Jennie Berner

Reading Art is a seminar that orients students to college studies and emphasizes students' advancement of college-level critical reading and thinking skills. Students learn how to read and analyze artworks using the formal vocabulary of art and design, as well as how to read about art in art history textbooks, scholarly journals, and other sources. Students improve their ability to process, retain, and apply information by using active learning strategies and graphic organizers, including a schematic note-taking system. In addition to weekly readings and exercises, students complete an in-depth synthesis project on an artwork of their choosing. Regular museum visits complement class work.

In this writing-intensive course, we will explore the line between originality and plagiarism in a variety of fields including art, media, technology, music, business, entertainment, and medicine. In what contexts is copying an art? A science? A crime? How much should we be allowed to borrow from the work of artists and writers who have come before us? Do we owe them anything when we do? What are the economic, social, and political implications of copying? Readings will cover a range of subtopics such as genetic cloning, music sampling, artistic forgery, cultural appropriation, film adaptations, drug patents, fan fiction, body modification, and fair use. We will also analyze the work of artists and writers whose work speaks to some of these issues, including Kenneth Goldsmith, Fred Wilson, Jeff Koons, Sherrie Levine, DJ Dangermouse, and Jen Bervin. Writing assignments ? totaling 15-20 pages over the course of the semester ? will emphasize analysis, argument, research, revision, and other academic writing skills.

Reading Art is a seminar that orients students to college studies and emphasizes students' advancement of college-level critical reading and thinking skills. Students learn how to read and analyze artworks using the formal vocabulary of art and design, as well as how to read about art in art history textbooks, scholarly journals, and other sources. Students improve their ability to process, retain, and apply information by using active learning strategies and graphic organizers, including a schematic note-taking system. In addition to weekly readings and exercises, students complete an in-depth synthesis project on an artwork of their choosing. Regular museum visits complement class work.

Photography can count as a forensic technology, a form of official identification, a documentary record, and a means of surveillance. Yet photographs can also be deceptive, particularly in our age of digital manipulation. In this writing-intensive course, we will examine the circumstances under which photography is treated as art and/or evidence. Readings will cover a range of subtopics from social media & selfies to political photography, from advertising & Photoshop to family albums. Writing assignments ? totaling 15-20 pages over the course of the semester ? will emphasize analysis, argument, research, revision, and other academic writing skills.

When scientists conduct research involving human subjects, they are required to seek permission from Institutional Review Boards to ensure that their research is safe and ethical. Artists, however, have no such obligation. When working with human subjects – whether they be muses, models, collaborators, participants, or viewers – artists often must decide for themselves what is right or wrong. For example, should street photographers get consent from the people they photograph? Is it okay for performance artists to make their audiences physically or psychologically uncomfortable? Should some art come with a trigger warning? Is it appropriate for a painter or fashion designer to ask a model to endure pain or danger for the sake of art? What do artists owe their subjects (financially, emotionally, morally, etc.)? In this research and writing-intensive course, we’ll explore these types of questions through artworks, installations, and performance pieces by artists including Sophie Calle, Clifford Owens, Paul McCarthy, Arne Svenson, Vanessa Beecroft, Santiago Sierra, Marina Abramovic, Song Ta, and others. Writing assignments – totaling 20-25 pages over the course of the semester – will emphasize summary, analysis, argument, research, revision, and other academic writing skills.

The Foundations Writing Workshop is a process-based writing course that serves as students' initiation to the foundations of academic writing in a school of art and design. Students engage in the writing process, learn strategies for exploring topics, and develop their knowledge of the concepts and terminology of art and design through the practice of various kinds of written compositions. Analysis of essays and active participation in writing-critiques are integral components of the Workshop.