6-7 pgs double spaced. Due with logbook 1 in hardcopy in class 14 February; electronic copy of each to TA dropbox
In this assignment you explore what counts as a museum, an artwork, something feminist. You will find helpful Freeland, Ch4: “Money, markets, museums” and “How to Analyze a work of Art” at http://www.ehow.com/how_6541679_analyze-work-art.html
1) Choose which three
museums you will visit: one
Smithsonian, one Private, one Mixed or Alternative from the following list: You
will need to spend several hours at each site: take at least one whole day, or
several days in part, to do all three. Take friends, family, partners,
roommates, classmates with you! Make it as fun as possible! Get various
opinions about museums, exhibitions, artworks. Make it celebratory! Metro info:
http://www.wmata.com/ Shuttle UM:
http://www.transportation.umd.edu/shuttle.html/ Look at museum websites for
days, hours, directions, and other info.
Smithsonians: http://www.si.edu/Museums/
Private Galleries,
original collection and/or educational:
·
The Phillips Collection (special exhibitions
students $10, otherwise $8, under 18 free):
http://www.phillipscollection.org/
Mixed and Alternative:
·
Something not on this list you propose – ask
Katie or TA for approval.
2) Take careful notes
of the following at each venue you visit: at each one pick (at least) one exhibition to consider specifically
and one artwork to analyze:
= What do you notice first about this building or site?
= Who is this place for? How can you tell?
= is there a store? What’s available there and how much do
things generally cost?
= What guidance do visitors get? What do you find most
useful yourself?
= How can you tell what is here? What is on permanent
exhibition? What is new & current?
= Where are the women? artists, visitors, curators,
collectors: how can you find out?
= What issues of social justice are on display and how?
Which social groups are addressed?
= Is this museum
“feminist”? How can you tell? What issues does asking this bring up?
= Which exhibition most catches your eye and interest? Why?
= What can you find out about the exhibition as a whole: who
put it together and why? how can you tell? what information is available about
this? are there brochures? are there catalogs? Take any free brochures and look
through (or buy if you want) available catalogs. Are there tours, cell phone
info, labels, what else? Read all wall info. Who paid for this?
= Is this exhibition
“feminist”? How can you tell? What issues does asking this bring up?
= Which one artwork most interests you? Why?
= What can you find out about it? (can you answer any of the
questions from the online site How to Analyze…? is that information available
at the exhibition?)
= What do you notice about it? What about it matters most to
you?
= Is this artwork
“feminist”? How can you tell? What issues does asking this bring up?
= What was unexpected
about any of this?
3) Go online and see
what is available for the museums you visited, the exhibition you chose,
the artwork you examined; at the museum site and elsewhere on the web.
= What social media does this museum take advantage of and
how? How does it add to your analysis and understandings?
= What larger
institutions, corporations, educational foundations, government entities, or
publics, activisms, politics is the museum, exhibition or artwork part of?
= Do you find anything
unexpected on the web?
= What did you learn
from your visit that could not have been learned only looking on the web?
4) Decide which of
the three museums you will analyze in the most detail. Write three pages
answering the questions from your notes for this one.
5) Write one page
each, doing the same for the other two venues.
6) Now you have done
that, write one page in which you talk about what you learned from doing
this, considering especially what this suggests to you about what counts as a
feminist approach to art, for you and for others.
7) Now one more page:
create a list of things that surprised you while doing this exercise, any
part of it. As you examine this list, what do you learn about what you assumed
before you noticed these surprises? Write down at least three of those
assumptions and describe how they altered.
THIS IS YOUR FIRST
DRAFT! TIME TO REWRITE, ASK FOR FEEDBACK FROM BUDDIES, DO AGAIN, AND THEN DO A
FINAL EDIT!
8) Put these bits in
this order: #6 (what you learned about feminist art) is the first part, #4
is the second part, #5 is the third part, #7 is the last page.
9) Rewrite all this
as a single, crafted essay, 6-7 pages long. You may include personal bits
about the experiences involved, your thoughts and questions, and your
companions. The last page (#7) can be just a list with discussion or can be
incorporated into the essay. You may show the draft to others and get advice
about how to rewrite it. You may ask someone else to do a final edit for you,
catching spelling errors, grammar, typos, etc. If English is not your native
language, this may be especially useful. (If it is a little longer or shorter,
don’t worry about that.)
10) Be sure you do
not copy things off the web without attributions. So if you use anyone
else’s words be sure to cite these with footnotes.
Add a bibliography that includes all
the websites you visited and any catalogs, brochures or wall labels you quote
or use information from, and any other materials you used. What styles do you
use? Any standard one is fine: APA, MLA, Chicago are all good. To find out more
Google “citation styles” and use those sites coming up for help in doing this
well.
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