Spring 2010
Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays 2, 11:30-12:30
Claypool-Young 111
Instructor: Joy Gritton
Office: Claypool-Young 110
Phone: 783-2762; e-mail: j.gritton@morehead-st.edu
Office Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays, Friday 2s,
10:30-11:30;
12:30-1:30 or by appointment
Text: All readings--both undergraduate and graduate--will be placed on reserve at the Camden-Carroll Library Reserve Desk on main campus and will be available as electronic reserves.
Please note that the course syllabus, assignments, and other course resources are available for you on-line through the course website at www.artsappalachia.org. You may also access the course website through a link provided at my faculty website at http://people.morehead-st.edu/fs/j.gritton.
Students will also be expected to utilize MSU’s library collections and World Wide Web research capabilties in preparing their assignments.
Course Objectives and Format: This course will provide a survey of the arts of the Appalachian region from pre-colonial times to the present, relating the creative expressions of Appalachia to the region's natural environment, cultural traditions, world view, and socio-economic history. Students will acquire an appreciation for the region’s diversity and the varied roles the arts have played in Appalachian communities, while also exploring the impact of stereotypes and tourism on Appalachian arts and culture. Class sessions will consist of digital image-illustrated lectures, video viewings, guest lecturers/artists, interactive activities and group discussions, and two field trips. Questions and comments are encouraged. Regular office hours are also maintained for this purpose.
The course is designed to strengthen several of the competencies required of students in the art program, such as understanding the visual arts in relation to history and cultures, making connections between the visual arts and other disciplines, and communicating about art effectively in written and oral form. Students should also find that the course helps them to reflect upon and assess the characteristics and merits of the work of other artists as well as their own, and may even find that their range of subject matter, symbols, and ideas for content for works of art is greatly broadened. Respect for the diversity of peoples, cultures, world views and thought are essential to this pursuit of healthy intellectual inquiry and creative exploration, and will be expected from both faculty and students.
This course also addresses several of the New and/or Experienced Teacher Standards at the Information, Knowledge, or Skill Levels. The Professional Certification for Teaching Art Folio located in the Art Department Office provides specific information.
Grading: The evaluation process in this course will focus on measuring a student's grasp of the larger issues presented in class and the student's capability for independent, imaginative interpretation of course material. Each assignment is predicated upon knowledge of the course lectures, required readings, and class discussions and is designed to encourage analytical thinking and creative and thoughtful written expression. Undergraduate students will be responsible for a stereotypes assignment, completion of an oral history project, a fieldtrip/virtual fieldtrip assignment, in-class participation, and written responses to speakers and required readings. Graduate students will complete an oral history project and fieldtrip/virtual fieldtrip assignment, as well as responses to more in-depth and challenging readings and a review of a book selected from a list provided. In addition, graduate students will be held to higher assessment standards than undergraduates for all work. The required work will receive the following numeric value:
Undergraduate Students
Stereotypes Assignment
15%
In-Class Participation and Written Responses
40%
Oral History Project 30%
Field Trip or Virtual FieldTrip Assignment
15%
________________________
100%
Graduate Students
Field Trip or Virtual Field Trip Assignment
15 %
Readings and Speaker Responses
35%
Book Review
20%
Oral History Project
30%
_________________________
100%
Grading Scale:
90-100 A
80-89 B
70-79 C
60-69 D
0-59 E
Missed or Late Projects: Late projects will not be accepted unless the student has an approved, excused absence (such as serious documented illness, death in the immediate family, or university trip). Other excuses will only be accepted at the discretion of the instructor.
Academic Honesty: In accordance with the "Guidelines for dealing with acts of academic dishonesty" outlined in The Eagle Student Handbook, instances of academic dishonesty or plagiarism ("to take [ideas, writings, etc.] from [another] and offer them as one’s own") will result in failure of the particular assignment and may result in failure of the class, as well as other disciplinary action. Record of the incident will also be maintained by the dean of students.
