Great Basin College
Elko, NV
Art Appreciation
Art 160
Wednesday 4:00-6:45 PM
3 Credits
GTA 122
Spring 2012
Instructor: Cynthia A. Delaney
cynthiad@gwmail.gbcnv.edu
cynthiadelaney@cynthiadelaney.com
www.cynthiadelaney.com
Course Description: This course is an exploration of visual arts with emphasis on
world cultural aspects and the evolution of artistic thought. This course fulfills the
Humanities General Education Requirement.
Catalog Description: Introduction to the visual arts, illustrating the place of art in
its social and cultural setting.
Course Overview:
This 3 credit course is a general survey of visual arts. In Art 160 students investigate
artwork during prehistoric times through the current trends. Emphasis is placed on the
cultures that make art and how different societies value art. Art terminology will be
discussed and students will become familiar with methods of art criticism. By the end of
the course the student will understand a wide variety of art movements throughout history
and realize how art functions in contemporary times.
Course Goals: Students will have a wide comprehension of how art and culture are
linked in societies. They will learn to see art as an evolving and never static concept. The
student will recognize the need for art in our societies and view it as an integral part of
being human. Lastly, the student will understand that art functions at many
psychological levels beyond the obvious vision of beauty or interest.
Textbook: Exploring Art: A Global, Thematic Approach, Fourth Edition by
Margaret Lazzari and Dona Schlesier 2008 (You must buy ISBN # 0-495-09487-0 to
receive an access code to Art Experience Online.)
Suggested text for research paper: MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers,
Sixth Edition by Joseph Gibaldi.
Resources:
Art Experience Online—Available online through your textbook access code.
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Internet Source for MLA Citation:
www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla.htm
Method of Instruction: This is an on site class with a great deal of individual and group
participation. The course materials will be covered through reading assignments, lecture,
discussion, field trips, audio-visual instruction, and presentations.
Breakdown of Grades:
The entire course is based 100 points:
1. Cowboy Poetry assignment is worth 10 points.
1. The writing assignment is worth 10 points.
2. The Art Tools Quiz is worth 10 points.
3. The found object sculpture assignment is worth 10 points.
4. The art museum presentation is worth 10 points.
5. The mid term quiz is worth 10 points.
6. The iconography presentation is worth 10 points.
7. The term paper is worth 20 points.
8. The final quiz is worth 10 points.
8. Your participation and attendance are paramount in this course. You will be
expected to openly discuss topics with the instructor and your peers. Failure to
do so will lower your grade.
Grading Policy:
90-100%=A
80-89%=B
70-79%=C
60-69%=D
Below 60% is failing
Incompletes: These will only be granted in the case of a lengthy, documented illness or
family emergency. I do not assign a grade of “W” after the allowable drop time.
Plagiarism and Academic Honesty:
Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s words, ideas, or data as one’s own. When a
student submits work that includes the words, ideas, or data of others, the source of that
information must be acknowledged through complete, accurate, and specific references,
and if verbatim statements are included, through quotation marks as well. In
academically honest writing or speaking, the students will acknowledge the source
whenever:
 Another person’s actual words are quoted
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

Another person’s idea, opinion, or theory is used, even if it is completely
paraphrased in the student’s own words.
Facts, statistics, or other illustrative materials are borrowed, unless the
information is common knowledge.
A nationally recognized plagiarism software may be used to check student work.
Services for Students with Disabilities:
Great Basin College is committed to providing equal educational opportunities to
qualified students with disabilities in accordance with state and federal laws and
regulations, including the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act of 1973. A qualified student must furnish current verification of
disability. The Students with Disabilities Office, located in Berg Hall, will assist
qualified students with disabilities in securing the appropriate and reasonable
accommodations, auxiliary aids, and services. For further information or assistance,
please call 775-753-2271.
Daily Class Schedule:
PART ONE: What is Art, Who Makes It, and What Do We Do with It?
