XIDS 2100-LCR
The Creative Process
Spring 2010
MW 12:30-1:45 CRN 11098 Humanities 209
Dr.
Katie Chaple
Office: TLC 1113-E
Phone:
678-839-4860
Email: USE WEBCT MAIL.
Use your WebCT course email to contact me. I will only respond to email through official channels, meaning your WebCT course email address. (MyUWG and WebCT serve as the only legitimate modes of university correspondence.)
Web address: http://www.westga.edu/~kchaple
Office Hours:
Monday: 9:00-10:00
Wednesday: 8:30-12:30
& by appointment
Writing Center Schedule:
Monday: 10:00-12:30 & 5:00-5:30
Class Description:
This semester we will be building on the ideas and concepts we explored regarding craft and inspiration and add to it the concept of creativity. Do you suppose that creativity is genetic? How do we become creative? Does it only have to do with art? Don’t we use creativity in other areas—our jobs, our daily lives, regular problem-solving? Last semester we read and discussed the idea of the poet through Wordsworth and Shelley, and established different views of the writer—as divinity, as workhorse. We’ve seen different views of creation—from Eliot’s alchemy and Aristotle’s rules to divine inspiration. Is creativity something that is absolutely personal, or can you classify yourself? The pleasures and satisfactions of creative work are many, but it also requires dedication, discipline and, at some point, control and restraint. We will explore the nature and philosophy of the creative process through both study and process. You will explore your own creativity through different artistic mediums. What drives you to create?
Texts & Requirements:
Learning Outcomes:
Relationship to Program Goals:
1. to develop the ability to recognize and identify achievements in literary, fine
and performing arts;
2. to have an appreciation of the nature and achievements of the arts and
humanities; and
3. to develop the ability to apply, understand, and appreciate the application of
aesthetic criteria to “real world” circumstances.
literary history and the issues surrounding literary study in contemporary culture.
If you know that English is not your best subject, I recommend you visit The Writing Center. The Center is an excellent resource. To make an appointment, call 678-839-6513 at least twenty-four hours ahead of time.
Disability Pledge
I pledge to do my best to work with the University to provide all students with equal access to my classes and materials, regardless of special needs, temporary or permanent disability, special needs related to pregnancy, etc.
If you have any special learning needs, particularly (but not limited to) needs defined under the Americans with Disabilities Act, and require specific accommodations, please do not hesitate to make these known to me, either yourself or through Disability Services in 272 Parker Hall at (770) 839-6428.
Students with documented special needs may expect accommodation in relation to classroom accessibility, modification of testing, special test administration, etc. This is not only my personal commitment: it is your right, and it is the law!
For more information, please contact Disability Services at the State University of West Georgia.
Plagiarism & Excessive Collaboration Policy
It is always disappointing to discover a student has plagiarized. If you have any questions regarding incorporating outside material, ask me. Ignorance will not be an excuse. Because of the way in which this class is organized, if you plagiarize it will be immediately apparent to me. Do not risk it. ***If you turn in plagiarized work in regards to any assignment, you will immediately fail the course. This policy also refers to a student turning in work/essays that you have written for any other class or professor.
Plagiarism & Academic Dishonesty
The Department of English and Philosophy defines plagiarism as taking personal credit for the words and ideas of others as they are presented in electronic, print, and verbal sources. The Department expects that students will accurately credit sources in all assignments. An equally dishonest practice is fabricating sources or facts; it is another form of misrepresenting the truth. Plagiarism is grounds for failing the course.
See also, excessive collaboration.
The University policies for handling Academic Dishonesty are found in the following documents:
The Faculty
Handbook,
sections 207 and 208.0401
http://www.westga.edu/~vpaa/handrev/
Student Uncatalog:
“Rights and Responsibilities”; Appendix J.
http://www.westga.edu/handbook/
Excessive Collaboration
By the end of the term in both ENGL 1101 and 1102, students should demonstrate the ability to produce independent writing (writing without collaborative assistance of peers, writing tutors, or professionals in the field) that shows an acceptable level of competence. Although classroom activities and out-of-class assignments may highlight collaborative learning and collaborative research, excessive collaboration (collaboration that results in the loss of a student's voice/style and original claims to course-related work) is considered another form of academic dishonesty and therefore will not be permitted.
Role of the Writing Center
The role of the Writing Center is to offer consultation in which tutors question, respond to, offer choices, and encourage revision in student essays. Tutors do not evaluate or prescribe solutions to problematic areas in student essays, and tutors are specifically trained to avoid appropriating the student's work. For more information, visit the Writing Center online at http://www.westga.edu/~writing.
