DESCRIPTION
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| Fall 2011 Art
612 .01: Conceptual Design III - Internships
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CLASS
DESCRIPTION
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Course goals
Contemporary Artists regularly move in and out of
conventional art/world logistics:
1. In the settings they chose to manifest their
art
2. in the work they do to sustain their art,
3. In the information sources and research
processes they use as ideas and materials of their art.
Although the Conceptual Information Arts program
includes attention to these unconventional contexts and processes as part of
all its courses, the advanced internship course (612) offers students an
opportunity to bring a focus on these logistics within a work setting of their
choice. In this setting, they will
participate
as interns, learning the skills and carrying out
the tasks required. They will also be participating as artists, observing,
gleaning materials for a creative project.
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| Prerequisites: Art 410, 412, and at least one Art 511. Those without these requirements are
admitted at the discretion of the instructor.
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Grading
• A
grade of A will require excellence in all work. Grade will be based on:
• class participation (50%)
• The quality of lab exercises, written semester long research blogs,
final paper and presentation, and project (50%)
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Note:
Because we meet intermittently during the semester, attendance is mandatory for all class meetings. A full grade point will be deducted for each meeting missed up to 2 absences, after which a student will not receive credit for the course. There is no opportunity for make up work. Students will have to re-enroll when the course is offered again. |
Requirements
1.
Internship
Students will find and carry out internships in
an interest related to work. The internship should be at least 9 hours a week
for 12 weeks, which is equivalent to a full class (6 hours/week for class
meetings and 3 hours outside the
classroom).
2. Track,
assess and summarize the internship experience
• Students will be expected to maintain a
systematic portfolio of documentation of their internship experience in the
form of a blog and have regular entries on their duties, tasks,
responsibilities and other aspects of their internship experiences throughout
the semester.
4. Conduct
and write two outside interviews
• Students must carry out two interviews with
people who are in the same area as in their internships but work elsewhere. The
goal of the interviews is to create a broader perspective and understanding of
the field by exploring experiences of professionals who work outside of the
organization in which the student is currently interning.
3. Develop professional materials
- Development of a Resume for both art and
non-art related work and opportunities.
- Development of an Artists Statement
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Tentative Class Schedule:
Most of the actual work of this course will take
place in the Internship settings and outside of class. Most consultation in the course will
take place during individual meetings with the professor and with mentors in
the internship situation.
There will be regularly scheduled class meetings
during the semester, approximately one per month. If special needs arise, other
meetings will be scheduled. Regardless of whether class meets or not, this time belongs to Art 612.
Please leave Tuesday/Thursday class hours open for possibly scheduled class
sessions. If you take another
course during this time, confirm with that professor of that class that it will
ok for you to miss certain Tuesday or Thursday classes when 612 is meeting.
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Course
Content
1. Find, initiate and successfully execute an
internship (at least 9 hours a
week for 12 weeks)
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To get credit in this course students will be
required to arrange and execute a semester long internship for themselves. The
internship should be specifically designed to allow the student to explore a
setting potentially significant to development of their artwork. The internship
cannot just be a job. Students must identify a clear research agenda for
selection of the setting and create a viable documentation/reflection strategy
to be used during these experiences. For example, it could be used to check out a setting that the student
thinks might be
related to their professional goals or it could be
used to check out a setting that a student knows nothing about.
Students are urged to be creative in defining
relevant settings. The settings can be preexisting organizations/institutions
or a setting conceptually created. The settings can be art or non-art related.
Students are expected to arrange the internships themselves although the
professor will offer support and leads. Students should also learn to be
creative in developing leads - for example, there may be links to real jobs
listed but no internships. In the
past students have had some luck contacting these companies
and promoting the idea of an internship.
Below is a list of examples:
*
Work with main or alternative art organizations or galleries such as Leonardo,
SF Camerawork Gallery, Southern Exposure, BAVAC, SFMOMA, Yerba Buena, SF Arts
Commission, and GAFFTA.
* Seek artists you want to learn more about and
contact them to see if they are looking for assistants.
* Work with non-art media such as Lucas Films,
High Tech companies, Television or radio stations such as KQED, SF Public
Access, Social Service, Environmental, or Political Agencies.