Week 1
25 January: Introductions. Go over syllabus and first assignment.
Read Chapter 1 in your textbook.
Content: A Human Phenomenon
We will be exploring the following ideas:
Defining art, Creating Art, and the Traditional and Non-traditional
Categories of Visual Arts.
Activity: Film—TBD
Assignment: Attend at least one Cowboy Poetry event. (You can go to
the free stuff!) Write a three paragraph piece explaining what type this
represented and give us your personal thoughts on whether you liked it
and why you think Cowboy Poetry Gathering is so popular. You will read
your piece in class next week.
Week 2
1 February: Read Chapter 2 in your textbook.
Content: The Language of Art and Architecture
We will investigate the following concepts in art:
Formula Elements, Principles of Composition, and Structural Systems in
Architecture
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Discussion: Define formal elements with student input: line, light, value,
color, texture, shape, space, chance, and the engagement of senses. View
several major forms of artwork and go over how the formal elements are
defined in these pieces.
Students will read their homework about Cowboy Poetry and we will
discuss the event.
Activity: Presentations on artists:
The Nature of Artists: Inside the Studio of Jacui Stockdale
Blue Dog Artist George Rodrigue Biography
You Tube about autistic artist and his drawings
Handout: Artist’s Tools
Writing Assignment: In 2 pages define your personal interpretation of
what visual art is and how it is relevant in society. You must provide a
bibliography and at least 1 citation. (Please refer to the term paper
assignment in week 13 for information on font and spacing.) (10 points)
Week 3
8 February: Read Chapter 3 in your textbook.
Content: Media
We will look at these ideas regarding art media:
Media in Two-Dimensional Art, Methods and Media in Three Dimensional
Art, Performance Art, Technology-Based Media, and Crafts.
Discussion: Discuss the various differences and similarities amongst
these four types of visual art. Describe the abilities and limitations of each
form as a type of human communication.
Activity: Define the tools of artists. A number of artist tools will be laid
out. Students will name the tools and tell what they are used for on a sheet
of paper. 10 points
Handout for next week: Critiquing Art
Week 4
15 February: Read Chapter 4 in your textbook.
Content: Deriving Meaning
Here we will investigate how meaning is perceived in art through the
following:
Formal Analysis, Reading the Content Through Iconography and Other
Methods, The Influence of Content, and the Ways We Encounter Art.
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Discussion: How do we analyze art? How do we encounter art?
Activity: Using several pieces of artwork the students will break into two
teams. One team will give a negative form of criticism on a piece while
the other team will present a positive critique. Teams will switch the
format after each piece is examined.
Activity II: Tour the college to visit other art rooms and talk about how
the college atmosphere promotes learning through the arts. Visit digital
photography classroom, ceramics classroom, jewelry classroom, and
theatre. Alternative: Visit photo exhibition at Western Folklife Center
****Remind students to bring components for found object sculpture.
Show examples I have created and examples on the Internet.
Week 5
22 February: Read Chapter 5 in your textbook.
Content: Who Makes Art?
With Chapter five we will uncover the following information:
Art Production as a Social Activity, About Artists (Their training and the
context for making art.), The Role of Artists in Various Cultures, and
Support for Art Making.
Discussion: Discuss the role of the artist, how they are trained, the
contexts for art making, and patronage of the arts. Show examples of art
making based on gender.
Activity: Create a found object sculpture. Bring in your items to make a
sculpture from scrap materials. These materials can be practically
anything! Connections can be made with glue, string, staples—you name
it. I will supply some binding materials but you need to bring the
components and the idea. I will help you come up with something grand!
(If you don’t finish it in class you can take it home and finish there.) 10
points
Week 6
29 February: Read Chapter 6 in your textbook.
Content: What Do We Do with Art?
In Chapter 6 we deal with how we use art in everyday life and in other arenas
of the human experience through the following:
Using Art, Keeping Art, What Art Is Not Saved, and Studying Art.
