1.  written response to pockets of identity and assigned readings following prompts in calendara. Written Response to assigned reading. Choose one passage from “In a Persian Garden” that you find

1.  written response to pockets of identity and assigned readings following prompts in calendar

a. Written Response to assigned reading. Choose one passage from “In a Persian Garden” that you find compelling and briefly discuss its significance. How does the passage help you think about art?

b. Think about the medium of music—and the role music itself plays in developing all the relationships in AS IT IS IN HEAVEN. How could the force of sound itself effect change? 

a.  How can you relate AS IT IS IN HEAVENto Bennet’s ideas in The Force of Things?

b.  Written Response to class discussion and pockets of identity event

2.  The Artist and Errors and Limits/responses to American Splendorand Anne Bogart’s two essays

a.  (WR) Your written response to the film

b.  think about Anne Bogart’s observations about the power of “errors” and “limits” in relation to Harvey Pekar: describe what you think are his “errors” and “limits;” how do you see them operating in his art making? Describe any shifts you observe in Harvey’s perceived “limits” and the impact these shifts may have on his process. 

c.  Describe “limits” and or “errors” regarding your own artistic endeavors: what do you perceive to be obstacles in your path? Describe a time when an obstacle turned into a solution.

3.  Read “RED” focus questions

a. What happens in RED? Sum up the action in 1 or 2 brief sentences.

b. What does the color “red” mean to you?  

c. The relationship between Mark Rothko and his assistant, Ken, suggests a mentoring aspect. Discuss this aspect and how you see their relationship change over time. 

d. Discuss a mentoring relationship you may have had with someone older than yourself who helped you develop skills and understanding about something.

e. Why do you think Rothko rejects the commission, giving up the biggest commission he has ever been offered?

f. What do you think could be the potential impact of light and space on any art work? Can different light and space arrangements affect meaning? For instance, discuss the possible differences between absorbing an artwork in a museum and seeing it in a restaurant catering to an elite clientele.

g. Describe your overall response to RED.

4.  The Artist and Politics/Cradle Will Rock (AR)

a. What does the word “red” MOST OFTEN signify in the movie Cradle Will Rock?

a.  Cradle Will Rock suggests that political/economic forces in pre-war 2 drove the emergence of abstract expressionism as the “advanced” art of the day. History shows that after WW2 Rothko and other abstract expressionists like him became the art stars, at the expense of the Riveras and Orozcos of the art world—artists committed to more representational forms of expression. How does knowing this history of suppression color your reception of Rothko? Does it matter?