Stage 1 2006/07 – Contextual and Critical Studies
WORK SHEET 1: “Situating Art. Defining Design”
The first 2 lectures of the Contextual and Critical Studies Programme focus on ideas of Art and Design in the 20th and 21st centuries, and you are now asked to consider these in relation to yourself and your experience and research so far. For your recent library research project, you were asked to source and research an image of an artwork or a piece of design and your initial task includes this.
There are three parts to this task. All three are compulsory.
Considering the themes of the lectures: ‘Situating Art. Defining Design’, we would like you to:
1. Think about your own creative journey up to now – your own early art and design ‘history’ - and try to show in words and pictures what has been important to you and why. If you feel you haven’t seen much art and design for any reason, write about that and what it has meant to you. If you have seen stuff mostly in books or on TV or whatever, then write about that. Perhaps a particular person has been influential or encouraging. Consider all this in relation to what you’ve seen and heard in the lectures. Has this confirmed what you thought before or has it been surprising and unexpected. Is there any particular idea that has excited – or annoyed – you. Have your ideas of art and design been changed and if so, how and why.
2. Now we would like you to revisit your image and all the information you have found out about it in the library and to place it and define it in relation to Art or Design, explaining why you consider it to belong to one, both, or neither category. Try and do this creatively, imaginatively and visually as well as in written form. You might have to reproduce your image again, perhaps in a different size or you might want to ‘zoom in’ on a detail. Perhaps you need to source and include other images to expand and deepen your explanation/definition.
3. Can you recall being moved or amazed – completely blown away - by something you’ve seen, experienced or read about? Write a few lines on the piece of design or art, exhibition, artist or designer or art or design book that affected you. How do you think the artist, designer, curator or writer earned your response? Was it the way in which it had been made or put together? Was it how it looked? Was it because of the subject matter or what it was for? Was there something unexpected about it? Did it remind you of anything? Was it something to do with who made it or where you saw it? Something else?
Clarification of Physical Layout (or, what we want you to actually produce and hand in):
We are looking for a critical notebook, that evidences the above, packed with recorded thoughts, supported by researched ideas, referenced quotations, diagrams, mappings, drawings and images.
We also want you to write a word-processed, referenced text, numbering about 500 words, about the image you researched for ‘Search and Rescue’. Include all the information you found in the library. In addition, place and define it in relation to what you have remembered, researched, noted and visualized for the above (1,2 and 3) and in relation to Art or Design, explaining why you consider it to belong to one, both, or neither category. Stick your text in your Critical Notebook.
When using quotations from the texts you consult, remember to reference these fully, using footnotes and Vancouver (see below). Each written response to the task sheets should also be followed by a short bibliography listing all sources used.
The hand in date for the Critical Notebooks will be Wednesday, 6th December by 4.00pm, outside CCS office, GP20, Gray's Portacabin.
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Academic Presentation:
DetailsofVancouver andinformation about how to cite references generally can be found on the RGU Library website:
(For Vancouver style, please follow the linkprovided)
Next Week: Tutorials in Studio, Wednesday 1st November , 10.00am -12.00