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ARTH 3314: Issues in Contemporary Art (Ritson)

This guide gives starting points for conducting research in Dr. Ritson's Issues in Contemporary Art course.

Feminist Artists: Decisions, Process, and Design

Instructions:  Use the example paper and presentation provide to complete this assignment.  

1.  Choose an individual from the list provided.  Each student must select a different individual for this assignment.

2.  Conduct research and write a 1500-word (minimum) essay on the individual.  Your paper should include the following components. Include subheadings in the paper to show that you are responding to each of these prompts: 

a.  Provide a biography of the individual: birthdate, location of birth, training, significant professional experiences, awards, and any other pertinent information that gives a background and context to the individual and the time period in which she/he/they worked.

b.  Provide information on a specific example of his/her/their work: time period of the work's creation, materials used, specifications, intended meaning/message/purpose, commissioned by or for whom if applicable, etc.

c.  Answer: What choices were made in the design and creation of your selected examples of the individual's work? What was the reasoning behind the decisions that were made by the artist? (1 slide in the presentation)

d.  Answer: How does the individual's work function as a consequence of its design and construction? (1 slide in the presentation)

e.  Answer: How do the decisions that were made and the functionality of the artifact reflect the individual's design philosophy, particularly in relation to feminist issues? Note: If at any point in the essay you refer to other individuals, artists, design or art movements, you must explain these and their context to your reader. Do not assume that your audience has a working knowledge of other figures, movements, etc. (1 slide in the presentation)

f.  Your paper should include a minimum of 4 sources.  Do not reconstruct a single source or follow the argument of a source verbatim in the organization of the paper. Your paper is intended to be a synthesis of a variety of research sources and your intellectual work.

g.  All of your sources should be cited in MLA style.  Include in-text references and a list of Works Cited at the end of your essay.

h.  Your text should be free of errors in grammar or punctuation and should be written in complete sentences.

3.  After you have completed the essay, begin work on a Power Point presentation based on your paper. 

a.  Include 7 images of the individual and his/her/their work: no more and no less. Use only one image per page unless you are doing a compare and contrast. Images must be of high digital quality. 

b.  Include the text of your essay in the “Notes” section of each slide, showing which part of the essay you will present along with that slide’s image. 

c.  Each slide should be titled to guide the reader and help them to stay focused on each topic you cover in the presentation.

d.  The complete citation for each image should be included on the slide and also in the notes section.  The complete citation for any sources included in the notes should also be included.  The presentation should end with a list of Works Cited and a list of Images Cited.

Janine Antoni     

Ruth Agawa                                

Lucy Lippard                         

Faith Wilding

Judith Baca                                         

Howardena Pindell              

Martha Wilson

Judith Brodsky

Bettye Saar                                 

Yvonne Rainer                                              

Cornelia (Connie) Butler                  

Maura Reilly                         

Judy Chicago                                     

B. Ruby Rich

Mary Beth Edelson                           

Faith Ringgold

Howard Fox                                       

Rachel Rosenthal

Susan Grode                                      

Martha Rosler

Guerrilla Girls                                    

Moira Roth

Harmony Hammond                         

Elizabeth Sackler

Alanna Heiss                                      

Miriam Schapiro

Lynn Hershman                                

Carolee Schneeman

Miranda July                                      

Lowery Sims

Mike Kelly                                          

Sylvia Sleigh

Joyce Kozloff                                      

Nancy Spero

Robert Kushner                                

Marcia Tucker

Suzanne Lacy                                     

Camille Utterback

Sheila Levrant de Bretteville           

Cecilia Vicuña