Research: Art in Chicago

MAP & ITINERARY

RELEASE FORM

LETTER FROM FACULTY

Itinerary for Thursday, February 8th

7:40 am load busses at Calder Art Center

10:00 am (Chicago time) drop-off at Museum of Contemporary Art (with alternate drop-off points at Gallery 400 in the West Loop)

5:30 pm (Chicago time) pick-up Art Institute of Chicago

10:45 pm (approximately) arrive at Calder Art Center

One of the most effective ways for people studying art to develop their understanding of the art world and create more compelling work themselves, is to research the work of significant contemporary artists – ideally by seeing the work in person. This assignment is designed to help you sharpen those research skills.

Content 

For this project, you will create a 7 minute presentation about work you saw in Chicago, as well as an accompanying hand-out for the class.  Your presentation and hand-out should focus on a particular piece, a comparison between two pieces, an exhibit, or a unifying theme you encountered across exhibits or institutions.

Your presentation should:

  • Establish and introduce a thesis developed from your research in Chicago and additional library/ database research
  • Provide a formal analysis of the work your discuss – (media, scale, placement/ context, aesthetic references, shape, color, finish, etc.)
  • Provide a conceptual analysis of the work ( overall theme, logic, or meaning.)
  • How the piece fits into the oeuvre of the artist(s) who made the work.
  • Provide a slide show of a minimum 10 images to be projected during your presentation.  These slideshows should use minimal design, allowing us to focus on the work at hand.
  • Create a handout and make copies for the entire class and myself that contains a one paragraph summary of your thesis, and two paragraphs that support your argument.
  • Include a page on your website with presentation stills, text from your handout, and a .pdf copy of the handout and slideshow.  Upload this content to your website a minimum 12 hours before our class.

Handout

USE THIS TEMPLATE IN CONSTRUCTING YOUR HANDOUT

Presentation

  • title for your presentation: be creative and descriptive
  • minimum 10 unique high-quality images of work discussed in your presentation; include the source of the image, which can be scanned from a book, or found online.
  • caption of images which includes: artist name, title, medium, date of construction, dimensions. For some pieces, including work that is site-specific, performative, interactive, or otherwise non-traditional, you may want to include further information.

Research and Sources

You will need to find at least one additional source for this presentation.  Wall text is not sufficient.  Options include:

  • a book or exhibit catalog
  • a journal from an industry-recognized publication
  • newspaper article from an industry-recognized publication
    These include Art Journal, Artforum, Art in America, BOMB, The New Art Examiner, other art journals, The Village Voice, New York Magazine, The New Yorker, The Brooklyn Rail, and The New York Times and other major daily newspapers.

Our library’s search engines can help you find books on your subjects. Its databases can help you find journal articles.

On Wikipedia and Googling

Web searches can be important when researching contemporary artists, because their careers are sometimes fresh enough that there has not yet been extensive scholarship on them. However, web searches alone are not the most powerful tools available to you, and the algorithms that generate results rely on the traffic and connectivity of websites rather than the value of their content. Many artists have their own websites, which can offer a good introduction to the artist’s work, but should generally be considered tools of self-promotion. Check these sites for links to articles, interviews and artist statements that may be of use to you.

Wikipedia is not recognized as an acceptable source for citation. However, it does have the possibility of giving a general overview on a subject, and this may help you determine the direction of your research and the kinds of questions you want to engage. The bibliography in a Wikipedia page can be useful in directing you to acceptable sources of information.

Chicago Trip Alternatives

For those of you who cannot travel with us, your options include:

  • going to the MCA and Art Institute in Chicago on an alternative date
  • going to the DIA and MOCAD in Detroit
  • going to the Broad Museum in Lansing to see a lecture and exhibits
  • going to UM Ann Arbor to see a lecture and exhibits

You will still be required to make your presentation during the scheduled presentation dates, so your travel must be timed accordingly.

Web Portfolio presence

Create a page on your web portfolio that archives your presentation.

  • Save the slides from your presentation as individual files; add these images to a gallery on your page.
    In Powerpoint: File> Export > File Format: JPEG > Save All Slides > set slide dimensions to 1000px at the longest length. (In older versions of Powerpoint: File > Save As Pictures > Save.
    In Keynote: File> Export to> Images> JPEG (Smaller File Size) > Next> Export.
    In Google Slides: File > Download as > JPEG
  • Copy and paste the body of your handout.
  • Include a downloadable .pdf of the handout, with linkable text that reads “download presentation handout here”
  • Include a downloadable .pdf of the slideshow, with linkable text that reads “download slideshow here”

Tabytha Robison – Resonate
Susanna Rowe – The Dialectical Selfie
Taylor Stimson – Nature in Industry: Lee Bontecou
Jade
Marco Pavano: Minimalism in Art
Serena Hooper – Shaping the Synthetic
Taylor Ayers -Comparison Through Perception: Robert Irwin and Anish Kapoor

Claire Mooney – Sleep in Heavenly Peace: Paul Heyer
Jordan Lee – Third Person: Paul Pfeiffer
Ruby Henrickson – DUELS OF MEN, FISH, AND TRUTH: Comparing Paul Pfeiffer’s Three Figures In a Room and Jonathas De Andrade’s The Fish
Emma Rupprecht -Restitution & Reconstruction A look into the Michael Rakowitz exhibit

Megan Wencel – Philosophy of Cleveland Dean
Brooke Bravata – Influenced by Life: Duk Ju L. Kim Paintings and Drawings

Maddy Burt

Brittany Land – Detroit

 

Rubric

Thesis
Developed from your research in Chicago (10)

Formal Analysis
media, scale, placement/ context, aesthetic references, shape, color, finish, etc. (15)

Conceptual Analysis
overall theme, logic, or meaning (15)

Slide Show
minimum 10 images to be projected during the discussion; should use minimal design, allowing us to focus on the work at hand (25)

Handout
(and copies) for the class that contains a one paragraph summary of your thesis, and two paragraphs that support your argument (25)

Web Portfolio
presentation stills, text from your handout, and a .pdf copy of the handout (10)