Your final essay will be a combination of creativity and analysis. For this assignment you will be creating something of your choosing, then you will analyze in atwo-page essaythe art you created. I’m leaving the choice mostly up to you, butI don’t want you spending more than three to five hours creating unless you absolutely want to.
For those who are especially artistic, consider one of the following projects: sketch, short video, create a piece of music, write a song, build a sculpture, or write a very short story or poem. These are just a few of the possibilities.
However, if you seem to believe that you’re not in any way artistic, then there is an alternative: write atwo-page essayanalyzing a specific piece of art (a film, play, painting, building design, song, one of your past works of art, etc.).
If you cannot provide the artwork as a reference (by attaching a picture), then please attach an additional page with a summary (description) of the chosen art piece (I willnotgrade the summary; it will not count as part of the overall page length requirement). The summary does not need to be more than a paragraph or two. Choosing a movie would require a summary, whereas with a music video, providing a link would be fine.
[PURPOSE]
This assignment is designed to help you develop creativity and critical thinking. Moreover, I want you to identify and create claims associated with an individual piece of art. You will ultimately be analyzing that piece of art in order to explore its purpose.Approach this assignment with a critical strategy, which also facilitates the making of claims. I will Introduce Critical Strategies in a video lecture coming soon.
[RHETORICAL SITUATION]
You will need to establish several things in this assignment for it to work:
- Pick a specific piece of art, or create your own. Whether or not you pick something that is your own creation, provide an image (or link) of the art. If such cannot be provided, I need a summary describing the chosen artwork (which is in addition to the two (2) page analysis paper).
For those creating a piece of art: Limit the time you spend creating. Three to five hours should be the maximum unless you feel the need to do more. Next, write a two-page analysis focusing on a thesis-driven claim about that artwork.
For those choosing a piece of art: You will likely need to do some research in order to understand the context of said art. Next, write a two-page analysis focusing on a thesis-driven claim about that artwork.
Structuring the Analysis Essay (required):
- Introduction: provide a little context (genre and cultural relevance) regarding the artwork and have a thesis statement (your ‘Claim Types’ with ‘support’ included). For example:Symbolic speech such as flag desecration should be protected (
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claim of policy) since The First Amendment to the United States Constitution would be under threat if legislation seeks to highly regulate patriotic statements.(
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support)
- Body: I want the analysis to mostly focus on arguing your thesis claim. By focus, I mean to specify a claim and tie details from the artwork to that claim. Unify the piece of art with your claim and support. We will discuss examples in class.
- Conclusion: summarize the essay by restating the thesis and going over the evidence that supports it. Leave the audience with something to ponder.
[LOGISTICS]
This analysis needs to be a minimum of 2 pages for both those who chose a piece of art (NOTincluding the summary), and at least 2 pages of analysis for those who created a work of art. You need to use 12 pt. font/Times New Roman, and MLA format. You will need to use parenthetical citations in your essay for quotations and ideas that are not your own (seeMLA Formattingfor examples).