Instructions
week 2 vocab: https://quizlet.com/500601056/chapters-5-and-6-week-2-sculpture-and-architecture-flash-cards/
Choose from a variety of assessments to engage with the humanities. For Modules/Weeks 2-6, you will select from a list of options divided into the following categories: Create, Remediate, Respond, Research, Connect, Historicize, and Discuss. Most categories include more than one option. You only need to complete ONE option per week, but you must work from five different categories between weeks 2 and 6. Your professor will want to see varied responses from you across the course. Each engagement requires the use of vocabulary terms from Introduction to Humanities vocabulary chart. You may want to think ahead as you select the option for this week’s engagement. Please indicate by title and number which HE engagement you completed on your submission. Example: HE2: Option 3, the Ekphrastic Response. In week 8, you will select your three most promising engagements, revise them, and submit as part of your assessment portfolio.
Your Humanities Engagements should be inspired by the focus of each week’s study:
Your week 2 HE should demonstrate engagement with sculpture or architecture
Your week 3 HE should demonstrate engagement with painting or photography
Your week 4 HE should demonstrate engagement with literature or music
Your week 5 HE should demonstrate engagement with theatre or dance
Your week 6 HE should demonstrate engagement with film or television
Be sure to read the choices carefully as most of the prompts contain more than one task.
Note: A text is any site of meaning. A written text, a painting, a photograph, a sculpture, a dance, a speech, and a building are examples of texts.
Create:
Option 1: Be a Sculptor. Using any medium or combination of mediums, including Play-dough, clay, mud, sugar, butter, ice or sand, create a sculpture. You are free to select any subject matter, but choose thoughtfully as you will need to discuss the sculpture in a two-page reflection/analysis of your work. In a 1.5 to 2-page essay, first explain your process and how easy or difficult you found creating your sculpture (this part should be 3/4 to one page). Then, discuss and highlight the significance of your sculpture’s size, color, completeness, material/s, and truth to materials. Use and highlight three additional terms from this week’s vocabulary (see vocabulary chart) to guide this analysis (this part should be 3/4 to 1-page). Your complete submission should include a picture of your titled sculpture, an explanation of your process, and your analysis of your piece. Total length of the essay portion of the project should be 1.5 to two pages.
Option 2: Emulate an Artist. Choose a sculptor whose style and content you appreciate. Create a sculpture in the style of that artist. You need not be a good artist to do this—just give it a try. You will learn a lot from trying to emulate an acclaimed sculptor. Title your sculpture and then take a picture of it and post the image to a document. Write a 1.5 to 2-page essay that explains what details of your selected artist you tried to capture (focus on at least four). Use and highlight five terms from this week’s vocabulary to guide this analysis. Explain how your take on the subject matter compares to the original artist’s take on the subject matter. How is your content similar or different? Where specifically did you succeed in your emulation? Where did you fail?
Option 3: Ekphrastic Response. Write a collection of three poems in response to a trio of related sculptures or buildings. Select three sculptures sharing a commonality you decide, such as subject matter, use of materials, time period or culture. Each final poem must be a minimum of 15 lines and include a link to the visual image that serves as inspiration. Follow each poem with a 2-4 sentence explanation–that uses and highlights two or more vocabulary words from this week’s chart–of what you like about the selected sculpture or building. The poems must go through at least one revision cycle and the commentary of an outside reader must be included on a draft or on a separate document. Choose a reader who either appreciates poetry and art (sculpture or architecture) who is a careful reader and can provide you with valuable commentary. The final assignment should include 1. Links to each visual text used for inspiration, 2. a first/rough draft of each poem, 3. constructive commentary from an outside reader on drafts of the poems or as a separate writing, 4. final and polished drafts of the poems, and 5. a 2-4 sentence explanation per sculpture of why you like each sculpture.
Remediate:
Option 4: Remediate a text. By remediation, we mean adapt a well-known image for a new audience. Come “between” the text and the audience and adjust it to fit a new exigency (situation or external cause). Recreate a well-known sculpture, but change the content or adapt the subject matter (keeping Jacobus and Martin’s definitions in mind) to appeal to a new audience. In your remediation, appeal to a different culture, audience age, political concern, or time period. Record a talk where you discuss both the original art and your new art. Use five or more terms from this week’s vocabulary in your discussion. Highlight all vocabulary uses. Show both texts to your audience. You can record with PP, Screencast-O-Matic or any other tool that allows you to capture images and sound. Discuss the details (focus on at least four) you have altered and how they adapt the text for a new audience. Has the subject matter changed and the overall message is the same? Or has the subject matter remained the same, but you’ve used it differently to create new content? Example of a mediated text: See The Last Supper I which has been mediated several times. Here are 50 mediations of The Last Supper (https://theawesomer.com/50-last-supper-parodies/11876/) . Each clearly adapts the text for a new audience.
