Hi Everybody! Well it's
time to start a new term and I'm
welcoming you
to Art History 1A: Prehistoric
to Medieval Art. I'm Professor Deirdre
Wills--I'll be your
distance education or online class
instructor.
As a little background...I'll be referring
to my notes from time to time...
I've been teaching here at Pasadena City
College for about six years.
As far as my own background, I
attended both a community college
like PCC; I attended an art school
and then I transferred ultimately to a
four-year
university right over at UC Riverside,
where I completed my bachelor's degree
and master's degree while doing a year
of a study abroad program in Germany
(which i can
probably still remember a little bit of
it)...
Professionally I've worked for art
museums--including the California Museum
of Photography and the Getty
here in Southern California; as well
as
arts institutions looking to keep
the arts alive in 
in our education system, in our policies,
and
state and local levels and that was
through the National Endowment for the
Arts.
To this day, museums are my place to
chill out--
almost on a zen-like level-- maybe it's
how organized they are,
or how they make us focus and pay
attention to interesting and sometimes
surprising stuff
that's displayed there....and of course
Southern California has
incredible multi-million dollar
collections--
even collections that are reflective of
what we're going to study in this class.
Anyway, museums, galleries,
different cultural institutions are
always my choice to both relax
and get inspired, even on a Friday
night
if I head down to the pasadena's own
Norton Simon Museum
in Old Town, which is free by the way
on Friday nights...that's a great date
destination as well.
I like doing other stuff too
when I can get to a flea market, I love
collecting old vinyl--
any 80s music fans out there like me?
Well those are usually a good place to
go
as long as it's not too hot!
Well
a little bit about this class--we'll
begin as I mentioned
back in this... what they call the Stone
Age or prehistoric times and yes, I'm
talking about back in the era of the
caveman and cave art and
maybe some of those artists were women--
we don't know unfortunately--
(but I don't doubt it) and from there...
which takes us all the way back some 30
thousand years; we'll move forward in time to
examine other areas
such as Mesopotamian art, Egyptian art;
 we'll look at the ancient Aegean,
including the ancient Greeks.
We'll look at the Roman Empire, the
Etruscans,
and then we'll move on into
the era where we move... evolve beyond
civilizations that are polytheistic--
worshipping multiple gods and goddesses--
to a monotheistic religion that comes on
the scene, which I bet you can guess what
that is...
yep. I'm talking about Christianity. So
we'll be talking in the latter half or
actually the latter probably
third of this class about the impact of
Christianity
on art history as we enter into the
Middle Ages
and then head into the medieval era
to take a look at the impact of that
widespread religion. So,
why take art history? Well the benefit
of taking art history is more than just
learning about  a civilization,
where it was located, and
how it began...we're
kind of moving beyond the mechanics--
we're looking at
the evidence of those cultures, their
earliest expressions of art. What were
they focusing on? What were they trying
to communicate?
What media did they have
at their disposal that they had access
to
express whatever they wanted to
express through
their artworks? 
So that'll take us from prehistoric
times as I mentioned all the way
to the 14th century
in the Gothic world.
So we are definitely going to be
bridging both the bce
times or "before the common era" times um
to the "common era" which we're now
in, looking at over 30 000 years of
art history--wow that's kind of
mind-blowing!
So art history, I think, is a great area
of study because you'll learn to
understand,
evaluate, describe and communicate about
any kind of art piece or creative
product and I think those are skill sets
that are increasingly important in our
very
visual 21st century world.
We're not...I'm just not just talking
about technology,
but  there's a real
requirement
to be able to comprehend and articulate
concepts and products whether for
fun or business and often
that's to people you'll never meet in
person
right? So communication is so important
in learning about
how to communicate and analyze, evaluate,
describe
any kind of visual product, any kind
of creative output
is a very valuable asset in today's
world.
