Discussion Post: Expanding the Definition of Being Human with Significant Objects and Artistic Expressions
For this discussion, you will pick a significant object. Your object could be a painting, a song, a dance, a photograph, a piece of art or craft made by a human. In academia, these significant objects are also referred to as artifacts - items we can investigate, describe, and analyze. Artifacts can be any objects that humans conceived of as art and deliberately crafted for practical or aesthetic purposes, or both. The only requirements are that your object have meaning for you as a student, and you must be comfortable sharing it with the class.
To prepare for this discussion:
1) Review the Lascaux resource. Scroll down the web page to read about how the paintings were ‘found'. Scroll back to the top and take the guided tour of the cave paintings. At any point, you can click on the lower left corner of the tour for more information about each of the walls and the images on them. Within each information panel there is additional information for the images.
2) Pick an image that interests you. The Shaft or the Left Wall Unicorn panel have some intriguing images.
3) Read the information panel for your chosen image.
4) Select your significant object and find a way to share it digitally. This can be a url/web address to a site where you can view it, or listen to it if it is a song, or you can take a picture of it and upload it to the discussion.
Post a two-part response.
Part I
In the first paragraph, write 100-150 words
1) Describe the image you selected from the Lascaux caves. Include the title, where in the caves the image can be found, and the approximate age.
2) If you were the artist, what message would you hope future viewers would get from your painting? Why would you have created the image?
3) Describe your impression of the world the image portrays.
Part II
In a new paragraph, write 100-150 words
1) Describe your chosen significant object, including the artist or maker (if they are known to you), where the object can be found, and when it was made. If it is a painting or a photograph, describe the use of color, line, shadow, and style of the image. If it is a song, describe the melody, musical genre, performance.
2) Include an image or link to the object or medium.
3) Explain how this object represents a part of your academic journey or connects to your professional goals for the future and what message it would convey about you as a Walden student to future viewers.
4) Find at least one source that relates to your chosen significant object and explain how it is connected. You can find sources on the Walden Library, or by using a search engine like Google. Don't forget to list the resource at the bottom of your post.
a. Ex. If the object is a quilt made by a family member, look up quilts or family gifts. Consider the bigger categories that your significant object falls within as areas to research.