Description
PART 1—
Read Chapter 3, pages 77-92 in online Text.
A “Happening” was a term first used by Allan Kaprow to describe a one-time performance that was considered art.
View the photograph of Household that was staged by Kaprow.
Research another happening by a different artist.
Write about its intent and the results of what happened while it was happening.
Does the artist lose control of the work when inviting the audience to perform or can they sway the audience to perform as the artist wishes?
PART 2——
Read Chapter 4, pages 94-127 in online text.
Writing about art has a tremendous impact on deriving meaning from artworks. Consider what artists think about this. Georgia O’Keefe is known for her up-close and enlarged images of flowers, as in Black Iris (Fig. 4.12). In her private letters she wrote that her art came from deep love of the colors and patterns, inspired by landscape and plant forms of nature. She wrote:
There has been no rain since I came out but today a little came—enough to wet the sage and moisten the top of the dry soil—and make the world smell very fresh and fine—I drove up the canyon four or five miles when the sun was low and I wish I could send you a mariposa lily—and the smell of the damp sage—the odd dark and bright look that comes over my world in the low light after a little rain. (Cowart 1987:29)
Other writers have perceived a feminist content to O’Keefe’s work. In particular, they thought her flower imagery represented female sexuality in a positive way, a notion that O’Keefe rejected. Nevertheless, feminist writer and artist Judy Chicago wrote:
[O’Keefe] seemed to have made a considerable amount of work that was constructed around a center…There also seemed to be an implied relationship between [her]own body and that centered image…In her paintings, the flower suggests her own femininity, through which the mysteries of life could be revealed. [Chicago 1975:142]
2. Does the written word add to the public’s experience of art?
3. Do writings bias or limit our experience of art?
4. How important is the artist’s intention versus the critical reception of the work?
5. Which should be most important in interpreting a work?
Answer these questions and respond to at least 2 posts within 24 hours after the due date.
PART 3–
READ CHAPTER 3, PAGES 77-92 IN ONLINE TEXT.
Both the Guggenheim Museum, NY and the Sydney Opera House were created using reinforced concrete. Joern Utzon began building the opera house in Sydney, Australia, in 1959, the same year that the Frank Lloyd Wright–designed museum was completed.
What are the similarities between the two cultural structures?
Post your answer and respond to at least 2 others within 24 hours of the due date. You may and should respond to the responses you get.
PART 4—
Read Chapter 5, pages 129-156 in online text.
System of Symbols.
Australian Aboriginal dreamtime painting at first looks like a non-objective work filled with beautiful patterns. These patterns are really symbols, and when used together form a story associated with spiritual journeys or mythological stories of creation. Each of the squiggles in Paddy Carroll Tjungurrayi’s Witchetty Grub Dreaming represents something, such as fire, waterhole, campsite, family, trail, etc.
Research Paddy Carroll Tjungurrayi’s Witchetty Grub Dreaming. Look at what the symbols represent, and figure out what story Tjungurrayi (or others) is telling. Be concise about 200 words.
Paddy Carroll Tjungurrayi’s Witchetty Grub Dreaming
See more from the collection at:
National Museum of Australia
