Educate and inform the viewer by illuminating an issue or idea, challenge assumptions, make connections, and offer new perspectives.

Project Option 1: Create and Interpret an Art Exhibit

Purpose: Exhibits can accomplish many things. They can educate and inform the viewer by illuminating an issue or idea, challenge assumptions, make connections, and offer new perspectives. Think back to your visit to JSMA – the best exhibits help viewers make connections between social, cultural, political, economic, or religious issues that inform the viewing of the subject or objects. They put objects and/or issues into a specific context.

Focus: Using a concept presented in class as your foundation (ie. marginalization, access, privilege, belonging, etc.), plan and develop a themed interpretive exhibit. Build the exhibit around this concept or a specific reading from that week. Or alternatively, you could choose to focus on an art form we have not focused on this term, and present this topic area with a gendered perspective.

Requirements: The theme of your exhibit should be developed VISUALLY (with IMAGES/ OBJECTS) and VERBALLY (through TEXT within the exhibit) to develop a cohesive whole that helps the viewer make connections. Text in an exhibit is generally detailed and/or highly informative. (Again, think back to your visit to the JSMA). You need to present a minimum of 15-20 objects/images within your exhibit.

There are several ways to approach this. You could look at a particular type of imagery from a historical perspective and highlight any changes and/or developments and their significance. You could use contrast or comparison to illustrate key concepts. You could look at what was going on at a particular time in society and use this to put a particular art movement or style into the larger context of the time.

IMPORTANT: Whatever you choose to focus on, gender should be the underlying issue that is addressed in the content of your exhibit.Curators Statement: In addition to the exhibit itself, you will hand in a two to three-page (double spaced & typed) curator’s statement of the exhibit that describes:
a) the focus,
b) the purpose,
c) the anticipated audience, and
d) your anticipated impact on audience.
Provide references of where original images/sites/etc. may be found. You must reference/refer to a minimum of TWO course readings within the exhibit itself as well as within the statement. Please make certain to include a reference list, title, etc. as you would with any other paper.