DUE Wednesday, April 20

General Guidelines

There are two options for paper topics, please choose one of the options listed on the class website (http://staff.washington.edu/kbunn/ah206).   Be sure to read the instructions for each option carefully.  In each case, you should structure your paper around the analysis of one artwork.  Use clear descriptions and specific details of the artworks as evidence for the thesis you have developed. 

Visual Sources:

Please include a Xerox reproduction of the artwork you are discussing with appropriate citation as to the source of the image.  Be sure to identify clearly which piece you have selected, including the artist’s name (if known), the culture, medium, and date, and include in your discussion information about form, techniques, function, and cultural context.

Written Sources:

See attached bibliography for each topic.  Read as many sources as possible from the list for your selected artist.  Make sure to include material from at least 4 of the readings listed plus others you might find on your own, in your paper.  Cite your sources (including websites)!

The key to a good paper is a strong thesis statement.

Your paper will be graded according to these criteria:

Thesis statement – clear and justifiable

Organization – a body of supporting evidence for your thesis

Structure and clarity of ideas

Research – bringing together ideas and evidence from a variety of sources

-Appropriate citation of sources:  please use the MLA style (in-text citations).  For information on paper formatting and citations, see http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/print/research/r_mla.html

-do not plagerize!  If you use the exact words of an author, put the sentence or phrase in quotation marks and provide a citation, if you paraphrase, provide a citation. 

Paper Format:

Your essay should be 3-4 typed pages with 1” margins, double-spaced, and 12 point type.  Simply staple your pages together, no jackets or covers.

Works Cited:  Include at least 4 citations (other than the text book or required readings), 3 of which must be either books or journal articles (some available on-line).  Yyou are welcome to use other websites for additional information, but be sure to provide a citation.  The lists below are provided for your convenience.  You may look for other sources as well.

Art History Writing Center:

Help is available with art history papers by appointment (Friday or Sunday mornings) or drop-in hours (Wed. 2:30-5:30 or Thurs. 10-12) in Art room 318. 

Paper Option #1:  Museum Collecting/Exhibition and James Luna:

How does James Luna’s Artifact installation critique the collecting Native American art and artifacts, issues of museum display, and the cultural hierarchies reflected in those practices?  Pick one other art work or exhibit as a counterpoint to Luna’s work to illustrate your argument.

James Luna

Sources:

1)       Fernandez-Sacco, Ellen.  “Check your baggage: Resisting whiteness in art history.” Art Journal, Winter 2001 v60 i4 p59(4). (Art & OL) 

2)       Fisher, J. “In search of the inauthentic: disturbing signs in contemporary Native American art.” Art Journal v. 51 (Fall 1992) p. 44-50 (Art & OL)

3)       Geer, S. James Luna at the Santa Monica Museum of Art [California; exhibit]. Artweek v. 27 (August 1996) p. 21. N1 .A856 (Art)

4)       Luna, James.  James Luna : actions & reactions : an eleven year survey of installation/performance work, 1981-1992.  Mary Porter Sesnon Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Cruz, c1992. (OR)

5)       Luna, James A. "I've always wanted to be an American Indian." Art in America, July 1994 v82 n7 p102(2) Art Journal, Fall 1992 v51 n3 p18(10). (OL)

6)       Luna, James. “Allow me to introduce myself: the performance art of James Luna.” Canadian Theatre Review, Fall 1991 i68 p46-7. (Art & OL)

7)       Marks, Laura U. “James Luna: Santa Monic Museum of Art.” Artforum International, Oct 1996 v35 n2 p123(1). (OL)

8)       Martin, L.R. “James Luna.” Native Peoples v. 10 (Spring 1997) p. 96. E78.W5 N38 (Suz)

9)       Morris, Gay . “James Luna at Pro Arts.” (OL).

