English 120 Major Project #1:  Art Review

Points possible: 20

Aprx. 4-5 pages

  Draft #1 due _______________

  Draft #2 due _______________

  Final version due _______________

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     As you have read by now in Writing Today, the review is a ubiquitous genre. It appears as evaluation of consumer products, as instructor comments on student papers, as arguments about the latest big budget movie. For this project you'll gain some expertise with this genre by reviewing and evaluating a work of art. You'll learn about the art form in question, and examine your own assumptions and beliefs about art as well. Afterall, everyone commonly passes judgment—sometimes rather severe—on movies, books, and music, but how often do we stop to consider what we mean by “good” and “bad”?  Where do our tastes come from? Evaluation of art is obviously a very subjective and relative matter, but then how do we decide, as a community, what art will be supported?  And how is it that so many people over decades and centuries—indeed, even over the span of a millennium—have agreed that certain works are especially great?  What do you know about the canon debate, and about how art gets produced, funded, sanctioned?  Are the arts an escape from the world, or a way to confront the world?  What is sentimentality in art?  Is art a minor, low-priority recreation, or a vital human endeavor? Should children (or for that matter college students) be required to take classes in art and music? What is imagination, and what is its role in our lives? Finally, what  works in particular do you especially like, and why? What art would you recommend to others, and how important is it in your everyday life?
 

Instructions

Pick a specific work of art (or a body of work by a specific artist), and write a four to five-page review of it for High Plains Reader, Fargo Forum, The Spectrum, Slate, The Atlantic, etc.   "Art" here can include painting, music, literature, film, dance, etc.—whatever interests you. Assume that your audience is well-educated and fairly knowledgable about the art form in question.

Be sure, in your review,  to do the following:

1) educate yourself a bit about the art form in question—its craft, in particular, its basic elements and components, as well as possibly its history, practitioners, culture;

2) establish clear criteria for your evaluation; that is, make clear what principles your judgment is based on;

3) be ready to justify your criteria; that is, explain why these principles should matter to us (as opposed to other principles);

4) apply your criteria clearly, logically, and consistently to your subject in the body of your review;

5) make sure the occasion for the review is clear: a new work was recently released and readers will be looking for reviews;

6 if you receive permission to do an older work, there must be a clear special occasion for the review: the work is being neglected and needs to be re-examined, or it's been in the news recently for a particular reason, etc.;

4) back up all claims with specific reasons and concrete, vivid, descriptive detail;

5) acknowledge and refute different or competing views (heed other reviews of the same topic);

6) pay careful attention to your audience;

7) put your views in the context of art appreciation and the study of art at large. In other words, see if you can draw on some of our in-class questions about art and art standards generally.

8) Feel free to use graphics, as these are common in newspaper and magazine reviews.

9) Feel free to use a medium-formal style, and even some jazzy, punchy, colorful diction. If you are doing a rave, this kind of language is almost required.

For some questions about art to get you thinking, click here.

For a helpful packet of quotations about art, click here.

      When I score your final product, I'll look for a consistent thesis about a work of art.   You should make very clear your personal criteria for evaluating the type of art in question, you should justify those criteria when necessary, and you should apply those criteria to your subject clearly, distinctly, and logically. (Think 1 criterion per paragraph, give or take.) Be sure to demonstrate knowledge of your subject and its craft and components.  All sources should be documented according to MLA format, with a works cited page. Provide a comprehensive introduction and conclusion,and focus your paragraphs with strong topic sentences and transitions.  Pay careful attention to the needs and expectations of your targeted audience. And, finally, remember to proofread your work for lapses in style or mechanics. I.e., no punctuation errors, typos, syntactical problems, vagueness, awkwardness, etc.
 

Need help? Try the Center for Writers

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