Project #5: You’re the Curator!

DUE: 12/09

For your final project, you will take-on the role of curator. We have gone to a number of institutions this semester. Every exhibition represents the work of an individual curator. The curator selects which artists will be exhibited, which of their artworks will be shown, and where the work will be installed within the layout of the gallery.

The premise of this exercise is that you have just been hired as a new curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Since we live in a digital age, (and this is your first job) you have been assigned to curate an online exhibition of work from the Met’s collection. You may choose from their 5,000+ years of art objects. To find your images, you will go to the museum’s website and browse their collection. Their entire collection of objects (!) is 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 work, description, etc…). Begin a folder on your hard drive to collect and sort any images that peak your interest. It is better to start with too-many images than with not-enough!

First, you will need to create a descriptive theme for your exhibit. Since this project is connected to your Field Trip #6 Reaction, this will be the same theme as your writing. Your theme can be medium-specific, like, “Oil Paintings from the Collection of the Metropolitan”, or it can be content-specific, like, “Depictions of Pets Throughout the History of Art”.

From here, you need to select fifteen works of art. It is best to accumulate more than the fifteen images, though, so that you have more to choose from. Part of the curator’s job is that of quality control. The works that you choose need to best represent your ideas, and also represent what you believe to be the interests of the museum. As with your reaction paper, these images must represent at least 3 additional sections of the museum.

To present your Curatorial Project, you will need to create a new post in Blogger. You can include both your writing and your project in one blog entry. Here is the layout order for your blog content, as well as the formatting requirements:

1) The title of your new blog needs to be the descriptive theme of your exhibit.

2) Next, paste the text of your curatorial statement/Field Trip #6 Reaction.

3) After your statement, insert the 15 images in the order that you want them to be viewed. Each of these images should be upload to Blogger as “Medium Sized”

4) Finally, underneath each image, you must include a line of info in this order:

Artist’s Name, “Title of Work” (in quotations), year completed, and section of museum.

Field Trip #6: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

DUE: 12/09

Your final field trip will be to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Met has been New York’s premier historical art museum since its founding in 1870. The Met has a collection that showcases 5,000 years of art from cultures around the world. Admission to the Met is a suggested donation of $10 for students (however, you can get in for $5, $1, 50¢, etc…). This time, your reaction paper will be tied into your fifth project.

Rather than discussing the works of one artist, your paper will compare the works of many artists, spanning the globe and the centuries. You will scour the museum’s collection in search of works of art that relate to the theme of your exhibition. The only guideline is that your work must represent at least three different sections of the museum (Modern Art, Egyptian Art, Greek Art, etc…). The different sections of the museum are highlighted on the museum’s floor plan. Maps are available in the museum’s lobby. I strongly recommend that you outline what you plan to see beforehand…the museum can be overwhelming in scale!

In your writing, discuss the theme of your exhibit. Why did you choose this theme and what do you expect your viewers to take from your theme? Discuss at least three works from your exhibit and how they relate to the theme of your exhibition. Consider these questions: How do my selections relate formally…what similarities do they share in appearance? How do my selections relate conceptually…what similarities do they seem to share in purpose or meaning? Do these pieces evoke any common feelings or memories for me? What other themes or motifs can I draw between the pieces? Are my analyses affected by my knowledge of where or when the work was created? As usual, do not include lengthy, biographical information about the artist, and, of course, do not plagiarize any descriptions or opinions from another source.

Your writing needs to be at least 250 words. Submit your writing in the format described in your Project #5 Guidelines.

Field Trip #5: Chelsea Galleries

DUE: 11/23

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-investors, part-art lovers. 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 250 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. I have listed them by street order. Feel free to explore and find your own galleries too.

Gallery: Cheim and Read Gallery

Location: 547 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Joan Mitchell

Gallery: Marlborough Gallery

Location: 545 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Rashaad Newsome

Gallery: Stux Gallery

Location: 530 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Halim Al Karim

Gallery: Yossi Milo Gallery

Location: 525 West 25^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Simen Johan

Gallery: Gagosian Gallery

Location: 555 West 24^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Richard Serra

Gallery: Hasted Kraeutler Gallery

Location: 537 West 24^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Marc Dennis

Gallery: Freight and Volume

Location: 530 West 24^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Kristin Shiele, Erica Magrey

Gallery: Barbara Gladstone Gallery

Location: 515 West 24^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Jim Hodges

Gallery: Matthew Marks Gallery

Location: 522 West 22^nd St.