Course Policies
I expect your participation and your attention during class-time. I will expect you to be prepared: I will expect your assignments to be complete and ready to hand in, and I will expect you to have read that day’s assigned text(s). I also expect that you will be an active participant in your own education. If you don’t understand, ask. I have listed my office hours, office phone and email. Let me know how I can help.
Department Paperless Policy
As of Fall 2006, the English Department implemented a “paperless” policy in its classrooms. Therefore, all materials (handouts, assignment sheets, notes, etc.) will be made available online. Students may print these necessary course documents, including the syllabus, on their home computers.
Attendance Requirements
COME TO CLASS. BE ON TIME. The nature of this class requires that you attend.
***Students will be administratively withdrawn from class based on the following attendance policy. For classes that meet twice a week, a student is allowed three absences. Upon the fourth absence, the student will be withdrawn. Be aware that no distinction exists between excused and unexcused absences. In addition, students should be aware that if the withdrawal date falls before March 1, the student will receive a “W.” If the withdrawal date falls after March 1, the student will receive a “WF.”
Disruptive Behavior
Students may be dismissed from any class meeting at which they exhibit behavior that disrupts the learning environment of others. Such behavior includes—but is not limited to—arriving late for class, allowing cell phones to ring, speaking disrespectfully to the instructor and/or to other students, checking email or surfing the web, and using personal audio or video devices. Each dismissal of this kind will count as an absence and will be applied toward the attendance requirements above. (Department Policy)
I expect civil and polite behavior. I do not mind limited food or drink, but do not show up with your McDonald's cheeseburger and fries.
Late Work
All work is due at the beginning of class on the days listed below. Any assignment turned in a day late (THE NEXT DAY, NOT THE NEXT CLASS MEETING) will result in a letter grade deduction. After five days after the due date, I will not accept the assignment. **Assignments submitted late due to computer, printer, computer lab, or disk “problems” will not be excused and will be penalized as indicated above.
Submission and Format of Essays and Out-of-class Work
All assignments outside of class must be in MLA format—typed, 12-point type, one-inch margins, and double spaced. Use Times New Roman font. If you do not follow correct formatting, your essay grade will suffer (a letter grade). You can find MLA guidelines in your handbook, A Writer’s Resource or online through my website under the link, “MLA Documentation.”
Assignments:
Exercises & Quizzes: 5%
Thoughout the semester there will be quizzes and in- and out-of-class exercises designed to test your knowledge and application of concepts from texts as well as to spur the creation of your own artwork. To receive grades for in-class work you must be present in class. You will receive grades based on your presence and your completion of the work. For homework assignments, you must follow all instructions (usually take-home work will need to be typed for you to receive credit. **Absolutely no emailed assignments will be accepted.
Journal & Journal about Your Journal (or a “Metajournal”): 25%
Throughout the course, you will be expected to produce and document creativity within your journal. The first component of the journal, the production component, involves actually writing, sketching, modeling, framing, and otherwise engaging in creative pursuits that you find fascinating. I will help by offering prompts throughout the semester, but you should be attempting your own creative experiments based on our discourse, on what you are reading, on what you experience each day. We will also use the journal often in class during freewriting periods, so have it with you at all times. Since this is an interdisciplinary course, feel free to include sketches, drawings, collages, clippings, photographs, etc.
Since this is also a “hybridized” course, however—one that seeks to combine elements from both creative and critical classrooms—the second component of the journal (or “metajournal”) is where you document your creative process and reflect on your artistic experiments. This is the time to cultivate a necessary self-consciousness regarding how you approach creativity. Try analyzing what you were attempting to achieve, what it felt like, what problems you faced. This is, in essence, a journal devoted to your journal: a metajournal. Any thought, action, experience, or sensation you record as a portion of your production must be then open to interpretation by your critical and somewhat objective metajournaling. We’ll talk about this yin-yang, diastolic-systolic, order-chaos balance as we go. For now, cultivate a hyper self-consciousness. Ask yourself myriad questions and record everything.