Discussion: Talk about how we use art, why and where we keep it. What
occurs when art is destroyed in conflicts? How would you personally feel if
an art form that defined your family or culture was destroyed?
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Activity I: Movie or presentation on You Tube.
Activity II: Please find an art museum you would like to visit by researching
online. You can get ideas from your book or the Art Resources under Art
Links or Art History Resources. You will present your museum website in
class and tell us why you would like to go there and what exhibits interest you
most. (Hint: The museum does not have to be in the US—that is the beauty
of online research—you can go anywhere in the world!) 10 points
PART TWO: Why Do We Make Art?
Week 7
Section I-Survival and Beyond
7 March: Read Chapter 7 in your textbook.
Content: Survival and Beyond
In these readings we discover how art is related to other aspects of
humanity through the following practices:
Securing the Food Supply, Storing and Serving Food, Art That Glorifies
Food, Art and the Act of Eating, Domestic Architecture, Commercial
Architecture, Art and History in Context, and Art in its Historical SettingTimeline.
Discussion:
1. Why is food glorified in art and why are so many artworks related to the
procurement and storage of food?
2. Name a public building in the Elko area that we are all familiar with
and discuss its use, structure, what goes on inside, and why it is
important to our community. 5-10 examples supplied by students.
Activity I: Mid Term Quiz (10 points)
Activity II: Film on Frank Lloyd Wright
***Term Paper—Begin developing ideas for your paper. Be sure to
ask me if your subject matter will be acceptable. We are going to go
over the bibliography, book and website for helping with citation, how
to cite in the body of the text.
Term Paper (20 points): Turn in your term paper. No late papers are
accepted. Your research paper should be concerned with defining one
particular visual artist we have studied in our textbook. You should
discuss the type of art he or she construct(ed), general themes that the
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artist works(ed) with, give insight into his or her position as an artist in the
world, and his or her influence in society. Other information about the
artist’s background and the country in which he or she lived can give
additional makeup to your paper.
Your paper must be 6-10 pages in length and should be written in the
MLA style ( For further information please refer to MLA Handbook for
Writers of Research Papers, Sixth Edition by Joseph Gibaldi or refer to
www.liu.edu/cwis/cwp/library/workshop/citmla/htm
Your bibliography should be separated from the main paper and titled as
such. You need to have at least 5 cited sources. These may include our
textbook but should also pull from other books, journals, periodicals, and
the Internet. You may only use 1 Internet resource.
Please number your pages and double space your paper. Arial font is
preferred in 12pt. Due 25 April.
Please note that your term paper constitutes a large part of your grade and that
spelling, grammar, logical ideology, and correct citation count significantly.
Please get tutoring if you need help with this written assignment!
Week 8
14 March: Read Chapter 8 in your textbook
Content: Reproduction and Sexuality
This chapter will show us how art is used to assist in the continuation of
our species:
The Promise of Fertility, Art Depicting Primordial Human Couples, Art
About Love Making, Sexuality, and Gender, Images of Pregnancy,
Childbirth, and Progeny, Art and History in Context-Timeline
Discussion: Students will define the role of fertility figures in different
societies and explain the importance of the concept of renewal and
continuation of the species through childbirth.
Activity I: View several presentations on the concepts of human fertility
expressed in art.
Body Image in the Old Days
http://www.slideshare.net/avalokarts/remembering-lord-krishna
Myth: Erotica is a 20th Century Invention
Handout: Krishna the Divine Lover in Indian Art
Virtual Museum Presentations
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Week 9
Section 2-Religion
21 March: Read Chapter 9 in your textbook.
Content: Deities and Places of Worship
Through imagery, archeological discovery, and the academic study of
current religious practices we will learn about the following examples:
Images of Spiritual Beings, Humans Respond to God, The Cosmos, Places
of Worship and Their General Characteristics, Temple Complexes and
Large Scale Sacred Architecture, Art and History in Context-Timeline.
Discussion: Discuss spirituality and how art is tied to many concepts of
religion. Talk about major religions and the architecture and paintings
associated with them.
