| These exercises (workshops) are designed to deepen your understanding of key concepts discussed during the quarter. Submitting four workshops is required in order to earn the basic points (although only 5 points per submission are "given"--you must earn the rest through creativity, professionalism, and evidence of critical thinking); you may submit more in order to earn the required 40 points, and any earned in excess of 40 will be applied as a bonus that can raise your final grade up to 1/3 of a grade point (the equivalent of a + or -).
Please remember that workshops are tied to lecture topics and to participation; in order to earn credit for a workshop, you must attend the class to which it is attached.
The take-home quiz assigned for week 3 and due week 4 counts as an additional workshop, although there are not guaranteed points for it. If you miss class week 3, you are ineligible to earn any of the 10 points assigned to the quiz.
Exercise
1 : Foundations of graphic communication
For this exercise students will engage in activities designed to remove some of the “veils
of technology” that obscure our understanding of how people in
the distant past may have thought and how they might
have seen their world. Although it is impossible to know what Paleolithic
peoples “meant” by their drawings on cave walls and sculpted
items , the existence of these works indicates the probability that
communication was central to their design. But if this is the case,
how does meaning arise? How does any work come to mean anything?
In order to grasp
the relationship between meaning and design, students
will proceed as follows:
1. Using any magazine
or web source, locate a photograph
(not a drawing) of a natural object which
evokes some sort of meaning to you, the viewer. The image can be of
animal, vegetable, or mineral origin, but it must be as little
affected by human contact or modification as possible. For example, choose a tiger rather than a house cat, or a simple rock rather than a marble sculpture, a wild
prairie rather than a garden. Think about what the object can
mean, what it might symbolize: lion=courage, rock=strength,
etc. Think about the intrinsic qualities of the object as well: size,
shape (form), volume, weight, texture.
2. Create
an image of the object which attempts to communicate the
symbolic and/or intrinsic meanings you have identified. Do so using
the principles of design you have already learned, as well as your
understanding of how early human beings created their images. Keep
the restrictions of medium and tool in mind; think about how it would
be to create your image on a rock wall using natural pigments and
hollow tubes, simple brushes, burnt twigs, etc.–or even Michel
Lorblanchet’s chewing-and-spitting technique. It helps to imagine
that you're creating this image on a cave wall, but don't feel that
you have to.
The completed
exercise (to be submitted by the beginning of class week 3) consists
of a copy of the reference image and the
image you created on the paper provided (for full credit).
Make sure your name (first and last) appears on both.
This assignment is worth up to 10 points.
Exercise
2:Geometry
in the art of Islam
The purpose
of this workshop exercise is to emphasize the importance of Islamic art and design
in the development of the Western tradition, and the importance of geometry in the art and design of Islam.
As we will have seen from the slides, geometric patterns embellished
the great Moorish palaces and fortresses in Spain, as well as in mosques
and other public buildings throughout the world. As we will see in the
Renaissance, the impact of these designs will continue to be felt for
centuries.
In order for students
to gain some concrete experience in non-Western design traditions, the
following small-scale design problem will require you to recreate a pattern based on Islamic design principles (especially as
used on decorative tiles). I've listed several websites below
which will augment the material presented in class.
Using the sheet
of grid paper supplied, follow these instructions:
1. Recreate
a connected sequence of tile patterns from one of these buildings:
The
Alhambra (Granada, Spain); the
Alcazar (Seville, Spain); the Friday
Mosque (Herat, Afghanistan); the Dome
of the Rock (Jerusalem; here are some public
domain photos of the mosque), or the Great
Mosque (Cordoba, Spain). Use a compass, protractor, and/or ruler.
Do not simply photocopy the design. You may choose a simple design
if necessary, or a small section of a larger design, but draw it yourself.
More points will be awarded for complex designs, but simpler examples
will earn basic points.
Do not
simply draw the design you're copying; use the grid to help
you understand the geometry of the design, employing the squares
on the grid to guide your replication. Obviously, a geometric pattern
will be much easier to reproduce than a floral pattern (arabesque). Make sure your reference image is of high enough quality and magnification to show your chosen pattern in detail!
2. Designs must
be executed in color, using any practical medium
(including markers, colored pencils, or even crayons--but no pastels).
Points will be earned on the basis of effort as well as success, but
primarily on how well the design embodies the principles discussed.
