Reception of the Arts

Catalog description

This course considers how art uses time, space, and causality to define culture and the human condition. INART 003 Reception of the Arts (3) (GA)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. INART 003 approaches the study of the arts from the audience's point of view. It is designed to meet the General Education Arts requirement. The course is offered in the Fall and Spring University Park, with a typical enrollment of 50, and is available to other locations through Campus Course Exchange. There are no prerequisites, and students are assumed to have little or no background in art. As a result of taking the course, students are able to use analogy, the idea of structure, and theories of reception and communication in both art and non-art situations. The course is offered on-line, making it particularly useful for students with family and personal obligations, for older students with job obligations, and for students with handicaps limiting their access to traditional 'classroom' courses. Although INART 003 is designed for potentially large enrollments, students relate to the instructor on a one-to-one basis through e-mail and interact with other students using an on-line bulletin board. Writing, criticism, and analytical thinking are required. Evaluation is based on five on-line quizzes, two on-line exams, and participation in on-line discussions. Tests measure students' ability to reason, synthesize materials, and apply ideas about art to other situations. The discussion sessions expand ideas found in art to apply them to everyday life. Writing is required for the course. Students must contribute at least three short essays and post commentary on others' work for 20 points of the final grade. Informal e-mail conversations supplement this requirement. The course's extensive web site includes lessons corresponding to each chapter in the text, a lexicon of difficult terms, links to other web sites, study guides, works of art, and provocative essays about art.