Sample Syllabus

Miami-Dade Community College - Fall, 2000

Honors Art Appreciation/Ecological Art • Instructor: Erica Fielder

     
Course Description:

This ecological art course is designed as cross-disciplinary, combining art-making with environmental ethics and ecology. It is meant to inspire students to give artistic voice to their love of nature and ecological concerns. Lectures will provide an historical overview of ecological art from ancient times to the present. Slides, videos, demonstrations and homework readings will give the background for thought provoking class discussions on some of the ways western society thinks about art and nature. Ecological art projects will develop out of fieldtrips, discussions, exercises and experiments with both found and made art objects. Students will focus project ideas toward developing the Brittle Star Garden as a site for ecological art.

Objectives:

Upon successful completion of this course, students 1) will be able to discuss and write about a range of historic and current beliefs about nature and environmental issues; 2) will be able to recognize works made by historic and contemporary environmental artists; 3) will be able to use formal art skills and techniques to create ecological art meant to impact a viewer’s thinking; 4) will have created, both collaboratively and individually, up to three works of ecological art, at least one for public presentation; 5) and will have begun to design an ecological framework for living a more responsible lifestyle.

Requirements:

1/3 of your grade will depend on class attendance, participation in group and class discussions.
1/3 of your grade will depend on your participation in the creation of an ecological art project.
1/3 of your grade will depend on whether or not you read the materials, write the three one-page papers and complete a three- to five-page essay that will integrate your experiences in the class with book and article readings.

Course Calendar:(Subject to change due to creativity, inspiration and rain.)

Tuesday, September 19, 4:30pm:
Slide/Lecture: Introduction to instructor’s work and to the history of ecological art.

Saturday, September 23, from 9am to 5pm.
The notion we all live in a watershed connects us with one another: slide/lectures and videos on watershed art; mapping the “green” places, past and present, as an art form; learning to think divergently and ecologically.

Sunday, September 24, from 9am to 5pm.
Fieldtrips to be announced: ephemeral art making on different sites; a visit to the Brittle Star Garden to begin discussing ecological art and exploring and mapping this site in relationship to its “home” watershed. Bring binoculars if you have them.

Tuesday, September 26, 4:30pm.
Thinking about audience and class discussion (two videos: Couple In A Cage & Freshkills Landfill); juxtaposing objects, creating new meaning from found objects. Bring two small unrelated objects from home. First one-page paper on an article is due.

Tuesday, October 3, 4:30pm.
Making connections, putting it all together: Language and speaking in metaphor; a slide/lecture and class discussion on why we think and speak the way we do about nature; studying our “home” watershed and creating an environmental art project concerning meaning and aesthetics. Second one-page paper on an article is due.

Tuesday, October 10, 4:30pm.
Meet at the Brittle Star Garden site. We will work on art ideas there until dark, then have dinner. Bring something to sit on in case ground is wet. Back in the classroom: Life as art, art as life. Third one-page paper on an article is due.

Tuesday, October 17, 4:30pm.
Meet at the garden site to discuss planting and related art-making. We will have dinner and lecture, to be announced, back in the room after dark, and discuss media and public invitations to our final project.

Tuesday, October 24th, 4:30pm.
Meet at the garden site. We will continue with art-making at the site and in the classroom after dark. Ishmael, The book required for this class, must be finished by this date.

Saturday, October 28, 9am to 5pm.
Meet in the classroom. We will work toward completion of our projects and then take a fieldtrip if time permits. Essay questions for your final three- to five-page paper will be handed out today.

Sunday, October 29, 9am to 5pm.
We will spend the morning setting up our art at the garden site. The public will attend to view our work in the afternoon.

Tuesday, November 7, 4:30pm.
Five-page papers due on this day. This is your final for Ecological Art.     Remember to vote today.

Reading Materials

During this six week course you are to read Ishmael, by Daniel Quinn, and three articles, each from a different category listed below.  A one-page paper, answering the following questions, is due upon reading each article: 
  1. What mattered most to you about the article and why?
  2. Does this material inspire or change your thinking and lifestyle? If so, how and why?
  3. If any concepts seemed unacceptable or difficult to understand, what were they and why were they unacceptable or difficult?

The goal for this homework is to acquaint you with the broadest experience in ecology, art and related concepts as is possible in a short period of time, and to give you enough images, ideas and grasp of relationships so that you can create your ecological art.

Click here for complete syllabus with bibliography