Introduction to the Course: What is Visual Literacy

Lecture given August 21, 2012

Transcript

1. Welcome  to    Introduc.on  to  Art     Sarah  Nichols   Sarah.A.Nichols@ucdenver.edu     Office  Hours:  9:30-­‐11:00  T  Th  Tavern  Lounge  
2. Syllabus  &  Blackboard  
3. Blackboard   Blackboard  will   be  your  portal   for  all  class   material.  
4. Course  Components   •  10%  Midterm  Exam   •  15%  Final  Exam   •  20%  Online  Quizzes   •  40%  Wri.ng  and   Crea.ve  Assignments   •  15%  Responses     My  Grades  on   Blackboard  will   automa.cally   calculate  your   grade.  
5. Quizzes  
6. Wri.ng  and  Crea.ve  Assignments   •  2-­‐Wri.ng  Assignments:   –  Learning  to  Look   –  Interroga.ng  the   Museum   •  2-­‐Crea.ve  Assignments:   –  Media  Experimenta.on   –  Abstrac.on  Reac.on  
7. Responses    Free  Admission  to  the  Denver   Art  Museum  the  first  Saturday   of  every  month    Free  Admission  to  the  Museo   de  las  Americas  the  first  Friday   of  every  month    Art  walks  on  Santa  Fe  on  the   first  Friday  of  every  month    Art  Walks  and  Open  Studios  at   Wazee  Union  every  second   Saturday.    
8. Second  Chance   •  An  extra  week  on  an  assignment:  This  allows  you   to  hand  in  an  assignment  up  to  a  week  a]er  the   posted  deadline.       •  The  opportunity  to  redo  an  assignment:    If  you   did  not  do  well  on  an  assignment,  you  will  un.l   have  a  week  a]er  the  assignment  has  been   passed  back  in  class  to  redo  your  assignment.       •  Extra  Credit  on  your  final:    If  you  do  not  use  your   second  chance  for  an  assignment,  you  may  use  it   as  five  points  extra  credit  on  one  of  your  final   exam.   I  do  not  accept   late  work   unless  you  use   your  Second   Chance!  
9. Textbook:  Preble,  Duane,  Sarah  Preble  and  Patrick   Frank,  Ar#orms:  An  Introduc/on  to  the  Visual  Arts.  10th   edi.on  (2011).     Available  at:   •  Auraria  Campus  Bookstore   •  Amazon.com   •  Half.com   •  Auraria  Library  Reserve   Be  sure  to  get  the  correct   edi.on!       All  assigned  readings  will  be  from  this  book.  
10. Op.onal:  A  Short  Guide  to  Wri/ng   about  Art  by  Sylvan  Barnet     Available  at:   •  Auraria  Campus   Bookstore   •  Amazon.com   •  Half.com   •  Auraria  Library  Reserve    
11. Content  No.fica.on   Art  scholarship  and  art  prac.ce  along  with  teaching  and  learning  involves   a  cri.cal  explora.on  of  ideas,  theories,  art-­‐making  prac.ces,  and  art   movements  that  encompass  such  things  as:  the  human  body,  sexuality,   race,  gender,  religions,  and  cultures.  This  course  can  touch  upon  any  of   the  above  categories  with  an  expecta.on  that  students  will  ac.vely   par.cipate  in  all  course  assignments,  discussions  and  tests.  Given  this   informa.on,  it  is  the  student’s  obliga.on  to  determine  that  the   requirements  conflict  with  his  or  her  core  beliefs.  If  the  student   determines  that  there  is  a  conflict  with  his  or  her  beliefs,  one  of  the   following  ac.ons  needs  to  be  taken:  1)  drop  the  class  before  the  last  day   to  drop  a  course  without  penalty;  2)  meet  with  the  instructor  within  the   first  week  of  classes  to  determine  if  an  accommoda.on  can  be  made.     (Note,  faculty  are  not  required  to  grant  content  accommoda.ons.)    If  no   accommoda.on  can  be  made,  drop  the  course  before  the  last  day  to  drop   without  penalty.  
12. What  is  Visual  Literacy?   "Visual  literacy  is  the  ability  to  see,  to   understand,  and  ul.mately  to  think,  create,   and  communicate  graphically.  Generally   speaking,  the  visually  literate  viewer  looks  at   an  image  carefully,  cri.cally,  and  with  an  eye   for  the  inten.ons  of  the  image's  creator.   Those  skills  can  be  applied  equally  to  any  type   of  image:  photographs,  pain.ngs  and   drawings,  graphic  art  (including  everything   from  poli.cal  cartoons  to  comic  books  to   illustra.ons  in  children's  books),  films,  maps,   and  various  kinds  of  charts  and  graphs.  All   convey  informa.on  and  ideas,  and  visual   literacy  allows  the  viewer  to  gather  the   informa.on  and  ideas  contained  in  an  image,   place  them  in  context,  and  determine  whether   they  are  valid."   Thibault,  M.  and  Walbert,  D.  (n.d.).  Reading   images:  an  introduc/on  to  visual  literacy.     Frank  Dicksee,  1884.      
13. Visual  Literacy   The  ability  to  “read”  images  and  connect  them  to  abstract  ideas.  
14. What  is  Visual  Memory?   Visual  Memory  is  “your   storehouse  of  familiar   images.”  –Amy  Tucker   Visual  Literacy:  Wri/ng   About  Art   Recognize  This?  
16. Siren  Statueoe,  Archaic  Period,  c.  550-­‐500  BCE    
17. Odysseus  and  the  Sirens,  Athenian  red-­‐figure   Stamnos,  c.  5th  BCE.  
18. Historiated  Capital  with  double-­‐tailed  sirens,  Basilica   of  St.  Julien,  Brioude,  France,  c.  1100  CE.  
19. Original  Starbucks  Logo,  c.  1973.   Double-­‐tailed  siren,  15th  century  
21. “Do  you  know  how  much  retouching  was  on  that?”  he  asked.   “But  it  was  great  to  do,  a  challenge,  to  keep  everyone’s  skin  and   faces  showing  the  mileage  but  not  looking  unaorac.ve.”   Pascal  Dangin  on  the   Dove  Campaign:   Controversy  
22. Brian  Walski,  Published  in  the  LA  Times  in  2003.  
23. + =  
24. Dorothea  Lange,   Migrant  Mother,   1936.  
25. Dorothea  Lange,  from  Migrant  Mother  series,  1936.  
26. Dorothea  Lange,  from  Migrant  Mother  series,  1936.  
27. Dorothea  Lange,  from  Migrant  Mother  series,  1936.  
28. Dorothea  Lange,   Migrant  Mother   (Unedited),  1936.  
29. Edited   Unedited   “a  documentary  photograph  is  not  a   factual  photograph  per  se…it  caries   with  it  another  thing,  a  quality  [in  the   subject]  that  the  ar.st  responds  to.”    
30. Inkshedding   1.  Preferred  Name,  Major,  Year   2.  Why  this  class?   3.  In  one  or  two  words,  describe  your   rela.onship  to  art.