What is Art Part II

What is Art Project: PART II

Now that you have put your ideas about art to the test, it is time to use them to guide you as you create a piece in the art medium of your choice. I want you to be free in your choices, but I can only provide so many real options for you to choose from. I urge you to take today to explore the various different programs mentioned below and choose one that you’d like to explore.

• A 2-D image or series of images in Photoshop or Illustrator. These can be images you shoot with a camera, compose from scratch, or remix from other media.
• A multimedia podcast/ vodcast made in GarageBand and/or iMovie.
• A 3-D architecture project in Google SketchUp.
• A website design. You can use iWeb, Dreamweaver, or our newest web design program, Freeway.
• An audio recording or song using GarageBand. You can sing, rap, remix, or all three!
• A 2-D animation using Flash. I’m not as familiar with Flash as other programs, so this is for independent students only.
• A fine art piece. For students who would like to get away from the computer, you can create a physical piece of art. This could be drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, junk art, or some other physical art piece. It might also involve dance, performance, and/ or writing. You will submit it to your blog, so it will have to eventually be in a digital format, but you can begin the process in whichever way you want to. Please know that you will have to do work outside of class time if you choose this option.

You will be responsible for creating the benchmarks for this project so you can turn in a finished project on January 15/16.


By the end of this class period, take the online poll below to indicate which project you want to undertake.

What is Art: Part I Final Paper (2-3 pages, due 12/11,12

The final project for Part I of this project is a 2-3 page paper which outlines your ideas on what is and is not “Art”. Fear not! This paper can be made up of your blog posts (revised to fit together). This is the first part of your final paper for this project, and it is mapped to the graduation portfolio’s Creative Expression task rubric. You must answer all prompts fully and specifically to get credit.

I expect you to make generalized statements about Art.
For example, “Art should make us think in new ways”.

I also expect you to talk specifically about individual pieces of work you have viewed.
For example: “The art project about the starving dog was horrible, but it     made me think about hunger, selfishness, and the artist’s role in a new     way”.


What do you believe makes something “Art”? How is it different from “not-Art”?Specifically, what qualities does Art need to have?


Sometimes, works of art can have a literal meaning and a more abstract, metaphoric meaning. What role do moods, symbols, and metaphors have in your definition of “Art”?

What role does Art play in your life? What do you use it for? How can Art teach you things that more literal media cannot?

When you create your own piece of Art (as you define “Art” to be), what qualities would it have to possess? How will you ensure that it meets all features of your definition of “Art”?

Describe the process you went through to develop your definition of “Art”. How has it changed over time? How did you decide which pieces you wanted to look at and think about? How did these pieces change your thinking about what “Art” should and should not be?


Finally, create your own definition for what “Art” IS and what it is NOT.

Blog Post 3: Read & Respond to a "What is art?" post

Here, you will find a list of blog posts from around the web where people are trying to explore what art is. Choose an article to read and then respond to it. Provide a link to the article in your blog so we can follow along.

1) Summarize their main point about art.

2) What evidence do they give to support their argument?

3) What underlying beliefs and values do you think went into this author's ideas about art?

4) Did they raise any interesting points that you hadn't thought of?

5) Was the art piece they were discussing effective? Was it "art"?

6) At this point, what is your definition of art?

Blog Post 2: What is "Not-Art"? Take the Poll