In the course syllabus you will notice that you are responsible for two critical essays responding to two contemporary art events, an exhibit of visual art and a concert. These essays are not research papers like you are assigned in other classes. The goal of these essays is to deepen your understanding of visual art and music through consideration of artistic information and informed writing. In order to write these essays, you must focus your attention on the exhibit or concert, write a careful and detailed description of the event, give thought to the structure of the work presented, and draw your own conclusions about the meaning and significance of the work. Although this may seem difficult at first, most students find that by working in a step by step approach, they are able to write essays that help them understand what they have seen or heard. This handout is a guide to preparing those essays.
First, to reinforce what is in the syllabus, each essay should be about a contemporary event. That means work that was originally produced (created or composed) since 1950. If you are in doubt about whether an event is contemporary or not, talk to your instructor.
Each essay must be about an event attended this quarter, and cannot be about an event attended before you started this class.
Regarding your music essay - not all concert venues are suitable for this course. Here are some that are: Schottenstein Center, Ohio Theater, Palace Theater, Vets Memorial, Little Brothers, Bernies, Alrosa Villa, Mershon, and Weigel Auditorium. Not all events in these venues are relevant to 160. Be sure that the concert you write about is contemporary and that the event fits the context of the course (must be music). If you write about a concert in a venue other than these, or one that is in another city, it must be approved in advance. In addition, please select groups that do original material; in other words no cover bands, Elvis impersonators, etc.
Each essay should be four or five pages in length, not including a title page. They must be typed and double spaced. Sloppy papers (poor grammar, punctuation, spelling and typing) often indicate sloppy content. All forms of sloppiness should be avoided.
Papers are due at the following times during the term:
Essay 1 Monday of the Fourth Week
Essay 2 Monday of the Fifth Week
In general, the following outline will give you the essay structure that we expect.
1. Introduction - This is your opportunity to introduce the facts about the exhibit or concert.- When did it take place, where was it, who was involved in it?
2. Description - This is where you describe the event. What did you see and what did it look like? What did you hear and what did it sound like? This should be done in detail and if done effectively, should be complete enough for a reader to imagine the event without actually attending it. Of course, if you have been to an exhibit with 100 works of art or a concert where 30 songs where played, it would take many more than five pages to describe all that. We suggest that after a general description of the event, you focus on 3 to 5 works and that you describe them in depth.
3. Interpretation - All works of art have meaning. Interpretation is your attempt to decide what these works mean. Interpretation is personal and all interpretations of an object or song will not be identical. Likewise, there is no single correct interpretation for a work of art. Interpretations, however, should be based on evidence - the evidence supplied to the reader with your description of the work. Interpretations are often judged on how well they fit the evidence.
4. Judgment - Now is the time to tell us what you thought about the event. Did you think it was good or bad? Why? Again, like interpretations, judgments are based on evidence and are often judged on how well the judgment fits the evidence.
5. Conclusion - This is a separate section (not the judgment), where you summarize your paper and finish it with concluding remarks.
Do your own work.
Keep a copy of all essays that you have turned in.
All papers must be turned in on time.
Your essays must be about contemporary events and they must have been attended this quarter.
If in doubt, ask.
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