Please describe how the course will address criteria for Perspectives on the Liberal Arts and Sciences courses.
Be sure to include an explanation of the course’s specific learning goals for students to make a connection between these and the general criteria for Perspectives courses.
This course is a re-design of an existing course taught in the traditional lecture format. The re-design, as proposed here, is guided by the goals of the PLAS curriculum component.
Broadly stated, the ultimate learning goal of the course is to construct knowledge about the ancient cultures of the Mediterranean by intensive examination of their visual arts and architecture. In more specific terms, the course critically analyzes the art and architecture of ancient cultures to better understand and interpret each culture’s core values or ethos, ideas, concerns, aspirations and inspirations. The surviving art and architecture of ancient cultures, which are their forms of creative expression, are largely silent and usually lack any contemporary explanation of their genesis, use and reception. In order to address these issues and form an understanding of them the student must both engage the academic discipline of art history and seek broader avenues of investigation that incorporate ancient literature, history, philosophy and religion. The framework for constructing knowledge in this course is four-pronged and requires the student to:
1.
Master the Foundations of Visual Analysis. The media, or primary sources and documents [PLAS criterion 8], of initial inquiry are the very products of creative expression [PLAS criterion 3] themselves: painting, sculpture, and architecture from Ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East, the Bronze Age Aegean, Ancient Greece, Ancient
Tuscany (the Etruscans) and Ancient Rome. Although these products were meant for visual consumption, the student must learn the necessary cultural, art and architectural terminology to translate visual arts into written and oral descriptions, which are fundamental to visual analysis.
2.
Contextualize Ancient Art and Architecture. Ancient art was both socially constructed and socially formative. Its genesis satisfied a specific social need, yet its use and reception inspired change. No single source exists to explain the environment that created ancient art or the environment ancient art influenced. Therefore students must engage the broader liberal arts [PLAS criterion 2] and learn the salient historical and social contexts of ancient art and come to know portions of ancient literatures, historical perspectives, religions and political ideologies.
3.
Practice Critical Inquiry. With a firm foundation of visual analysis and context, the student will put into practice the fundamental analytical methods of art historical research and inquiry [PLAS criterion 1]. Two such methods address two criteria of PLAS course goals. A survey of ancient art is by its very nature comparative [PLAS criterion 4]. For example, informational, and subsequently knowledge, gaps exist in all ancient cultures, especially with pieces of visual art not specifically linked to literary testimonia. To fill such gaps, the application of comparative analysis of the art and architecture of one culture against that of a contemporary culture is used to generate a valid set of questions or to formulate a structured inquiry. Similarly, stylistic analysis within a temporal framework, or the investigation of change over time [PLAS criterion 7] generates a timeline of chronological development within a particular subject matter or medium that illuminates for example technological inventions or religious revolutions. With such methodologies, the students make connections between the visual evidence (e.g. art and architecture) and its social context in order to generate meaningful conclusions about ancient art and ancient society.
4.
Make Contemporary Connections. Capitalizing on the analysis of ancient art, students will apply the same method of critical inquiry to raise their own awareness of the art and architecture of their everyday world [PLAS criterion 3]. Many culture aspects of the ancient Mediterranean civilizations provided the foundations for western society and thought, and much of this legacy is still visually present today. With a series of brief case studies, the students will compare an ancient art form and its social context with a contemporary example in order to raise questions about the world around them
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Please be sure that your justification addresses all three criteria 1-3, below. For criteria 4-8, please check all that apply and discuss these in your justification.
A Perspectives course must:
1. Be designed to introduce students to how a particular discipline creates knowledge and understanding.
In addition, a Perspectives course will, where appropriate to its discipline(s) and subject matter:
4. Be global or comparative in approach.
2. Position the discipline(s) within the liberal arts and the larger society.
5. Consider diversity and the nature and construction of forms of difference.
6. Engage students in active inquiry.
3. Address the goals defined for the particular Area(s) of Knowledge the course is designed to fulfill.
7. Reveal the existence and importance of change over time.
8. Use primary documents and materials.
Please provide an annotated list of course readings and descriptions of major assignments or exams for the course, as well as distinctive student activities that will engage students in working toward the course goals discussed in the course description and/or justification.
Please include the author and title for each reading or text, along with a short description providing information about how the reading will contribute to course goals.
The primary text for this course is introductory in nature and coverage: Janson’s History of Art . This book is a source of images of ancient art and architecture (the primary documents) and provides a general historical context for each of the ancient cultures to be studied in class. This book provides a running narrative of ancient art for the student. Two companion resources will compliment the primary text; both are online resources purchased by CUNY and freely available to professors and students alike.