10)    Riddet, M.J. Truth in Illusion. American Artist v. 66 (December 2002) p. 46-51, 72-4. N1 .A243 (Art & OL)

11)    Townsend-Gault, Charlotte.  “Let X = Audience.”  Reservation X.  Ed. Gerald McMaster.  Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1998. (OR)

12)    Townsend-Gault, C. “Ritualizing ritual's rituals [ritual as a vehicle for personal and social negotiation in contemporary Native American art].” Art Journal v. 51 (Fall 1992) p. 51-8 (Art & OL)

13)     Weintraub, Linda et al.  Art on the edge and over : searching for art's meaning in contemporary society, 1970s-1990s.  Litchfield, CT : Art Insights, Inc., c1996. (OR)

Collecting Practices

Sources:

1)       Ames, Michael M.  Cannibal Tours And Glass Boxes : The Anthropology Of Museums. Vancouver : UBC Press, 1992. (OR).

2)        Karp, Ivan and Steven D. Lavine.  Exhibiting Cultures:  The Poetics and Politics of Museum Display.  Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1991. (OR)

3)       Price, Sally.  Primitive Art in Civilized Places, Chicago:  University of Chicago Press, 1989. (OR)

4)       Stocking, George W. Jr.  Objects And Others : Essays On Museums And Material Culture.  Madison, Wis. : University of Wisconsin Press, 1985. (OR)

Paper Option #2:  Negotiations of Contemporary Native Artists

In this paper, you are to make a defensible claim about how Native artists negotiate issues of cultural identity in their art production.  Pick one artist for your paper topic.

                        1)  James Luna (Luiseno)

                        2)  Nora Naranjo-Morse (Santa Clara)

These two well-known and influential Native artists deal with issues of assimilation or enduring cultural identity in their lives and consequently, in their art work.  How do these artists depict this complicated issue both artistically and conceptually?  Formulate a thesis based on what you consider to be the artist’s intent, i.e. what is he or she to trying to convey through his/her work about negotiating cultural identity due to assimilation?  Structure your paper around one artwork by the artists, using your analysis of the artwork to prove your thesis.

In your paper be sure to discuss (not necessarily in this order):A) artist’s background:  family, education, accomplishments, etc. B)  influences:  both Western and Native

C) artistic expression:  in what style(s) does s/he work?D)  intent, content or message

Nora Naranjo-Morse

Sources:

1)       Babcock, Barbara A. et al., The Pueblo storyteller : development of a figurative ceramic tradition. Tucson : University of Arizona Press, c1986. E99.P9 B13 1986         (OR)

2)       Evers, Larry and Ofelia Zepeda, ed.  Home places : contemporary Native American writing from sun tracks.  Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1995. PS508.I5 H65 1995    (OR)

3)       The desert is no lady [videorecording] : women artists and writers of the Southwest / a Feline Films production.  New York, NY : distributed by Women Make Movies, 2002.  Videorecord WMM 110  (OMC)  

4)       Fauntleroy, G. “Clay people.” Native Peoples v. 12 no. 4 (Summer 1999) p. 26-30. E78.W5 N38 (Suz)

5)       Lange, Patricia Fogelman.  Pueblo pottery figurines : the expression of cultural perceptions in clay .  Albuquerque : University of New Mexico Press, 2002.  E99.P9 L365 2002    (OR)

6)       McMaster, Gerald.  Reservation X. Seattle, Wash. : University of Washington Press ; Hull, Quebec : Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1998.  E98.A7 R47 1998    (OR)

7)       Naranjo-Morse, Nora.  Mud woman : poems from the clay.  Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1992. PS3564.A67 M8 1992   (OR)

8)       Naranjo-Morse, Nora.  Two Poems.  in The Great Southwest of the Fred Harvey Company and the Sante Fe Railway, ed. Marta Weigle and Barbara A. Babcock.  Pheonix:  The Heard Museum, 1996. G154 .G74 1996      (OR)

9)       Ortel, J. “Exhibition Review of Continuum: 12 Artists at the George Gustav Haye Center, Part 2“[Exhibit]. American Indian Art Magazine v. 30 no. 2 (Spring 2005) p. 58-65 E98.A7 A435 (Art)

10)    Path breakers : the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art 2003. Indianapolis, IN: Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art ; Seattle, WA : University of Washington Press, 2003. N6538.A4 P37 2003 (OR)

11)    Trimble, S. Brown.  “Earth and laughter-- the clay people of Nora Naranjo-Morse.” American Indian Art Magazine v. 12 (Aut 1987) p. 58-65. E98.A7 A435 (Art)

James Luna  See bibliography listed above in option #1