Syllabus Fall 2023

Information about the Course

Baruch College
ART 1011 PMWA: Art History Survey I
Spring 2022, Mo/We 5:50PM-7:05PM
Location: B – Vert 7-210

Professor Cortney Berg
[email protected]
Office Hours: Wednesdays 3pm-5pm, Location TBD

COURSE DESCRIPTION

This introductory course presents a global view of art history through slide lectures and museum visits, with an emphasis on works of art found in New York City museums. It selectively surveys the visual arts of Europe from prehistory through the Middle Ages and concurrent historical periods in Egypt, the Near East, Islamic countries, Asia (India, China, Japan), Africa, and the ancient Americas.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the semester:

Students will be able to write about and discuss major works of art from prehistory to the 14^th century utilizing correct art historical terminology.
Students will gain confidence in their abilities to absorb, describe, critique, and analyze works of art and art practices in both written form and class discussions.
Students will become comfortable visiting museums/exhibitions and/or interacting with arts institutions online.
Students will develop proficiency in different types of writing, including general academic writing for the humanities.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does this course work?

This is a fully in-person course. We will meet 2 times per week for 75-minute sessions. With some exceptions, each class will have 60-70 minutes of lecture and 10-15 minutes of group discussion, depending. This course specifically meets in B – Vert 7-210 from 5:50 PM to 7:05 pm. There will be two museum days when we will not meet for class, but you will have to use that time to visit the Met for an assignment. Otherwise, we are meeting as normal.

How much time is required outside of class?

There will be approximately 2 hours of extra reading or video watching each week outside of class (sometimes less or more). Additional time will be required to research and complete assignments.

Where can I find information on the course schedule, requirements, assignments, and grading?

In the syllabus!

Is there a textbook?

There is no textbook requirement for this course. Readings and other assignments will be available via online sources or in PDFs located in Blackboard’s “Course Content” section.

Can I access the PowerPoints for my own note taking?

Yes, the PowerPoints will be made available in a course Drop Box. The links will be provided in an announcement and the PowerPoints will be made available before class.

Will there be extra credit?

Yes, extra credit opportunities will be offered a couple of times throughout the semester. See the assignment descriptions below.

CLASSROOM ETIQUETTE, COURTESY, AND RESPECT

COVID-19 Protocols

As of May 23^rd, 2023, the vaccine and mandatory testing mandates have ended CUNY-wide. You can read more about the CUNY-wide policies here and the Baruch specific policies here. Any student who is looking to get vaccinated or tested can find resources in the CUNY-wide site, but neither of these things are required for in-person attendance.

In general, if you are sick, stay home. I’ll work with you to catch you up, that is what office hours (even remote office hours) are for. If you are coughing but upright and feel like you absolutely cannot miss class, wear a mask. If you test positive but are asymptomatic, wear a mask. Do not make yourself sicker by trying to work when you are unable to do so, and do not put your peers at risk by showing up sick or not wearing a mask.

If I become ill or test positive, we will most likely NOT cancel class, but rather shift it to zoom for the duration of my illness. Information about this will be released via blackboard and zoom links will be distributed as necessary.

Other Classroom Etiquette

Turn your cellphone to vibrate/silent and take trash with you when leaving the classroom. Laptops and tablets are allowed to be used in class for note taking or accessing readings. Please limit technology use to only that which is needed in class. Please do not wear headphones in class.

We will look at material in this course that deals with race, religion, sexuality, violence, and other

potentially sensitive topics. There will be warnings before and during each class, but if you anticipate feeling uncomfortable with any of this material, please feel free to speak to me personally.

Racist, sexist, xenophobic, and homophobic comments will not be tolerated.