The first is ArtStor which provides access to a larger pool of images of surviving monuments (both in art and architecture) for visual analysis. ArtStor provides also factual data to accompany each image and includes such details as artist/architect, date, location, dimensions, etc. The second companion resource is Oxford Art Online (the digital version of Grove’s Dictionary of
Art), hereafter OAO. Each of the six cultures examined in the course is given a subject entry in OAO and each medium of creative expression (e.g. painting) is treated as a subsection within the subject entry. This resource is used in the course because:
 each subsection is written by a leading, publishing and, for most entries, teaching scholars;

OAO is frequently (approximately every 6 years) updated including the bibliography for each entry and subsection; and,
 it serves as an extensive reference and presents factual information generally limited to materials, techniques, chronological development and broad, generally accepted, interpretive conclusions
In order to accomplish the course goals and meet PLAS criteria, supplemental readings are required, about one per week. The supplementary readings serve the following purposes:
1.
Selected articles will introduce more narrow and focused topics. By default, any survey of ancient art is broad. In contrast, the supplemental readings introduce pockets of depth and focus on particular monuments, specific media, or individual subject matters.
2.
These articles will serve as models of scholarship for the students and more specifically as models of the clear presentation of evidence and the rigorous application of methods of art historical analysis [PLAS criterion 1].
3.
Address PLAS criteria and raise awareness of perspectives. Each author presents specific examples of art and architecture, analyzes them, and offers conclusions related to art and broader social issues or society [PLAS criterion 2].
The articles are arranged according to the following perspectives: a.
Art and Religion
Shaw, J.”Evidence for the Minoan Tripartite Shrine.” American Journal of Archaeology 82 (1978) 429-
448.
Shaw combines pictorial evidence and fragmentary architectural remains to propose a built environment for religious activity. b.
Art and Society
Ferrari, G. “The Ancient Temple on the Acropolis at Athens.”
American Journal of Archaeology 106
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(2002), 11-35.
Author employs literature to propose the reception of the temple by Athenians as constructing and perpetuating collective memory.
Hurwit, J. “Reading the Chigi Vase.”
Hesperia 71 (2002), 1-22.
Hurwit analyzes the pictorial program of a single Ancient Greek vase, its findspot, and contemporary literature (ca. 600 BCE) to suggest the stages in physical and societal development of Greek males.
Ridgway, B.S. “The Setting of Greek Sculpture.” Hesperia (1971), 336-356.
Ridgway argues for a change in use of figural sculpture over time [PLAS criterion 7], from an early functional (i.e. religious) use to a later decorative use based on the change of sculpture (statue) setting over the same period of time, from temple to necropolis to agora and theater.
Nodelman,S. “How to Read a Roman Portrait.” Arts in America 63 (1975) 27-33.
Author correlates the style of portrait busts with Roman values.
Simpson, W. K. “Egyptian sculpture and two-dimensional representation as propaganda.”
Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 68 (1982). 266-271.
Simpson combines visual analysis with literary analysis to understand the multiple social messages Egyptian sculpture communicates. c.
Art and Cultural Diversity [PLAS criterion 5]
Oleson, J. “Greek Myth and Etruscan Imagery in the Tomb of the Bulls at Tarquinia.”
American Journal of Archaeology 79 (1975) 189-200.
Oleson argues for international literary influence over international art (visual) influence upon indigenous artistic traditions in tomb paintings.
Younger, J.G. “The Mycenae-Vapheio Lion Group.” American Journal of Archaeology 82
(1978), 285-299.
Through stylistic analysis, Younger isolates a group of artists working with a broadlydispersed and common subject matter who consciously inject local traits and references. d.
Art and Politics
Johnson, W. R. “Monuments and Monumental Art under Amenhotep III: Evolution and
Meaning.” In O’Connor, D. and E.H. Cline (eds), Amenhotep III: Perspectives on his Reign .
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1998. 63-94.
Johnson explores the use of art as a means of political communication.
Russell, J.M. “The Program of the Palace of Assurnasirpal II at Nimrud: Issues in the Research and Presentation of Assyrian Art.” American Journal of Archaeology 102 (1998). 655-715.
Russell analyzes the surviving remains of the sculptural program of this palatial residence proposes that it served both as a visual manifestation of a political ideology, in many ways inseparable from religion, and as a visual marker indicating the multiple functions of the palace.
Tanner, J. “Portraits, Power, and Patronage in the Late Roman Republic.” Journal of Roman
Studies 90 (2000) 18-50.
Tanner argues that Roman portraiture was not simply a product, but a medium used to construct socio-political relationships e.
Art and Science
Wightman, G. “The Imperial Fora of Rome: Some Design Considerations.”
Journal of the
Society of Architectural Historians 56 (1997) 64-88.
