Course: FA 210: ART OF THE WORLD (spring term 2011)
Instructor: Dr. Warren Olin-Ammentorp
Contact: 655-7102 wolin@cazcollege.edu
Office: 13 Nickerson St
Office Hrs: TR 1-2:30 (and by appointment)
Course Description / Teaching & Learning Goals: This course presents a broad introductory survey of non-Western art and art-making: painting, sculpture, craft, and architecture from regions such as Africa, India, Southeast Asia, China, Japan, the Islamic world, and Oceania. Students in this course will learn to: a) identify and discuss art works from various non-Western cultures in terms of purpose, materials, techniques, aesthetic principles and cultural values; and b) discuss why and how awareness on non-Western art informs Western notions of art and beauty.
All-College Competencies: This course addresses and will advance students’ mastery of the following competency areas: Visual Literacy; Cultural Literacy; Critical Thinking and Problem-Solving.
Teaching & Required Work: This course will be based on a key topic system. Each week the course will cover a broad topic through general lecture and discussion of specific examples of the topic. Students will demonstrate basic knowledge (identification, description) and an ability to discuss and compare (analysis) specific works through written exercises and examinations. In general, students will apply and answer the following key course questions to everything we study in the course: What is it? Who made it? What is it for? Why is it made like that? What do we learn from it?
Final course grades will be assessed according to these percentages:
§ 75% for 5 exercises – 3 due during the term and 2 due at the final examination meeting
§ 25 % for 1 broad general essay – set & written at the final examination meeting
§ participation and general compliance with course requirements
Exercises are written reports that discuss a specific work of art or type of work. Each exercise must answer each of the key course questions, in appropriate depth and detail. Each exercise must be typewritten, use clear and correct language (including technical terms) and provide references as necessary. Students may not repeat topics – although comparison and contrast is welcome and useful, all exercises must be written on different topics. Thus, although students will be responsible for demonstrating deep knowledge of only five different key topics from the dozen or so covered in the course, their exercises should demonstrate a broad awareness of the themes & issues covered in the whole course.
Text: Gardner’s Art Through the Ages: Non-Western Perspectives
Proposed Course Topics & Schedule:
Week 1: introductory concepts
Week 2: African gods and kings
Week 3: African power figures
Week 4: representations of the Buddha
Week 5: Buddhist temples
Week 6: representations of Hindu deities
Week 7: Chinese art 1: concepts & materials
Week 8: Chinese art 2: landscape painting
Week 9: Islamic decorative art
Week 10: the mosque
Week 11: the Taj Mahal
Week 12: Japanese temples and temple gardens
Week 13: wabi-sabi and the Japanese tea ceremony
Week 14: Japanese representative art
Week 15: Aboriginal Australian painting
