Women's Leadership Program
International Arts and Culture,
Fall 2007
Mary Buckley faculty
Gabriella Wyatt, Graduate Teaching Assistant
This interdisciplinary course explores questions of aesthetics and creativity through an in-depth study of art created by women.
How do we experience and understand dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts?The texts of Susan Sontag, Cynthia Freeland, and Iris Murdock grounded discussion of how one individually sees and values art. How experience and knowledge help us relate to a painting, performance, or text. The readings raised questions of what parameters are employed as guidelines for the discussion and enjoyment of art. Additional texts by Marcia Muelder Eaton and Peg Zeglin Brand raised questions of aesthetic appreciation and formal properties/subject matter. How does the canon influence how one defines art and assigns value?
The class visited the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at the University of Maryland to see A Slipping Glimpse, a collaboration with the Margaret Jenkins and Tanusree Shankar Dance Companies. The artists spoke about the collaboration and the development of the project visually, compositionally, and musically. Students also had the opportunity to work in the dance studio with Professor Buckley and with theatre director, Leslie Jacobson, on different approaches to creating visual images through a series of improvisations. Later journeys took us to theatre and museum shows. Experiential learning linked with academic text brings the class discussion back to the individual viewer.
Why do we like some works of art better than others?
This semester we attended two theatre
performances: Well, a contemporary autobiographical play by Lisa Kron at Arena Stage and
Current Nobody, a retelling of the 
Odyssey, by Melissa James Gibson at Woolly Mammoth. We also did a cold reading of Wendy Wasserstein's play, The Heidi Chronicles. The development of moving a play from page to stage was explored through these readings and performances. After performance talks with the actors and playwrights helped to increase our appreciation of the creative imagination and the development work involved in this collaborative art form. The three very different plays offered a base for discussion of personal identity with characters and ideas. Students found a framework to compare and contrast staging, setting, direction, structure and character. 
How do we evaluate art? Are we culturally biased?
The photographs of Annie Leibowitz, Carrie Mae Weems, and Graciela Iturbide offered the opportunity to view three different cultural representations of women. A discussion of form preceded the subjective content reading of each work.
Odyssey, by Melissa James Gibson at Woolly Mammoth. We also did a cold reading of Wendy Wasserstein's play, The Heidi Chronicles. The development of moving a play from page to stage was explored through these readings and performances. After performance talks with the actors and playwrights helped to increase our appreciation of the creative imagination and the development work involved in this collaborative art form. The three very different plays offered a base for discussion of personal identity with characters and ideas. Students found a framework to compare and contrast staging, setting, direction, structure and character. 
How do we evaluate art? Are we culturally biased?
The photographs of Annie Leibowitz, Carrie Mae Weems, and Graciela Iturbide offered the opportunity to view three different cultural representations of women. A discussion of form preceded the subjective content reading of each work.
What does art tell us about a culture? Angela Carter's Black Venus, Anna Deavere Smith's Twilight, and Adrian Piper's art installation work look at cultural representations and misrepresentations. The artists portray different voices and make the reader/viewer come to some awareness of personal biases in our readings of art.
How do individual artists describe their creative process? 
The creation, meaning, and impact of Maya Lin's work was examined through her book, Boundaries. Maya Lin led us to a greater appreciation of her research and visual designs through the evocative text and visually stunning images. Also individual visits to the Vietnam Memorial gave insight into the powerful impact an artist's work exerts on the general population.
We also read essays on the creative process by Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan, Yvonne Rainer, and Twyla Tharp to gain a deeper understanding of the artists' philosophical journeys.
Through the ages historians have used art as a tool for understanding civilizations. Are cultural, social, political, and economic messages embedded in art?
Yvonne Rainer's Trio A, a seminal 1960's art work, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts WACK exhibit offered two readings of work created from a very specific social, political, and gendered period. Laura Mulvey's text Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema addresses film's form and its impact on viewing and understanding cultural value systems.
Are there similarities across art forms? Can one relate this information to writing an essay or a research paper?
Students write a research paper for the midterm assignment and create a final art project for end of term. Both assignments bring the student into a deeper research inquiry of a particular art form. The final studio showing of the creative projects pairs presentation and discussion. The student chooses the medium to deliver a project that reflects the course material. The final salon offers a shared and supportive environment with each student artist/leader taking the role of discussant and presenter.
The creation, meaning, and impact of Maya Lin's work was examined through her book, Boundaries. Maya Lin led us to a greater appreciation of her research and visual designs through the evocative text and visually stunning images. Also individual visits to the Vietnam Memorial gave insight into the powerful impact an artist's work exerts on the general population.
We also read essays on the creative process by Martha Graham, Isadora Duncan, Yvonne Rainer, and Twyla Tharp to gain a deeper understanding of the artists' philosophical journeys.
Through the ages historians have used art as a tool for understanding civilizations. Are cultural, social, political, and economic messages embedded in art?
Yvonne Rainer's Trio A, a seminal 1960's art work, and the National Museum of Women in the Arts WACK exhibit offered two readings of work created from a very specific social, political, and gendered period. Laura Mulvey's text Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema addresses film's form and its impact on viewing and understanding cultural value systems.
Are there similarities across art forms? Can one relate this information to writing an essay or a research paper?
Students write a research paper for the midterm assignment and create a final art project for end of term. Both assignments bring the student into a deeper research inquiry of a particular art form. The final studio showing of the creative projects pairs presentation and discussion. The student chooses the medium to deliver a project that reflects the course material. The final salon offers a shared and supportive environment with each student artist/leader taking the role of discussant and presenter.
