Module Identifier |
AR30620 |
Module Title |
RESEARCH AND PROCESS IN PRACTICE |
Academic Year |
2003/2004 |
Co-ordinator |
Professor John Harvey |
Semester |
Semester 1 |
Other staff |
Mr Christopher P Webster, Mr Paul J Croft, Mr Simon J Pierse |
Course delivery |
Seminars / Tutorials | 6 Hours Seminar. |
|
Seminars / Tutorials | 6 Hours Tutorial. |
|
Practical | 132 Hours |
Assessment |
Assessment Type | Assessment Length/Details | Proportion |
Semester Assessment | Course Work: | 100% |
|
Brief description
The purpose of this module is to help deepen your comprehension of the work that you will produce for the Portfolio and Exhibition 1 modules. Research and Process in Practice is predicated on the belief (fundamental to the School's philosophy) that innovation and a mature awareness regarding the nature of one's own practice can only be achieved by examining past achievements and contemporary practice in art. In undertaking this module you will be expected to develop an understanding of the historical, theoretical, and artistic background appropriate to your own fine art practice. In this context you will be encouraged to identify, measure, and comprehend your own intent and achievements in relation to past and present precedents. As a consequence, you should develop a greater intellectual grasp both of your own work and of the ideas and artists that bear upon it. The module will, in effect, enable you undertake research using your own work as a starting point. While the dissertation will emerge from a consideration of your own work, it is important to stress that this is a scholarly endeavour rather than either a biographical, journalistic, or diaristic form of writing. For this reason, you are expected to observe the same conventions for writing and publication as if this were a dissertation in Art History. You will also deliver an illustrated presentation based upon the dissertation at the end of the module. The implication, therefore, is that you should write with the clear Outcome of communicating to an audience.
In addressing past and present practices appropriate to your work, you will concentrate on a number of topics. Your supervisor will help you decide which of the following suggestions are appropriate to your own work. Understanding:
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movements, artists, ideas, and processes are currently most relevant to you
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the creative and cognitive processes that shape the evolution of an artwork.
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how to formulate and implement ideas, hypotheses, a framework, and a programme of work
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the interactive relationship between concept and form
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how other artists locate themselves in a historical and contemporary context, and use past art to comprehend their own
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how to rationalise and evaluate your achievements in relation to the work of other artists.
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how past and contemporary culture outside art influences your work and ideas
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how artists successfully communicate their ideas to an audience
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how your work should develop in the context of Exhibition 1, in the light of your findings
Aims
A. develop a specific program of research and research methodology
B. develop a self-reflective approach to creativity
C. locate your work within an historical and contemporary discourse
D. create an interface between the practice, theory, and history of Art
E. undertake a systematic inquiry within a prescribed framework
F. form and test hypotheses
G. Apply methods and techniques appropriate to the subject in rigorous, proficient, self-critical, and self-reflective ways
H. describe your practice in a way that is communciable to peers
I. justify and evaluate actions and decisions
J. prepare you for Exhibition 1
Content
This structure is given for guidance only:
Stage 1 (Summer Vacation) Self-evaluation, composing a proposal and scheme of action
Stage 2 (Weeks 1-2) Defining your current and projected practice and developing a bibliography of primary and secondary sources appropriate to it (includes picture/literature research), and a programme of research development in consultation with your tutor
Stage 3 (Weeks 3-4) Implementing the programme and writing-up preliminary findings
Stage 4 (Weeks 5-7) Re-evaluating or refining the programme and writing-up findings
Stage 5 (Weeks 8-11) Implementing the programme in relation to practical work projected for Exhibition 1, and writing-up findings
Stage 6 (Christmas Vacation) Recording material, finalising the written element, and preparing for the Presentation
Transferable skills
The module will assist the development of the following academic and transferable skills:
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Self-directed project work -- through the production of the Dissertation and Presentation paper
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IT and information handling -- you will be expected to word-process the Dissertation and Presentation paper. Where appropriate, supporting work may be generated using computer-graphic software in consultation with individual tutors and subject to the availability of existing resources.
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Writing in an academic context -- The Dissertation and Presentation will be composed in accordance with academic conventions.
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Oral discussion and presentation -- These will be developed in the context of one-to-one tutorials and the presentation
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Careers need awareness - you will be made aware of the relevance of the knowledge and skills acquired through this module to postgraduate study in Art Practice at MA and PhD level. This will be achieved through an opportunity to exchange ideas with the School's contingent of Postgraduate students.
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Self management - you will be expected to construct a realistic timetable for the completion of discrete phases of research and writing in consultation with their supervisors
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Group activity - none
Reading Lists
Books
Michael Compton (1974) Art as Thought Process
London: Arts Council
Teresa Newman (19760) Naum Gabo: The Constructive Process
London: Tate Gallery Publications
Harold Morick (1972) The Challenge to Empiricism
Belmont, California: Wadsworth
Lois Swan Jones (1978) Art Research Methods and Resources: A Guide to Finding Art Information
Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt
Paula A Baxter (Spring 198) Implementing Database Services for Art Research
Art Documentation
Ursula Meyer (1972) Conceptual Art
New York, Dutton
Norman Bryson(ed.) (1991) Visual Theory: Painting and Interpretation
London: Polity Press,
Sandy Naine (1987) State of the Art: Ideas and Images in the 1980s
London: Chatto and Windus/Channel 4
E H Gombrich (1991) Topics of Our Time: Twnetieth Century Issues in Learning and Art
London: Phaidon
Isaiah Berlin (1979) Against the Current: Essays in the History of Ideas
London: Hogarth Press
Harold Borko (1975) Abstracting Concepts and Methods,
New York: Academy Books
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 6