AH5169 Art History in the Studio: Process, Materials, Technique

Academic year

2023 to 2024 Semester 2

Further information on which modules are specific to your programme.

Key module information

SCOTCAT credits

30

The Scottish Credit Accumulation and Transfer (SCOTCAT) system allows credits gained in Scotland to be transferred between institutions. The number of credits associated with a module gives an indication of the amount of learning effort required by the learner. European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits are half the value of SCOTCAT credits.

SCQF level

SCQF level 11

The Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF) provides an indication of the complexity of award qualifications and associated learning and operates on an ascending numeric scale from Levels 1-12 with SCQF Level 10 equating to a Scottish undergraduate Honours degree.

Availability restrictions

Enrolment limited to allow for study visits (fieldwork) around Fife, Dundee, and Edinburgh

Planned timetable

To be confirmed

This information is given as indicative. Timetable may change at short notice depending on room availability.

Module coordinator

Dr R M Ezra

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module Staff

Dr Ruth Ezra

This information is given as indicative. Staff involved in a module may change at short notice depending on availability and circumstances.

Module description

This module asks what the history of art might look like as a history of process. In an effort to bridge the gap between creating art and writing about it, we will draw from the related disciplines of anthropology, science and technology studies, and musicology to explore methods and concepts such as reconstruction, translation, entanglement, improvisation, autoethnography, situated cognition, and material engagement theory. Working alongside contemporary artists and practicing conservators in a series of ‘maker days’, students will be introduced to materials and techniques while honing their critical observation skills. Alongside and in dialogue with local makers, we will debate the communicability of tacit knowledge and scrutinize the position of the art historian in the studio. The module’s focus on process also extends to the critical consideration of labor -- much of it invisible -- and to the ecological situatedness of the artist’s workshop.

Assessment pattern

Coursework 100%

Re-assessment

Coursework 100%

Learning and teaching methods and delivery

Weekly contact

1.5 hour seminar (x11 weeks); 1.5 hour fieldwork (x4 weeks)

Scheduled learning hours

33

The number of compulsory student:staff contact hours over the period of the module.

Guided independent study hours

252

The number of hours that students are expected to invest in independent study over the period of the module.

Intended learning outcomes

  • 1. Analyze and interpret works of art critically; this includes describing objects and their constitutent materials and techniques with appropriate vocabulary; examining their formal structure and content (“iconography”); and attending to their physical presence in all its material strangeness.
  • 2. Draw upon first-hand knowledge of the processes behind sculpting, painting, drawing, architectural design, printmaking, and curating. Meetings with makers have been incorporated that will expose students to creative production in the contemporary environment and local community.
  • 3. Confidently enter into dialogue with past viewers, scholars, and peers through readings, text annotations and reading blogs, and in-class discussion, thus gaining an appreciation for the discipline of art history as an inter-subjective, collaborative, and inter-generational field.
  • 4. Stage conversations between objects and engage with the problems and possibilities of spatial visual argument through an exhibition proposal.