A Century of Change:
Art and Music from 1912-2012
Art/History
Spring 2013
Susan Brown and Adele Dinerstein
Ext. 4311
Ext. 4461
CofC is a class about looking and listening. We expect you to delve into artistic areas that are of interest and inspire you. We want you to come away from this semester with a greater appreciation, understanding, and critical eye/ear when looking at and listening to works of art.
· That you become comfortable using the language of the visual and performing arts
· That you recognize the importance of different points of view
· That you keep an open mind (eye and ear)
· That you’re not afraid to express your opinions
· That you enjoy yourself!
To achieve these objectives we will be...
· confronting and exploring issues and questions faced by visual and performing artists who worked and continue to work on the cutting edge
· thinking about
o Who creates change?
o Why does one artistic form take hold over another?
o What effect does technology play?
o How do the historical environment and the prevailing cultural, societal and political structures affect artists and performers?
· learning to look and listen carefully and critically
· acquiring an artistic/music/art historical vocabulary that will help you express your ideas
· dealing with the elements and principles that artists and performers use to create a work of art
Historical Dates: Some dates are a important and others not. We’ll let you know! That said, this class is not about memorizing names, dates or artistic periods, but rather HOW artists/performers and their works fit into a larger historical framework. We’ll work within decades , which should help frame all explorations.
Texts: …Isms, Understanding Art, Stephen Little, 2004
An Illustrated History of Music for Young Musicians (The Twentieth Century), Gilles Comeau and Rosemary Covert, 2000
Class Structure (what you can expect from us)
· Looking/listening to works of art
· Discussions pertaining to the point above, readings, field trips
· Journal entries
· PowerPoint presentations
· Musical performances
· Studio tie-ins, recording studio, keyboard lab
· In-class activities and assignments
· Museum trips: BMA—Contemporary wing, Hirschhorn and Smithsonian American Art Museum (Washington, DC—all day trip, mid-Feb), MoMA (NYC—all day trip, early April)
· Musical performances: (tentative) BSO “From Africa to America”, Feb 27, midday concert, BSO John Adams and Prokofiev (?)
Class work and homework (what we expect from you)
· Keeping a journal
· Homework and readings: SHORT ASSIGNMENTS. Examples: a 1-2 page reflection in your journal, a one page description of a work of art or a musical piece, readings in your texts, readings from handouts or Web sites
· In Class work: can take on many forms, such as short papers or journal entries, Podcasts, or PPTs. Often you will have a choice or formats
· Final Assignment: will be a longer assignment that you will have both in class time and time outside of class to complete. This assignment can take any number of forms
· Those taking the course for history credit must deal with the larger historical environment in most assignments (handout to follow)
Grades (in the ideal world…)
· Class participation—25%
· In-class and homework assignments—50%
· Final assignment—25%