View images of the Power Figures created in Africa. Why are they a
significant form of human spirituality and faith? Despite your current
religion or faith can you put your self in the place of a person from this
culture and understand and accept this symbol of communication between
humans and the gods?
Activity: Watch The Art of Faith
Week 11
28 March No class. Spring break!
: Final Part of Section 2 and Section 3—The State
Read Chapters 10 and 11 in your textbook.
Content: Mortality and Immortality and Power, Politics, and Glory
Through the study of tombs and commemorative art and palaces and other
imperial structures and the practices of power we will uncover how art is
interwoven with the following ideas:
Early Tombs, Mounds, and Mountains, Development of Cemeteries and
Grave Monuments, Burial in Places of Worship, Reliquaries, Modern
Commemorative Art, Art and History in Context-Timeline (Chapter 10)
The Glory of the Ruler, The Power of the State, War, Peace, Art and
History in Context-Timeline. (Chapter 11)
Exercise: Show several (3-6) images of iconography used as memorials
in a culture other than your own. (This can be on the computer, in a book,
or other printed form.) Tell us about these memorials, what culture they
come from, and what they mean to the living. 10 points
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Week 12
4 April: Read Chapter 12 in your textbook.
Content: Social Protest/Affirmation
The following human struggles are defined and emphasis is placed on the
involvement of visual art in these strategies:
Protests Against Military Action, Fighting for the Oppressed ,Questioning
the Status Quo, and Art and History in Context-Timeline
Discussion: Discuss how art can be used to glorify rulers and how it can
also be used as a method of protest. Talk about Picasso’s painting
Guernica and its symbolism. Show an image of the Basque mural in City
Park that also represents this war atrocity and compare and contrast the
two.
Presentations on iconography.
Activity: Watch War Photography a documentary about conflict
photographer James Nachtway whose images of war, starvation, and
genocide have altered the way we now think of mass social evils.
Week 13
Section 4-Self and Society
11 April: Read Chapters 13 in your textbook:
Content: The Body
In this chapter we will investigate how our bodies can be used
artistically to express emotion and communication:
Depicting the Body, The Body in Art and as Art, Art and History in
Context- Timeline
Discussion: Compare and contrast the following artworks from this
chapter: Nefertiti (p. 338), Nancy Burson’s untitled photograph of twins
(p. 341), Frieda Kahlo’s Self Portrait with Monkey (p. 343), and Edvard
Munch’s The Scream (p. 353).
Activity : Question and answer session on term paper which is due next
week. Final advice.
Week 14
18 April: Read Chapter 14 in your book:
Content: Race, Gender, Clan, and Class
In this chapter we consider the relevance of race, beauty, and identity
connected with art.
Race and Art, Gender Issues, Clan, and Class
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Discussion: Why is ethnicity in art important? Students will name
several artists who represent their own ethnicity in their work. Discuss
and show examples of Marc Chagall, turn of the 18th and 19th century
Russian Jewish painter.
Activity: View presentations about race, gender and class in art:
Proceed and Be Bold: Bring Race to the Masses
Freedom Footprints
Sankarabharranam 3/12
Term Paper Due
Week 15
25 April: Read Chapter 15 in your textbook.
Content: Nature, Knowledge, and Technology
Understand how humans utilize nature and other resources in creating art:
Nature, Knowledge, Technology, Art and History in Context-Timeline
Discussion: Talk about the Chinese Zodiac and have students discover
what animal represents their birth year and the characteristics that zodiac
represents. Handout on Chinese Zodiac.
Activity I: As a group we will take a walking tour of Elko art. We will
meet downtown and tour these sites:
1. Courthouse and war memorials.
2. Mural by Henderson Building.
3. White King on The Commercial
4. Larry Bute Mural on the Stockmen’s
5. Duncan LittleCreek Gallery
At our final destination we will sit and have a brief discussion about
public art and how our community stands in this respect.
Term papers due.
