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California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: October 5, 2006
Latest Update: October 5, 2006
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
Activities: This is an advanced undergraduate class in sociology. This is not an art class, and we're not planning to produce great art. We are planning to use art as a means of understanding our feelings and improving our skills in answerability, as we discover that some things aren't easily said, but a picture is worth a thousand words. Many of us learn visually. The great advantage of one-sided argument is that you can use sound bites, visual bits like flags, swastikas, images of pretty girls to get your message across or sell your message, especially in advertising. We're going to stick to using sound bite images unless you have some training in art. In fine art you can learn the beauty of the two-sided argument in classical art, where you must study the image to even begin to understand it.
One of the disasters of democratic elections in the last fifty years is the extent to which she who has the most money can buy the most imagery on TV or newspaper space, and all other means of presenting her argument most effectively to persuade you to vote for her or to do what she tells you to, or to buy her product. Art and music, popular culture, are a big part of that. Notice that many music scenes have sprouted in the last decades to represent one or more perspective of our popular culture. Examples: hip hop, rap, popularized religious music.
In the first week we made dolls that opened up to fascinate and stand on a counter or be hung from a convenient spot. The dolls opened up to offer the message: Say Hello to a Neighbor. Your children liked them. We liked them. Your neighbors would like them if you' take a minute to make a few you can share. That's called community building. On a very small scale, but a very important scale.
Now, we want to proceed past simple dolls strung together to more elaborate handmade art that can break important social, economic, political, and spiritual messages down to soundbites, and then use them to stimulate conversation on focal things, issues and events that really matter in our lives. To do that I want to share techniques for making art that you can learn with relatively little effort and produce small pieces that are made for the moment, without worry about permanence and the concerns of "great art."
To this end, we'll offer you rubber stamps, for those who prefer a ready made image. Collage for those who like to find the whole image ready made. Ready mades, themselves. In other words, finding things in which you can see art where others see only a useful product or trash. And putting these together into an exhibit that will serve as a stimulus for gallery kinds of conversations on focal thngs.
Link to my weekly plans and critiques for specific activities. jeanne
Discussion Questions
- QUESTION
Consider WHAT I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHEN I WROTE THE QUESTION. AND LINKS TO SOURCES.
References:
- Reference
