ART207 High Art, Propaganda & Kitsch
First of all, what’s this all about? Well, the course is about art, obviously, but also about Art, art criticism, and how art fits into society.
Primarily intended as requirement-filling general education requirement (valuing), the course is not really an art history class. Sure, there will be a lot of art history, but I hope to not need to devolve into memorizing dates and titles (not that knowing dates and titles is all that bad…).
So, the idea is to learn something about yourself, society and art, by looking at what you, society, and Art considers art, and most importantly, why.
Course Syllabus
Mark Douglas 719-8055
3 credit hours:
Section 01 TR 11:00am-1:30p FA 231
Course Description:
An examination of the role of art and the artist in society. Through the examination of works of art and artists, students will evaluate the uses of art, both current and historical, to better understand the role it has in contemporary society, and the methods used in critiquing art.
Course Outcomes:
The primary outcome of this course is the development of a better understanding of art and its place in society, both past and present. This understanding includes social, ethical, political ramifications of art.
A secondary outcome is the development skills in critique, verbal and written, personal and group.
Required Text:
Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach (3e), Lazzari, Schlesier; Thomson Wadsworth
Recommended (Optional) Texts
Criticizing Art: Understanding the Contemporary, Terry Barrett; McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages; 2nd edition (December 3, 1999) ISBN: 076741165X
Writing About Art (4th Edition), Henry M. Sayre; Prentice Hall; 4th edition (November 15, 2001) ISBN: 0130416142
Assignments and Excercises:
The assignments and projects will vary from short, written critiques and position papaers, to longer essays. Class discussion is an integral part of the course and will be a large component of evaluation.
Grading Scale:
| A,A- | Excellent qualitiy and intellectual inititative |
| B+,B,B- | High quality and intellectual inititative |
| C+,C,C- | Acceptable quality; satisfactory achievement |
| D | Deficient quality; passing |
| F | Failure to meet minimum requirements; not passing |
| P | Pass (with pass/no pass grading) |
| NP | No Pass (with pass/no pass grading) |
| I | Incomplete |
| W | Withdrawal |
Academic Honesty:
The university community relies upon academic honesty, which requires that words and ideas that students present as their own truly represent their own work. Plagiarism, defined as using another writer’s ideas or expressions without adequate acknowledgment, undermines the very foundation of education, which is a quest for the truth. Often plagiarism occurs because students do not understand the boundaries of legitimate scholarship. In brief, the honest use of research material requires that writers:
- Use quotation marks around (or indent) words of another writer and cite the source of these words;
- Cite the source of paraphrased material, even when the paraphrase differs substantially from the original;
- Attribute to their sources ideas of other writers.
A handbook on writing research papers will provide writers with detailed information on citation of sources. The MLA Handbook, in particular, includes examples of plagiarism.
Cheating is a purposeful deception in the preparation and/or submission of papers and assignments and the taking of exams, tests or quizzes. While individual instructors will set specific policies regarding cheating, in general students can expect to receive a 0 on an assignment, exam, test or quiz, and perhaps fail a course when cheating has occurred.
This syllabus is subject to change at the discretion of the instructor to accommodate instructional and/or student needs. It is the responsibility of the student to keep abreast of such changes.
