Details about The Delaware Contemporary Project

The text below is the same as the one on the handout I distributed on March 31 during our field trip. Let me know if you have questions.

Extra-Credit Opportunity

 If you want three bonus points toward your final grade, all you need to do is to attend the Liberal Arts Symposium this Friday in the Young Gallery (1st floor). Check-in with me before it starts at 5 pm and directly after it concludes around 6 pm. If you're there for both check-in times, and you don't scroll through your phone during the presentations, you'll get three extra credit points. 

If you can't attend the symposium for work or commuting reasons but still want the opportunity to earn three extra-credit points, see me and we'll arrange a different assignment.

Assignments for Next Week: April 5 and April 7

 Tuesday, April 5: Zine Reading

If for whatever reason you didn't submit your zine when it was due on March 24, have it ready to go at the start of class. I will be up on 3 during the lunch hour if anyone needs help.

Thursday, April 7: Presentations 

Each student will have about 5 minutes to present their draft ideas for both the art and the writing components of The Delaware Contemporary project.  

Zine Workshop This Thursday

 Each student needs to have their "content" for their zine finished by the start of class on March 24. We will make the books in class, but you need to be ready to Xerox when the class starts.

Questions: csmith@dcad.edu

FINAL Catalog Entry Due This Thursday

Please note: There can be no extensions or late submissions. You need this document for your FYP review.

Questions: csmith@dcad.edu

Exquisite Corpse Zine!

 Ew! Exquisite Corpse! If you're thinking this is really morbid, you're not wrong. What happens when two words with really different meanings crash together? Surrealism! Click Here.

In class today we're going to compose, edit, and construct an 8-page zine based on permutations of Emily Dickinson's famous poem, "I Heard a Fly buzz - when I died -". Please follow directions. This will be fun and funny. Language has resources that we are barely aware of.

Ukrainian Cartoonists Document War

 

If you live in a media landscape that is totally tuned out of current events in the world, you might not know that Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the biggest and most threatening that Europe has seen since Adolph Hitler in World War 2.

Artists and writers have responded. What do you think about art and politics? Do artists have a responsibility to respond to injustice? Why or why not? Here is a link to a cartoon published yesterday. Maybe art is a more truthful vehicle to express the horror of war when compared to standard journalism? See also this.

Example of Preliminary Information Assignment (Discussion Board)

 

Short Video: Tomashi Jackson, Whitney Biennial, 2019

Short video:  The 2022 Whitney Biennial.

Tomashi Jackson (b. 1980)

"Time and Space (Blue)" 2020

+ Her "maximalist" use of language appeals to my sensibility.

+ I like her use of recycled and ephemeral materials for environmental reasons.

+ The technique of building layers and colors seem both haphazard and perfectly balanced. This duality draws me in. 

Catalogue Entry Assignment: Pay Close Attention

 As everyone should know by now, your First-Year Portfolio Review will take place on Tuesday, March 29. There are no classes scheduled that day, so your only on-campus commitment will be your review.

Part of your portfolio will be your "Catalogue Entry". Sometimes "catalogue" is spelled "catalog". We are teaching this unit in all of the sections of the "Writing for the Arts" classes.

Your catalogue entry will be a single-spaced document of between 200-350 words that focuses on one single work of an artist that you will choose from a long list of recent participants from the last five Whitney Biennials: 2012, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2022. Here is a list. Have fun. Use the internet to do further research. 

Tuesday, March 8: Choose artist, work, and three solid reasons why. Upload to class discussion board on Populi no later than 1:00 pm.

Thursday, March 10: Finished and complete draft, uploaded no later than 1:00 pm (5 pts)

Spring Break!

Tuesday, March 22: Bring an intermediate draft on paper with you to class. One-on-one five-minute conferences.

Thursday, March 24: FINAL version due. Upload to Populi no later than 1:00 pm. No Casual Mistakes! (5 pts)

Tuesday, March 29: First-Year Portfolio. No Class.

Preview of Upcoming Creative Writing Assignments

 Hello Writing for the Arts Students!

We're now coming up to the middle of the semester, so I thought I'd give you a preview of two projects we'll work on when we get back from spring recess. 

"Writing for the Arts" encompasses all kinds of writing, not just expository prose (so-called regular paragraphs). Two upcoming assignments prove that there's more to the intersections of writing and art than critical or art-historical writing.

ZINE PROJECT: Each student will make their own photocopied zine that incorporates original writing and original art/design. Check out this video.

DELAWARE CONTEMPORARY PROJECT: Each student will choose one work from the current exhibition "Narrative" at the Delaware Contemporary, and make a piece of art in dialogue with it. The final and most important step will be to write a text (could be poetry, story, analysis, political activism, combined genres, etc.) Curators at the Delaware Contemporary are going to choose the winning projects. These students will be invited to participate in a public event at the Delaware Contemporary in early May, and also have their work displayed. Take a sneak peak at some of the work online.  

Checklist for final submission of your artist's statement

Your final Artist Statement is due about 48 hours from now (1:00 pm, March 3). Today in class we'll be focusing on the positive moves that we see in each other's statements. We'll also troubleshoot some of the common problems and errors to look out for. 

Here's a quick checklist. If you can answer "yes" to the following five questions, you should be in good shape.

1) Is my statement honest? Do I believe it myself?

2) Is my statement comprehensible? Do I understand it myself?

3) Is my statement specific enough? Do I give brief examples? Influences from art history or pop culture.

4) Is my statement complete? Does it tell a little bit about myself and a little bit about the reason why I make the art/design that I make?

5) Does my statement use correct grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.?

As Promised: An Artist Statement Generator

 

Click here for Jasper Rigole's brilliant and hilarious artist statement generator.