There is no right or wrong in either journal mode. There is only more or less. Please try and refrain from feeling that “you don’t know what I want,” or that “you don’t know what’s expected.” It is easily apparent who has taken their journals seriously and who has doodled a few stick men or scribbled a few pages during the waning weeks of the semester. I look for depth and sophistication of engagement, which means you ought to be exhausting all of your possibilities. Do I expect each of you to produce the next great work of art within your journal? No, of course not. But I do expect a rigorous engagement, a practiced and disciplined approach to what others deem “sheer talent.” I hope we prove that definition hopelessly romantic by the end of this semester. Show me (and, more importantly, show yourself) that your creativity is serious business. I will collect the journals twice: once at mid-semester and once at the end.
***You should have at least two journal entries per week, each with art and the response to its conception.
Midterm: 20%
You will take one midterm exam that will ask you to identify and explain key passages from our readings and other “texts” (including what we might call the “text” of a visual art work or piece of music), and to articulate and apply important themes and ideas we have developed in class. We will conduct a short review during the class before the exam. If you do your reading, engage in the class discourse, remain disciplined in your journal, then you should do fine.
Attendance at Cultural Events & Annotations: 20%
XIDS courses generally require that you attend five cultural events which are related to arts and ideas. You will need to attend and document five events this semester. They may be regarding a variety of artistic mediums. I require that only two be of the same genre, and only one film—the film must be approved by me. This is a good excuse to see a concert or attend the screening of an indie film. You may attend events at West Georgia or in another town (there are many events in Atlanta)—you can attend, for example, art openings, music and dance performances, plays, readings, perhaps even conferences regarding specific arts. The rule of thumb is to ask me if the event counts.
You will not summarize these events. You will type short annotations for each event (500-700 words in MLA format), and you will attach evidence of your attendance—program, ticket, etc. In your discussion of these events, I expect you to incorporate the theories and philosophies of creativity we discuss in class and that you discover in your readings. I don’t care about what happens or if you had a good time—I want to know how the event relates to theories of creativity—where the art and artist falls in our discussions and your experience. The key is detail—pick an aspect or a particular piece to discuss. It is best to write these immediately after your attendance while your memory is fresh. You are welcome to discuss the events with your peers, but write your own take on the event. You will turn a hard copy in of your annotation within a week of the event for credit.
Final Project: 30%
The final project will consist of the following:
· An 8-page essay, including:
o a critical introduction
o an apprentice essay
· and a “photogallery” and a portfolio of original artwork in at least three different genres, the parameters and substance of which we will define and work with throughout the semester
The prose section (critical preface and apprentice essay) must be at least 8 pages in length—think roughly of 4 for the critical introduction and 4 for the apprentice essay—and must conform to Modern Language Association (MLA) guidelines. Please refer to the MLA Handbook (most of which is available online now) if you are concerned about formatting issues. Ignorance is no excuse. Learning to present your work professionally is an extension of knowing your audience, and all artists in some sense strive to know their audiences.
The critical introduction must demonstrate your internalization of some of the key concepts of the course and must situate your creative practice within one or more of the modes of artistic production explored in the class. You will need to cite relevant texts and theoretical/philosophical approaches discussed in class, as well as justify your creative process. In a sense, it will serve partly as a “manifesto,” or “artist statement,” for your aesthetic beliefs. Short examples of these artist’s statements are available online at the address listed in the next paragraph about . . .
The apprentice essay underscores the belief that artists learn a great deal from apprenticing under other artists. With that in mind, you will be working the entire semester alongside an artist whom you will most likely not meet (though you may in some instances have e-mail contact). To begin your apprenticeship, visit http://registry.whitecolumns.org and start playing. Available to you on this site are many contemporary artists in a host of different genres and media. Not only can you search by medium, genre, and location, but you may also search by artist name. Each artist site has multiple images and also contact information usually with a personal website address. Many also have artist statements posted, which serve as a wonderful guide to your own artist statement/manifesto in the critical introduction. Do not settle on one artist too quickly. Play around and find someone from whom you feel you can spend a semester learning. One of your creative genres and finished products must be linked in some way to your mentor artist. That means your work must in some way be in dialogue with your mentor artist’s work. You will talk about why you were drawn to that specific artist’s work, what you learned from both the artist and the process of apprenticing, and finally how your work differs or builds off of your mentor artist’s work. Read as many artist statements as you can in order to “digest” the way in which various artists talk (self-consciously I might add) about their work. That’s what this course is about. You do not necessarily need to pick an artist from the website, but you will need to have me approve the artist you choose if it is not from the site. Some of your assignments through the course of the semester will be based on the site as well as the artist you choose. The mode of art that you choose for the apprentice work has to be different from the two I’ve chosen (photography & poetry).