Week 16
2 May: Read Chapter 16 in your textbook.
Content: Entertainment and Visual Culture
This final chapter summarizes how art is intertwined to form a visual
culture and is incorporated in a variety of the humanities in the following
ways:
The Scope of Visual Culture, Architecture for Entertainment, Art That
Illustrates Leisure Activities, Entertainment/Art, Art and History in
Context-Timeline
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Activity: Final Quiz. 10 points.
Week 17
9 May: Return term papers.
Farewell!
Art Appreciation General Education Requirements
Objective 1: Communication Skills—communicate clearly and effectively in written
and oral form through discussion, reading, listening, and accessing information-- Strong
The student will be able to:
Verbalize his or her growing appreciation of the arts.
Write about and discuss various topics in visual art.
Compose a research paper on an artist according to MLA standards.
Measurement:
The student will concentrate on voicing his or her ideas about the reading
material and debate with peers on particular subjects during discussions.
The student will be graded on his or her writing ability through two
writing assignments which detail the appreciation for and understanding of
art.
Objective 2: Critical thinking—Integrate creativity, logic, quantitative reasoning, and
the hierarchy of inquiry and knowing in social and scientific understanding-- Moderate
The student will be able to:
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Quantitative Ability—To some degree:
Make connections between the architectural design and engineering of
cathedrals and other public or private buildings to the Golden Section,
Golden Mean and the Fibonacci Series founded in mathematics.
Appreciate how design is based on rules of measurement and balance.
Express how nature is redefined in art through mathematical interpretation
and use of perspective.
Reasoning and Independent Thought-Significant:
Decide how art affects their personal lives.
Appreciate how art is subjective.
Develop a personal view of art and a special appreciation for a particular
ideology.
Scientific Understanding-To some degree:
Realize how natural systems are a basis for good design in art.
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Be aware that ignoring the basic knowledge of science and math can lead
to disaster in the production of many art forms, especially in architecture.
Be familiar with the importance of archeological discovery and scientific
recovery of art and artifacts and its influence on the study of art.
Measurement:
The student will learn these ideas through readings and express them in
discussions and through written exercises explaining methodology of a
specific artist.
The student will maintain an understanding of the importance of ancient
and modern technology in the arts through testing and group dynamics.
Objective 3:
Personal and Cultural Awareness- Understand the roles of individuals
in society, the development of human societies, and the significance of
creativity in the human spirit.- Strong
The student will be able to:
Sense of the Individual in Society-Significant
Express his or her cultural, psychological, economic, and historical
backgrounds in relation to the arts.
Understand that individual differences are to be recognized and celebrated.
Develop a keener awareness of this through experiencing a variety of
multi-cultural art examples.
Recognize how attitudes, values, and beliefs are a strong component of the
language of the visual artist.
Sense of the Past-Significant:
Relate the connection of the cultural and historical heritage of
contemporary society to the visual expression of the artists of the past.
Point out the divergence of attitudes, values and beliefs within a society as
expressed through the visual arts, and how it has evolved throughout
history.
Recount the general history and timeline of western and some non-western
visual art and express the importance of continued historical research in
visual art.
Sense of Accountability-Considerable:
Understand the significance of art in society and its need as an individual
and group communication tool.
Be aware of laws and other rules in society that deal with art and the
measurement of intellectual value.
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Appreciation of Fine Arts—Significant:
Recognize the importance of art in terms of the human condition.
Understand the scope of visual arts and define the traditional breakdown
into categories.
Appreciate art in its historical significance.
Be aware of the different methodologies used in teaching and learning art.
Portray the reality of art as a universally cultural need.
Define the difference between fine art, craft, and folk art.
Develop a preference for style, theme, or a particular artist.
Measurement:
The student will demonstrate the combined relationships of visual art,
cultural and personal significance, historical merit, and regulation of art
through modern methods of exchange and intellectual profit. These ideas
will be measured through tests, written assignments, group discussions,
and a research paper which will require exploration and research in this
realm of academia.