Eng 100 -- Essay #4
Instructor Lisa Dowling
ART AS INSPIRATION
Inductive Reasoning
Purpose: The purpose of this assignment is to develop a vision that extends outside you and into the artistic world. We
come in contact with art everyday: music, movies, plays, performance art, conceptual art, and bad art all the way to the
end of the spectrum in fine art. What distinguishes fine art from the rest is its ability to provoke the participant to ask
sometimes-difficult questions and to have original ideas. To be moved or inspired by a particular work of art means that
on some level you have begun to process (and perhaps answer) questions and ideas that have a greater significance
beyond the banality of everyday life.
Art would not exist if it did not have critics and poets. Art needs writers to synthesize and interpret the deep
questions it provokes for the public; without interpretation and written dialogue, art is a static entity that may never be
appreciated for its dimensionality and purpose.
Assignment: You have been asked to attend a fine art opening, gallery, museum, or performance, for this
assignment. In this essay of 4 pages minimum, you will use inductive arguing techniques to arrive at a thesis or
claim about your chosen work of art. Techniques you must also use are “Echoing, Super-literalism,
Freighting, Splitting the Second, one set of -- Dash Skewers -- plus (parenthetical aside) and one Very
Short Sentence” from Adios.
Things to think about/ Ways to proceed:
 Choose a work of art that inspires you! Ideally, it would be a painting, sculpture, fine art photograph, or
performance piece. It could also be a piece of architecture, or any other contemporary object that you consider to
be particularly inspiring. Make sure your work of art is interesting and provocative enough to work for a 4-5 page
paper. If, after choosing a piece, you do not feel compelled enough, change it!
 Intro and place an initial claim at the end of the intro paragraph.
 Once you have an artwork in mind, write down every detail about it that you can. What are its shapes, colors,
textures, scale, length of time, method of delivery, instruments, building blocks, etc? Try to move around the
subject and describe it from all angles and views.
 Next, what are the implications of those details? Write down all important thoughts on your subject, how those
details you just described make you feel, how those feeling translate into provocative ideas.
 Arrive at a thesis after considering all the details. Consider both the denotative and connotative implications of
your thesis. Acknowledge the fact that your thesis is PROBABLE and NOT certain, for at any time, given new
facts and details, it might be contradicted or changed. The outcome is not a guarantee. That is the nature of most
inductive arguments.
 You must include a sample of the artwork as your Works Cited page. A still from a movie, a reproduction of a
painting, pictures of a building, copies of an installation from a catalog, etc. are all acceptable forms of
documentation of your work of art. See me for questions.
Criteria for Evaluation: This paper will be graded based on its depth of detail and organization that leads to an
eventual claim or thesis after detail consideration.
YOU MUST HAVE DOCUMENTATION FROM YOUR VISIT!
1) This essay will include a very detailed description of your subject
2) This essay will consider the implications of the details presented, including the extension of ideas and
questions.
3) This essay will acknowledge the fact that the thesis is probable and changeable due to detail development.
4) This essay will include the four style techniques noted above.
5) This essay will demonstrate proper MLA documentation of sources if applicable.
6) This essay must be a minimum of 4 full, double-spaced pages.
Outline with thesis/claim DUE:
Rough Draft (+2 copies): DUE:
Final Draft: DUE:
Instructor Evaluation / Essay #4 / Art As Inspiration
Writer ___________________________
Score_____________________
Your essay has been read and evaluated based on the criteria listed on the prompt.
* The essay is inductive in nature, and moves from details to analysis to thesis.
-----Yes
-----Fairly
-----Somewhat
-----No
* The essay includes a very detailed denotative description of the subject.
-----Yes
-----Fairly
-----Somewhat
-----No
* The essay looks at the connotative implications of the details presented and applies them outward in a complex analytic
structure.
-----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
* There is a photo of the object for the Works Cited page.
-----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
* There is a probable thesis with adequate development of the idea of changeability.
-----Yes
-----Fairly
-----Somewhat
-----No
* The essay includes the required devices from Adios, including Splitting the Second, Super literalism, Freighting,
Echoing, one set of Dash Skewers and one VSS. (Note: LOTS OF POINTS FOR THIS SECTION!)
SS -----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
SL-----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
FR-----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
Echo-----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
DS + (parenth) -----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
VSS-----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
* The essay is presented in an organized manner and is clear in its intent and focus.
-----Yes
-----Fairly -----Somewhat -----No
* The essay is free of errors in grammar, syntax, usage, and punctuation.
-----Yes
-----Fairly
-----Somewhat
-----No
* The essay is presented according to the format guidelines stated in the syllabus.
-----Yes
-----Fairly
-----Somewhat
-----No