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Senior Comprehensives for Art Majors
with a Concentration in Studio Art
The
purpose of the senior art project is to allow you to develop
independently, under the guidance of the studio faculty, a
cohesive body of work for public exhibition as well as a body
of ideas that both investigates and augments the work for
exhibition. Studio space for seniors and some juniors is available
on campus. You will complete a paper exploring the nature
and meaning of your exhibited work, give a gallery talk, and
participate in an oral examination with a committee formed
of the faculty of the art department. The oral will consist
of a conversation related to general art historical questions
pertinent to your work as well as questions that challenge
the ideas developed in the images and the paper.
The purpose
of these comprehensives is two-fold:
1)
To help you synthesize your work in the art major over the
previous few years, by asking you:
- to
bring your studio work to a higher stage of development
- to
think about the influences of other artists on your own
work
- to
consider the ways in which your style and content fit
into a larger art-historical framework.
2)
To help prepare you for graduate school or professional
advancement:
- by
giving you the experience of developing a coherent body
of works
- by
preparing for a major exhibition
- by
building a portfolio
- by
articulating your thoughts about your visual work in both
written and oral form.
Both
art history and studio students will take the same Art Seminar
(1 course credit), taught every fall. It will be required
of senior majors but may also be taken by junior majors.
To
clarify: A student who took the seminar in the junior
year has not yet fulfilled the senior seminar requirement;
it must be taken by every senior major. Since the material
will change every year, it will be possible for a student
to take the seminar in both the junior and senior years.
This
seminar will provide important preparation for the senior
project, whether in studio or art history. During the fall
semester, in this seminar, studio students will develop the
body of work that will be exhibited in the Lewis Art Gallery
in late spring and will also write several drafts of their
senior paper. Members of the class will serve as peer readers
during the revision process.
COMPREHENSIVE
EXAMS
The Comprehensive
Examination process consists of the following components for
studio students:
1)
Exhibition of a body of work
During the senior year, beginning in the seminar, you will
develop a cohesive, carefully considered body of images. The
internal coherence of this body of work, or oeuvre, should
be based either on some aspect of the medium, subject, and/or
larger content that you are able to articulate clearly and
succinctly, both verbally (in your orals) and in written form
(in your paper).
2)
Senior Paper (about 10 typed pages)
During the fall seminar you will write several drafts of your
senior paper. This paper is written documentation in support
of your artistic activities during the year. It should describe
your thought processes, concepts, imagery, development, influences,
and inspirations as a visual artist. The following general
topics should be addressed:
A.
MEDIUM/MEDIA
You should describe and explain the techniques used to create
the images in your senior project, and address the question
of why you chose to work in a particular medium. What is
it about it that attracted you? For instance, does it allow
you to express yourself in ways that would not be as effective
in a different medium? Is it integrally linked to the ideas
that you want to express? Have you experienced any technical
challenges this year? If so, how did you address them?
B.
CONTENT
What, specifically, are you communicating with your work?
What are you trying to say to viewers? Is there much of
a possibility of misinterpretation of your work, and does
that matter to you? What were your intentions at the beginning
and how did these change over the course of the year? Did
your artistic process play a role in the outcome or content
of your work? How important was this process in the evolution
of your work and ideas? What role do titles play in the
communication of your content?
(Note: this aspect of your art-making may be the most difficult
for you to articulate, but you won't be allowed to slide
out from under the question about your artistic content
and intentions. We'll constantly be pressing one another
in the senior seminar to explain what we're doing and making,
so you should get in the habit of making frequent notes
to yourself on this issue in your sketchbook/journal. You'll
find these notes very helpful when you talk about your work
to others and when you begin work on your paper.)
C.
HISTORICAL AWARENESS
How does the work you create fit into the history of art?
We cannot create art in a vacuum, and there are many influences,
both subtle and overt, that play a role in the work we make.
To complete a successful senior project, you need to investigate
the work and ideas of other artists and reflect on how they
are relevant to your own art. Your paper should discuss
these influences, whether they pertain to concept, style,
and/or technique. Your discussion should be analytical rather
than merely descriptive, should be detailed and specific,
and should be based on significant research, reading, and
looking. Be sure to include photocopies of the art you discuss
in your paper and refer to them while you are discussing
these influences.
D.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND ILLUSTRATIONS
Your paper should have parenthetical notes, if needed, and
a bibliography in MLA style. It should also have illustrations
(with figure numbers in the text and on the illustration
page) of a selection of your own works and of works by other
artists that you refer to in your paper.
3)
Oral Examination
As you approach the opening of your senior exhibition in April,
you will be asked to present your artwork to the art faculty
and your peers in the form of a gallery talk. Following this
talk you will meet with the art faculty and will be asked
a series of questions about your work (related to the three
areas listed above).
Schedule:
Last week
of the fall semester: Mock oral with art department faculty.
February-March:
Frequent discussions with art faculty about your work
1st week of March: Draft of your senior paper (turned in to
each faculty member of the art department)
March:
Revisions, as needed, of your senior paper decision about
post-card invitations and reception for the Senior Show
April
1: Final copy of your senior paper
April
2-12: Comprehensive Examinations (your oral exam will take
place during this period)
Late April-early
May: Senior Show, Lewis Art Gallery
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