Object Assignment: Virtual Gallery in Canva

--- tags: sarah --- # Object Assignment: Virtual Gallery in Canva ## Summary and Description Writing an object biography is a common assignment in the 97s and other undergraduate classics courses. This is an important assignment, as it introduces them to working with art and artifacts, and important skill they will need to work as a classicist, even on the languages and literature track. This assignment takes the object based approach and puts it in a new form. Rather than writing a paper, student create an interactive gallery on Canva that is more dynamic than pure text. This assignment was designed to replace the object or artifact paper assignment usually given to students in sophomore tutorials and undergraduate classes. instead of writing a 3-5 page academic paper, student will create their own interactive and virtual museum gallery on Canva. Alternatively, this assignment can also be modified to look at one object in depth for analysis. This assignment will fulfill many of the same underlying pedagogical goals as a paper. ### Moves and Skills from a Traditional Paper that are Retained * developing close looking skills * writing an object description * conducting object analysis * think about themes and connections across objects, texts, and various media However, its alternative form will also provide additional benefits over a traditional paper. ### Additional Benefits of a New Form * Force students to consider the issue of curation that ancient objects face in museums today * It makes an art based activity more equitable for all students * This assignment, by having multiple "pages" or clickable categories, will provide a concrete or set structure of the assignment. Having set categories will ultimately make the assignment more equitable than a free-composition paper. * This assignment will be accompanied by a 1 hour workshop to show the students how to work the technology aspect. This workshop will also build in assessment overview, and walk the students through the required elements of the assignment. * This is beneficial because it assumes everyone has no background experience or comfort with writing about objects, AND no experience with making this type of assignment. This can demystify how to critically replicate some of the academic moves student will do in this assignment. * This type of assignment is more conducive and easier to display and celebrate student work. * Its fun! By creating a final product, students can take both joy and pride in their work, in a different way than a paper traditional allows. ## Assignment Options ### Curate a display In this choice, students will select 3-5 objects from The Harvard Art Museums's collection. The student will: 1. Write a brief object description for each object 2. Compose a section that is thematic, explain how all these objects work together, and how they were related in the ancient world. 3. Write a "curator's commentary", explaining their process of selection and why each piece was selected for the display. ### Pick one object and dive deep The student will pick on object to focus on for the entire display. They will: 1. Write an object description 2. Perform a formal analysis on the object, introducing them to a critical move done in the field of art history and classics. 3. Do a thematic analysis on the object, explaining how it is relevant to class work and discussion. 4. Consider the use of the object in the ancient work 5. Address the provenance of the object, if available. N.B. There are more components in the "One-Object" choice to make it comparable to the "multiple object" choice. ## Some examples: <div style="position: relative; width: 100%; height: 0; padding-top: 56.2500%; padding-bottom: 0; box-shadow: 0 2px 8px 0 rgba(63,69,81,0.16); margin-top: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0.9em; overflow: hidden; border-radius: 8px; will-change: transform;"> <iframe loading="lazy" style="position: absolute; width: 100%; height: 100%; top: 0; left: 0; border: none; padding: 0;margin: 0;" src="https://www.canva.com/design/DAFSl2lXfsM/view?embed" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" allow="fullscreen"> </iframe></div><a href="https://www.canva.com/design/DAFSl2lXfsM/view?utm_content=DAFSl2lXfsM&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=embeds&utm_source=link" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A drinking Cup from Harvard Art Museums</a> by Sarah Eisen