Attendance: Regular attendance in class is expected and essential. No more than two unexcused absences are allowed before the class grade is affected. Excessive absences usually result in poor student performance and may result in a student being dropped from the class. It is your responsibility to communicate to me the reason for absences as soon as possible so that I can excuse those that warrant approved absence status (university field trip, documented illness, documented family emergency).
Classroom and Exam Etiquette: CELL PHONES ARE TO BE TURNED OFF BEFORE EACH CLASS. Phone "rings" are disruptive to the instructor and your fellow classmates. Unless prior permission has been obtained from the instructor for emergency cases, your cell phone sounding in class will adversely affect the instructor's evaluation of your classroom participation and, thus, your grade. Cell phones are not to be out in view or used during ANY guest presentation.
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)Campus Safety: Emergency response information will be discussed in class. Students should familiarize themselves with the nearest exit routes in the event evacuation becomes necessary. You should notify me at the beginning of the semester if you have special needs or will require assistance during an emergency evacuation. Students should familiarize themselves with emergency response protocols at http://www.moreheadstate.edu/emergency.
Schedule of Lectures (Subject to Change)
Graduate Students are responsible for both undergraduate and graduate readings
Jan. 12 Introduction to the Course: What and where in the world is "Appalachia"?
14 Hee Haw, Granny, and Moonshine: How the world has viewed "Appalachia" and its people.
Required Reading : Anne Shelby, "The "R" Word: What's Funny (and Not So Funny) about Redneck Jokes," in Confronting Appalachian Stereotypes, Dwight Billings, Gurney
Norman, and Katherine Ledford, eds. (Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky, 1999), pp. 161-173 and Denise Giardina, "Appalachian Images: A Personal History," in Confronting Appalachian Steerotypes, pp. 161-173.
Graduate Required Readings: John Fox, Jr., "The Southern Mountaineer," reprinted from Scribner’s Magazine, 29 (April-May, 1901), 387-99, 556-70,
in Appalachian Images in Folk and Popular Culture, pp. 121-144. Horace Newcomb, "Appalachia on Television: Region as Symbol in American
Popular Culture," Appalachian Journal, 7, no. 1-2 (Autumn/Winter 1979-80), 155-164;
19 Discussion of Shelby and Newcomb readings, RESPONSE DUE for both undergrads and grads. Excerpts from Strangers and Kin (Appalshop film).
21 Discussion of Giardina and Fox readings, RESPONSE DUE for both undergrads and grads. Begin "Quare" Women and the Settlement School Movement.
Required Reading: website (http://www.ket.org/settlement/)
Graduate Required Readings: William Goodell Frost, "Our Contemporary Ancestors in the Southern Mountains," reprinted from Atlantic Monthly, 83 (March 1899), p. 311, in Appalachian Images in Folk and Popular Culture, pp. 90-106.
22 Continue "Quare" Women and the Settlement School Movement. Sharing by graduate students of reactions to Frost reading. Excerpts from Settlement Schools of Appalachia (video). Sharing of stereotype images (STEREOTYPE IMAGE SELECTION DUE)
26 Weaving
Recommended Reading: Allen Eaton, "Spinning and Weaving for Home and Market," in Handicrafts of the Southern Highlands (New York: Dover Publications, 1973; Russell Sage Foundation, 1937), pp. 92-110; "Native Dyes and Herbs," in Eaton, pp. 133-146; Appendix I : Selected Names of Coverlets and Counterpanes," Eaton, p. 337-338; Appendix III: "Colors Derived From Plants Growing in the Southern Highlands," Eaton, p. 341-342.
Graduate Required Reading: Kathleen Curtis Wilson, "A Distinctive Artistic Tradition," in Textile Art from Southern Appalachia: The Quiet Work of Women (Johnson City, Tennessee: The Overmountain Press, 2001), pp. x-xiv.
28 Quilting STEREOTYPES ASSIGNMENT DUE
Required Reading: Geraldine N. Johnson, "Plain and Fancy": The Socioeconomics of Blue Ridge Quilts," Appalachian Journal, 10, No. 1 (Autumn 1982), pp. 12-35.
