African Art and the Web
Museum
An Undergraduate Course, University of
Virginia
Spring Semester 1998
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African Art and the Web
Museum |
Each student will design an exhibition of African art for presentation on the World Wide Web, incorporating the results of the student's study of African art. The exhibitions will contain an introductory explanation of the exhibit's theme, a map of Africa locating the societies whose art objects are represented, images of selected African art objects, relevant field-context images, descriptive labels, and other explanatory textual materials. The images students will use are taken from collections at the Bayly Museum of the University of Virginia, the Fowler Museum of Cultural History, the Hampton University Museum, and The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and are used with copyright permission.
Monday and Wednesday classes will be devoted to illustrated lectures on African art; Friday computer lab sessions will be used for computer instruction, digital image processing, and Web page construction. The course includes the following curricular components: a brief history of African art studies; African ritual and cosmology; analysis of African art exhibition catalogues; library research on selected art objects; the exhibition of African art in museum contexts; training in Web skills and image processing. The special challenge of the course is to create exhibitions of African art that attempt to be true to the objects themselves while placing images of them in a cultural environment of educational value to the exhibitor and the viewer alike.
As a participant in the Museum Educational Site Licensing project,
the University uses images from the collection of the
Students enrolled in the course also have access to collections of images shown in class. These images are intended for study and review, and will not be incorporated into the student exhibitions. Access to these collections is controlled by password.
Examples from previos class, 1996.
Mid-Term Exhibits:
Mid-term exhibits should consist of six images with descriptive labels. The images may be left-justified or placed in any position on the Web page in relation to the label. The images should be imported in both small gif form and the larger jpeg format, so that the viewer can study the object in greater detail. The exhibit should open with a title, followed by an opening statement, two or three paragraphs in length, that explains the exhibit's theme. A key image might follow immediately below the exhibition title (or stand next to it) as a way of visually conveying the theme of the exhibition. The six images should be taken from at least four different societies. A map locating the societies represented in the exhibit is not necessary for the mid-term.
The well-written label:
Since objects of traditional African art are generally made for use in specific contexts, which are often ritual or ceremonial, the museum exhibition label describing the object should inform the viewer both about the object and its context of use. This is done by referring to certain prominent features of the object, its particular shape, formal properties, and artistic detail, and explaining them in terms of contextual social, moral, and religious ideas and actions. This helps the viewer to "see" the object within its own cultural setting. The label thus educates the viewer's eye by explaining how the object expresses important African moral and religious ideas and actions. If possible, the label should quote a relevant statement (proverb, poetic verse, myth text) taken from the society itself or an informant's words concerning the object or context. The label must do this with a minimum of words for an audience that possesses little or no knowledge of African art. The label, of course, represents the exhibit curator's own knowledge and personal point of view. The label is necessarily interpretive, and it should give the viewer opportunity to think about the object and make some connections to it and African culture.
Guidelines for the final exhibtions:
Your final exibitions at the end of the semester should be expanded and revised versions of your mid-term exhibitions, slightly more complex, with more descriptive information, and about double in size, twelve images in all.
1. Exhibition theme
Consider whether your exhibition theme should be slightly revised to include about six more objects. You may also choose to reduce (or expand) the number of societies represented in your exhibit (the final exhibitionshould present images from at least three different societies). Your final exhibit should engage in drawing some comparisons between the objects and their social, moral, and religious contexts, as well as some pertinent comparisons with aspects of Western culture and human life in general. Here is where your exhibition can express a distinctive point of view in addition to conveying of artistic and cultural information. Re-read Robbin Warren's article, "Making the Galleries Sing: Displaying African Art," as well as the articles by Susan Vogel and Ivan Karp.
2. Design, structure, & organization
The exhibition should have a separate title page, presenting the title (with perhaps a subtitle), your name, and an image that conveys the general theme of the exhibit. If there is enough space, you may also write a brief statement to introduce the theme of the exhibit. The statement should be short enough so that it appears on the title page, without scrolling too much down the page. At the bottom of the title page there should be three or four links to the various parts (pages) of your exhibition, each part having its own title. These same links should appear at the end of each section of the exhibit so the viewer can navigate from one to section to an other and return to the title page.
As a general rule you should place your labels next to the images so that the viewer can view the label and the image without having to scroll up or down the page while reading the label and looking at the image. Each thumbnail image (gif) should be linked to a more detailed jpg version of the image. This can be done by wrapping the jpg image anchor around the gif or by mapping the gif image so that it links to the jpg. If you would like to make your images into transparancies and place them against a particular background, say an African fabric, this will enhance the aesthetics of your exhibit. This is an attractive but time consuming task, and should not be undertaken at the expense of the research and writing components of your exhibit. Your exhibit should contain a map of Africa locating the societies whose objects are represented. The best solution might be to trace such a map from a book, type in the names of the socieites in the appropriate locations, and scan the map.
3. Textual content: making the label more complex, with links, and
additional library research.
Each part of the exhibit should begin with a brief statement to explain how it fits into the overall theme. You might also give a brief descriptive title to the object in your image to attract the viewer's attention. Each label should begin with the name of the object, the society or culture it comes from, and the modern nation to which the society belongs. You should also include an image source or museum credit line, for example, "Fowler Museum of Cultural History." The labels should contain links to bibliographical references, either at the end of the label or within the body of the text. There should also be links to "further information" concerning some major point (or points) that appear in the label. Be sure that there is a link at the end of this page which returns the reader to the original label. Using Photo Shop, you might find it useful in some cases to crop the jpg image and enlarge one of more parts of it so that the viewer can focus on a specific feature (or features). You should put a link within the text of the label to this part of the image, and add a few more lines of text describing this feature next to the jpg; then create a link that returns the viewer to the orginal label.
4. Context photos:
Since there are very few context photos in the Fowler images, it will be necessay to scan them from published sources. One of the most extensive is The Art, Ritual, and Drama of Africa by Michael Huet. Most of the recent books on African art also contain excellent field photos showing the objects in context. The journal African Arts is also full of field photographs, just consult the index in your packet. But this is a time consuming process and should be low on your list of priorities. There are some scanned context photos in the digitalized collection of "images shown in class." Take a look at these, first.
5. Check list for the final exhibitions:
Artistic form: pay attention to the aesthetics of each object, describe its basic artistic features, remark on its artistic quality -- say what you think about it, why you selected it -- mention features of the objects that transcend their culture and those that are a direct expression of it, especially the object's symbolic aspects.
Cultural content: describe and explain the object's cultural meanings and use, its significance in general and in detail. Put just the right combination of artistic and cultural explanation in the label next to the image, so that the reader will want to click on a link in your label and read further to find out more.
Audience assumptions: think about some of the key assumptions in your audience's mind that you want to address in your theme and in your object labels and text. Address some of these assumptions explicitly, by way of pointing out some similarities and differences between African societies and ours.
Web page design: this is your "museum" gallery, make its space work for you so that the viewer is attracted to your objects and can appreciate their design and beauty. The layout should also enable the viewer to read the text easily while looking at the object and to navigate around your exhibition.
Student E-mail Correspondence:
Follow this link for information on subscribing and posting to the class mailing list.
Course Syllabus: RELA 345/ARTH 345
Books for Purchase
Sieber & Walker, African Art in the Cycle of Life
Woodward, African Art in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
Ray, Rela 345/Arth 345: African Art (Brillig Books, Elliewood
Ave.)
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