• Take advantage of the work that you’ve done already for your homework papers. Revise them for the purpose of the final assignment using the feedback received. Consult early with instructor and TA if you have any questions or concerns.

• Create a unifying conceptual structure and visual format for your final assignment. There should be some kind of a trajectory and connection created among the diverse topics from your writing assignments.

• Use only CONTEMPORARY artist whose work we’ve discussed in class, including lectures, readings (required and supplemental), guest speakers, site visits, and assigned online researches. No artists outside of these will be accepted. In some cases, we discussed non-contemporary artists in class. You may use these but only as historical reference and not as content. (in other words, if you may refer to the significance of M. Duchamp, but can’t use his work as an example, because he is not a contemporary artist.)

• You may choose artwork by this artist even if that work was not discussed in class.

• Consider how a viewer will see, understand, and interact with the artwork. Use your own experiences with engaging art from site visits.

• Don’t just recycle ideas and topics in the way they were presented in class. CREATE  NEW CONTENT.

• Don’t settle for the obvious: Synthesize what you have learned throughout the quarter about contemporary art.

• Don’t compromise the integrity of your project just because the image of the artwork is not available online. See "image resources" above.

• Don’t expect this project to be done in an afternoon. Develop your concept and statement and discuss it with your peers, TA and instructor.

• There are many interesting formats dealing with art history and criticism out there. Use them as inspiration for format and style. (See list of recommendations for books available on Library reserves.)

• However, copying and borrowing ideas and/or text from existing published and online materials will be considered as plagiarism and will result in a rejection of your final project. Use your own ideas and words. This is the most important assignment, one in which you can synthesize and demonstrate all that you have learned about art.

• The level of understanding of the concept/topic presented;

• Analysis and synthesis of relevant ideas;

• Research and considerations invested into writing;

• Appropriateness of examples used;

• Research and considerations invested into the selection of artist and artworks;

• The extent the finished project reflects the development of your understanding and appreciating contemporary art;

• Use of proper terminology wherever possible.

• Formal qualities of finished assignment: layout, relationship of visuals and text, craftsmanship.

• The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art, Penguin books, 1998 ISBN: 014025997X

• Documentary comic books in the “For beginners” series by Writers and Readers Publishing, London New York.

• Published collections of essays by art critics, such as Arthur Danto (e.g. Madonna of the Future) and Hal Foster (e.g. The Return of the Real)

• Blogs: Another Bouncing Ball by Regina Hackett (http://www.artsjournal.com/anotherbb/); Artpia by John Perreault (http://www.artsjournal.com/artopia/);
  Poorworm by Erin Shafkind (http://www.poorworm.com);
  The Meaning in Art and other blogs by SOA alumnus, Lucas Spivey (http://www.lucasdeonspivey.blogspot.com/)

All artwork images you use in either formats must be accompanied by the following information:

• artist’s name,

• artwork’s title,

• date of execution,

• materials/media,

• a brief (max. 3 sentences) explanatory statement on the artwork.

Image resources:
- Internet (look for good image resolution: files larger than 30k and/or larger than 300 x 300 pixels) Websites by artists, museum collections and galleries are the best.
- Image Databases available from the UW Libraries: http://guides.lib.washington.edu/images
(go to ARTstor; first time users: you have to log in from campus)
- Printed formats: Research SOA library books and magazines for images. Use the SOA Computing Center to scan images from books into a digital format or simply photocopy the images you need.