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:
- Short, in-class writing assignments mixed with assignments done prior to class and
brought to the group for anonymous critique.
- "Peer" review of papers from other classes with a goal of developing writing-relevant
rubrics for consistent grading.
- 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.
- Letters of inquiry about jobs, graduate school, grants, etc.
- 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