (.JPG) of your illustration to your blog under the title, “Illustrate a Story”, with the label “Project 3”. Include a brief description about what you found interesting about this particular story, and what elements of the story are represented in your illustration. You will also need to embed the original StoryCorps recording into your post. Here is how to do this:

• On the StoryCorps webside, click the “Share” link next to the story.
• From the share menu, click the orange “Embed” button.
• Highlight and copy the embed code.
• In your Blogger post, click the “Edit HTML” tab.
• Paste the embed code into this field.
• Make sure to switch from “Edit HTML” to “Compose” when you upload your image and write your description.

Remember that Adobe Photoshop is available to you on any Mac computers in the library or in the lab B-333. Scanners are available in both locations too.

Field Trip #2: “Design in Our Lives”; The Museum of Modern Art

DUE: 10/17

Whether or not we are aware of it, the design arts infiltrates our lives on a daily basis. Design influences everything around us from the products we use, to the clothes we wear, to the food we eat, to the spaces we inhabit. The Museum of Modern Art has a special interest in the field of design. They have an entire floor of their museum and a stand-alone design store to prove it!

For our third field trip, we will go to the various design exhibits at the MoMA. The design galleries feature an eclectic sampling of artists and designers who blur the lines between the two fields. Some of the objects are made for real world utility, and some of the objects are…well…less practical. The study of functionality in design is called Ergonomics. It may help to research this topic before writing your response.

For your paper, you must write about four different works from this exhibit. Two of the works must have “high functionality” and two works must have “low functionality.” Since there is no such thing as “perfect design,” your opinion about functionality will be somewhat subjective. In your writing, compare and contrast the varying degrees of utility that you assign to the works you choose. Consider the following questions: How do you define these categories? What do your “high functionality” objects have in common? What makes them so ergonomic? What do your “low functionality” objects have in common? How could you alter these objects to make them more ergonomic? Does an object need to be highly functional to be good design? Are art and design always two separate ideas? If not, where do they meet?

Your finished writing needs to be at least 350 words. It should have an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. Post the writing on your Blogger page under the title, “Design in Our Lives”, and label the post “Field Trip 3”.

At the end of your post, cite the four artworks that you chose in the following format. This information is generally available on the wall near the artwork:

Artist’s Full Name

“Title of Work” written in quotations*

Medium

Year Completed

*When referencing the work in the body of your writing, also be sure to write the titles in quotations.

Field Trip #1: Art and Identity: The Museum of Modern Art

DUE: 10/10

For our first field trip, we will be visiting the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The MoMA is one of the world’s premier institutions for exhibiting Modern and Contemporary Art. They boast an impressive permanent collection, as well as rotating list of special exhibitions.

For your first field trip reaction, you will consider the topic of identity in art. Art making is a personal endeavor that communicates the experiences of the artist. The best kind of art has the ability to transcend an artist’s individual experience, and communicate to the experiences of a broader audience. An artwork can relate to the identity of an individual (the artist, or his/her subject), it can relate to a specific cultural identity (nationality, ethnicity, gender, special interest group, etc…), and it most certainly relates to the identity of the time during which it was created (historical). At the museum, we will concentrate on the exhibition “Contemporary Galleries: 1980-Now,” but you can find work from anywhere in the museum. 

For your writing you will need to discuss three works of art. One work should embody the idea of individual identity, on work should embody the idea of cultural identity, and one work should embody the identity of a historical time or place. Here are some questions to consider in your writing: How does each work of art embody its classification of identity (personal, cultural or historical)? How do these notions of identity differ between the works of art that you chose? In what ways do they overlap?

Your finished writing needs to be at least 350 words. It should have an introduction, three body paragraphs and a conclusion. Post the writing on your Blogger page under the title, “Art and Identity: The Museum of Modern Art”, and label the post “Field Trip 1”.

At the end of your post, cite the three artworks that you chose in the following format. This information is generally available on the wall near the artwork:

Artist’s Full Name

“Title of Work” written in quotations*

Medium

Year Completed

 
*When referencing the work in the body of your writing, also be sure to write the titles in quotations.

Project #2: Narrative Digital Collage

Due: 10-03 (before the start of class)

A visual narrative is a work of art that tells a story. Narratives can consist of anything from simple, visual motifs (elements that repeat) to complex systems of signs and symbols. For this project, you will use photo editing software to create a narrative digital collage. This collage will pay special attention to the visual element of space.

The general theme of this project is “That Reminds Me of the Time When…” I would like this collage to tell a narrative about yourself. The narrative can illustrate a real event from your life, or it can be a pure fantasy. You may use images of yourself and familiar people & places, or you may find images of other people & places as stand-ins. One of the only parameters is that I don’t want you to include text in your collage. Instead of placing the word “Happy” in the center of your project, for example, try to make a scene that conveys a visual sense of happiness. Because this collage explores how things visually appear in space, you will use the principles of overlap, diminishing size and vertical placement. Consult the diagram “Cues to spatial depth” for ways to establish this illusion.

To make this digital collage, you will need to utilize the professional photo editing program Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is available for you to use on any Mac computer on campus (including those in our classroom, the library and the B-333 computer lab). I have filmed a brief tutorial about using Adobe Photoshop for this project. The tutorial is available to watch in the Project #1 folder under the Assignments tab.

You will need to create an 800 x 600 pixel Photoshop PSD file (as outlined in the tutorial), and save it as (your) lastname_firstname_collage. I want to see at least 10 separate layers in your collage. This includes the background, extra landscape elements, individual figures, etc… You will use the Lasso tool to cut-out images that need to be cut-out, and you will use the Edit->Transform functions to resize the scale of images that need to be resized. Save the file often to ensure that nothing gets lost.

To submit, convert your document into a .jpg file (as outlined in the tutorial), and save the .jpg as (your) lastname_firstname_collage. You will then create a new post on your blog entitled “Narrative Digital Collage”. Upload the .jpg image to this new post and write a brief paragraph describing the scene that you have created. Label the post “Digital collage” along with any other relevant labels.

Materials:

-Access to a computer with Adobe Photoshop

-Digital image files

-Flash drive for saving files

Photoshop tutorial:

"Clues to Spatial Depth" diagram:

Student work examples: