HISTORY OF THE ARTS
Intro to Fine Arts II 2301

PDF Version of Syllabus click here     Get Acrobat Reader

Classroom: All classes will be taught in FA 161 (unless notified otherwise).

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Fall 2008 TEXTS

• Mark Getlein, Living with Art (8th edition), On-line Learning Center:  www.mhhe.com/lwa8 (click "Student Edition").  Note:  if you have the 7th edition, titled Gilbert’s Living with Art, from FNAR 2300, you may use that edition.  In the schedule below with reading assignments Getlein8 means 8th edition, and Getlein7 means 7th edition.

• Wilson & Goldfarb, Theatre: The Lively Art (6th Edition)

• Roger Kamien, Music: An Appreciation, 6th edition with CDs. Students MUST have the CDs.
  

NOTE: Fall 2008 is the LAST time that FNAR 2301 will be taught. If you are failing this course, you MUST drop the course by the deadline, Friday, November 14 by 5 PM. If you do not drop the course by that date, you will have an “F” on your transcript that cannot be replaced by taking another course.

Introduction

This 2000-level three-hour course will be an integrated one covering the history of art, music, and theatre. Fine Arts 2300 "Materials and Methods of the Arts" is a pre-requisite for this course. The goal of "History of the Arts" is to gain knowledge of the history of the arts, develop further skills in writing about the arts, and some sense of particular eras and periods in history through their artistic creations. Particular emphasis will be placed on discussions of the value of the arts to the individual and society.

Learning Objectives

Fine Arts I and II, together comprising 6 credit hours, fulfills the UALR core requirement in Aesthetic Competency. In Fine Arts I, emphasis is on Aesthetic Experience, Verbal Literacy, and an elementary level of Critical Thinking. In Fine Arts II, emphasis is on Historical Consciousness, Social and Cultural Awareness, International Awareness, and Critical Thinking. Aesthetic Experience and Verbal Literacy skills will be further developed, as students are expected, by the end of the 6-hour sequence, not only to achieve the objectives listed, but also to have an ability to integrate the objectives.

Aesthetic Experience: Students will demonstrate, through objective and short answer tests, essay tests and formal reports and critiques, proper usage of technical terms appropriate for each medium (examples: line, shape, color, melody, harmony, texture, timbre, rhythm, meter, plot) and apply these to analyses of selected works.

Historical Consciousness: Students will demonstrate, through objective tests, essay tests and formal reports and critiques, knowledge of major stylistic and cultural periods used to define the fine arts (examples: Renaissance, Neoclassicism, Modernism). Students will also demonstrate awareness of patterns of change or continuity by comparison of periods (examples: late Renaissance theater to Neoclassic theater; Romanticism to Realism). In reports and essays students will contextualize works that they hear/see in live performance historically.

Social and Cultural Awareness: Students will demonstrate, through objective tests, essay tests and formal reports and critiques, awareness of how works of art are related to the intellectual and social contexts in which they thrived (examples: relationship of the culture of the Romantic etude to the increased size of the European 19th c. urban bourgeoisie; of Picasso's Guernica to the rise of Fascism and state sponsored violence in the 20th c.; of the Baroque fugue to the Age of Reason).

International Awareness: Students will demonstrate, through objective tests, essay tests and formal reports and critiques, awareness of the historical developments of arts in various regions (examples: the Renaissance in Italy compared with that in northern Europe; achievements in all the arts in Paris in the early 20th century; Russian theater at the time of Chekhov and its relationship to later Russian theater; influence of African sculpture on Cubism; of Asian theater on the 20th century anti Realist theatrical avant garde).

Critical Thinking: Students will demonstrate through essay tests that they have made connections, on their own, between the various media in a given cultural movement (examples: the bourgeoisie's rejections of 17th century aristocratic values as a primary defining trait of Neo Classicism, Restoration theater, and music of the Classical era). Merely listing traits, genres, and works of a given period will not merit the highest grade in essay exams.

Verbal Literacy: Students will demonstrate on papers and essay exams that they can discuss works of the fine arts clearly in their own prose.

Writing Assignments

Each student will write three critique papers on exhibits or performances, one in each art area during the semester. All papers must be typed/keyed! Papers in Theatre should be emailed as an attachment (Word, WordPerfect, text or rtf files are required. Students should always keep a hard copy on file). NOTE that different due dates apply for each of the three papers.

For sample questions and a sample critique for Theatre click here.

For critique guidelines for music click here.

For analysis of art guidelines click here

(If you cannot access these links, contact your instructor no later than one week before due date.)

Class Attendance

Class attendance is critical for success in this course. The attendance grade can easily make the difference between passing and failing the course. Ten percent of the students' grade will be based on attendance. In order to get credit for attendance, the student must attend the entire 50 minute class period. If the student is late or leaves class early, she/he may not get credit for attendance. (Generally, if you are over 15 minutes late four times it will count as an absence)

Testing

Each test will have objective sections that cover specific information in each art area, and each test will also include an essay question that requires the integration of knowledge of all the art disciplines. For example: "Discuss a general characteristic of the Greek/Roman period which is common to all of the arts covered in this course.  Explain how it is manifested in specific examples of visual art, music and theatre/dance of the time.  Discuss at least one example from each of the three arts, using the specific terminology of each art discipline.  Write at least a two page essay, using the front and back of this sheet."

Exams cannot be made up unless the circumstances are dire!

Art Events Attendance

Each student will be expected to attend three art events during the semester, and turn in a written response (see above) to each. Students may get discounts at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre by waiting five minutes before curtain and showing student ID. Please make every effort to attend the events listed here or those suggested by the instructor. It is important that the instructors see the events you do. Requesting events outside those listed here or suggested by the instructor, may make an insightful evaluation of a critique impossible. Only critiques & reports on the events listed in this syllabus will be accepted in theatre.

Please understand the consequences of NOT submitting the art event papers: failure to submit a single art event paper means that you receive ZERO points for the paper, not an F. Each paper is 10% of your final grade. One paper with ZERO points brings your semester average down one letter grade, two missing papers means two letter grades lower, and three missing papers means . . .

Grade computation for the entire course

• Art event paper 10%
• Music event paper 10%
• Theatre event paper 10%
• Class Attendance 10%
• Exam 1, 2, & 3 (12% each) 36%
• Integrative final exam 24% (Objective questions & essay question draw from Impressionism (Exam 3) to the present.).

On Line Support

Students can access grades by going to http://www.eclassinfo.com/home.asp?ID=wachapman. Your student ID number is your user name and your instructor will assign your password number. This syllabus is also available online by going to http://theatre-dance.cahss.ualr.edu/waynesweb/index.html. or http://rgroesbeck.pageout.net For the latter website, click on Fine Arts 2, then click on Syllabus (or Course Content for handouts on paper guidelines etc.). Practice quizzes can be taken on line by clicking on hyperlinks listed after each exam listed below.

Students with Disabilities

It is the policy of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock to create inclusive learning environments. If there are aspects of the instruction or design of this course that result in barriers to your inclusion or to accurate assessment of achievement–such as time-limited exams, inaccessible web content, or the use of non-captioned videos–please notify the instructor as soon as possible at the beginning of the semester. Students are also welcome to contact the Disability Resource Center, telephone 501-569-3143 (v/tty). For more information, visit the DRC website at at http://ualr.edu/disability/.

Mobile Phones

You are expected to turn off all cell phones and pagers before entering class.

Faculty

Jane Brown, Professor, Art,

• Office: FA 262,
• Telephone 569-3145,
• E-mail JHBROWN@UALR.EDU

Rolf Groesbeck, Associate Professor, Music

• Office: FA 109 B (Office Hours: MWF 12:00-1:00)
• Telephone: 569-3101,
• E-mail RAGROESBECK@UALR.EDU
  http://rgroesbeck.pageout.net (click on Fine Arts 2)

Wayne Chapman, Associate Professor, Theatre Arts

• Office: CPA 225A,
• Telephone: 569-8354,
• E-mail WACHAPMAN@UALR.EDU

Schedule

More About Attending and Writing About Arts Events (30% of final grade)

An expectation of this course is that each student will participate in live arts events, attending concerts, plays, performances, and exhibitions on a regular basis throughout the semester. Many performing arts events are already scheduled, so students should be able to plan personal schedules to incorporate some of these. Students will be expected to buy their own tickets. Do not ask to substitute watching a video tape for attending a live event. During the semester, each student must attend a minimum of three events, writing a detailed critique. Of these three, one must be visual arts, one music, and one theatre or dance. Please observe the following deadlines (no papers will be accepted after these due dates):

• Critiques are due (Friday) November 7th for Theatre
• Critques are due (Monday) November 10th for Art
  
• Critiques are due (Wednesday) November 26th for Music

(No papers will be accepted after these dates! This is very important. We need to give student grade reports on the last day of class.) The activities on this syllabus are approved and suggested. You must get advance permission to write one of your three required papers on any other event. Please make every effort to attend the events listed here. It is important that the instructors see the events that you use for a critique.

Plagiarism

A fundamental goal of education is to produce students who can evaluate ideas – both analysis and synthesis – and who can produce significant original thoughts. Plagiarism is simply repeating words or thoughts of other people, without adding anything new. Therefore, submitting a plagiarized paper – in addition to the wrongful conduct – does not demonstrate the level of understanding and skill that an educated person is reasonably expected to have. Submitting a plagiarised paper will result in zero credit for the assigned paper & could result in failure for the entire course. The paper might also be turned over to the office of the Dean of Students for further disciplinary actions.

What is plagiarism? In minor cases, it can be the quotation of a sentence or two, without quotation marks and without a citation (e.g., footnote) to the true author. In the most serious cases, a significant fraction of the entire work was written by someone else: the plagiarist removed the true author(s) names(s) and substituted the plagiarist's name, perhaps did some re-formatting of the text, then submitted the work for credit in a class (e.g., term paper or essay) or as part of the requirements for a degree (e.g., thesis or dissertation).

Ronald B. Standler Plagiarism in Colleges in USA

Art Critique

Each student must write about one work of art in one of the approved exhibitions. See the link for the list of Art Events below. If during the semester you visit a museum such as the Kimbell in Fort Worth, you may ask the instructor for advanced permission to write about a work there.  Do not choose a work that is not on the List of Approved Works without the instructor’s permission!   Click here for the analysis of art guidelines

Music Critique

For list of concerts, critique guidelines, and sample critique for music, click here.

Some possible events to attend:

Art Events

Artspree Events

UALR Music Events

UALR Theatre Events

Arkansas Repertory Theatre Events

Arkansas Symphony Events

General Study Skills

Helpful web sites about responsibilities of being a college student

The Not-the-13th-Grade Page: a Free Online Guide to College Success
http://webhost.bridgew.edu/jhayesboh/NOT13TH/not13th.htm

How to Be a Student
http://www.ee.calpoly.edu/~jbreiten/htbas.html

The Study Skills Help Page: Learning Strategies for Success
http://www.mtsu.edu/~studskl