2015 SMFA First Year Program in Visual Arts and Humanities:
The Art of Meaning: The History and Future of the Image
Summer Assignment
I.
READ the following 4 texts from your Course Reader ("Summer Reading"). Come to the
first class prepared to discuss them:
1. Raymond Carver's "Cathedral"
2. Paige Williams's "Composition in Black and White: a collector's fight to
get an untrained artist into the canon" (The New Yorker, 2013)
3. Annie Murphy Paul's "You'll Never Learn! Students Can't Resist
Multitasking" (Slate, 2013)
4. Daniel Buren's "Why Write?" (Art Journal, 1981)
II.
III.
WRITE an essay – in response to a prompt below – on 1 (ONE) of the first 2 readings
listed above: either "Cathedral" or "Composition in Black and White." Choose 1 (ONE)
question cluster below.
EMAIL your essay to firstyearprogram@smfa.edu by (or before) AUGUST
17th. Completion of this essay is required as one aspect of the credit requirements of The
Art of Meaning.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR SUMMER WRITING ASSIGNMENT:
1. READ TEXTS & QUESTIONS AND TAKE NOTES
As you read Raymond Carver's "Cathedral," and Paige Williams's "Composition in Black
and White," also read through the questions below. Write a few sentences in a coursededicated notebook in response to several of the questions that you find potentially
interesting. We won't ask you to turn these sentences in, but we will discuss your reactions
to the story and essay in our first section meetings on September 11th, and having notes will
help you to remember your thoughts and come to class prepared to share. (Plan to always
take notes on the weekly reading as preparation for lecture and discussion during the
semester.)
2. WRITE, EDIT, PROOF
Once you have chosen which of the 2 texts you will be writing about, choose 1 (ONE) of
the question clusters below and address this in an essay of roughly between 800 and
1000 words. The last question on "Cathedral" (#12) provides a fiction writing option if you
prefer that. Keep your writing focused and try not to exceed the word limit.
Do not waste time introducing what we already know; assume your reader is familiar with
the texts and jump right in to your interpretation, citing the text when appropriate. Find
clues and read closely to figure out why specifically the story or essay made you think and
feel the way you did. Because we are asking you to interpret and then to support your
opinions in response to a prompt, your writing project does not hinge on getting a right
answer. Instead, use the assignment to frame or illuminate something that interests you
about the story or essay.
3. POLISH YOUR WRITING
Be sure to include at the top of your first page your name, the text, and the question
cluster you are writing in response to. Before you email us your essay, edit, revise, and
proofread your writing.
QUESTIONS ABOUT RAYMOND CARVER'S "CATHEDRAL":
1.) Why – and how – do you think the cathedral functions as an important image or symbol in the
story? What added dimension does this symbol bring to our understanding of the story? Can you
relate this to the story's treatment of the artistic process?
2.) Can "Cathedral" be read as a story about art and creativity and/or what happens in its absence?
Where do you see evidence for this in the text? Consider the drawing experience that occurs at the
end of the story, and perhaps relate this to other artistic endeavors in the story. Music? Poetry?
What does the story suggest to you about how art can function in human lives?
3.) In what ways is this story about communication and connectedness – and what does this have to
do with art, according to this story? Consider the poems, the tapes, the ham radio, etc.
4.) For Carver, human contact and connection are at the center of life. What details from the story
allow you to challenge or confirm this idea?
5.) What does Robert “see” over the course of the evening? How does this story redefine the
narrator's (our own?) understanding of “seeing”?
6.) What is important about the references to the narrator's wife's poems and tapes? How do these
aspects of the story shape its perspective/s on the creative process?
7.) What is the narrator’s attitude toward his wife? Describe the narrator’s marriage. Is the
narrator’s jealousy of Robert irrational? If not, why not? Connect your thoughts about this to the
role of art in – and not in – these characters' lives?
8.) How does Robert shatter the narrator’s preconceived notions of blind people? How do his
appearance and bearing resist every stereotypical image the narrator has about blind people, and,
crucially, why is this so unsettling for the narrator, do you think?
9.) What does the narrator learn from his encounter with Robert? Be sure to address why and how
drawing has been a central part of this experience.
10.) Describe Carver’s style, and analyze how this might relate to any of the story's ideas.
11.) What are the different roles that alcohol & marijuana play in the story? Do they play more than
one role? How does your interpretation of these illuminate something about the central themes in
the story?
12.) IF YOU WOULD RATHER WRITE YOUR OWN SHORT FICTION IN RESPONSE: Create
a conversation between the narrator and his wife after Robert’s departure. Be sure that this dialogue
reveals something about the events that have preceded it.
QUESTIONS ABOUT PAIGE WILLIAMS'S "COMPOSITION IN BLACK AND WHITE":
1.) Who or what determines what counts as art?
Many museums have become more and more interested in "Outsider Art," a term that has come to
replace and perhaps refigure the term "Folk Art." As the Milwaukee Art Museum describes it,
Outsider Art implies "forms of creative expression that exist outside accepted cultural norms, or the
realm of 'fine art.'" Without worrying too much about the specific history of this term, write an
essay in which you discuss how this article enables you to think about the role/s of and, more
specifically, the power of the museum for visual culture producers. Note that since the article
was written, the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City) did indeed purchase 10
works by Thornton Dial last November as well as some other pieces in William Arnett's Souls
Grown Deep collection.
2.) How does the curatorial relationship, broadly understood, influence artists and the production of
art itself?
Although William Arnett has served as a patron of rural artists from the South who are largely poor
and often African American, "Composition in Black and White" doesn't attempt to tell us what to
think about the issues it explores in any simple way. Write an essay that demonstrates your
understanding of and your opinion about this curatorial relationship, specifically addressing
the roles of race and economic class at play. Your essay should consider both why some people
have been critical of Arnett's role in Thornton Dial's life and why others have celebrated Arnett and
Dial together for what their relationship has brought forth. A strong essay will argue a position,
while understanding – and in some cases countering – opposing points.
3.) Write an essay in which you explain why this essay might be important for contemporary
artists to consider. What issues does it raise that you think are important at this moment for
producers of visual culture?