INTRODUC TION TO AFRICAN AEST HETICS

AFAM 3133 – INTRODUCTION TO AFRICAN AEST HETICS

AESTHETIC REVIEW ASSIGNMENT GUIDELINES The major research assignment in AFAM 3133 is the Aesthetic Review assignment. This assignment is essentially a set of three Aesthetic Reviews of two pages each, with each ‘review’ identifying the time period, art form, selection, and brief biographical profile of an African American artist (or artist group). A complete Aesthetic Review assignments is 6-pages long (not counting the required cover page). The Aesthetic Review assignment is submitted in two parts: the Aesthetic Review Description and the Aesthetic Review assignment.

AESTHETIC REVIEW DESCRIPTION

The Aesthetic Review Description is a one to 1.5-page document that describes the information that will be in your Aesthetic Review assignment. To complete this part of the assignment, you need to provide the following details for each of the three works you selected: the title of the artwork, the African American artist/group who created it, the form and style of the artwork, and the historical time period(s) the work represents. The Aesthetic Review Description must have one-inch margins, 12pt font, and a single-spaced heading (i.e., name, course name, assignment, date). The assignment should be consistently single-spaced throughout the document. Do not use larger than one-inch margins, or larger than 12pt font! Your Aesthetic Review Description should include:

AESTHETIC REVIEW ASSIGNMENT

The Aesthetic Review assignment is a 6- to 9-page document that includes aesthetic reviews of three works by African American artists. Each 2- to 3-page ‘aesthetic review’ includes:

 the title of the selected art work,

 the form of art the artist/group produced (art form),

 the African American artist (or artist group) who created the work,

 the time period the work represents,

 a representative image of the selection of the artist’s work (e.g., an image of the painting, mural, quilt, photography, handicraft, sculpture, architectural structure, or cover art/poster for a song, dance, film, etc.),

 a brief biographical profile of the artist, and

 a brief critical analysis of the artistic selection.

ART I ST I C SELEC TI ON S , ART FORMS & ART I ST S

Artistic Selections. First, you need to select three works of African American art. Once you have chosen each selection you will review, you need to identify the title of the work, the year it was created or produced, and information about the artist who created or produced it. You must be able to provide the full and complete title of the artistic selection and a full citation for it. Please consult APA style or MLA style guidelines for how to write up the proper citation. You should also provide a representative image of the selection, if possible. If you choose a form of visual art (e.g., painting, mural, sculpture, handicrafts, architecture, photography, etc.), include an image of the selection. If you choose a performance art (i.e., music, dance, film, etc.), provide an image that is representative of the art, such as an image of the poster for a movie, the album art cover for a song, a playbill for a dance performance, or a snapshot from a performance, etc. If there is no image available for your selection, please state that at the beginning of the aesthetic review. (NOTE: You are strongly encouraged to use works that have a representative image.) Art Forms. You are free to choose from any of the art forms covered in this course. Since we review a broad array of artistic forms representing different genres and styles across the various time periods, you have plenty of options. In general, it is expected you will consider choosing from among the following visual and/or performance art forms:

 Songs (singing, instrumental, rap, or spoken word performances)

 Dance (performances)

 Film (video art, movies, short films, etc.)

 Paintings and Murals

 Handicrafts (e.g., quilts, pottery, glassworks, etc.)

 Photography (daguerreotypes, portraiture, digital, etc.)

 Sculptures (including multimedia collages)

 Architectural structures (e.g., built structures)

You may choose the art form you prefer for each time period you select. You are not limited to a single art form (e.g., painting), nor are you limited to a single style of that art form (e.g., postmodernist painting). NOTE: The art form and style must pertain to African American art. You are encouraged to frame your Aesthetic Review assignment creatively. For example, you can examine the same art form as it was produced across different time periods (e.g., photographs produced by artists in three different time periods), or you can focus on various art forms produced in different time periods (e.g., pottery in one time period, painting in a second time period, and a sculpture from a third time period). You can emphasize the same form of African American art produced in different styles during different time periods (e.g., ring shout dances, tap dances, and hip-hop dances, or spoken word performances from the 1970s, 1990s, and present-day, etc.). Which art forms you select is entirely up to you. Artists. The artists you select for your Aesthetic Review assignment must be African American. Additionally, they need to be African American artists who produced works that contributed to African American art. (Artists of African descent (e.g., Nigerian, Kenyan, Afro-Brazilian, Haitian, Jamaican, Barbadian/Bajan, etc.) who produced works in their native country and whose works are not tied to African American history, art, or culture, are not appropriate choices for the assignment.) Again, the artist or artist group you select must be African American.

T I ME PERI ODS

To help you better identify appropriate time periods, you can refer to the “Timeline” on pages 300-309 in African American Art (Patton, 1998). You may also refer to online exhibits of African American art from various museums and collections across the nation. In addition, you should use the following time periods to classify the works:

 COLONIAL AMERICA (1700s – 1820)

 SLAVERY & RECONSTRUCTION (1820s – 1870s)

 19th CENTURY AMERICA/TURN OF THE CENTURY (1880s – 1920s)

 HARLEM RENAISSANCE and the JAZZ AGE/MODERNISM (1920s – 1930s)

 WPA/WORLD WAR II/ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM (1930s – 1950s)

 CIVIL RIGHTS ERA (1950s – 1960s)

 BLACK ARTS MOVEMENT (1960s – 1970s)

 POSTMODERNISM/NEW BLACKNESS (1980s – 1990s)

 21st CENTURY (2000s – Present)

B I OG RAPHIC AL PROFI LE OF T HE ART I ST

Each aesthetic review includes a brief biographical profile of the African American artist whose work you selected. The biographical profile is approximately one page in length with no larger than one-inch margins. It should be typed in an essay-appropriate 11pt or 12pt font, double- spaced, with no after-paragraph spacing or unnecessary line spacing. The biographical profile of each artist (or artist group) should explain:

 When and where the artist was born (or the artist group was founded)

 Details of the artist’s early life, significant artistic activities, and accomplishments

 When and where the artist died (if no longer living)

C RI T IC AL ANALYSI S OF T HE ART I ST IC SELEC T I ON

Each aesthetic review includes a brief critical analysis of the selected work. Frame your analysis by answering the following questions about the artwork you selected:

 Why did you choose this selection of African American art?

 What is the theme of the selection? What message do you think the artist intended the work to convey to its audience?

 Consider your understanding of the “Black Aesthetic.” In what ways does this selection represent or reflect the life, history, or social experience of African Americans? Would you classify it as “black art”? Why or why not?

Each Aesthetic Review (details, biographical profile, and critical analysis) should be at least two complete pages in length. A complete Aesthetic Review assignment should be no less than 8 pages in length: a cover page (1 page), the three Aesthetic Reviews (6 to 9 pages), and a Works Cited or References page (1 page). REMEMBER: Proofread your completed Aesthetic Review!

In this example,

“Aesthetic Review No. 1”

provides details about

“Aspects of Negro Life:

From Slavery to

Freedom” mural, an

image of the mural, a

brief biographical profile

of its creator (Harlem

Renaissance artist Aaron

Douglas), and a brief

critical analysis of the

work.

An example of one aesthetic

review (of three) from the

Aesthetic Review assignment:

Cover Page (APA Style), Page 2,

Page 3, and Page 4.

Pages 2, 3 and 4 (shown at left)

give an example of how to

format an aesthetic review.