NEW VIRTUAL Museum Visit
Aesthetic Experience Worksheet
INSTRUCTIONS: For this assignment you will virtually visit a museum and select a piece of art to write about. Then you will compare it to any text explored in this course. Feel free to use anything from lectures, videos, and/or readings and complete all of the following instructions.
        Choose one (or more) of the following museums to virtually tour. When you open each link, youll first see an area called “stories,” which is a series of ONLINE EXHIBITS. Browse several ONLINE EXHIBITS before deciding on an art work from one of the ONLINE EXHIBITS to focus on. The more you explore, the easier this essay will be. You want to make sure you choose something that youll be able to effectively analyze, which is why I suggest checking out several online exhibits:
        National Museum – New Delhi
        Johannesburg Art Gallery
        Tokyo Fuji Art Museum
        China Modern Contemporary Art Document
        Museo Dolores Olmedo, Mexico
        National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea
        National Gallery of Modern Art, India
        The Museum of Modern Art
        The Guggenheim
 
        Virtually tour your chosen museum through the online exhibits, and select a work of art:
        The work can be a painting, sculpture, photograph, mixed media, or any other medium exhibited in one of the online exhibits.
        Upload a found image on the Internet and include this somewhere in your essay. (Include a link to the images source. It will most likely come from the museum itself.)
        Complete all 4 parts of The Essay outlined below. I highly recommend you review this entire worksheet prior to exploring the online exhibits.
        Submit your completed essay to the NEW VIRTUAL Aesthetic Experience Essay Dropbox in MyCourses. Here are the minimum requirements for the essay itself:
        Between 750-1000 words in length, not including course information, student name, or title
        Double-spaced using one of the following 12-point fonts: Times New Roman, Arial, or Tahoma
        Use of college-level vocabulary and sentence structure
        Carefully proofread for spelling, content, and punctuation
        Professional appearanceneat and correctly typed
        No run-ons or fragments
        An image of your chosen work of art included in the essay or attached as a separate document in the Dropbox
        Uploaded as a .doc, .docx, or .rtf file.
THE ESSAY:
Be sure to provide the following at the beginning of your essay.
        Your full name
        Give your essay a title that relates to your aesthetic experience.
Part 1: Introduction
The introduction of your essay should provide your initial thoughts prior to your virtual museum visit. It might be a good idea to write your introductory paragraph PRIOR to your virtual visit. Which museum are you choosing? Why did you choose it? What do you think youll experience? What are you looking forward to in terms of your exploration? What are you least looking forward to?
Part 2: Artwork Information
This next part of your essay should contain all of the following pieces of information. For this part of the essay, feel free to format it as a list rather than a paragraph:
        Title of work
        Artists name
        Creation date
        Classification (i.e. painting, sculpture, mixed-media, etc.)
        Time period and/or style
        Medium (Whats it made of? What materials were used?)
        Size and scope
        Social, Cultural, or Historical origin (i.e. Wheres it from? What is it a product of?)
        Western or Non-western Humanities Classification (Based on the social, historical, and cultural contexts: Would you classify this work as Western or Non-Western?  Based on your research and observations, provide reasons and evidence supporting your classification claim.)
Part 3: Critical Analysis
This part will serve as the bulk of your essay. There is no minimum paragraph requirement (and for those who are used to the 5-paragraph essay, youll find that 5 paragraphs will not work for this essay), but each area that follows should read as an essay. First, provide an initial analysis of your chosen work of art in fully developed paragraphs using the following guidelines:
        Identify the most significant art principles that were used in the work of art, using at least three relevant and genre-specific vocabulary words (see list of acceptable vocabulary words at the end of this document), clearly describing how the artist used them. Provide a minimum of three specific, descriptive details to support the use of each selected art principle.
        Select two adjectives describing the overall mood of the piece (stay away from vague terms such as amazing, awesome, excellent, etc.). Give a minimum of two specific/descriptive details to support your claims.
After your initial analysis, further analyze the work and address the following in fully developed paragraphs:
        Describe the main social, historical, and cultural contexts of the work? Refer to your responses in the Art Work Information section above.
        Describe the primary purpose of the art work.
        Describe the main artistic statement.
        Describe how the work reflects the human condition, or how it communicates as a human, creative expression.
Next, compare the work of art with another work of art explored in the course and include the following items in fully developed paragraphs:
        Select and identify another work of art from the course content.
        Explain three qualities that the work from the museum shares with the work from the course, with specific examples to support your argument.
        Based on your comparison, explain whether or not the work of art from the museum is a masterpiece or might become a masterpiece, using specific examples to support your decision.
