Art essays

focuses on essays about the present and future, searching for descriptions that either make sense of what we are experiencing, or speculate a future that holds up a mirror to the present. For our final project you will stay in this mode of the present by writing a short essay about your own work. Use the ideas we’ve discussed all semester of observation, context, and considering the user, to do a thorough write up of either a complete or in progress piece of your own. This is a chance to practice writing about your own work, as well as to get feedback on it, and could later become a part of your thesis.

Requirements:

600-800 words

Must include an abstract of 50 words or less, an image, and your essay.

Elements:

Describe: give a thorough description, including size, materials, location, ownership

Background: give relevant background information, on the work and the conditions of making

Contextualize: consider the following questions 

How does this work fit into your larger practice and other projects?

How does this work situate you in relation to other designers and projects?

Use: who is the ideal user/viewer?

How does the work describe the user?

Argument: for, against, with qualifiers, or suggestions for improvement