Full Syllabus

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Format
• What’s Due?
• No Late Work
• Textbook & Materials
• Attendance
• Points and Grades
• Extra Credit
• Rubrics
• Post Names
• Sample Artist Essay
• Artist Tags
• Other Details
• No Grade Begging
• Schedule
• Final

Prerequisites

• None

Objectives

The purpose of this course is to introduce students to Art and Ideas as practiced in the 21st century. Students will try a wide range of art media from traditional tools like paint, to contemporary media like Snapchat. Student discussions will compare and contrast contemporary artists. Students will visit the CSULB School of Art Galleries, see the work of 4-5 different student artists, have conversations with the artists, and write blog posts about the work.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course, the student will have:

• Been introduced to many creative media tools
• Produced an ePortfolio of their work in Art110 and at CSULB
• Seen 50 – 60 different art exhibitions at the CSULB SOA Galleries
• Conversed with many student artists about their work
• Conversed with many classmates about the work on exhibition at the CSULB SOA Galleries

Format of the Course

Each week this course includes:
1. A small group discussion about artists & ideas
2. Art Experience
3. Conversation with a student artist exhibiting in the CSULB SOA Galleries
4. Conversation with an Art110 classmate about the work in the CSULB SOA Galleries

The Weekly Discussion will be contained within Tuesday classes.

For the Art Experience, and Conversations, you’ll make 3 blog posts on your WordPress.com website, 1 for each item.

Due Dates

Each week’s posts are due by 11:59pm on Sunday night.

No Late Work

Work is due by 11:59pm on Sunday nights. No late work will be accepted.

Textbook

Your Internet Device / Camera (Phone, Tablet, or Laptop) is your textbook. Please be sure to bring it to every class as you will need to use it every day.

Materials

see the materials list

Attendance

This is not a “textbook” course, but an experience course. If you don’t come to class, you haven’t done the course. Points will be based on classtime work: Discussions on Tuesdays & Activities on Thursdays.

Missing 1 or 2 classes during the semester should not be too detrimental to your final grade. Beyond that you should see me immediately and most likely plan to take Art110 a different semester.

Points and Grades

Points

• 15 Discussions x 20 = 300 points
• 14 Art Experiences x 25 = 350 points
• 11 Artist Conversations x 30 = 330 points
• 11 Classmate Conversations x 10 = 110 points
• Final: 110 points

Course Total Possible = 1,200 points.

Grades

1080 points = A
960 points = B
840 points = C
720 points = D
719 & below = F

Extra Credit

Wk 4: Painting

The best place to paint is at the Venice Beach Legal Art Walls. Just about everyone who has ever gone has had a great time. Yes it’s far. Yes, I know you hate to drive. Just paint at home for full credit, or go to the Venice Beach Legal Art Walls to paint for +40 EC.

Wk 4: LA Art Book Fair ’16 – 11-14 Feb

Visit the LA Art Book Fair at The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA. Take photos and write about your experience for +50 EC. The event is free on Feb 12-14. The Thursday night reception on Feb 11 is US$10.

• LA Art Book Fair website

Rubric: Artist Conversations

Each Conversation starts off with a perfect score of 30. Points are deducted from that if necessary. Because Art110 is a large class of about 130 students, it is difficult to provide detailed feedback on your writing. I’m happy to discuss your writing at any time and to help you develop better ideas and better form. To help with a quick understanding of your work, we will grade with “Coded Points”. I hope you have no mistakes in your work and receive a full 30 points for each Artist Conversation Essay. If there are mistakes your points will quickly show what your mistake was. If you’d like further details, just send me an email and we can discuss it more fully.

1. Misspelled Artist Name: 30 -20 = 10
2. No Artist Tag, or incorrect tag: 30 -18 = 12
3. No link to artist website (if they have one) 30 -16 = 14
4. Not analytic enough / too short: 30 -14 = 16
5. Poor Grammar: 30 -12 = 18
6. Poor Post Naming: 30 -10 = 20
7. No Photos: 30 -8 = 22
8. Other misspellings: 30 -6 = 24

Rubric: Classmate Conversations

Each Conversation starts off with a perfect score of 10. Points are deducted from that if necessary:

1. No Photos: -4
2. Poor Post Naming: -4
3. Too short: -4
4. No link to classmate website: -4

Rubric: Art Experiences

Each Art Experience starts off with a perfect score of 25. Points are deducted from that if necessary:

1. No Photos: -10
2. Poor Post Naming: -10
3. Too short: -10

Photos

Photos of what? For your Art Experiences, document your process! For Classmate Interviews, a photo with your classmate would be great. For Artist Interviews, a photo of the artist, or their work would be ok. Photos of both would be great.

Post Names

Please use this format:

• Wk2 – Art Experience – Plaster Casting
• Wk2 – Artist Conversation – Brianna Allen
• Wk2 – Classmate Conversation – Geri Weckstein

This standard format really helps me get through grading 129 x 3 posts every Monday. You can use 1 variation if you like. I’ve noticed that many of you like to use more creative titles for your Art Experiences – which is awesome! So please do use the above formats for your Weekly Conversations, but for your Art Experience, you can also use:

• Wk 1 – Demise via Kidnapping

Artist Essays

• Your Art Experience and Classmate Conversation posts can be casual.
• Your Artist Conversation writing must be college level.

The Artists you will meet in the SOA Galleries are mostly young artists just beginning their careers. They’ve typically worked for many months to put up the work we see in the galleries, and you are very likely the 1st person ever to write about them and their work! That’s awesome! But it also gives us the responsibility to be accurate and informed about the work.

