Fall 2017Syllabus v. 1.2
Dr. Thomas F. Arnold
Contact:
Office: Elliott Basement 008F
Office hours:M 10-12; W 10-12 + 1-2 + 5-7; F 10-12 + 1-2; or by appointment.
History Through Art and Architecture (Social Studies credit)
Course goals:
1. Explore the form and meaning of "art" in human societies of very different times and places.
2. Understand the persistence and power of art in human society, and understand how historical images and artistic meanings help shape our perceptions and behavior today.
3. Recognize some of the most important and influential patterns of artistic expression in human history, particularly in the Western or European world.
4. Identify some of the most significant art objects in history, and explain the connections between objects of different times and places (or explain a lack of connection between representative objects).
5. Become familiar with the basic concepts and vocabulary of art history and artistic production.
6. Learn how to better see the world, and understand what we see.
7. Create art objects to respond to the art objects and ideas under study.
Policies:
1. Attendance is expected; tardiness is not. “On time” means seated and ready to begin class at the top of the hour. Attendance will be taken a minute or two before class is scheduled to begin. If you are tardy -- meaning, you enter the classroom after the top of the hour -- please take your seat quietly and then speak with the instructor at the end of the class period to ensure that you are marked late (rather than absent). Please review your Academy Handbook for a full discussion of excused absence policies.
2. Class participation is expected. All students are expected to be alert, attentive, and respectful throughout every class session. Especially during workshop sessions -- that is, most course meeting days -- students are expected toactively participate by asking and answering questions, making observations, shaping the class discussion, etc.
3. Students are expected to arrive in class with materials for taking notes -- a very good idea -- and writing responses, if so asked. Students are very strongly encouraged to bring laptops, tablets, or smart phones to class and use them to view online images.
4. Without prior notice, a given class workshop session may be suspended and replaced with (or supplemented by) a graded written assignment to be completed on the spot.
5. Academic integrity is expected. Cheating, plagiarism and every other form of dishonesty will not be tolerated. Please review your Academy Handbook for a full discussion of the relevant policies.
6. Any student with a disability will be accorded reasonable accommodation, as arranged in advance.
7. There is no provision for extra credit or additional or replacement assignments.
8. Unless otherwise indicated, all assignments to be completed outside of class time are due at the beginning of class on the day indicated in this syllabus. Extensions will only be granted in the circumstance of documented illness or a similar emergency. In the case of substantial projects, students requesting an extension (in circumstance of illness or a similar emergency) must also submit evidence of significant work in progress. In every case, students are encouraged to meet with the instructor as soon as possible if they are concerned that they will not be able to meet a deadline.
9. Students will only be excused from scheduled in-class examinations in the circumstance of documented illness or a similar emergency. Students who miss other scheduled class activities will be able to make up those activities during office hours, but only in the case of excused absences.
10. Written work will be graded (and those grades posted to Powerschool) in as timely a manner as possible. Normally, exams will be returned to students within two weeks. Shorter written assignments will normally be graded sooner. Larger individual and group projects may take longer than two weeks to be graded.
10. This syllabus may be amended by the instructor at any time. In such cases, students will always receive timely prior notification.
11. Ball State University aspires to be a university that attracts and retains a diverse faculty, staff, and student body. We are committed to ensuring that all members of the community are welcome, through valuing the various experiences and worldviews represented at Ball State and among those we serve. We promote a culture of respect and civil discourse as expressed in our Beneficence Pledge and through university resources found at
Methods:
The semester is divided into four parts, each with a distinct overall theme to explore:
Part 1. Nature: Describing and understanding the world around us (10 workshop class periods)
Part 2. Body, Image, and Person: Defining the human (10 workshop sessions)
Part 3. Making space: Architecture (6 workshop sessions)
Part 4. Narratives: Telling stories (9 workshop sessions)
Most class meetings will be collaborative workshop sessionsconsideringa particular set ofartistic examples, particularly the designated "master works."Before each workshop session, students will receive (by email) an agenda including a list of all art objects to be considered (especially the designated "master works"), links to online images of those objects, vocabulary, names and dates of artists, historic and geographic references, etc. Short reading passages may be included onthis agenda, or supplied separately. Readings in the textbook will also be listed on the agenda.
