25% of final grade
(15% group; 10% individual)
Project Plan DUE: 10/10
Project Update DUE: 10/31
Final Project DUE: 11/30
For this major project, you will work in groups of four to curate an exhibit in the arts for an
interested, relevant audience.
This “exhibit” can take many forms. For example:
·
A collection of photographic images
·
A series of paintings or sculptures or other
types of visual art pieces
·
A podcast of music
·
A selection of videos
·
An anthology of writing
·
Other? Sure! Come up with something.
Invention
Before you decide which medium
you want to focus on, though, you need to decide what the purpose of your exhibit will be. What is the exigence for this argument? Do you want to showcase local student
work at the elementary level? Focus on art that supports a particular political
or social stance, like LGBT or women’s or worker’s rights? Illuminate an
audience to hip hop or country music artists with a political platform?
Introduce your audience to poets or fiction writers from your home state or a
particular region? Investigate “performance artists” who trouble the line
between taboo and socially accepted art?
The possibilities are numerous, but you must agree upon a
rhetorical exigence that will drive the decisions you make about what to include
in your exhibit. You must also consider a possible audience. Who needs to understand this art presented in this
way at this time?
Once you decide what kind of art you want to showcase, then
choose the medium that will best showcase the artwork. It might seem obvious
that writing is normally displayed on a page or a screen, but maybe you want to
record writers reading their work. You can create a website or a podcast or
work in paper and ink. Whatever medium you choose, however, remember that the
end product must be impeccably designed and professionally (or at least, very
cleanly) produced, and that it must engage and enlighten the audience.
Some Sample Exhibits
These podcasts
could be considered a curated look at pop music of the 1980s.
And this
program features the work of poets just from Pennsylvania, printed on
posters and distributed for free.
Here
is an online exhibit of cat art. Meow.
This
tumblr celebrates football…or, what we call soccer.
The Museum of Modern Art in NYC offers some video
exhibits that might be of interest.
We’ll look at other examples in class together.
Penn State has resources to help you create all kinds of media-rich
presentations, and based on your specific group needs, I will help you get
connected with the appropriate services.
Production
Whatever medium you choose to work with, your exhibit must
be contained. That is, it must exist someplace—either virtually or actually—as a
whole that I (and possibly other audience members) can view all at once.
Probably the best venue will be a website or a blog that
will showcase your exhibit. The Blogger platform we have been using for class
would be an adequate space for such a project, but there are other options open
to you as well, which you will learn about when visiting with the media
librarians.
If you have other
ideas for places or ways to show your work, come talk with me early on and I
will help to facilitate.
Group Expectations
You will collaborate with your group members to:
· --Decide upon the kind, purpose, audience and
appropriate medium for your presentation;
· --Meet regularly to work on the project inside and
outside of class as needed;
· --Research and select the art;
· --Arrange the individual pieces in a rhetorically
interesting and persuasive way;
· --Create the actual exhibit in the chosen medium;
· --Assemble an annotated
bibliography that details the sources you use in your research;
· --Write a 6-10
page critical introduction to your exhibit that will orient your audience
to the rhetorical situation and help them understand the main purpose of the
collection, and situate your work inside of a larger conversation about the
arts.
Individual Expectations
Each group member will be expected to:
· -- Contribute two
individual pieces to the overall exhibit;
· --Write a coherent statement (around 750 words) about
each of their chosen pieces that will speak specifically about the art, the
artist and the reasoning for its inclusion in the exhibit;
· -- Do their fair share of research and offer input
and ideas freely and cooperatively;
· --Complete both self and group evaluations of the
process to be turned in with the final project.
Grading
Group Grade= 15%
· 2%--Annotated Bibliography
· 5%--Critical Introduction
· 8%--Final exhibit
Individual Grade= 10%
· 5%--2 Art Statements
· 5%--Overall contribution to group efforts
Each group will also create a Project Plan by Wednesday, October 10th that details
your ideas for the exhibit and seeks permission to go forward,
and a Project Update by Wednesday, October
31st, in which you detail your progress to that point. These
documents will be sent to me via email, and I will provide more specific
guidelines for each in class.
drinks, and ice cream!