Artist Tags

The CSULB School of Art, Student Artists, are being generous with us. They galleries normally open at Noon, so they’re opening an hour early to talk to Art110. And they’re dealing with a big class like ours coming through their carefully assembled exhibition. And answering lots of questions from us! So lets try to thank them for their hospitality and for sharing their work with us. One great way to do this is to TAG your post. This gives them a tag they can click on to see all the posts we’ve written about them. The tags for your Artist Conversations are:

• Gatov-West
• Gatov-East
• Merlino-Gallery
• Werby-Gallery
• Dutzi-Gallery
• SOA-Courtyard

Each week when we visit the SOA Galleries, you’ll pick 1 of the shows for your Artist Conversation & Blog Post. This will almost always be in 1 of the 5 Galleries: Gatov West, Gatov East, Merlino Gallery, Werby Gallery or Dutzi Gallery. There may also be work installed or performed in the SOA Courtyard on occasion.

Another nice way to respect these artists is to try to have a real conversation with them about their work and their ideas first, and then ask to take a photo of them or their work. When 100 of us rush in with cell phones snapping all at once, the artists can start to feel like victims of paparazzi rather than appreciated artists.

Other Details

Incompletes

The Art Department grants “incompletes” rarely and only for the most extreme conditions.

Withdrawal Deadlines

• By MyCSULB – Feb 1, @10pm
• w signature, Director, School of Art – April 15
• w signature, Director, School of Art and Dean, College of the Arts – May 6

No Grade Begging

At the end of every semester I receive long emails in florid prose explaining to me how important a student’s grade in Art110 is. That for [ insert excuse here ] reason, they are worried they won’t be getting the “A” or “C” or other grade they desired, and that considering how important the grade is to this student, is there any way I can help or anything they can do?

Please do not send me this email.

I hope the learning, knowledge, and experience of Art110 is more important to you than a letter on your transcript. But whether you care about actual learning, or only grades, in either case, if it is important to you, then don’t express that importance by begging at the end, express it by:

• Doing solid work all semester
• Turning everything in on-time or early
• Checking your points on BeachBoard regularly so you know exactly where you stand all semester

Accommodation

CSULB will make reasonable accommodations for any student who has a disability. It is the student’s responsibility to notify me in advance of the need for special accommodations. This course utilizes many activities and many tools. Most of you should have no trouble with any of this, however if anyone has challenges with any course aspect for any reason, please be in touch ASAP and we can work to find suitable alternatives. A sincere effort should result in real learning and a good grade, so never be afraid to ask for any accommodations you need, but do make a sincere effort.

Schedule

Week 1

19-24 Jan

• Discussion: My Body: Francesca Woodman & Stelarc
• Art Experience: Photography 1: Landscapes with a Corpse

Week 2

25-31 Jan

• Discussion: Mass: Mona Hatoum & Anish Kapoor
• Art Experience: Sculpture: Plaster Casting

Week 3

1-7 Feb

• Discussion: Future Tense: Sight & World Builder
• Art Experience: Drawing 1: Snapchat

Week 4

8-14 Feb

• Discussion: The Street: Zevs & Banksy
• Art Experience: Painting 1: Legal Graffiti Writing

Week 5

15-21 Feb

• Discussion: The Cut: Stanley Kubrick & Joss Whedon
• Art Experience: Video: Group Project

Week 6

22-28 Feb

• Discussion: Photography: Nan Goldin & Mary Ellen Mark
• Art Experience: Photography 2: CSULB Photo Walk

Week 7

29 Feb – 6 Mar

• Discussion: The 21st Century: Marshall McLuhan & Andy Warhol
• Art Experience: Fiber Art: Wall Hanging

Week 8

7-13 Mar

• Discussion: Architecture: Frank Gehry & Peter Eisenman
• Art Experience: Drawing 2: CSULB Campus Architecture

Week 9

14-20 Mar

• Discussion: Space: Wolfgang Laib & Annette Messager
• Art Experience: Painting 2: Finger-Painting

Week 10

21-27 Mar

• Discussion: Cyber Culture: Vanessa Blaylock & Joseph DeLappe
• Art Experience: Game Design: Location Based Gaming (Geocaching)

Spring Break!

28 Mar – 3 Apr

Week 11

4-10 Apr

• Discussion: Italian Pranksters: Maurizio Cattelan & Eva and Franco Mattes
• Art Experience: Photography 3: Social Photography (Instagram)

Week 12

11-17 Apr

• Discussion: Procedural Art: Chuck Close & Sol LeWitt
• Art Experience: Painting 3: Procedural Art (Sol LeWitt)

Week 13

18-24 Apr

• Discussion: Metadata Matters: “Beautiful Woman” & “Gangsta”
• Art Experience: Transmedia Storytelling

Week 14

25 Apr – 1 May

• Discussion: Video Activism: 1700% & It Gets Better
• Art Experience: Social Practice: Flashmobs

Week 15

2-8 May

• Discussion: Holograms: Tupac Shakur & Hatsune Miku
• Art Experience: Week Off!

Final

Thursday, May 12, 2016
10:15AM – 12:15PM

• School of Art Scavenger Hunt

1. Do not be late.
2. Do not book an airline ticket for May 11.

Shiva Nadjm, Art110 Fall ’15, with her name in bubble letters at the Venice Beach Legal Art Walls