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ART 201

I. Course Title: Professional Writing In and About Art (WI) 

II. Course Number: ART 201

III. Credit Hours: 3 credits

IV. Prerequisites: Open to all art majors

V. Course Description: 

The focus will be on the various types of writing that emerging artists engage in as part of their careers; variations in assignments will reflect different practice goals and concentrations. It will be submitted for approval as a Writing Intensive course.

VI. Detailed Description of Content of the Course:

This undergraduate course focuses on two things: the art of critical writing about art (exhibition reviews, for example) and the skills and formats necessary for the various forms of professional writing you will do throughout your career. These include the types of writing you might do when applying for a grant, course syllabi, submitting your work to a gallery, and professional work and research statements. This class does not have any content other than the act of writing.

VII. Detailed Description of Conduct of Course:

Writing is an individual activity. In class, we will focus on identification of the obstacles to good writing, defining precisely what is meant by "good" writing, and developing the skills that one can use in critiquing and improving one's own and others' writing. In other words, although your primary focus for this class is your own writing, because many of you will probably teach at some point and because it is also easier to recognize successful and unsuccessful writing when someone else does it, we will also use class to develop skills for critiques and editing. Class meetings will consist of discussion, structured writing activities, and peer review. Ultimately, it will be helpful to think of the class as a group tutorial with the group focus falling on the nature of critical writing and the individual focus involving a path of reading and writing related to your personal goals. Writing for public presentations, as opposed to writing for paper presentations is another possible topic.

VIII. Goals and Objectives of the Course:

  • Develop ability to read and critique other writing about art
  • Overcome your anxieties about writing (everyone has them)
  • Begin the process of t ranslating one's individual practice and theory of art into writing that may be more formal than the artist's statement
  • Recognize and execute wit h competence and confidence the many conventional fo rms of writing you will rely on as a professional artist
  •         WI Outcome 1: demonstrates proficiency in the writing conventions of the discipline
  •         WI Outcome 2: Communicates through writing your understanding of disciplinary content

IX. Assessment Measures:

  1. Short, in-class writing assignments mixed with assignments done prior to class and brought to the group for anonymous critique.
  2. "Peer" review of papers from other classes with a goal of developing writing-relevant rubrics for consistent grading.
  3. A work statement, artist statement, research statement, or teaching philosophy; these are all relevant forms of writing for artists but the right one for you depends on your career goals.
  4. Letters of inquiry about jobs, graduate school, grants, etc.
  5. Create a writing portfolio with at least 5 examples of different forms of writing, brief justifications for the selection and format of each example.
  • Grading: using writing intensive rubrics created for this course, A - F with expectation that more than 70% of the students will achieve a high level of competence. It is likely that not doing well will result from not doing, rather than doing poorly. Each assignment will be graded with a rubric but for the purposes of the writing intensive learning outcomes, the student will prepare a writing portfolio including samples of writing done for class. These selections for the portfolio should have a brief introductory note explaining the student's decision to include that sample. The categories in the rubric will include the assessment of the student's ability to recognize and use the correct conventions for the specific type of writing, to write in a manner which is appropriately formal rather than casual or informal, to use the conventions of writing (grammar, spelling, etc.) correctly, and to reduce errors in writing over the semester. In addition to showing progress through the semester, the student will be asked for a self-assessment of their understanding and ability to use formal and professional writing conventions

Other Course Information

None

Review and Approval

March 01, 2021