Humanities

Objectives

• Identify and describe elements and themes of art
• Analyze an artwork by identifying the elements and themes that make it up
• Interpret an artwork by describing how its elements and themes create meaning or an experience for the viewer.

Instructions

We are beginning our investigations into art by considering the question “What is art?” “What does it do? and “Why do we care?”. To this end I am asking you to:

1.  For the first part of our discussion you will be working to develop a list of important concepts for analyzing and interpreting art. You should post brief definitions of 4 important elements or themes of art from the reading that we might use in thinking about and analyzing art.

2.  For the second portion of our discussion of Art you should find an artwork available on the web. Below are some links to get you started:

o  Search the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago

o  The collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York

o  The collection of the Museum of Contemporary Art

After choosing an artwork you should describe it using the concepts from your list. Describe the work you chose using the concepts that your chose in the first part of the assignment.