Essay #3: What is Art?

3-5 pages, double-spaced

Draft workshop: Thursday, 11/10

Final Draft Due: Tuesday, 11/15

For this assignment, you will need to use/tweak the criteria you have been inventing all semester for what makes something art and apply it to a thing, place, person, event or phenomenon at Penn State.

It would be easy to argue that something housed at the Palmer Museum can be defined as art. But I want you to go beyond the obvious. Think about the structures (buildings, monuments, statues), the public spaces (gardens, malls, alcoves), groups, individuals, meals, sounds you encounter in our community. (For the purposes of this assignment, you may go beyond campus and into State College itself)…the possibilities are endless.

You may also go a bit larger and choose to re-define Penn State itself as a thriving artistic community, with the express intention of refuting the NPR podcast that defined us as a “Party School.” If you choose to do this, you must use examples from that podcast in your essay.

You have been working on the first step—creating criteria—since the first week of class. You will need to explicitly state them in your thesis statement. Then, you will need to show how X thing/person/event fits the criteria you put forth for category Y/art.

An example:

The image of David slaying Goliath at the Palmer Museum (x term) is an example of art because it references historical and cultural figures and arouses strong emotions in the viewer. (two possible criterion that make up art/category Y.)

For this essay, you may choose between two possible audiences:

1        1. Parents who are coming to visit campus with the idea of sending their kids here.

2        2. Incoming freshmen like yourself who will want to get to know their campus.

Think about genre. What will be the best way to reach your audience?  Orientation brochure? Article or open-letter in the Collegian? Your choice of genre will dictate many things, including your tone.

Whatever genre you choose, though, think about what your audience might assume about art and about Penn State. Think about what they might already know. Think about what they care about and value. Have they heard the podcast? Do you need to address that? Being able to answer these questions will help you choose the best, most persuasive appeals in your writing.