Design Foundations I & II, Senior Seminar, Computer Graphic Design

Art 160/Art 260/Art 450/Art 220/ Greg Clayton

Art & Design Symposium Participation

Symposium Participation

You are to participate in Art & Design symposium events totalling at least three “symposium credits”.

5% of your course grade is earned by participating in, and documenting out-of-class symposium activities.

All notes on symposium activities must be turned in by noon on Friday of Dead Week -- the last regular class day of the semester. (see Documentation section, below)

What are Art & Design Symposiums?

Throughout the semester, various eligible Art & Design symposium activities will be announced.
Basically, these are out-of-class activities that involve you in the art & design profession. 

The listed activities may include art-design trips to museums, galleries, design offices or other relevant sites.  We may informally attend gallery walks in Little Rock or Memphis.  Some outside lectures or presentations will be consider symposia. 

Each activity will have a symposium credit offered for participation. In general, the symposium credit is based on how involved, how long and how relevant the activity is.  See Points Offered, below.

Activities presented to more than one class will be given half credit for this course. 
That is, when you turn in a report in order to get credit for participating in a symposium event, you'll report whether only one class will be giving credit for this event, or whether two or more courses will be giving credit.

For instance, if you went on a day trip to Crystal Bridges which, in my courses, is worth 2 Symposium Credits.
-- If you want credit in one and only one course, you'd get 2 credits in my course.
-- If you want credit in two courses, you'd get one credit in each of those courses.
-- If you have three art courses this semester and want credit in each, you would get 1 credit in each course (1/2 of the 2 available credits) -- which means you'll actually get a sort of bonus symposium credit when you have lots of art or design courses in the same semester. The same is true if, say, you have 4 art course that require symposiums -- each would give you one credit for that day trip, even though that would total 4 credits for a 2 credit event.
The gist is this -- you will never have to participate in more symposium events than are required for two courses, no matter how many art courses you have in a semester.

Documentation:  Symposium Reports

In order to get course credit for participating in a symposium activity, report the activity to your professor (gclayton@harding.edu) within 1 week of the symposium activity.
You may report your symposium activity either by email or via a Canvas Assignment—Symposium Event or Activity.

If reporting by email, send your professor (gclayton@harding.edu) the documentation listed below:

Include
a) a brief but clear written description of the event you attended or participated in.
b) the date of the event,
c) the symposium credits offered (see Points Offered, below), and
d) all courses to which this symposium event is being submitted for credit.

e) Scan/Photograph and then Email/Attach your notes or sketches
Basically, show me what you thought about the topics or artwork you encountered.
These notes may be...
... a traditional written outline of topics and observations,
... they might be a mind-map of ideas presented or explored, or
... any combination of sketches and notes. Often you'll just snap a pic of a page of your sketch journal.

In your notes/sketches, explore:
— What content, ideas, imagery or skills were presented?
— How might you incorporate any of this into your own creative work?

Basically, show me that you've thought about the artwork, the artist and/or the ideas presented.

Points Offered

So, how many "symposium points" is an event worth?
It varies depending on how involved the event is.

How long an activity is it?  was it a 30 minute workshop or a 15 minute gallery-reception visit, or was it an evening of gallery visits involving travel?)
How involved you actually were (did you participate, study, present or create? or did you basically look around or listen for a while?)
How relevant is the event to your creative-professional goals? 

If the event is an on-campus or in-town event that can be completed in a half hour to an hour, usually I'll give 1/2 credit.
If the event involves traveling to, say, Little Rock for an afternoon or an evening for a museum visit or a gallery walk, 1 credit will be given.
A day trip to, say, Crystal Bridges or Memphis with lengthy gallery and/or museum visits would get 2 credits.
A longer trips typically get about a credit per day -- the Chicago trip gets 4 credits.

How do I know how many credits my activity will get?
If your activity is listed on our calendar, the event announcement should have a credit listed.
If you are proposing an activity or event, look over the guidelines above and contact me. Propose what you think it should be worth and why. I'll respond and let you know.

Current Symposium Events

*** Check this link for a more complete, updated listing.***

For Fall 2017, Art & Design symposium events will include: .
Other gallery, exhibit, art-walks and presentation visits.  1 credit.
Selected on-campus speakers and presentations.  ½ - to - 1 credit.

You may also propose and organize symposium activities and invite other students to participate. 
Contact your professor for feedback and approvals of other ideas that you have for symposium experiences.   If you are heading to a city with museums and galleries, or if you are visiting a graduate shool, you can often get symposium credit for that.  If you spend an afternoon visiting galleries while home for Spring Break, turn in a symposium report and get credit for it.