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Visual and Ecological Analysis: Paintings, Sculptures, Earthworks, and Beyond

Description

Drawing upon research, write an essay consisting of 1) a detailed visual analysis, 2) an insightful ecological analysis of the earthy components comprising the artwork, and 3) offer a concrete critique of the intellectual underpinnings and goals of the artist and the work itself. This research paper should be approximately between 800-1000 words in length, without counting footnotes and listed works.

Learning Objectives

There are two primary learning objectives for this research project:

1.   to focus on the artwork’s visual and environmental elements, and

2.   to recognize the choices that an artist made in creating the artwork, as well as to better understand how the geologic/environmental/ecological properties of the artwork communicate ideas, content, and meaning.

Structure & General Guidelines

You approach to this research paper should include the following three steps:

1)  Selection/Observation/Description

Based on the literature and examples we have covered in class, you need to select an artist/architect and/or artwork/structure that most appeals to you in visual and environmental terms. Once you have selected the artist/artwork of your choice, you should look closely and identify the visual and ecological attributes of the work, trying to describe them carefully and accurately according to the intellectual vocabulary you have been building during the semester. In other words, this first, important part of your project encourages you to communicate what you notice without reading or referring to any textual information about the work. This phase requires to spend adequate time in the museum or other site of public display, if possible. I know it is tempting to skip to analysis or read about the work right away, but it is very important before beginning to write to contemplate what you see. Focusing on the visual elements—such as space, material, color, line, texture—will help you suspend any interpretative impulses and elevate your experience with the artwork. In turn, you should describe this experience and formal elements of the chosen piece in the opening page of your research paper.

2)  Analysis/Interpretation

This  is  the  second  step  of  your  approach  through  which  you  should  think  about  your observations more critically and try to make insightful statements about the work—akin to using  close  reading  of external  resources  to  formulate  an  argument  around  cultural  and scientific knowledge. This phase is asking you to think about how the specific visual and ecological elements you have identified in the first step combine and create a coherent and meaningful whole, and what effect all these separate elements have on you and other viewers. You do not need to draw conclusions yet—this should actually form your critique in the end, which is the next step—but you should try to understand the visual, intellectual, and scientific logic of the artwork itself. In this sense, you should begin formulating valid research questions based on your observations and readings to emphasize the legitimacy of multiple cultural and scientific viewpoints. During this phase, in other words, you should be balancing observations and critical thinking combined with facts about the artist, the artwork, and the historical/social/cultural context in which the artwork was created. In this section of your paper, you should bring at least 4 scholarly sources (such as journal articles, essays and books. NOT YouTube videos or websites such as Wikipedia or personal blogs) to help you with the analysis.

3)  Critique

Once you have spent adequate time selecting, observing, describing, reading about, and analyzing the artist/artwork, you will inevitably have made your own mind about the work and the interconnections between material, style, meaning, intellectual goals and effects, successes or failures of what you are researching. Making value judgments of the work requires critical thinking skills, which is encouraged and should be incorporated in your paper in this last part.

Specific Instructions

1.   Length

All term papers must be approximately between 800 and 1000 words (or more if you wish), double-spaced, typewritten pages (using one-inch margins and a 12-point font). Word format only.

2.    Content.

Follow the three steps of approach explained above to properly structure your paper:

•   Introduction: Detailed description of the artwork based on careful observation.

•   Analysis/Interpretation: Certain terminology needs to be used throughout the paper, such as medium, color-pigments used, geologic origin of certain components, contour lines, texture, function, etc. Bring scholarly sources!!

•   Conclusion: Your conclusion should comprise of your own critique and reaction to the work. To formulate a fair judgment, you will need to evaluate your own feelings and the reasons that justify your response to the artwork. In other words, your critique should be drawn by your conclusions regarding the experience that you had with the piece and the analysis/interpretation of the work based on your sources.

3)  Bibliography (Works Listed section).

For all in-text citations, you may use the Chicago Manual Style or MLA. If you are not familiar with either of these styles, please consult the online Chicago style guide or Purdue University MLA Formatting and Style Guide. The bibliography must also follow the style that you used throughout the paper.