This document provides an overview of a course on the aesthetics of everyday life. It introduces key concepts like art as deep play and cultural performance. Examples of artistic genres from around the world are explored, challenging traditional Western categories of art. The document also summarizes class structure, assignments, and expectations. Key terms are defined to analyze art forms like quilting as cultural performances rather than static objects.

1. Welcome to Humanities 1: Introduction to the Humanities, The Aesthetics of Everyday Life Dr. Dylan Eret

2. This course meets all of the general education requirements for: 1. A.A. in Liberal Arts with emphasis in Arts and Humanities 2. CSU, area C2 3. IGETC, area 3 course articulation

3. CENTRAL WEBSITE http://humanities1.wordpress.com CENTRAL WEBSITE

4. SECRET PASSWORD playzone Enter this password to access the FREE online flexbook, slides, study guides, etc.

5. ALL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND HERE.

7. I WILL NOT ADD ANY STUDENTS UNLESS OTHER STUDENTS DROP (OR DO NOT SHOW UP THIS WEEK).

8. YOU WILL BE DROPPED FROM THE COURSE IF YOU ARE ABSENT THIS WEEK.

9. POSSIBLE ADDS: WAITING LIST STUDENTS ONLY.

10. YOU MIGHT RECEIVE A PERMISSION NUMBER ON THE CONDITION THAT SOMEONE IS DROPPED AND YOU ARE NEAR THE TOP OF THE WAITING LIST .

11. WAITING LIST ADDS (DEPENDS ON CLASS) LIKELY: STUDENTS 1-3 NOT SO LIKELY: STUDENTS 4-7 UNLIKELY: STUDENTS 8-13

12. MY STORY

13. NAME GAME

17. 1. Create a gesture & say your name . 2. Everybody in the class repeat the gesture & name. NAME GAME

19. THE BIG PICTURE: WHY STUDY THE HUMANITIES?

20. a field or division of study concerned with the creative process of human learning and cultural activity What is/are the Humanities?

21. The “humanities” emerged from the study of “liberal arts” within ancient Greek “academies” and medieval European “universities.” Educational origins

22. From liber (Latin for “free”), and artem (Latin for “skill” or “craft” in learning), the “liberal arts” refers to the education expected of free citizens. Liberal arts ( artes liberales )

23. Seven liberal arts Trivium grammar logic rhetoric Quadrivium arithmetic geometry music astronomy Image: Hortus deliciarum of Herrad von Landsberg (12th century)

24. Renaissance “humanism” studia humanitatis (“the study of human nature”) history moral philosophy rhetoric grammar poetry philology

25. Berkeley City College Arts and Cultural Studies Film Studies Philosophy Communication Studio Art Folklore Music

26. what I expect that you will get out of this course (ideas, skills, actions, experiences) learning outcomes

27. a subtle process of discovering meaning, creativity, innovation, playfulness, imagination, rationality, judgment, and value in the world around us learning outcomes

28. the fictive impulse learning outcomes

29. words and worlds learning outcomes

30. What “cultural competencies” are needed to survive in a today’s competitive and capitalistic world?

31. Daniel Pink, A Whole New Mind , 2005 “ Six Senses” Needed to Survive Today

33. 2. Story (The ability to tell a story, to use metaphor and to write and speak clearly)

34. 3. Symphony (The ability to summarize and synthesize information, to bring various ideas and people together to work as a team).

35. 4. Empathy (The ability to immerse yourself in someone else culture, and to be tolerant of ideas contrary to one’s own cultural tradition).

36. 5. Play (The ability to imagine, to be humorous, and to utilize game strategies in everyday problem solving).

37. 6. Meaning (The ability to seek out meaningful, non-material activities, to appreciate symbolic culture, and to develop lasting meaningful career skills).

38. 1. Demonstrate an heightened awareness of the aesthetics of everyday life. learning outcomes

39. 2. Apply different disciplinary approaches from the Humanities and Social Sciences learning outcomes

40. (e.g., philosophy, history, folklore, anthropology, psychology, sociology, biology, etc.) learning outcomes

41. to study forms of art and performance from around the world. learning outcomes

42. 3. Analyze and interpret selected works of creative expression learning outcomes

43. such as visual, verbal, and kinesthetic arts learning outcomes

44. in relation to various historical and cultural contexts. learning outcomes

45. THE NITTY GRITTY: SYLLABUS AND EXPECTATIONS

46. CENTRAL WEBSITE http://humanities1.wordpress.com CENTRAL WEBSITE

47. SECRET PASSWORD playzone Enter this password to access the FREE online flexbook, slides, study guides, etc.

48. ALL INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND HERE.

49. READINGS

50. PODCAST

51. ONLINE FLEXBOOK (FREE READINGS)

52. ALL READINGS ARE FOUND ONLINE.

53. COURSE READER

54. PRINT VERSIONS OF ONLINE READINGS

55. Place individual order for $45 (even) at Lazer Images on 61 Shattuck Square.

56. RECOMMENDED PREPARATION: ENGLISH 1A OR COMPOSITION

57. READERS CAN BE CHECKED OUT ON RESERVE IN THE BCC LIBRARY.

59. WEEKLY RITUAL READ, WATCH, OR LISTEN TO MULTIMEDIA FLEXBOOK OR COURSE READER, AND COMPOSE A SHORT JOURNAL ENTRY OR ONLINE BLOG