The photogallery/portfolio will showcase the original artwork you did during the semester. The photos must be high quality images. (Imagine submitting a portfolio of photos to a contest, an art journal, or a curated exhibition.) Because some of your artwork may be large, fragile or impossible to see in original form, we will discuss whether you need to submit original pieces or photos of artwork—you will end up doing both. Since most of what we practice in this class will be physical and at times large—maybe even fragile—I will not accept the original pieces. In your journals, you should have documented the creation of the work so I may see it through the various stages or drafts. As stated earlier, one piece and its photo progression must dialogue with your mentor artist. The other genres represented will come from the in-class practices in which we engage.
The creative work we will practice requires absolutely no previous skill or training. The three I have chosen (photography, creative writing, and a third of your own choosing—film, painting, drawing, earthworks, graphic novel or another approved medium that will dialogue with your mentor artist).
The primary focus of this class is the theories of creativity and your incorporation of these theories into your classwork. The artwork you create is a perk—I won’t be grading the “quality” of your art; however, it will be incredibly obvious as to your attention to your creative endeavours. We are looking at creative process (which you will be closely documenting) rather than end product.
***You should treat the final project as both a final term paper and final exam; thus, your final project will both demonstrate what you learned and your ability to integrate and challenge the class’s concepts, rather than simply being a regurgitation of information. Your final project may even defend or condemn particular creative philosophies.
Keep in mind that your project should be emblematic of a semester-long exploration and thus should be rigorous and detailed. Grades on creative projects will be determined by:
· the overall inventiveness and execution of the project
· the degree to which the project addresses the theoretical discourse of the class
·
the
professionalism of the presentation and prose
Schedule of Events
Please Note: Reading and writing assignments are due at the beginning of class on the day for which they are listed. The following is a tentative daily schedule. Modifications may be needed as we proceed. I will advise of any deviations ahead of time and will provide detailed instructions for any assignments. You are responsible for keeping up with any changes and work missed due to absences.
W, 1/6 Introduction, syllabus
M, 1/11 Read Weisberg’s “Matisse vs. Picasso” located at: http://www.slate.com/id/20781/ ; Cronk’s “Mimesis and the Aesthetic Experience” located at http://www.westland.net/venice/art/cronk/mimesis.htm; Shahn, “Artists in Colleges”; discussion of Apollonian vs. Dionysian tendencies
W, 1/13 Csikszentmihalyi (1-50); discussion of Apollonian vs. Dionysian tendencies
M, 1/18 No class—MLK Holiday
W, 1/20 Shahn, “On Nonconformity”; Csikszentmihalyi (51-106); Apollonian vs. Dionysian tendencies
M, 1/25 Csikszentmihalyi (107-147); Apollonian vs. Dionysian discussion continued
W, 1/27 Dobyns “Deceptions” & “Metaphor and the Authenticating Act of Memory”
M, 2/1 Dobyns “Writing the Reader’s Life” & “Notes on Free Verse”
W, 2/3 Dobyns “Pacing: The Way a Poem Moves” & “The Function of Tone”
M, 2/8 Dobyns “The Voices One Listens To” & “The Traffic between Two Worlds”
W, 2/10 Dobyns “Rilke’s Growth as a Poet,” “Chekhov’s Sense of Writing as Seen through His Letters” & “Cemetery Nights”
M, 2/15 Screening of Fast, Cheap and Out of Control
W, 2/17 Journals due, Screening of Fast, Cheap and Out of Control
M, 2/22 Dobyns “The Maker’s Manipulation of Time,” “The Passerby in the Birdless Street,” & “The Problem of Beauty and the Requirements of Art”
W, 2/24 ***Midterm
M, 3/1 *** Last day to withdraw with a “W”
Shahn, “The Biography of a Painting”
W, 3/3 Screening In the Realms of the Unreal
M, 3/8 Shahn, “The Shape of Content”
W, 3/10 TBA
M, 3/15 Screening of Rivers and Tides
W, 3/17 Shahn, “Modern Evaluations” and “The Education of an Artist”
3/22-3/26 **Spring Break.
M, 3/29 readings TBA
***Eclectic release party. Mandatory attendance—counts as a cultural event.
W, 3/31 readings TBA
M, 4/5 readings TBA
W, 4/7 Workshop for critical preface
M, 4/12 Workshop for critical preface
W, 4/14 Workshop for critical preface
M, 4/19 Journals Due; Csikszentmihalyi (343-372)
W, 4/21 Workshop for project paper
M, 4/26 Workshop for project paper
W, 4/28 Final Projects Due