Students will not be expected to read or consider images or otherwise prepare for each workshop session; rather, students are expected to approach the subject matter of each session afresh, without prior study. After each workshop, students will be expected to further consider the art objects indicated, "do the reading," visit the on-campus Owsley Museum of Art, etc. Each daily agenda is therefore a guide to further study as well as an outline for a given class session.
Workshop sessions are expected to be collaborative, shaped as much by student questions and observations as by the instructor's design.
Students will receive a quarterly class participation grade.
Following each of the four parts of the class, there will be an in-class written test.
A few class sessions will be used to introduce and explain assignments, including projects.
Textbook
Sherman and Salisbury, West in the World, 3rd edition (maroon cover)
Assignments:points:date:
Smaller written assignments
Virtual museum visit report50W Aug 23
Art object analysis essay50WSept 7
Individual and group projects
Kunstkammerindividual project200W Oct 11
Architecture Charrette group project200F Dec 1
Museum exhibition group project200Exam week
In-class examinations
Test 1 100F Sept 22
Test 2100M Oct 23
Test 3100F Nov 10
Test 4100W Dec 13
Quarterly participation and discussion grades
Weeks 1 to 4100F Sept 2
Weeks 5 to 8100F Sept 30
Weeks 9 to 12100F Oct 28
Weeks 13 to 17100F Dec 9
Total1,500 points
Grading scale, for both individual assignments and course final grade:
Percentage total:Letter grade:
.940-1.000A
.900-939A-
.870-899B+
.830-869B
.800-829B-
.770-799C+
.730-769C
.700-729C-
Below 700D*
Art history course calendar
Introduction: Looking, seeing, and thinking
M Aug 14: Introduction to course; instructions for Virtual Museum Visit assignment
W Aug 16: Form
F Aug 18: Composition
M Aug 21: Class outside for solar eclipse!
W Aug 23: Instructions for Art Object Analysis assignment
Part 1. Nature: Describing and understanding the world around us
F Aug 25: First Art
M Aug 28: Grave Goods
W Aug 30: Naturalism
F Sept 1: Still life
(M Sept 5: No class, Labor Day)
W Sept 7: Illusion
FSept 9: Perspective
M Sept 11: Instructions for Kunstkammer individual project assignment
W Sept 13: Naivety
F Sept 15: Classical landscape
M Sept 18: American landscapes
W Sept 20: Dissolution
F Sept 22: Test 1
Part 2. Body, Image, and Person: Defining the human
M Sept 25: Imagining the body
W Sept 27: Freeing the body
F Sept 29: Bodies released
M Oct2: The portrait
W Oct4: The icon
F Oct 6: Crucifixion
(M Oct 9: No class, Fall Break)
W Oct 11: Kunstkammer presentations
F Oct 13: Christian heroes
M Oct 16: The feminine form
W Oct 18: American bodies
F Oct 20: Iconoclasm
M Oct 23: Test 2
Part 3. Making space: Architecture
W Oct 25: Introduction to architecture Charrette group project
F Oct 27: Temple
M Oct 30: Church
W Nov 1: Gothic Church
F Nov 3: Mosque
M Nov 6: Landscape architecture
W Nov 8: After the orders
F Nov 10: Test 3
Part 4. Narratives: Telling stories
M Nov 13: Chronicles
W Nov 15: Journeys
F Nov 17: History
M Nov 27: American history
W Nov 29: Realism
F Dec1: Architecture Charrette group project presentations
M Dec 4: American realism
W Dec 6: Social realism
F Dec 8: Genre
M Dec 11: American Genre
W Dec 13: Test 4
F Dec 15: Auction simulation
Museum exhibition group project presentations during final exam week; date and time to be determined.
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