Literature Response Essay

In the lead essay of “How Words Matter” for the spring 2009 issue of American Art, art historian Sarah Burns describes the importance of words to Art History. Fourteen short essays follow Burns’s introduction, each focusing on a specific word and each written by an art historian noted for their “distinguished scholarship in American art” who were asked “to muse on single words . . . that created or constructed their intellectual, historical, and methodological domains” (p. 4).

Although you are not yet, or may never intend to be, a distinguished scholar of American art, what one word would you choose to describe your “intellectual, historical, and methodological domains?” In other words, what word has shaped your university experience to date? What describes your intellectual interests, your personal history and/or your research abilities? Are you an artist? a scientist? do you write well or make the internet sing with your search skills?

Select one significant word, write a short essay modeled on those in “How Words Matter”, and relate your word and university experience to the work of one of the artists we studied in this course.

Steps to the assignment:

1) Read the collection of essays in “How Words Matter”

2) Think about your own university/scholarly experiences and select your one word (polite-company words only, please!). [Do not use any of the topic words written about in the collection of essays—come up with a unique word of your own.]

3) Select a particular work of art or the work of a particular artist we studied in this course and connect the work(s) to your word and your experiences. You can use any image from the text or of an artist we studied or covered in class. Important: Include in your essay at least one illustration of a work by the artist you selected.

4) Write your own commentary essay on: a) why you selected your word; b) how it connects to your university/scholarly experiences (as explained in paragraph 2 above); and
c) how the word and your experiences connect to the work(s) of the artist you selected. You may use the word “I” in your prose as this is a personal response paper.
Requirements:

This is not meant to be a research paper. It is a response-piece. No further research is needed. However, if you do additional research to fully understand the artist/work(s) you have selected to connect to your word and your experience, fully reference those sources.

Be sure to select only one word and include an illustration of the work of your related artist.
**Use the Art Review Image PDF Files!!!

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