Nature: Image and Object
Seminar and Artist Reflection Writing Assignments

Weekly Seminar Journal: the seminar journal consists of two parts for each seminar. The first part is a one-page typed response to the reading. The seminar paper should include an in depth discussion of one major idea or questions generated from the text. It should not be a discussion of why you liked or disliked the text. Your audience should be someone outside of the class who is a skeptic. You are trying to convince them of your argument. This response paper is your “ticket” to seminar. After you attend the seminar, write a one-page typed reflection about what you learned in seminar. This is not to be a commentary on the quality of the discussion, but rather an exploration of ideas learned from the seminar. Thus, for each seminar, you will have two pieces of written work. I will collect the seminar journals periodically during the quarter to gain a sense of your understanding, progress in writing, and ideas about our texts.

In this program, we might define art as an object, concept or ritual that expresses a deeply held value. Art is a way of framing or setting aside an experience for closer examination so that the viewer sees it in a new way. Works of art that hold our attention may be the ones that hold a complexity of ideas. Works of art may be about creating community by for example, contributing to on-going conversations about the importance of conservation.

As you read books for seminar, you could think about and reflect on these issues. How do the artist(s) define nature? What do the artist(s) value about nature, how does the work get us to look at nature in a new way. Does the work hold our attention, why or why not. Does the artist’s work help to create community, if so how?

Another goal of our program is to explore artistic processes. Your seminar paper could reflect on how the artist(s) made the work. Did it involve research, what were the sources of images, how does the artist incorporate his/her imagination, how was the work made, what materials were used, were there any rituals involved in making the work.

Reflections on visiting artist’s work: During the quarter we will have the opportunity to look at the work of several visiting artists: June Grant, Jim Croft, Patti Warashina, Randi Parkhurst, James Luna, Michael McGrath, and MalPina Chan. For each artist you are required to write a one-page typed reflection on the work of each visiting artist. Use the questions listed above to frame your response as appropriate.

The purpose of these two assignments is to improve the quality of our seminar discussions by thoughtful preparation, to help you figure out what you think about our texts and speakers, and to give your faculty a tool to assess the quality of your thinking in the program.