Professor Amy B. Werbel
e-mail is my preferred mode of communication: awerbel@smcvt.edu
meeting times: by appointment, almost every day, please arrange through e-mail
Art 391: West African and African-American Art
Spring, 2009
Tuesdays, Thursdays 10-11:15
Jeanmarie, room 375
Description:
Art 391 is a seminar intended for students who wish to learn about religious philosophies, royal arts, empowered and empowering objects, gender relations, sacred ritual objects, performance, architecture, and curatorial practice in the display of West African and African-American art.
Students are expected to critically analyze, interpret, and discuss course materials throughout the semester. Reading, discussion, writing, and speaking are the essential components of this class. In addition, you will make a virtual exhibition on the web.
Required Texts: (available in the bookstore)
Visona, Cole, Poynor, et al, A History of Art in Africa (2nd edition, New York: Prentice Hall, 2001)
Blier, Suzanne Preston. Royal Arts of Africa (various editions)
Lisa E. Farrington, Creating their own Image: The History of African-American Women Artists (Oxford University Press, 2005)
All other readings are posted in doc sharing on E-College.
Unit 1: Introduction to West African Culture
Jan. 13 Introduction
Jan. 15 Traditional West African Art and Religion
Reading: Art in Africa, 14-19, Kofi Asare Opoku, West African Traditional Religion; (on E-College)
Assignment: QQC due in dropbox by 9 p.m. Wed., Jan. 14
Unit 2: West Atlantic Forests and Akan Worlds
Jan. 20 West Atlantic Forests: Masking and Transformation
Reading: Art in Africa, 167-183. Phillips, Masking in Mende Sande Society Initiation Rituals, in The Performance Arts in Africa, 138-148 (on E-College)
Jan. 22 Mende Concepts of Female Beauty
Reading: Sylvia Ardyn Boone, Radiance from the Waters, 81-144 (on E-College)
Jan. 27 Akan Worlds: Leadership and Power
Reading: Art in Africa, 196-217
Jan. 29 Akan Festivals
Reading: Art in Africa, 217-227. Cole, The Art of Festival in Ghana, in The Performance Arts in Africa, 339-357 (on E-College)
Unit 3: Yoruba, Fon and Battamaliba: Power, Healing, and Performance
Feb. 3 Yoruba and Fon: Overview
Reading: Art in Africa, 228-264
Feb. 5 Introduction to FrontPage I
Feb. 10 Yoruba and Dahomey: Divine Authority and Royal History
Reading: Blier, Royal Arts, 79-123
Feb. 12 Divination: An African Way of Knowing
Reading: Peek and Blier, in African Divination Systems, 1-14, 73-90 (on E-College)
Feb. 17 No Class Break
Feb. 19 Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency
Reading: Margaret Thompson Drewal, Yoruba Ritual: Performers, Play, Agency: xiii--62, (on E-College)
Unit 4: The Lower Niger: Benin, Mami Wata
Feb. 24 Benin: Overview and Mami Wata Shrines
Reading: Art in Africa, 272-297, Henry John Drewal, Mami Wata Shrines: Exotica and the Construction of Self 308-330 (on E-College doc sharing)
Feb. 26 Benin Kingdom: Politics and Religion
Reading: Blier, Royal Arts, 42-77 Suzanne Preston Blier, Imaging Otherness in Ivory: African Portrayals of the Portuguese, ca. 1492 (on E-College)
Unit 5: The Diaspora: Caribbean
Mar. 3 African Diaspora: Overview
Reading: Art in Africa, 516-541
Mar. 5 Bocio and Bo
Reading: Suzanne Preston Blier, African Vodun: Art, Psychology and Power, 1-54
(on E-College)
Mar. 10 Vodun in Haiti
Reading: Robert Farris Thompson, The Rara of the Universe: Vodun Religion and Art in Haiti, 163-191 (on E-College)
Mar. 12 Frontpage II and Photoshop
Mar. 17 and 19 No Class - Break
Unit 6: The Diaspora United States
Mar. 24 Early African Influences in the U.S.
Reading: Samella Lewis, African American Art and Artists, 7-21; John Michael Vlach, The Shotgun House: An African Architectural Legacy; Livingston and Beardsley, Black Folk Art in America, (all on E-College)
Mar. 26 The Harlem Renaissance
Reading: Farrington, Creating Their Own Image, 76-95; The Negro in Art: How Shall He Be Portrayed? (1926): 190-204; Alain Locke, A Note on African At (1924): 537-541 (both on E-College)
Mar. 29 Advising on Exhibition Topics Library Reference Area, 7-10 p.m.
Mar. 30 Advising on Exhibition Topics Library Reference Area, 8:30-11:30 a.m.
Mar. 31 Contemporary Female African-American Artists I
Reading: Farrington, Creating Their Own Image, 146-171
Assignment: Exhibition topics due with annotated bibliography
April 2 and 7 No Class
April 9 Contemporary Female African-American Artists II
Reading: Farrington, Creating Their Own Image, 250-295
Unit 7: Exhibition Practices and Presentations
Apr. 14 Exhibiting Cultures
Reading: Steven Levine and Ivan Karp, Museums and Multiculturalism 1-10; Michael Baxandall, Exhibiting Intention: Some Preconditions of the Visual Display of Culturally Purposeful Objects, 33-41; and Susan Vogel, Always True to the Object, in our Fashion, 191-204 (all on E-College)
Apr. 16 Exhibition Design I
Reading: Pamela McCluskey, Art from Africa: Long Steps Never Broke a Back, 13-60; Susan Mullin Vogel, Baule: African Art/Western Eyes, 12-37 (both on E-College)
Apr. 17 or 18 Dinner and Movie at my House: Basquiat
Reading: Jonathan Weinberg, The Bombing of Basquiat, 211-241; bell hooks. Altars of Sacrifice: Re-membering Basquiat (you can find more examples of his work on google images).
Apr. 19 Work on your websites with Professor guidance, JEM 288, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Apr. 21 Exhibition Design II
Assignment: Bring in the url of a website discussing African art that you find to be a good model for your final project. Be prepared to explain the elements you like and will copy in a 3-minute presentation.
Apr. 22 Work on your websites with Professor guidance, JEM 288, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Apr. 23 Presentations of Virtual Exhibitions
*If you are presenting today, please bring a print out of all your pages*
Apr. 26 Work on your websites with Professor guidance, JEM 288, 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Apr. 28 Presentations of Virtual Exhibitions
*If you are presenting today, please bring a print out of all your pages*
Apr. 30 Presentations of Virtual Exhibitions
*If you are presenting today, please bring a print out of all your pages*
May 5 Virtual Exhibitions must be finished by noon.
Course Requirements and Grading:
1. Daily assignments 50 points as decided upon by the class
2. Class Participation 20 points
3. Virtual Exhibition - 25 points
4. 10 minute presentation of virtual exhibition 5 points
Virtual Exhibitions are graded holistically, taking into account the amount and quality of research presented, the thoughtfulness exhibited in the theme and organization of the exhibition, design qualities, and use of technology.