Assignment/Project: Call and Response

We are fortunate to have access to a wonderful body of art in the Paul R. Jones collection, housed at the University of Alabama. Mr. Jones was an avid collector of photography as well as art objects of various media. This projects resides between curatorial and creative inquiry. What does that mean? 

Emily Bibb, the PRJ Collections Manager, has been kind enough to pull several pieces for your perusal, each of which is photographic, or deals with photography in some way. For this assignment, you will be "adopting" a particular piece that resonates with you. Come to know this artwork intimately in all its details, maker, history, concepts, and ideas. You will become our resident expert. That is the curatorial aspect.

On the artistic side, take in what inspires you about the piece—the subject, approach, concept, the look and feel, what have you, and create a pieces of your own in response. Your work can be a quotation, a spin-off, a challenge, a dovetail—any sort of response that inspires you. At first, generate several responses, and then go with the strongest as you develop your piece(s). There is a likelihood that your response piece and your source image will be exhibited side-by-side for contemplation by the general public, so this is an exciting opportunity! Run with it.

There are several phases of the project.

1. PRJ visit to choose your piece. Once decided, write an initial analysis of the object. This analysis should be 1-2 pages and roughly follow this format:
• Critical description. Describe what you actually see in the piece,with as much detail as possible. If you notice it, write it down. Comment on both content (what is depicted) and the physical form of the piece (e.g. color photograph fading to magenta, 11x14, etc.)
• Formal Analysis. Investigate how the image is organized. Address, form, scale, composition... how does this affect how the subjects are perceived?
• Interpretation. Discern what you feel the piece means or is about... speculate. If it comes to you, write it down. Be a sleuth: form a hypothesis about the meaning, as you see it.
• Judgment. Move beyond "like" or "dislike". How is the piece successful? Is there something lacking? How does it stack up to similar pieces you might know from the history of photography or other areas? This step might require a bit of research and reflection.
2. Research everything you can about the piece, and write 1-2 pages. The artist, the era, style, genre, motivations, circumstances around the image, intended goals for the image, where the image was shown, for whom it was made, critical response to the image, etc. Only include biographical information about the artist insomuch that it supports the analysis of the piece.
3. Begin working on and crafting your creative/artistic response.

Written portions due: 2/20

Prelim Critique, Art: 2/27