Feb. 2 Quilting Workshop: Bring some material scraps, scissors, needle, light card (such as old file folder, note card, etc.) for pattern making.
4 Quilting Workshop cont. Quilting Women (Appalshop film
).
RESPONSE DUE for Wilson reading.
5 Guest Speaker: Bet Ison
9 Expressions in Wood.
Recommended Reading: Allen Eaton, "Furniture and Other Woodwork," in Eaton, pp. 147-165.
Required Reading:
Charles E. Martin, "Make ‘em Fast and Shed ‘em Quick": The Appalachian Craftsman Revisited," Appalachian Journal, 9, no. 1 (Fall 1981), pp. 4-19.
Chairmaker (Appalshop film), discussion of reading and film
11 Basketry, Oaksie (Appalshop film) COMBINED RESPONSE DUE for Johnson reading and Ison guest lecture
Recommended Reading: "The Importance and Use of the Basket in Southern Appalachia," in John Rice Irwin, Baskets and Basket Makers in Southern Appalachia (Exton, Penn.: Schiffer Publishing, 1982), pp. 13-16.
16 Ceramics, Unbroken Tradition (Appalshop film) COMBINED RESPONSE DUE for Chairmaker and Martin reading
Recommended Reading: "Historical Perspective," in Nancy Sweezy, Raised in Clay: The Southern Pottery Tradition (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994), pp. 19-32 and "Bybee Pottery," in Raised in Clay, pp. 169-173.
18 Ceramics guest speaker(s): to be announced
19 Initial Discussions of Oral History project
23 Painting and Sculpture
Readings to be announced.
25 Painting and Sculpture cont.
Mar. 2 Guest Speaker: to be announced
4 What is "Folk Art"? In-class discussion/activity.
Required Reading: "Raw Vision: What is Outsider Art?" - See link on Folk Art section of course web site
5 Field trip to Kentucky Folk Art Center with speaker Adrian Swain: "Red River: the Narrative Works of Edgar Tolson, Carl McKenzie, Earnest Patton and Donny Tolson"
9 Guest Speaker: Larry Hackley, Folk Collector and Dealer
11 Follow-up planning of Oral History Project COMBINED RESPONSE DUE: KFAC field trip, folk art reading, and speakers
15-19 SPRING BREAK: NO CLASSES
23 Photography ORAL HISTORY RAW DIGITAL FILE RECORDING DUE
Required Readings: Charles Alan Watkins, "Why Have There Been No Great Appalachian Photographers?", Now and Then , 14 (Summer 1997), pp.21-25; David Haberstich, "Barbara Beirne's Women of Southern Appalachia, " Now and Then, 14 (Summer, 1997), pp. 3-7.
25 Shelby Lee Adams: True Meaning of Pictures
26 RESPONSE DUE: Watkins reading. Photography discussion
30 Photography Panel
April 1 Stranger with a Camera (Appalshop film)
Required Reading: Jane M. Gaines, "Appalshop Documentaries: Inventing and Preserving Appalachia, Jump Cut, no. 34, March 1989, 53-63 and Stephen P. Hanna, "Three Decades of Appalshop Films: Representational Strategies and Regional Politics," Appalachian Journal, 25, No. 4 (Summer, 1998), 372-413
6 Discussion of Appalshop and Film Making in Appalachia
8 Field Trip: Berea, Whitesburg, and Asheville
9 Field Trip cont.
13 Guest Speaker: Jack Wright
15 New Media FIELD TRIP/ALTERNATIVE FIELD TRIP ASSIGNMENT DUE
20 New Media panel discussion RESPONSE DUE: Speaker/panel of your choice
22 Oral History Presentations
23 Oral History Presentations
27 Oral History Presentations
29 Oral History Presentations
May 3 12:45-2:45 (Exam time) FINAL ORAL HISTORY PROJECT DUE