Part 4: Conclusion
Finally, conclude your essay with a fully developed paragraph that reflects on your initial attitudes from your introductory paragraph. What surprised you? What was your favorite part? What was your least favorite part? Include any other thoughts about your virtual visit to wrap up your essay.
VISUAL ART VOCABULARY AND PRINCIPLES:
TERM
DEFINITION
Abstract Art
Art that takes from reality only what the artist wants or that renders a visual depiction of concepts in the artists mind (phenomenal). Such art typically does not resemble the familiar world of regular (veridical) perception.
Aesthetics
The study of the nature of beauty and art (including the study of human response to the aesthetic experience). It is a significant branch of philosophy. The word Aesthetics is derived from the Greek word meaning sense perception.
Background
The part of a pictorial representation that appears to be in the distance.  The general scene or surface against which designs, patterns or figures are viewed.
Balance
A principle of art that is concerned with the sense of stability of the visual elements.  There are three types of balance:  symmetrical, asymmetrical and radial.
Chiaroscuro
Italian term in painting utilizing light and dark contrast to create the effect of modeling a figure or object. It enhances the effect of depth.
Contrast
 A principle of art that uses the differences between the visual elements to create variety, emphasis or interest.  Contrast in value is the difference between light and dark.
Cool Colors
Colors such as purples, blues and greens that produce the impression of coolness.
Focal area
A principle of art that stresses one element of art; defines a center of interest or draws attention to certain areas with a work of art.
Foreground
The part of a scene or picture that is nearest to and in front of the viewer.
Form
The visual element that is three-dimensional; having height, width and depth.
Genre (broadly in the humanities)
a distinct category within a discipline (e.g. categories in film, literature, art, music, musical stage, etc.). EXAMPLE: Poetry is a genre of Literature.
Human Condition
Encompasses the uniqueness and totality of the inner experience of being human. It is often focused on the ultimate concerns of human existence. Various disciplines in the humanities attempt to express this experience.
Intensity
The degree of purity of a color.  Deep colors have a high intensity.
Installation art
An art that creates an architectural tableau using objects drawn from and making reference to artistic sources and everyday life.
Masterpiece
A work that in style, form, and execution far exceeds other works of its time. It is a human creation (e.g. painting, novel, film, musical score) that continues to be relevant and/or admired by multiple generations. It is a work that has a profound effect on humanity.
Media or Medium
the particular materials in which a given artist works.
Movement
A principle of art used to guide a viewers eye throughout the work; a trend.
Negative space
Spaces surrounding shapes or forms in two- and three-dimensional art.

Non-Western Humanities
Creative expressions in one of the disciplines of humanities exhibited in the social, historical, and cultural contexts of one of (broadly) Asia, Africa, Middle East, Indigenous Peoples of all continents (except Europe), and Oceania. Narrowly: China, India, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Pacific Islands, Native America, Aborigines, and Mesoamerica.
Pattern
Repetition of elements or motif.
Perspective
A formula for projecting the illusion of three- dimensional space onto a two-dimensional surface.
Positive space
Shapes or forms in two-dimensional and three- dimensional art.
Proportion
A principle of art concerned with the relationships in size, one part to another or to the whole.
Realism
(1) A  style  that  focuses  on  the  everyday  lives  of  the middle and lower classes, portraying their world in a serious, accurate, and unsentimental way; (2) a genre in several humanities disciplines that is a conscious attempt to imitate reality in its expression.
Repetition
An  art  element  repeated  over  and  over  that  can produce visual rhythm.
Saturation
The  strength  of  a  hue  –  a  vivid  hue  is  of  high saturation.
Scale
When proportional relationships are created relative to a specific unit of measurement.
Shape
The visual element that has two-dimensions:  height and width; a space with a defined or implied boundary.  Two basic groups: geometric and organic.
Symbol
A visual image that represents something other than itself.
Symmetry
The balance of like forms and colors on opposite sides of the vertical axis of a composition.
Theme
The message or subject the work communicates. The theme can relate to the subject matter or be an idea or emotion.  Content is another word used for theme in humanities.
Texture
The visual element that refers to the way something feels  or  looks  like  it  feels  and  can  be  actual  or implied.
Unity
A principle of art that is concerned with the sense of wholeness or completeness.
Vanishing point
In linear perspective the point on the horizon at which the receding parallel lines appear to converge and then vanish.
Veridical Perception
A perception caused by something outside of your mind (e.g. light waves striking your eyes causing an image in your brain). This is a perception caused by a sensory experience (like viewing a painting).