Academic Honesty

Cheating and plagiarism are serious offenses. The following definitions are based on the College’s Academic Honesty Website.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is the act of presenting another person’s ideas, research or writing as your own. Examples include but are not limited to:

Copying another person’s actual words without the use of quotation marks and footnotes (a functional limit is four or more words taken from the work of another)
Presenting another person’s ideas or theories in your own words without acknowledging them
Using information that is not considered common knowledge without acknowledging the source
Failure to acknowledge collaborators on homework and laboratory assignment

This is a writing-focused course, and I do not tolerate any form of plagiarism. My policy is to give no credit for any assignment that has been plagiarized. In addition, I am required by Baruch College policy to submit a report of suspected academic dishonesty to the Office of the Dean of Students. This report becomes part of your permanent file.

Chat GPT and other AI-Based Programs

This class has multiple writing assignments, which runs the risk of students abusing AI. The general policy is that having Chat GPT write your essay IS a form of plagiarism and WILL be reported to the Dean as such. This general policy is applicable to any writing assignment in the course. In cases of suspected Chat GPT or other AI writing service uses, I will be using OpenAI’s detector.

Nevertheless, the future is here and only a naïve professor would not acknowledge this. There are good uses of AI, and bad uses of AI. Good uses of AI include NOT using it at all, OR chatting with it to help you brainstorm and outline. Bad uses include having it write your essay, or not double checking the facts it gives you when you brainstorm. In general, it is reasonable to use Chat GPT as part of a creative process to generate ideas, but if you turn in words that Chat GPT gives you, you run the risk of me checking your essay against the detection software. Even if I do not catch you via that route, you also run the risk of recounting false information (Chat GPT frequently makes false claims), running afoul of plagiarism via the conventional methods of stating information you would have had to look up but not providing a citation, turning in an essay that does not conform to the assignment guidelines or the rubric, and generally getting a bad score even if you do not get marked for plagiarism. In short, use AI responsibly, and do not try to pass off its work as your own.

Note-Taking Strategies

We will begin with what is commonly called prehistoric art and move forward in time through the Mediterranean, Europe, and surrounding areas. As the course description states, we will be looking primarily at painting, sculpture, and architecture. Be prepared to take notes not just about date, location, and material, but also about content and style. A good system of note taking in art history is to take a journalistic approach: ask who, where, what, and when, but also how and why. As we look at objects, we will also be engaging with ideas of race, gender, class, power, narrative, and aesthetics. Art history teaches us not just about the people who created an object and their history, but also about ourselves, as we question why and how we respond to certain things. As you take notes for this course, be sure to jot down your extra ideas… they may be valuable fodder for you on exams and writing assignments!

Assignments and Grading

Attendance and participation: 100 points
10 Quizzes, 20 points each: 200 Points
2 Museum Scavenger Hunt Assignments, 50 points each: 100 Points
2 Rough Drafts, 50 Points Each: 100 points
Visual Analysis Paper (2-3 pages): 100 points
Exhibition Design (2-3 pages): 100 points
3 In-Person Exams: 300 points

Total: 1000 points possible

970+ points: A+
930-969 points: A
900-929 points: A-
870-899 points: B+
830-869 points: B
800-829 points: B-
770-799 points: C+
730-769 points: C
700-729 points: C-
670-699 points: D+
600-669 points: D
599 and below: F

NOTA BENE: Do not rely on DegreeWorks to give you an accurate portrayal of your grade, particularly if you are missing assignments. Rather, at any point in the semester, you can view how many points you have earned towards the 1000 points total, and project where you will be at the end of the semester. I have made the math as straightforward as possible. If there is ever a partial point for an assignment, I will always round up.

Additionally, as an adjunct, I am unable to give INC grades in this course. This is CUNY policy. It is up to you to make sure you turn in all your assignments and ensure a fair grade.

Late Submission Policy

First: No late quizzes will be accepted. Everything else on Blackboard is due at 11:59 pm with a 10 hour grace window within which to submit assignments. If you submit by 10 am the next day, your assignment will not be late, so do not turn in a half-finished assignment at 11:58 pm! Finish your assignment and turn it in “late” (not late before 10 am!). As long as you submit before 10 am the next day, your submission is on time.

I will be empathetic if you need to submit an assignment beyond the deadline. However, you must let me know via email that you will be submitting the assignment late. If the deadline passes and I have not heard from you at all, then you will be penalized on your grade for the assignment. Assignments that are more than 3 days late in any circumstance may be dropped down one letter grade.