Artist(s) on Display: Nan Goldin

Gallery: David Zwirner Gallery

Location: 533 West 19^th St.

Artist(s) on Display: Neo Rauch

Field Trip #4: The Brooklyn Museum

DUE: 11/11

For our fourth field trip, we will be visiting the Brooklyn Museum. This is one of the oldest and largest museums in the country. They boast a robust collection of work that ranges from ancient Egyptian and African art to contemporary art. In addition to their permanent collection, they stage many interesting special exhibitions.

At the museum, we will concentrate on three special exhibitions: “Youth and Beauty: Art of the American Twenties”, “Sanford Biggers: Sweet Funk-An Introspective” and “Timothy Greenfield Sanders: The Latino List”. Each of these exhibits deals with the issue of identity. Identity can be individual, it can be cultural, and it is almost certainly based in a specific time and place.

For your writing, select three works of art (one work from each show), that you feel best defines the idea of identity, as it relates to its exhibit. Here are some questions to consider in your writing: How does each work of art best sum-up the idea of identity for its represented show? Can you define these different identities? Do your works of art define identities that are personal or cultural, or a mixture of both? How does the place and time of each work of art affect its notion of identity? How do these notions of identity differ between the works of art that you chose? How are they similar?

Your finished writing needs to be at least 250 words. Post the writing on your Blogger page under the title, “Brooklyn Museum Reaction”, and label the post “Field Trip 4”.

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)*

Year Completed

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

Project #4: Illustrate a Story

DUE: 11/18

For your fourth 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, and the stories range 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 4”. Include 3-4 sentences 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.

Project #3 Guidelines

Project #3: Narrative Digital Collage

DUE: 10/28

The goal of this project is to establish and reinforce your understanding of the visual elements and the design principles. This project will focus on compositional design and on the visual element of space.

To make this digital collage, you will need to utilize the program Adobe Photoshop. Photoshop is available for you to use on any of the 8 Mac stations in the B-333 computer lab. Give yourself enough time, just in case the Mac stations are all in use. 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.

The general theme of this project is “That Reminds Me of the Time When…” I would like this collage to tell a story, or a narrative, that involves you. The narrative can illustrate a real event from your life, or it can be a pure fantasy involving yourself. To this effect, you may use digital 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 use to establish this illusion.

Begin your process by collecting images. Try Google Image searching for key terms. Do not to settle for the first acceptable image you stumble across. Starting a project like this with as much source material as possible actually makes it easier when it comes to designing your composition. Trust me…yourself as Photoshop designer will thank yourself as Google detective!

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

Field Trip #3 Reaction

Field Trip #3: The Sculpture Center

DUE: 10/21

The Sculpture Center is one of the premier non-profit art spaces in Long Island City, and it is just a stone’s throw from campus. Although they have only been in their current location (a former trolley repair shop) since 2001, the organization has been a contributing member of New York’s art community since 1928. We will be looking at the various exhibits on view, including “Sanford Biggers: Cosmic Voodoo Circus” on the main floor and “Short Stories” downstairs.

The physical space of the Sculpture Center is very unique. Artists who exhibit there need to consider how their work interacts with the surroundings. The term “Site-specific” refers to artwork that has been made to be shown in a particular space or venue. When an artist makes a site-specific work he/she must consider a number of different factors related to the space. These include the dimensions of the space, any unique architectural elements, and even its history and location.

For your writing, you will presume that all of the works on view are site-specific to this venue. Select any three works of art that are currently on display, and consider the following questions: How is the artwork affected by the space and its architecture? Does the history of the space or its location inform your perception of the work? Similarly, how does the artwork change your perception of the space? Would the artwork have the same effect in a different type of space? How do the artworks interact with each other within their surroundings?

Your writing needs to be at least 250 words. Post the writing on your Blogger page under the title, “Sculpture Center Reaction”, and label the post “Field Trip 3”.

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)*

Year Completed

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