Characterization and examples.
The topic of the Final Project is “Module 16.” This course has covered a tremendous amount of ground in terms of both time and locations, and a sad but inevitable consequence of that is that there are plenty of interesting things we haven’t had time for. If we had one more class, what should we include?
Complete a written paper (7 pages, with footnotes and illustrations not counting toward that length) on this topic. Your proposed topic should fit within the course timeline of prehistory to 1800 CE (more or less), and it should include, if possible, multiple areas of material culture as well as intellectual and political history. You may wish to start with a short review of what we do cover to provide some context for your choice. What do you think people someday should expect you to know as a graduate of an American design program at the MFA level?
For example, if you choose to report on a specific style, was it influenced strongly by shortages of some materials or perhaps a sudden abundance of other resources from new trade routes? Did it reflect political (in)stability? Was it more purely architectural, or did it spill over into fashions also? If you choose a place, how do its people connect to some of the bigger stories we’ve looked at in this course? If a potential client or employer mentions this place at a social or professional event, what would you want to know about it already without being able to look anything up?
