In Sean Cain’s Advanced Art class, students examined art and art-making from the following perspectives with a personal project accompanying each.
They began with a reading of “The Dehumanization of Art” by José Ortega y Gasset, after which each student developed artwork that explored aspects of the essay that resonated with them.
Next, they asked, “What qualities of art matter most to us?” They read Sara Hendren’s essay “Four Words for the Art You Love,” in which she explores Social Practice art through Robert Hughes’ quartet of terms (inspired by a still life by Jean Siméon Chardin): lucidity, deliberation, probity and calm.
Finally, they considered, “How do others relate to our art?” Building on Hendren’s discussion of Social Practice, they examined how to frame and embody ideas through chosen mediums and how to engage viewers at different levels of investment. Students created works of art based on prompts derived from themes and questions implicit in Hendren’s assessment of Social Practice.
The prompts invited students to think critically about their artistic process, challenge conventional artistic boundaries, engage with broader social and philosophical questions and experiment with form, medium and audience interaction.
These are some examples of those projects.
Sophie Adele Baker: This piece is meant to explore the passing of time in both its natural worldly cycle (seasonal and creationary) and its relativity to the viewer. The piece uses both intentional repetition and metaphorical visuals to leave the final interpretation in the eyes of the viewer. It responds to the prompt: temporal.
Irma Nacinovich: My piece is based on the language & translation and inverting expectations prompts. I wove these two prompts together by making a book that is impossible to decipher. While it has some words, they are (mostly) illegible, meaning the viewer has to try to piece together the meaning using their interpretation of the images.
Henry Fritchman: For this project the prompt I was responding to was an exploration of the temporal: exploring time, repetition and our perception of how time passes. I wanted to make a film that functioned as a time loop, and could be rewatched multiple times while maintaining continuity; basically the film needed to end and start in the same place. After some major editing I got the script down to 50 shots and got to filming, and I think I managed to capture the mundane yet surreal tone I wanted. The hardest part of this project was both daylight meaning we had to film in reverse order (so essentially any shot that takes place early in the loop was filmed later in the day) as well as the fact that certain clarifying shots were lacking from the final product, both due to time constraints and me not realizing they were needed.
Miles Potter: I propose to create a sandbox. The outside is made of foam boards surrounding a glass bottom with an inch of sand on the glass. This piece will have two elements to it: 1) the actual design and 2) a time-lapse video of everyone in my classroom drawing some design. This will be a collaborative piece of art and a study of time. This nostalgic and inviting feel of playing in the sand is the frame of this work. The final film embodies how time and collaboration come together, and how one medium can be formed differently. I hope to keep the box available for anyone who wants to use it after.
