Writing Assignment: Virtual Gallery Visit and In-Class Essay

There are two parts to this writing assignment. Part A involves visiting an art gallery virtually using the Google Arts and
Culture portal and documenting your experience using evaluative judgement. Part B will be an in-class essay in which you
write about your chosen artwork and include a comparison to the image provided in class.
Part A: Virtual Gallery Visit Report (5%) (https://artsandculture.google.com/partner)
Approximately 275 words (typed, font size 12, double-spaced)
Full name and student number on top left of first page
Due: Wednesday March 2nd, 4:00 pm (uploaded to MyCC)
All late papers will be penalized.
Select one of the galleries below in which you will evaluate the virtual visit provided.
The Art Institute of Chicago
The National Gallery, London
National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi
Albertina Museum, Vienna
*If you do not choose from the list above you will receive 0% for Part A. No rewrites will be permitted.
Criteria:
• Compose in paragraph form (typed)
• Provide a specific description and evaluation of Virtual Gallery visit; identify full name and location of chosen art
gallery
• Identify title, artist and culture of your chosen artwork (This will be simply a sentence or two at the end of
of your report. Do not choose an artwork for which you do not know the title or artist’s name. It MUST be one
that appears in the horizonal bar of images as demonstrated in class. (2% penalty if artwork is in any chapter of
our textbook)
• Include a black and white copy of the chosen artwork.
Select one gallery from the list above; all provide a “virtual visit”. Part A involves evaluating the “virtual visit” that this
gallery has provided. You must select the person icon to be able to “enter” the gallery.
How is the art displayed? Is the space inviting? Appealing in some way? What are some of its key formal features?
Describe and comment on what you see in the gallery. Be specific. Discuss your experience, providing specific details of
the layout, etc. You must also comment on the camera work and how you are able to move through the gallery virtually.
Once again, this should not be descriptive only, as your job is to evaluate your experience. It must be obvious that you
have spent time in the gallery. Each report written should be distinctly unique; the report is to be about your own
experience of the virtual visit. Everyone will notice different things. Be descriptive and evaluative.
Lastly, you will also need to choose one representational drawing or painting from this gallery that appears in the
“horizontal bar” in the gallery. This artwork must be a representational image of a person or people. Choose an artwork
that interests you and that you would like to learn more about. This artwork will form the basis of Part B of this writing
assignment; it is important that it is a work that interests you.
Part B: In class essay (15%)
DATE: Wed. March 16th
Approximately 475 words essay
You may not bring into class any written material.
In preparation for the in-class essay you will need to research and learn about your chosen artwork identified in Part A
of your report. Your intention is to better understand the artwork more fully by examining its relevant historical and
cultural context. Research the following information:
Contextual Information
• Historical Information: This involves researching the time period in which the artist lived and produced their
work. Are there important political, economic or social issues that you believe are relevant to understanding the
artist and/or artwork? Do class and/or gender play a role? Have you learned anything about the
culture/region/country that you consider important to your understanding of the meaning of the work?
• Artistic Cultural Context: Is the artist associated with a movement or style of work? (For example, was it
produced during the Baroque period, is it an Impressionist work, Cubist etc.) Did other artists influence him/her?
How were artists supported at the time? What values and beliefs were dominant in the culture at the time
(political, religious, economic etc.)?
While it is not necessary to answer every question listed above, your research should reveal your knowledge and
demonstrate that you have considered your subject closely.
Artwork
• You should demonstrate your knowledge of the artwork and your own opinion about its meaning and visual form.
It is essential to identify the title, name of the artist, date and country where the work was produced.
While you may review dictionaries, encyclopaedias, newspapers, magazine articles, blog entries and book reviews, they
are not academic sources. On MyCC at the top left you will see a link to the college library (MyCC Library). JSTOR and
Proquest E-library are two databases that you can use to find scholarly articles related to your chosen artwork. Also, you
may want to begin your search by using Google Scholar. It is fine to use Wikipedia in the early stage of your research to
begin to gather information.
Writing the In-class Essay
You will have the full class time to compose an essay about your chosen artwork, referring to information you have
remembered from your research. You will be asked a question for which you will compose a response in essay form. The
more you research and review your artwork, artist, and era, the better you will be able to support the thesis of your essay.
In addition, you will need to include a discussion comparing your chosen artwork to one of the art images projected in
class. Your full essay will not be a comparative essay. Instead, this component of the in-class essay may be no more than
one third of the full essay (approx..150 words). Papers not written in essay form will be penalized.