Makeup Exam Policy

There will be no make-up exams. It is your responsibility to be here on exam day. In the event of a DOCUMENTED emergency (illness with a doctor’s note, car accident with a police report) we will handle it on a case-by-case basis depending on the nature of your absence, the time of the semester, and what the exam covered. Makeup assignments may include, but are not limited to, an extra paper, a take-home exam, or whatever else the professor sees fit to make up 10% of a student’s grade given the circumstances. Please note that missing the final, even in the event of an emergency, may result in a 0.

Assignment Descriptions

Attendance and Participation

100 points; throughout the semester

To achieve full credit for this aspect of the course, you may have no more than three (3) unexcused absences. (I will decide what is or is not excused. I may not require a doctor’s note for illness, but be aware that employment related absences will be unexcused.) If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to catch up via the provided class material. Attendance will be taken during each class meeting. In addition, you must actively engage in the lectures and discussions. This can include:

Asking a question during a lecture by raising your hand
Answering a question that the professor asks of the class during a lecture by raising your hand
Actively engaging with other students during small group discussion time
Contributing to the full-group discussion by summarizing for the class the important points of what your small group discussed
I appreciate that some students do not want to participate verbally. In some classes, there will be an actual credit/no credit assignment that we do in class to turn in that will be counted towards attendance and participation.

Quizzes

200 points; throughout the semester

You are required to do a quiz 10 weeks or other Weekly Assignment out of the semester on Blackboard, each worth 10 points towards your quiz grade. There are only 10 quizzes total, so do not miss them. After class on Monday, a quiz for the week will open on Blackboard asking about the unit we are covering that week, and it will close before class the following week. Note that some weeks we will not cover all material until Wednesday’s class, but you may take the quizzes early if you wish. NO MAKEUP QUIZZES WILL BE ADMINISTERED. Quizzes are untimed, open book open note, and you may take them as many times as you wish. The purpose is to incentivize you to learn the material, so do be sure to complete these when they are administered.

Museum Scavenger Hunt Assignments

50 points each, 100 points total; Museum Visit 1 is scheduled for 9/20, and the Scavenger Hunt

Assignment 1 is due 10/8; Museum Visit 2 is scheduled for 11/1, and the Scavenger Hunt

Assignment 2 is due 11/19

Museum Visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art are REQUIRED in this course. I have set aside time on September 20^th and November 1^st where we will not be meeting during regular class time so you have time on those days to go to the museum, with a flexibility window. The scavenger hunt assignments will be due significantly later so you can make time to go to the museum during regular hours on your own time if you are unable to go during class time. When you go to the museum, you will have a list of things to find, and a list of questions to answer. You will upload your completed scavenger hunt assignment to blackboard along with a selfie of yourself in front of one of the scavenger hunt objects. Your attendance for that day will be the selfie!

Rough Draft Workshop

2 Rough drafts, 50 points each for 100 points: rough draft due for the workshop on Monday, October 16^th, and Monday, November 20^th

In the rough draft workshop, you must bring a rough draft to class to trade with a peer. Although your draft does not need to be 100% complete, it must be at least a page, and critiqueable. A bulleted list or an outline are not acceptable, there must be at least a few paragraphs for your peers to read through. You will bring your rough draft to class and something to write with, I will pair everyone up, and you will spend part of class reading each other’s drafts and critiquing them. Depending on how the conversations are going, we may switch multiple times. At the end of the rough draft workshop, students will leave behind their rough drafts so I can look them over and return them the following class. Your attendance for the day will be the rough draft, so do not come to class empty-handed!

Visual Analysis Paper

100 points: rough draft due for the workshop on Monday, October 16^th (See Above); Final paper due Sunday, October 22^nd via Blackboard at 11:59 pm with a grace window. NOTE: The rough draft and the final paper are separate assignments!

