WEEK 7 DISCUSSION 7.2: Making Connections

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR DISCUSSIONS:   Your contributions should be thoughtful and developed.  Answer all parts of the question and use concepts from the course materials.  Use a professional style of communication, with attention to grammar, spelling, and typos; cite your sources.

Choose ONE of the following questions, and give a substantive response to at least two other students. Discussion responses whose central thesis is “I agree” or “good job”, but which contain no other substantial reference to course material, will earn no credit.

1.  YOU, THE ARTIST

Write a poem or a brief essay, draw or paint a picture, make a carving, compose a song, take a series of photographs.  Consider doing a self-portrait in any artistic medium or literary form, representational or abstract.  To get started, you might look at “Project Art-a-Day” at http://projectartaday.blogspot.com/2013/03/lesson-value-self-portraits.html

Include images or audio files of your creative efforts in your response.  Then reflect on your experience and use one interpretative tool from the semester to say something about your work. Make sure refer to the Learning Resource for the tool and which week it is from either in your narrative or as a citation. Underline or bold the vocabulary, concept or technique you use as a interpretative tool in your post.

2.  CROSS-FERTILIZATION

Present and discuss an example of cross-fertilization between two or more art forms. For example, you might compare a theater presentation with a film adapation of the same play, or discover and describe how a poem can be illustrated as a drawing or painting.

For this discussion, you might also compare art forms between two different cultures.  For example, you might compare how religious images or music differ between religious or cultural groups.

Be sure to include images and links so everyone can see or hear what you’re discussing, and make sure to use one interpretative tool from the semester to say something about the things you are comparing. Make sure refer to the Learning Resource for the tool and which week it is from either in your narrative or as a citation. Underline or bold the vocabulary, concept or technique you use as a interpretative tool in your post.

3.  REVIEW A TED TALK

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design.  The TED organization sponsors global presentations on “Ideas Worth Spreading.”

Go to the website https://www.ted.com/ .  Find a TED talk that addresses the value of one of the humanities fields covered in this course or a controversy in one of the humanities disciplines.

Write a review of the presentation.  First, identify the name of the speaker and the presentation, indicate when it was presented, and give a link to the talk.  Second, describe the main points of the TED talk. Finally, offer a critique —your assessment of the speaker’s ideas and the presentation overall.

4.  DISCUSS FUNDING FOR THE ARTS

Although most people appreciate the arts as part of their everyday lives (perhaps, especially, music and film), the arts often are first to go when public school funding is tight.  Use the educational resources for this week as a starting place to explore the pros and cons of public funding for the arts and funding for art and music in public schools.