Option 5: Sculpture History. Find 3-4 sculptures created by different artists of the same historical person, such as of David (of the Bible) or of Abraham Lincoln. Examine how each text communicates a different quality of the figure. Is the head a point of focus? Does the sculpture demonstrate movement or is it static? Does it feature elongated arms or legs? Are the features balanced or out of proportion? These decisions communicate the time and place of creation and an interpretation of the figure’s personality or importance. After considering how others presented the figure, create your own sculpture, drawing-out a quality you wish to exemplify. Record a presentation where you 1) announce four or more terms of sculpture (drawn from this week’s vocabulary) that you will use to guide your discussion; 2) present and discuss the 3-4 texts, mentioning the qualities each artist brought out in his or her sculpture; and 3) discuss your sculpture. Note what features you aimed to emphasize in your creation and what audience you hope your art will appeal to. In your presentation, be sure to use four or more vocabulary words from this week’s list to discuss your sculpture. Keep in mind that your sculpture can be simple and you need not be an experienced artist to give this a try. Attention to detail in your sculpture and your discussion of those details are more important than your skillful sculpting.
Write:
Option 6: Annotated Descriptive Bibliography. Write a six-source (or more) descriptive annotated bibliography on an artistic school, period, or movement of architecture or sculpture. You may focus on one topic or your research may compare two schools. Think of the periods and movements mentioned in your text and also consider those described in the week’s videos. In your review of these sources, use and highlight four more vocabulary words from your vocabulary chart. If the sources you annotated are very short, you may need to summarize more than six sources. The annotated bibliography should be formatted according to APA or Turabian standards. Each annotation should be a minimum of one well developed paragraph and the length of the whole project should be a minimum of two pages. Each source should add new information to your presentation; sources should not repeat the same information.
Option 7: Significant Building–Cultural and Historic Use. Choose a building or structure with a significant religious and cultural history. Buildings you might consider include the Taj Mahal, Hagia Sophia, Stonehenge, The Great Mosque of Kairouan, the Alhambra, Chartres Cathedral, Konark Temple, Tintern Abbey, or the Betakin Cliff Dwellings. In a 2.5 to 3.5 page paper, explore 2-4 ways the structure has been used or valued. Employ and highlight four or more of this week’s vocabulary words in this discussion. Have different people claimed or used the structure over time? Has its role in its culture changed? Your paper should cite a minimum or two reliable sources and be formatted according to APA or Turabian standards. Include a reference page.
Option 8: Practice Criticism. Using the perception keys in chapters 5 and 6, choose six to eight prompts to respond to. All of your answers may respond to one chapter’s prompts or you may answer some prompts from each of the week’s chapters. Each written response should be about a half page for a total of three pages of written response. Highlight the use of four or more of the week’s vocabulary words in your responses (across all answers). If answers are longish, six questions will do. If answers are on the short side, you will need to answer up to 8 prompts. Include the page number, title, and item number (P. 69 Flaming June, number 1) and the exact wording of each prompt you chose to respond to (copy and paste from your textbook to your document or type the prompt). Each response should begin with a topic sentence that answers the prompt and the paragraph response should go on to discuss the topic sentence with specific references to the texts under discussion. Format paper according to APA or Turabian standards and include a reference page for any sources used.
Connect:
Option 9: Faith Integration. Create a presentation that explores how a single sculpture or building can map onto the understanding of our faith. By “mapping,” we mean viewing one source in light of another. Consider how the study of the humanities informs, enriches, or challenges your understanding of creation, biblical stories, church history, Christian living, or human behavior. Consider texts that directly connect with biblical themes, such as the Santa Maria Antiqua Sarcophagus or the Colossus of Constantine. How does understanding these texts inform your faith or understanding of biblical narratives? Additionally, you may consider a text that does not directly correlate with biblical accounts but that can cause you to examine the self in light of biblical ideas, such as Judy Chicago’s The Dinner Party. Create a presentation (on PowerPoint, Prezi or other presentation software) that presents the following: 1) the highlighted use of four or more vocabulary words from this week’s list; 2) information about your selected text as a piece of art—three to five facts. (Who created it? What media is it? What are its distinctive artistic features?); 3) Information/research on your text’s subject matter from at least one other reputable source—3 to 5 facts. For example, you might research who used the building or who it was built to honor. If the sculpture depicts a biblical figure, what can another source, including the Bible, tell you about that figure?; 5) A discussion of how the information you reviewed shapes your understanding of the text and enriches or challenges your faith. The relationship between your research and the subject matter should be reciprocal; they should illuminate each other; and 5) a reference page in APA or Turabian style.
