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Lloyd Sealy Library
John Jay College of Criminal Justice
OER Open Educational Resources

ART 101: Faculty Resources: Unit 2 Assignments

Unit 2 Assignments

2.1

First, go read the introductory website for the Islamic Art Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/about-the-museum/museum-departments/curatorial-departments/islamic-art. Imagine that you have been hired to lead a tour of these Galleries. Your goal is to teach the tour group about the range of artistic forms and media employed in the art of the Islamic World. Choose five objects from the galleries to include in your tour. To see the objects in the galleries, you can browse all of the Islamic art objects here: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search?deptids=14&ft=*, or you can look at the objects the museum considers the “highlights” of its Islamic art collection here: http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/highlights-of-the-collection?pg=1&deptids=14.

Next, please click “create blog entry,” enter a descriptive title for your new blog post, and then type a post of at least 150 words. Your post must:

  1. Describe the nature of the group you are leading (John Jay students, elementary schoolchildren, tourists from Dubai, former convicts, art historians, or whatever other type of group of people you can think of);
  2. List your five chosen objects and include direct links to the object’s webpage on the museum’s website (get to each object’s individual webpage by clicking on the image of the object);
  3. Describe why you think that your particular group would be interested in each of the objects; and
  4. Describe how you think that these objects will teach the tour group about the range of artistic forms and media employed in the art of the Islamic World.

To comment on a classmate’s blog entry, click “comment” underneath that entry. When writing comments for this assignment, click on the links to look at the objects they have chosen. You might want to suggest alternate objects from the galleries that would better fulfill their goals or interest the group they describe.

This is a graded assignment. See the associated rubric for grading details (click “View Rubric” in the Blog Grade section to display the rubric).

 

2.2

First, visit the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, located at 1047 Amsterdam Avenue at 110th St. (take the 1 train to 110th St. and walk east one block to Amsterdam). The Cathedral is open 7:30-6pm daily; for more information, go to http://www.stjohndivine.org/visit. There are donation boxes and signs encouraging visitors to make donations at the doors, but you do not have to pay to enter. The Cathedral is a medieval-style building; for more information about its architecture, go here: http://www.nyc-architecture.com/HAR/HAR002.htm.

When you visit the Cathedral:

  1. Observe the architecture of the Cathedral. Ask yourself how it was built, and if the methods or materials differ from those used in the medieval period. Pay special attention to the unfinished parts of the Cathedral, since you can see the construction techniques best there: look at the central crossing pillars and ceiling from both the inside and the outside of the church (you can get a good view by going into the gardens and walking along the right-hand/south side of the exterior of the main church).
  2.  Draw a simple floor plan of the building (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floor_plan). Since the space is too big to measure yourself, try to figure out a way of measuring approximately (for example, by counting floor tiles).

Next, please click “create blog entry,” enter a descriptive title for your new blog post, and then type a post of at least 100 words. Your post must:

  1. Include an image of your floor plan; and
  2. Discuss what you learned about the construction methods and materials of the Cathedral from your trip.

To attach an image to your blog entry, first make sure that the image is saved to your computer. Then, when writing the blog, click the “Browse My Computer ”under “ 2. Blog Entry Files” and follow the instructions. To save an image of your floor plan, you can take a photograph of it and upload it to your computer, or you can create a floor plan on your computer by using a drawing program.

To comment on a classmate’s blog entry, click “comment” underneath that entry.

This is a graded assignment. See the associated rubric for grading details (click “View Rubric” in the Blog Grade section to display the rubric).