Emulate an Artist Assignment

EMMULATE AN ARTIST

OBJECTIVE:
This is a three-part assignment and a really big one for your grade! Choose a person from the list of artists. Then:

1.     Make a cohesive series of photographs inspired by the artist. 

2.     Prepare a 15 minute oral presentation with powerpoint to present to the class.

3.    Write a three page paper discussing the artist’s work.

Part 1. Each person will present the artist in class on October 22nd

Your presentation must include:

• Brief biographical introduction (no more than a minute on this)

- place of birth

-where he/she currently lives
- education

- any important details about their life that has influenced their work

• Elaborate on the artist’s conceptual and aesthetic approach to their work

- What are the fundamental ideas, concepts, or concerns of their work?

- What is their technical approach? What type of camera do they use?  Why?

- Describe their working progress. What methods do they use to make their work?
- Consider his or her work aesthetically.  What makes it unique?

• Provide a brief analysis of at least 5 of their important works
- why are these pieces important, why did they stand out to you?

- what is the image about (what are the concepts)? How does it relate to the project as a whole?

-describe the image formally, how do the aesthetics relate to the concept? How do you feel when looking at the image? 

- where were they made? Were they commissions? Does this artist make personal work?

-You can focus on a specific project, but I will expect you to be aware of the breadth of that artist’s work and where they fit historically to photography’s canon.

Incorporate:

What has the artist written about their work? Analyze their artist statement. Do you feel they accurately describe their art? 

What have others written about their work? Read reviews, watch videos, do research!

Presentation tips:

Come prepared with an outline and/or use the notes section in powerpoint. Organization is very important to a successful presentation.

Show lots of examples of the work and early on. Don’t wait until after you’ve discussed biography, etc to show the audience what the artist’s work looks like. 

Show lots of examples of the work and don’t talk about any art without showing an example. For instance if you read an artist is influenced by another artist, include a slide of that person’s work when you talk about this point. 

Don’t use fancy powerpoint templates. Keep it simple: white black or grey background, large images and text. 

Your presentation should include quotes by the artist and others that have written about them. But no long paragraphs of text on slides. Think about how you would best understand the work if you were seeing the presentation. Long blocks of small text are difficult to read on a projector. 

Practice and time your presentation before you present in class. Presentations that are too short will not receive full credit.

Speak slowly.

Part 2. DUE  October 22

Your paper must include the same as above. Well organized, one and a half line spacing, 3 pages. You only need to do an analysis of two photographs for the paper. Include a separate sheet with a list of references. There should be a least 4. 

Part 3. DUE October 31

Make a series of 8 cohesive photographs inspired by the artist that you choose. They don’t have to be of the same subject or the exact same style, but use some characteristic of the artist as a jumping off point to make your own creative set of images. *You can also recreate the artist’s images. This is the point in the semester where you have a lot of licenses to explore your own interests!