Visual Analysis is the foundation of art historical writing. Choose one (1) artwork, preferably that you see in person at the museum, created between the Prehistoric Era and the Medieval Period (any culture we talk about in class) and conduct a close observation of the artwork. A selection of suggested artworks will be provided to the class, but you can also choose any artwork that fits within the time period from a major museum’s collection. For this assignment, you do not need to write about the artist’s biography or the art movement, although some knowledge or general research of the subject matter might be helpful. The majority of your analysis will be focused on what you can see.

Your analysis should help you come to an understanding of the artwork, and you should be able to convince others of this understanding as well. You will do that by making a claim (a thesis!) and supporting that claim through your detailed observations, descriptions, and analysis.

Exhibition Design Paper

100 points; rough draft due for the workshop on Monday, November 20^th (See above); Final paper due Sunday, November 26^th via Blackboard at 11:59 pm with a grace window. NOTE: The rough draft and the final paper are separate assignments!

An exhibition design is not a scholarly essay. For this assignment, you will “curate” 3-5 objects, preferably from the Met that you have seen in person / taken photos of from Prehistory to the 14^th century of cultures we have covered in class, and design a hypothetical exhibition where you would display the works. You must provide a theme for the exhibition. “Egyptian Art” or “Impressionism” are not themes! Be more creative than just picking a culture or a genre! Think something like “Images of Women” or “Mythological Beasts” or “Bodily Adornment,” for example. After you explain your theme, you must explain the 3-5 objects in your exhibition and how they fit into the theme (why did you choose this object in particular?), as well as how you would label the objects to explain them to the viewer. Visual analysis can and probably should be part of your hypothetical label. You should then conclude your exhibition design with a statement of what you would hope the viewer would learn from the exhibition.

Note that this essay does not explicitly have a thesis, but a rationale for a theme is kind of like a thesis, and you must demonstrate why your object fits the theme!

In-Person Exams

3 exams, 100 points each; 300 points total

Scheduled for Wednesday, October 4^th, Monday, November 6^th, and our TBD Finals Week Slot which will be announced closer to.

Each exam will have 2 parts: an identification section, where students will look at an image and identify the work of art, and an essay section, where a student will write a short-answer essay in response to a prompt. This test is open-book and open-note, but students MUST finish the test in the class period in which it is given, so do not rely solely on your notes. The identification section will consist of 10 works of art worth 3 points each for 30 points, and the short essays will be worth 35 points each. For the short essays, the works of art will be identified for the student, so it will be the student’s responsibility to answer the prompts fully. These tests will be printed by the professor, so students need to bring something to write with. A study guide will be provided closer to the exam dates.

Creative Arts Extra Credit Assignment

50 points possible, due December 10th

A big part of learning art history is experiential, rather than based on just reading and writing. For this assignment, create a visual work that represents or imitates a work we’re studying. Do not feel as though you need to carve a stone replica of a stone work, but rather, be creative and try to capture aspects of the work of art that you think are important. Doing a chalk drawing on the sidewalk may be an acceptable way to experience the making of a work of art, particularly if you are representing a cave painting– all media are fair game for this assignment. Clay / Play Doh sphinxes are quite popular. Once you create your work, take pictures of it and write 300-500 words about what you did, why you chose the process and media you used, what is similar and different between your work and your object of study, and what you learned. Be sure to identify your object of study in the essay! 50 extra credit points possible.

The Writing Center

You may earn 10 extra points per writing assignment if you provide proof that you attended an appointment or workshop at the Baruch College Writing Center. Make an appointment and learn about the Writing Center.

Assignment Accommodations

Baruch has a continuing commitment to providing reasonable accommodations for students with accessibility concerns. Like so many things this fall, the need for accommodations and the process for arranging them have been altered by COVID-19 and the safety protocols currently in place. Students who may need some accommodation in order to fully participate in this class should contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible — at [email protected] or by calling 646-312-4590. Please also inform me about any accommodations they deem necessary. I am open to discussing how to make adjustments that will make the learning environment feel good for you regardless of whether or not you have an official accommodation letter. Not all suggestions can be accommodated, but please be in touch with me to discuss — I’ll do what I can to work with your needs.

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