* Work with educational organizations or schools
such as The Exploratorium, Zeum, etc
* Work with science/technology environments -
genetic engineering, virtual reality startup, astronomy research project.
* Work with a Web or Media start up or
established firm.
* Become involved in non-art related areas and
learn the trade to carry out systematic observation/participation in some
social niche - for example, courts, police, beauty shops, pool halls, malls,
car dealerships, building roads, fixing washing machines.
Some possible sources for internships:
* Craigslist (http://sfbay.craigslist.org/med/)
* CIA NEWS BLOG (http://cia-news.blogspot.com/)
* CSM MEDIA INTERNSHIPS
(http://www.csumediainterns.com/ )
• Museum Internships
(http://members.efn.org/~acd/Intern.html)
• Art internships (http://www.internmatch.com/s/art-internship/san-francisco-ca)
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2. Complete written assignments relevant to internship:
A. Entry questions and a specific written plan
for the internship prior to your beginning the job that includes:
1. Your rationale for the choice of the
setting,
2. The initial questions/issues you raise upon
entering, (areas you are interested in learning more about/investigating)
3. An initial plan for logging and documenting
your internship experience on your blog. For example, you will make an entry
following each day there.
- On Documentation and Log:
Students must log all time spent on the
internship. Also they should identify a liaison person/supervisor in the
setting. The log should include both description of concrete activities and
reflections on what went on
during specific working sessions - for example,
what surprises were encountered? How is the student's thinking about personal
art and career goals changing? What questions are raised that will be addressed
in future internship sessions? You
will be asked to write a log summary at the end. You might address questions
such as: How was it different from what you expected as indicated in your
initial questions? What did you learn about the organization and its
activities? What did you learn
about your own interests, skills, and future plan? etc
- Final requirement is one or two page summary of
insights from the log reflecting on these or other relevant questions.
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3. Creative Project:
Out of the student's internship experience should
come a creative project based on skills and/or experiences learned. For example, your own personal work
using technology learned on the job, a conceptual web page for the organization
you worked with that they would never have approved, a digital video exploring
issues raised by the internship, others (pending consultation with the professor).
Much of the work on the internship is often
practical. The creative project
asks you to build on the ideas, skills, etc that came up in the internship that
could be related to the focus of the organization or it could go off in any
direction you want. It doesn't
have to be major long work - just something that shows some creative
energy inspired by the internship. Final requirement is showing this work
to the class for discussion.
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4. Completion of professional resumes and artist statement
Students must complete a professional resume or
artist statement/profile suitable for use to get jobs or art opportunities. We
will spend a class discussing and reviewing professional resumes -- how to
write them, what to include, how to parse what you know into resume form.
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5. Research Interviews
Student will conduct at least 2 informational
interviews of people outside the internship
setting to get some perspective on the field of
the internship. To prepare for the interview, students should prepare themselves
and their questions by identifying background information sources such as trade
journals, professional organizations, key individuals and ideas within the
field to feed and inform their questions and direction for their interviews.
People are usually very happy to give short
informational interviews - in person, by phone, or even email to students who
are interested in knowlng more about the field.
These interviews should investigate such
questions as:
How do the other places approach things that came
up in your internship? How were
they similar? How different?
Write up a one or two page summary of what you
learned from these interviews posted to your blog along with the questions you
asked.
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Summary
To Do List
• Set up an Art 612 dedicated blog and send the
url to the instructor. Note: you can make your blogs private, allowing only
those from the class to read and/or post comments.
• Internship
1. Find an internship
2. Carry it out for 9 hours/week for 12 weeks
• Documentation of internship
1. Write entry questions that identify your entry
questions and areas you want to
investigate and learn about.
2. Post these to your blog.
3. Track your experiences as they occur and post
to your blog
4. Write a summary of your experience and post to
your blog.
• Resume & Artist Statement
1. Research what a Resume is - and note the
different formats for different circumstances (egg. art and job choices)
2. Create you own and post it for review and
comments
3. Make revisions following class discussion.
• Creative Project
Produce an art project from your internship
experience.
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