Points will be deducted for deviations from the instructions.
3. Include a copy
of the reference image you used, and be sure the name of the building
and your own name (first and last) appear on both the design and the
photocopy.
Tiling
and Islamic Design
Here's a .pdf
file of a handout on Construction
of an Islamic Pattern; it can help you figure out how patterns were accomplished.
Tiles
of the Alhambra (from a BBC Radio page): seven different patterns.
Note: a number
of visitors to places like the Alhambra have posted albums on the
web. An image search like "Alhambra tile" will turn up some
suprisingly good photographs for inspiration.
The completed exercise must include all of the required components in order to earn the maximum 10 points.
Exercise
3: Illuminated Manuscript Conventions
Locate one or more examples of illuminated manuscripts (preferably in color) that contain elements included on the vocabulary list and the supplementary handout. Label your examples with the appropriate terms so that you can correctly identify various components.
Print your examples on letter-sized paper and staple them together with a cover sheet including your name and section.
Here are some online resources that might prove helpful:
Leaves of Gold: Treasures of Manuscript Illumination, from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (the source of the tool chart I showed, but with other features as well).
French Manuscript Illumination of the Middle Ages, an exhibit from the Getty Museum with lovely illustrations and enlargable images.
The Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History from the Met features six different primary thematic essays on manuscript illumination. Start with the page (also linked on the schedule) on The Art of the Book in the Middle Ages, and go to the lists under "Related."
The Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford has an enormous collection of manuscripts, from the 11th century on. You can browse the images at the link.
The Koninklijke Bibliotheek (National Library of the Netherlands) also contains a vast repository of Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts. Click on the "highlights" link for some examples.
For step-by-step information on the process of illumination, see the videos in the Kelley Library (Medieval Manuscripts) and other films about monestaries where book were made.
Exercise
4: Mapping Medieval Exploration
This exercise is designed to emphasize the importance of understanding larger segments of the world that arose during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Travelers during these periods (whether for military purposes, religious pilgrimages, or curiosity) added immensely to European understanding (and some misunderstanding) by gathering information, texts, and stories that profoundly affected the visual arts.
For this exercise, students will choose one route of exploration, map it, and locate images of significant art works that travelers encountered while on one of these journeys. Provide a bibliography of sources, formatted in current MLA documentation style. Warning: do not rely on Wikipedia for this exercise. Instead, use scholarly and/or specialized web sources that deal specifically with locations included on your maps.
- Pilgrimage: Pious Christians could choose one of many routes along the Camino del Santiago, or Way of St. James, and upon completion of the pilgrimage receive a plenary indulgence (relief from temporal punishment) from the Medieval Church. Along each of these routes, pilgrims visited churches and their relics, which fueled the building of great abbey churches and cathedrals, as well as the crafting and decoration of reliquaries to hold revered items, and the embellishment of churches with works of art. Choose one route, map it, and include images of objects encountered along the way.
- Crusade: During the period between 1095 and 1291, numerous crusades were mounted, blessed by the Church, to recover lands lost to the advance of Islam--particularly Jerusalem. The Church granted plenary indulgences to sworn Crusaders, and those that returned shared a wealth of stories with the folks back home. They frequently brought with them relics associated with Christian belief, such as purported bits of the Virgin's veil, the true crown of thorns, or the true cross. Choose one such crusade, and map it, illustrating it with examples of art and architecture that would have been encountered along the way, or with Medieval depictions of events.
- The Silk Road: From as early as the third century before Christ, merchants traveled extensively throughout Asia and the Middle East, as well as Eastern Africa along routes that originally focused on the silk trade. For this exercise, focus on the 13th and 14th centuries, anywhere along the route.
Whichever route you choose, locate at least eight examples of art and/or architecture that exemplify the period under consideration or the history of stops along the route. Place your results on a slide list, with images and descriptions of the objects, and attach your map.
Outline maps are available at a number of web sources, including: World Atlas, Eduplace, and NASA (.PDF). For mapping the Camino de Santiago, try these maps of Western and Central Europe. The exercise is worth up to 10 points; 5 for accomplishing the basic assignment, and up to 5 additional points for the quality of the results.
For resources based on the images I showed in class, see the Medieval Mapping Resources page; use this template to record your images and information.
last update:
04.08.12 |
