Creating a Visual Analysis of Artwork: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Finding the Artwork

Step 1: Find a piece of art. It can be from a museum, public art, or street art murals, stencil art but not letters aka graffiti. The art can be two or three - dimensional.

Go to a museum of choice's website and access their digital collection and or archive. Have a good look around. Choose the artwork that you will present from there. 

Be sure you tell me which museum houses your artwork, who created it, and the title of piece,  during your presentation.

Step 2: Record yourself talking about the art. Discuss what is so special about the piece to you. You must provide a visual analysis utilizing the Principles of Design and items from the Visual Toolbox. If the artwork is 3-dimension, discuss sculptural terminology. Use terminology that applies to the type of artwork you have chosen. If you are able to provide some information about the artist, do so. Don't forget to tell me where the artwork is located. Also, be sure to include good shots of the artwork that you are discussing. 

Remember that this is not a grade school style book report. Avoid making the entirely about where the artist was born, who they married, the name of their dog or cat, etc. In addition, avoid plagiarizing art historical information. If you are using anyone else's words, you must cite the source. So in the case of this presentation, you must say "according to so and so, they said that this portrait's colours represent the anguish the artist felt towards the relationship with the person depicted on the canvas." Things look/sound suspicious when all of the sudden you become posh art historians. Cite your sources.

In addition, you must discuss an original artwork. no reproductions. I will not accept a presentation about a poster (reproduction) of a Van Gogh painting that hangs in your living room unless it is a REAL Van Gogh, for example. Da Vinci's "Last Supper" is a popular artwork used for this project. Unless you went to Santa Maria delle Grazie, where it resides, saw it first hand, and used your own images for your presentation, then you can use it. The reproduction in your local church will not count.

Step 3: Provide me with a link that will enable me to see your presentation. The length of your presentation should be a minimum of 45 seconds, although I'm sure going over will be no problem.

Some Advice:
Avoid making your presentation a lengthy, super selfie. There have been presentations that show me 2 seconds of the art, and 1 and a half minutes of face shot. Remember, I need to see the art! Pretty faces are always nice, but I can't grade your pretty face.

You can take a nice pic of the art and do a voice over. That works fine, but avoid doing voice overs while your phone device is pointed at your computer's monitor. Using an image from your monitor gives me the impression that you didn't really go forth and seek art. 

In addition, I will NOT accept PowerPoint presentations with audio attachments. These have provided way too much grief with the audio.