The author uses proportional (metrology, geometry and mathematics) analysis of urban space and the use of such space in political agendas.
Assignments and Activities
The course uses five methods of evaluation. Each is geared to the framework of inquiry discussed above. These are arranged in no particular order, except for the final paper, which is the final learning activity of the course.
1.
Quiz (x3) emphasizing style recognition and terminology comprehension and use [Foundations of Visual
Analysis]. Students will be presented with images of ancient art and architecture and asked a series of questions designed to hone visual analytical skills and the proper use of terminology. The goal of each quiz is to develop within the student a command of the ‘language’ of art history in preparation for written exercises and oral discussion.
2.
Analytical and argumentative essay (x2) on the stylistic identification of an unknown piece of art or building.
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Students will be presented with an artwork or building that they have not previously seen or studied and asked to place it in its proper art historical context. The goal of each short essay is develop a command of visual analysis, hone the student’s ability to see and translate art and architecture into descriptive text, and to build arguments based on comparative analysis [Foundation of Visual
Analysis and Practice Critical Inquiry]. This exercise is both peer- and professor-reviewed.
3.
Article review and response (x2). In addition to reading articles for weekly class discussions, students will be required to prepare a brief statement (no more than one page) that identifies and outlines the author’s method(s) of analysis used to generate the author’s conclusion. The goal is to help students develop critical reading skills [Contextualize Art and Architecture and Practice Critical Inquiry]. This exercise is both peer- and professor-reviewed.
4.
In-class Contemporary Connections case studies. These are periodic and brief group learning activities that employ all points of the framework of inquiry.
5.
Final paper. This student project builds on all previous exercises with the goal of constructing knowledge. The final project requires the student to synthesize everything learned in class discussions, readings and evaluation exercises into single written presentation. The student will be presented with an unknown artwork or building and will be required to prepare an analytical and argumentative essay that both places the piece in its proper historical context and proffers an interpretation of its meaning in relation to the society that produced it. This project requires some research beyond the course resources.
Perspectives courses must be recertified every five years, and we are seeking ideas for how to best carry out this assessment. What forms of evidence that the course is meeting its goals as a Perspectives course would be appropriate to collect for this course during the next five years? How would you prefer assessment to be conducted? How might evidence of effective teaching and student learning be collected and evaluated?
Assessment is a component of every course evaluation method (as described in the previous section) and is guided by Bloom’s
Taxonomy of Critical Thinking (Forehand, M. (2005). Bloom's taxonomy: Original and revised. In M. Orey (Ed.), Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved <March 17, 2010>, from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/.). Two steps in Bloom’s Taxonomy are two PLAS criteria: 1) creating knowledge and 6) active inquiry. The course assessment methods therefore can be used to assess Perspectives goals. It is necessary here to lay out the incremental steps or levels of
Bloom’s Taxonomy in order to relate course evaluation methods to learning assessment.
In sum, Bloom’s Taxonomy is (abbreviated from Forehand 2005):
Remembering : Retrieving, recognizing, and recalling relevant information.
Understanding : Constructing meaning from oral, written, and graphic messages through classifying, summarizing, comparing, and explaining.
Applying : Carrying out or using a procedure through executing, or implementing.
Analyzing : Breaking material into constituent parts, determining how the parts relate to one another and to an overall structure or purpose through differentiating, organizing, and attributing.
Evaluating : Making judgments based on criteria and standards through checking and critiquing.
Creating : Putting elements together to form a coherent or functional whole; reorganizing elements into a new pattern or structure through generating, planning, or producing.
The table below correlates the intended learning outcomes with regard to critical thinking for each method of evaluation.
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Quizzes are administered and marked in Blackboard thereby providing real-time feedback for the student. In addition, the marks for the quizzes are quantitatively analyzed to assess both broad areas and specific points which either meet or fail the learning outcomes (table above). Both students and professor evaluate the Analytical Essay and the Article Review essay against a set of defined criteria. These evaluation methods are also administered in
Blackboard. Again, the criteria results are quantitatively analyzed to assess proficiencies and deficiencies in regard to the learning outcomes (table above). In addition, peer-review is another learning method used in the course. Making
Connections is the most difficult to assess because it centers on in-class discussion and group learning. Assessment will rely on anecdotal evidence. The Final Paper is a culminating, synthetic experience for the student and it is evaluated by the professor against a rubric composed largely of the steps of critical thinking outlined by Bloom.
Adjustments to teaching methods at this point cannot be made since the semester is over with the Final Paper so assessment of this learning method will need to be made over several iterations of the course.
What process will your department develop to oversee this course, suggest and approve changes, and conduct assessment?
Who will be in charge of this process? Also indicate whether the course will be primarily taught by full-time or adjunct faculty, or by a combination of the two types of instructor.
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