hello hybrid art history 111 students
this is a short video to welcome you to
the class and let you know what you
should do to get started so this is a
hybrid class it's possible some of you
haven't taken one of those before so
just to explain a little that basically
means that it's half online and half
in-person we'll meet in person once per
week and have discussions and hands-on
activities and really make the most of
our time together in person and then
most of the kind of like reading and
watching videos and taking quizzes and
the kind of like lecture type part of
the learning in this class and you'll do
on your own at home by using the online
course that I've set up so all of the
things that are just about you absorbing
information you do at home and then when
you come into class it'll be more about
interactive kind of discussion and
activity it's a little unusual at first
if you've never taken this type of class
before but trust me it's a lot of fun I
think you'll enjoy it it's a good way I
think to structure a class and make the
most out of the time that we have oh I
forgot to introduce myself so I'll be
your instructor my name is Cara Smulevitz
I've sent you an email
so you can reply to the email if you
have any questions for me and you can
also see the spelling of my name I'm
happy with students just calling me my
first name though so feel free to refer
to me just as Cara if you're okay with
that all right
so we're going to be meeting in person
once per week on Wednesdays but this
class is going to act more like a Monday
Wednesday class in the sense that you'll
be doing a good portion of the work
before we meet so on Monday or whenever
works for your schedule you'll be doing
reading watching videos reviewing a
study guide and then taking a quiz
sometimes doing an assignment as well
and you'll be doing that all online at
your own pace you do that before we meet
each week and then when we meet on
Wednesday you've already got a really
good handle on the material and then we
can use the class time to really build
on that and deepen our ideas about it
and discuss it and do fun activities and
all of that good stuff
so we're going to meet on Wednesday but
before we meet I have a few things for
you to do on the canvas class. one
note about canvas I've also sent out a
video in this email I sent you that
gives you instructions for how to log on
so if you've never used canvas before
just watch that other video it'll show
you how to make an account and then
you'll be automatically able to access
this class as soon as you've made your
account since you're enrolled
I think Monday yet so the first day of
the semester which will be Monday is
when you'll be able to access this
course they make it automatically
available on Monday okay so anyway what
you should do before we meet on
Wednesday is browse through the online
course site on canvas so look at the
syllabus look at all the info that's
there make a list of any questions you
have and make an actual list like write
it down and that way when we meet on
Wednesday you can remember what your
questions are and ask me people always
think they'll remember their questions
and they just keep a list in their head
but then the first day of class goes
fast this can be like a little
overwhelming and then people forget what
they wanted to ask so definitely write
it down so that that doesn't happen okay
so that's the first thing the other
thing that you'll do before we meet
Wednesday is a little introduction
assignment and that's something you'll
do online basically you're going to get
a photo of yourself or if you'd rather
just a photo of something that
represents you don't think too hard
about it just pick a photo that you like
and upload the photo onto canvas there's
a discussion area there's instructions
there and you'll see how to do it so
you'll share your photo then you'll tell
me and your classmates a little bit
about yourself by describing the photo
and then you'll actually do this little
experiment where you treat the
photograph as though it's an artwork in
a museum so imagine you go to a museum
you look at a painting and you describe
the balance of the painting the colors
the lines kind of all of the different
visual things going on in the painting
to make it interesting
you do that but with your photograph
that you uploaded so you're basically
practicing your ability to make visual
analyses of artwork so to visually
describe an artwork but you're
practicing it on your own photograph let
me give you a quick example using one of
my photographs
so I'm gonna hide my myself in the
corner here um this is a photo of me and
my husband in Athens um we were on
vacation I think this was maybe three
years ago now I guess it's getting kind
of old um but anyway I love this photo
of us it's one of my favorites I like it
in part because look at the look on his
face he's a mid cheers I think but he
just looks so happy and I think it's
just such a nice way to capture who he
is he's a really positive happy person
and then you know I'm here eating olives
which were so delicious in Greece
drinking wine which was also very
delicious you can see I fully cleaned my
plate there was really good food this
was a great time um it was a trip that
both of us really enjoyed we went with
another couple that were friends with I
got to look at lots of art in ancient
Greece it was overall really great and
you know because I'm a teacher and I
usually have summers off which is so
lucky I'm able to do these kind of trips
and go see the art that I teach about
all year in person in the summer okay so
that was me just telling you a little
bit about myself and my family and you
know I didn't give you a ton of
information but a little bit so that's
what you all do too and then what you do
is the part where you treat the
photograph as though it's an artwork
you're describing so if you think for
example about composition composition
means how an image is laid out so how an
artwork is balanced what the different
parts of it are doing visually look at
how this one is kind of divided in two: I
mean there's Chris's section that's my
husband's name, and then there's my
section but it's not just that it's two
people look behind us you see that tree
is kind of a dividing line because it's
this dark leafy area behind my head and
then the umbrella which kind of extends
that and then past the tree here it's
all nice and light pretty much except
for this little tree behind Chris's head
but mostly it's this light open area so
if you look at that as kind of a
division it's not halfway in the picture
it's maybe 2/3 but this is a sort of
lighter part of the picture and this is
a heavier part of the picture
that's not just because of the
background do you see how because I'm
wearing black and because my arm is down
here and you can see my elbow against
the table it gives us a heavier more
kind of solid feel whereas here his
elbows against the table too but we
can't see that because of this
breadbasket and his wine glass is lifted
higher than my wine glass so this gives
this section a more kind of upward
direction so my section is more heavy
and grounded his section is lighter and
a little more upward then if you look in
front of us he's got this plate in his
section that goes almost all the way to
the front of the image whereas I have a
more empty area since this glass is
see-through that creates some space to
kind of balance the heaviness of how I
look here and here the heaviness of this
balance is the lightness of how he looks
here so I could do this all day but you
see how I've started to really break
this up into what's happening visually
and that's what you do when you're
visually analyzing an artwork you really
look at all the choices the artist made
and what those do in terms of the
balance of the picture so we're gonna do
a ton of that in class but you'll just
practice with your snapshot you can
pretty much write a paragraph for that
it doesn't have to be too extensive and
then I'll use a couple of your photos in
class in our first day so we can all
kind of practice it together so there
are written out instructions for this
assignment online so don't worry about
getting it all right now but this is
just the basics so you'll include a
photograph that represents you um
doesn't actually have to include an
image of you if you don't want it and
then you'll practice visual analysis by
describing the photo as if it's an
artwork mention balance composition
color also tell us a little bit about
yourself why that image represents you
again this is all written out in the
canvas class so you'll have it right in
front of you when it's time for you to
make the actual discussion post and
you're gonna do that before we meet on
Wednesday so go to the canvas site get
started with this class with the
introduction assignment and when we see
each other on Wednesday we'll talk about
it more welcome to class I'm excited to
actually meet you in person soon