Alright, after completing this course
you should be able to better recognize
and understand cultures and their values;
religious influences and how politics
and social justice plays a role
in art history; we'll even examine how
women are represented by themselves
and others through a bit of a feminist
lens so
--women and the depiction of women
in this class as well. Not only are you
going to be able to leave this class
and be able to recognize many works
associated with
these art historical eras and cultures
that I'll introduce you to,
but you'll recognize common themes
throughout the millennia
as well. You'll also understand a lot
more
about the techniques artists used, the
power of symbolism
in art, and the impact of those
who hired these artists as well--
as when it gets hard to tell what is
real or true
when art ventures into political
propaganda
(that's just something we have to juggle
on a daily basis when we turn on the news
don't we?)
And then the impact of religion too--
we're gonna start to see
how that can become be expressed either
very
literally or it can become an abstract
expression...
we'll see the pendulum swing in this
class between
um incredibly naturalistic and then
it will swing
towards abstraction or something that's
more conceptual. So we'll talk
about that and why that happens-- that's
very interesting as well.
Alright, how was art used by those in
power,
and when did artists
break from cultural norms? We'll
...everybody loves a rebel and
we'll meet a few
points in history where art kind of took
off in a totally different direction
in adventurous, creative ways.
Alright...
so the first thing that you're going to
do to get ready for this online meeting
is hopefully you
saw my early email to you... if not,
open up Canvas, look in the Orientation
Unit--that's where
you need to spend your time on
Monday and Tuesday for sure reading
things like my welcome letter and some
of the orientation materials that you'll
find there.
If you're new to PCC, or it's been a
minute since you've taken classes here,
make sure your Lancerpoint and Canvas
accounts
are set up with current contact
information and passwords,
or whatever devices you prefer,
since this is an online class, it's very
important to do this since
all class communications, required
discussions,
and assignments and exams will be taught
and evaluated
through Canvas--this is
our vehicle to connect with one another
and each other.
The welcome letter will also give you
further information
about accessing the course and when
our online course begins (which you know
is coming up really soon here on Monday)
and your course check-in requirements--
and there are two of those--so look for
those two check-in requirements if you
want to
make sure you don't lose your seat in
the class because there is a waiting
list
and if you don't check in, you're out!
i know you're...so let me know you're
attending by doing the two check-in
requirements
and then check out all the other
valuable resources and links,
especially regarding accessibility--
if some of you have issues in that
regard, be sure to address them early--
and more information about online
learning,
and my contact information. So if this is
your first
online class, get ready--I hope to get you
very enthused about taking more
(and looks like we're gonna be doing
that for a while) since this is a
fantastic way to make progress toward
your
degree from the comfort of your home,
office, Starbucks, wherever you like to
work!
Expect lots of great content and visuals
as well as many links to the
increasingly rich world of educational
documentaries,
tours, etc.; whatever I can
connect you with to make this more
interesting
I will do it...and that will of
course
allow you to enter that art history time
machine
and go back in time to these wonderful
cultures and civilizations and eras.
So once you're in our Canvas
portal, you'll see a tab that will
require you to take
to take a syllabus quiz as well as
participate in a discussion session--
these will familiarize yourself
with some of the repeated methods by
which I
gauge your participation and assess your
skillsets;
but it's also part of your check-in
requirements--so look for those in your
Orientation Unit on Canvas.
So, I'm looking forward to meeting you 
eventually! At least we'll do that
through Canvas or our Discussion
Group-- it's an icebreaker so
no studying required...you can jump
right in
but do a little bit of the review of the
orientation materials so that you can
take the syllabus quiz and
then we'll get into our art history time
machine! Alright, 
welcome aboard! For those of you who are
worried about
scheduling and showing up at specific
times...
this is a self-led class-- review the
syllabus--
the only thing you have to show up
specifically to are turning in
certain assignments on deadline,
and then the exams have very specific
days.
I will occasionally schedule a Zoom
office hour
that might be fixed but I'm going to
probably vary it for those of you who
are
working; and of course you can reach out
to me 
by appointment. Nice to have
you
on board to Art History 1A!