60. WEEKLY BLOGS OR JOURNAL ENTRIES 3 BLOGS DUE EVERY 6 WEEKS

61. WEEKLY BLOGS OR JOURNAL ENTRIES READ WEEKLY, GRADED CUMULATIVELY AT THE END OF THE SEMESTER (POINTS ASSIGNED FOR TIMELINESS, INSIGHT, ANALYTICAL RIGOR)

62. WEEKLY BLOGS 1 Point, 1 Question, 100 words (minimum)

63. WEEKLY BLOGS USE ALIAS: (For example, “Dylan Eret” in today’s section would be “DYERB4”) (BLOG 1 DUE: FRI, AUG 26, 10:00am)

64. EMAIL BLOGS [email_address] AND [email_address] Use this email to send weekly blogs.

65. PLAY/PERFORMANCE PROJECT

66. FINAL PORTFOLIO

67. FINAL PORTFOLIO

68. A NOTE ON PLAGIARISM

69. QUIZZES

70. GRADES/ASSESSMENT http://engrade.com

71. ATTENDANCE POLICY

72. PIXEL PALS (ONLINE CLASS ONLY)

73. DROP OR WITHDRAWAL AFTER SIX ABSENCES

74. YOU MUST LET ME KNOW BEFORE CLASS IF YOU NEED TO BE ABSENT.

75. COMFORT ZONES

78. COMFORT ZONES

79. COMBAT ZONES

80. TWILIGHT ZONES

84. LISTEN

85. GUIDING FRAMEWORKS

86. the basic structure underlying a system, concept, or text framework

87. 1. Art is (deep) play. 2. Art is (cultural) performance. Two propositions

88. 1. Art is deep play. 2. Art is cultural performance. Two propositions

89. Art as Deep Play (deep) play : an intense form of engagement among humans (and other biological organisms)

90. Art as Cultural Performance (cultural) performance : an aesthetically marked and heightened form of communication, framed in a special way and put on display for an audience - Richard Bauman

93. The Problem of Classification These categories of “art,” though they are important to study in their own right, assume a very specific model of cultural production that is largely visual , elitist , and Western .

94. The Problem of Classification “ What I don’t like about the [classical distinctions made by art historians] is the notion that to be art, something has to be strictly for beauty. The arts of everyday life are highly utilitarian arts: they give form to value . That, for me, is what an art of everyday life is, something that gives form to value.

95. “… they give form to value .”

96. The Problem of Classification It’s not about bringing art back into the everyday world, because I don’t believe it ever left. And it’s not about discovering that what we normally consider as art in museums or galleries also occurs in the everyday world. It’s neither of those. It is about the arts of living , by which I mean giving value meaningful form.” - Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, folklorist, NYU

97. “… the arts of living… ”

98. Art Puzzle: Pile of Bricks Consider the following possibility, based on an exhibit at the Tate Gallery in 1976. A person already known, perhaps even famous, as a “minimalist” sculptor buys 120 bricks and, on the floor of a well-known museum, arranges them in a rectangular pile, 2 bricks high, 6 across, and 10 lengthwise. He labels it Pile of Bricks.

99. Art Puzzle: Pile of Bricks Across town, a bricklayer’s assistant at a building site takes 120 bricks of the very same kind and arranges them in the very same way, wholly unaware of what has happened in the museum—he is just a tidy bricklayer’s assistant.

100. Art Puzzle: Pile of Bricks Can the first pile of bricks be a work of art while the second is not, even though the two piles are seemingly identical in all observable respects? Why or why not?

101. BEFORE NEXT CLASS READ: E-Reserves 1a, “Deep Play” (Diane Ackerman) WATCH: “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” (Ken Robinson )

102. Art as Cultural Performance By using performance as an organizing concept, we begin to notice how art acquires meaning in context, rather than as a collection of static objects produced by special individuals.

103. Art as Cultural Performance In fact, performance allows us to see artistic expression as an interactive , intercultural , intergeneric practice which overlaps with numerous fields of knowledge and experience.

104. Art as Cultural Performance Examining artistic contexts and cultural performances enable us to expand the scope of meaningful forms we actually study and among wider populations. All of us , not just the selected few, are already creating artistic forms of expression worthy of interest.

105. More Key Terms genre : (1) a category or kind of artistic communication ; (2) orienting frameworks for communicating

106. style : (1) a way of doing something; (2) where tradition and innovation meet during social interaction

107. taste : (1) the process of artistic selection ; (2) the determination of aesthetic standards by individuals and groups; (3) how we come to like or dislike something

108. intertextuality : the references and connections made between multiple artistic "texts" during communication

109. Genres of Performance

110. Reproducing Art Walter Benjamin, “The Work of Art in an Age of Mechanical Reproduction” Aura: the quality of a work of art which changes meaning during the process of reproduction Authenticity: the quality of being unique or genuine

111. CASE STUDY

112. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend (Production)

113. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend (Production) http://www.quiltsofgeesbend.com/quiltmakers/index.shtml

114. For a fuller context, read the online article in FLEXBOOK by Teri Klassen (E-Reserves 4c)

115. http://web.me.com/dr_eret/HUM1_F11_BCC/pages/157.html

116. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend (Display)

117. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend (Dissemination)

118. QUESTIONS 1. Describe the tradition of quilting (stylistic elements, process, etc.). 2. How is quilting a form of play and performance?

119. The Quilts of Gee’s Bend (Reflection) Should art by untrained artists be held in the same esteem as that done by professionally trained artists? Should it, for instance, be shown in museums on the same walls that display art by renowned master artists like Picasso and Matisse? What happens to an art-form as it gets reproduced and acquires greater aesthetic and economic value?

122. 1. Art is _________. 2. Art is _________. Guiding frameworks: What are they?