Museum Project Description
Each student will create a Museum Project on a work of art from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. To select your work of art, visit their website: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection
Once on their website, click on Open Access Artworks. Then go to the drop-down menu on the far right: Department. You must choose one of the following for your project:
1) Egyptian Art
2) Greek and Roman Art
3) Ancient Near Eastern Art
For help – look back at my Lectures. Remember, we looked at Ancient Near Eastern Art in Module 2, Ancient Egyptian Art in Module 3, Ancient Greek Art in Modules 5 and 6 and Ancient Roman Art in Modules 8 and 9.
You may choose any application to create your presentation, but it must be in the format of a slide show and saved as a .ppt or .pptx file. Your presentation must include both images and bullet points to explain your artwork. Your project must include at least 800 words (not including the title and footnotes).
To start, you will create a slide presentation of at least 12 slides with content (the title slide and works cited slide don’t count). Using PowerPoint, or another application of your choice, you will then arrange your images and informational points.
This is an observational project. Your observations should be illuminated by the material from class. Outside research is not required. If you would like to include outside research, you are welcome to do so, but it must be properly credited. Please use MLA format. (See https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/747/01/)
A typical project will spend the first 5 slides (or more) describing both the content and the form of the art work in detail using at least 5 terms learned in class (ie. sculpture in the round, complementary colors, iconography, etc.) and possibly providing some background about the artist (but not more than 1 slide). You should address how the form and content are interacting (ie. Does the artists choice of medium enhance or detract from the narrative/subject or the message they are sending to the viewer?). Remember the form includes such factors as the sizes, shapes and placement of the works component parts. The content includes the narrative or story that is conveyed in the artwork.
The rest of the project should be spent comparing/contrasting the object to at least 1 other work that we discussed in the lectures. In the next 5 slides (or more), you should talk about how the works are similar and/or different. The best comparisons are more similar than different. Avoid choosing comparisons that have few or no similarities. You must mention at least 3 ways they are the same and 3 ways they are different. If you decide to do outside research you may want to talk about the works significance how it may be a political statement or shows an innovative style, for example. Feel free to include diagrams that help to illustrate your points. Remember, this comparison must be a work that was covered in class.
Sample Museum Project Structure
I suggest the following organization:
(SAMPLE PRESENTATION)
Slide 1: Title slide
Slide 2: An image of your selected artwork (with artist, title, date, location)
Slide 3: Bullet points describing your artwork
Slide 4: More bullet points describing your artwork
Slide 5: Image of a detail(s)of your artwork
Slide 6: Bullet points describing that detail and its significance
Slide 7: Image of your comparison artwork from class
Slide 8: Bullet points describing the comparison – how the works are the same
Slide 9: More bullet points describing the comparison – how the works are different
Slide 10: Other images (different views of your artwork or other comparisons)
Slide 11: Bullet points summarizing your major ideas
Slide 12: Footnotes/Works Cited
At least 5 slides should include bullet points of the most important aspects of your analysis. Feel free to include close-ups and details of the artworks to help explain your points.
In your bullet points, do not copy any sentences or parts of sentences from any publication or website from the museums label or audio guide. If you decide to include anyone elses ideas or words, limit it to a few words and add a footnote or endnote at the end of the presentation (final slide). If you do not include footnotes you are committing plagiarism. Plagiarism is a serious academic offense. In some cases, plagiarism can result in failure of the course.