Option 10: Cultural Insight. Consider how different cultures use space and form differently. Examine how a culture other than your own creates and uses space differently for a purpose your culture also values. For example, the purpose of a home and the home space can look very different to different cultures, depending upon time period, geography, and culture. Other kinds of spaces you might explore include those created for medical care, religious ceremonies, financial centers, or entertainment. Examine the space and discuss the way it represents a culture’s traditions, practices, and habits. Examine the space through the lens of four or more of this week’s vocabulary words. How does this compare to the way you use the same kind of space? Create a presentation (PowerPoint, Prezi or other presentation software) that includes the following: 1) The kind of space you will discuss and why you selected this kind of space, 2) Information about the way the space is created and used in another culture—how does the space serve the needs of a specific people?, 3) A chart or diagram comparing the construction and use of the space in your culture to the same in the culture you explored, 4) four or more of this week’s vocabulary words (incorporate the vocabulary words into the spoken or graphic portions of your presentation, but but be sure to underscore or announce their use so your professor can give you credit for their use), and 5) a reference page in APA or Turabian style for all sources used.
Option 11: Form, Function and Faith. Explore ancient, medieval, or early modern (think very old) buildings of faith (churches, temples, synagogues, cathedrals). Select three to examine and analyze each structure by looking at five to six details where form expresses function. You might consider The Cathedral of Trier or The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. (Other buildings are mentioned in this week’s textbook readings.) In what ways were these buildings crafted to facilitate the Spirit of God? If a non-Christian faith, what other deity is reflected or foregrounded in the building? How did the building meet the needs of the religious followers who met there? Then, discuss your current place of worship. How does its form express its function? Does your house of worship at all reflect the worship houses of the past or does it express form and function in a very different way? Create a visual aid of any kind that displays the three very old churches you explore and an image of your home church—the images can be external or internal or both. Use arrows, circles, and other kinds of highlighting to draw our attention to the details you will discuss. In your presentation, use and highlight four or more of this week’s vocabulary words (incorporate the vocabulary words into the spoken or graphic portions of your presentation, but be sure to underscore or announce their use so your professor can give you credit for their use). Accompany your visual aid with an audio recording of your discussion of the details or with a 1.5 to 2-page composition. In either case, you can include both elements of the assignment in one file or, if needed, you can upload both an audio and a visual file to the assignment port.
Historicize:
Option 12: Research the life. Read about the life of of a sculptor or architect who interests you and make a video presentation that discusses their life and the social conditions of the time and how the artist reacted to them in their art. This presentation should be about 4 minutes long and should contain bibliographical references in APA or Turabian style (either on a slide at the end or in a separate document). A minimum (but likely more) of two reliable sources should be used and four or more of this week’s vocabulary words must be used and emphasized in your presentation. The biography should cover information from the artist’s young formation to his or her adulthood. Focus on events, politics, and people that helped to shape the creator’s artistic sensibility. How has this artist contributed to the development of art during their lifetime? Part of this presentation should explore how knowledge of the artist’s life informs understanding of his or her art. Refer to (and show) at least two specific texts to discuss this connection.
Option 13: Art through the Ages. Select four sculptures or styles of architecture that have similar subject matter but that are from different time periods or artistic movements. Include images of the four texts in a recorded presentation (PowerPoint, Prezi or other presentation software). Accompany the images with your discussion of texts in chronological order, moving from the oldest to the most recent, noting the changes in media and presentation across time. Discuss the similarities and differences in the texts and how those points reflect time period, artistry, and cultural values. Use and highlight four or more of this week’s vocabulary words in your presentation. Cite the images and any outside sources you use to discuss the art in a reference page formatted according to APA or Turabian standards.
Option 14: Commemorative Art. Discuss three sculptures/monuments that commemorate historical moments–a text that captures the victory of an athlete or the memory of lost soldiers. Create and record a presentation that presents each of the texts and discusses their significance. Answer questions, such as how does the image operate? Does it commemorate an event or foment a reaction to an event? Is the image inspiration or propaganda? How did audiences react to the images? What about the image profoundly connects an audience to this moment in history? Use and highlight four or more of this week’s vocabulary words in your presentation. Your presentation should include: 1) Images of three commemorative texts, 2) A discussion of each text, and 3) a reference page in APA or Turabian style for any sources used.
