Analyzing Creative Works Worksheet

This worksheet is intended to be a guideline only!

This assignment is to be written in an essay format, including an introductory paragraph, body
paragraphs describing and analyzing the work, and a conclusion paragraph. The paper should
be double-spaced. To keep an academic voice, do not use the first or second person in your
essay. If you are unsure what this means, please ask. Be sure to include your name at the top.
Sources used in researching the work, including your tetbook or a website, must be noted
appropriately with !"! format.
Instructions:
#ou will need to pick a creative work from one of the museums listed on your museum guide.
The work should be one from the time periods noted on your assignment that week. $%or
eample, do not select an &gyptian necklace when the assigned periods for that week are
'oman and (reek.) *sing the guidelines outlined below, write an essay about that creative
work. This is not a persuasive essay- you do not need to convince me how awesome it is. This
should be an academic report on the ob+ect and its significance in history. There is no specific
length re,uirement to this assignment but your completed product should be thorough.
(enerally speaking, anything less than a page is not usually an ade,uate description of the
ob+ect and its significance.
In this course, we will be considering creative works -painting, sculpture, architecture, etc.. in
which people have epressed their deepest values. To fully understand the import of their work
we need to consider the following/
0. "lease focus on the work itself, asking ,uestions about how we, the audience, need to
approach it in order to make sense of it and appreciate it. &ach work needs to be considered as
a work in itself.
!sk yourself how does it work in relation to history1
In art/ we must ask for what was this piece made1
2hat does this piece hope to communicate1
3ow was it made1
3ow did the creator of the work use the tools at his or her command to achieve its
purpose1
2hat is its composition1
2hat purpose did the creator have1
2ho was the intended audience1 4oes that matter1
In order to discuss the works themselves, you will need to learn some basic technical
vocabulary from the readings and the (lossary found in the tetbook. These terms are
highlighted in your tet or provided during lecture by your instructor.
1 AR 101 and AR 102 Analyzing Creative Works
5. "lease focus on the historical contet of the work.
2hy was it done the way it was1
2hat did it say to people in its time1
2hat does it say to us in our time1
&ach work needs to be seen in a contet/
o 3istorical
o Social
o "olitical,
o &conomic
o Ideological
%or eample, while we might find the image of an &gyptian god to be interesting or even funny,
to the &gyptians the god was very real and royal favor to a particular god increased the power of
the god and its priests. It is important to understand fully the contet of each work.
6. "lease focus on the work as part of a continuum.
2hat roots did it have in its past1
o 4oes it look like anything that came before1
2hat impact did it have on the future1
o 2hat looks familiar about this ob+ect1 !re elements of it seen in later works1
Typically, each work builds in some way on what came before and has impact on what comes
after. %or eample, people of the 7eolithic era built with posts supporting a lintel8 the (reeks
built this way first in wood and later in marble8 their architectural styles were used by the
'omans8 and, in the 'enaissance these styles were rediscovered and later passed on to the
modern world. 2e can still see 9lassical features in our architecture today.
2 AR 101 and AR 102 Analyzing Creative Works