Introduction
For the last three decades, writing has been greatly expanded in terms of its meaning compared to the traditional basic skills which were largely associated by majority with composition classes taught in college. Traditionally, the main focus in the study of arts was on the basic skills. That comprised of mastering the rules of form and grammar and it was assumed that, only practice was needed by the students to maintain the skills. Today, the study of the discipline has been developed to help in changing this misconception in the study of arts and design. This misleading conception was even made worse by the fact that, the practice was not offered in latter courses in colleges. Studies of writing in an expanded sense provides a broader understanding as well as teaching advanced art and the associated literature to make the multimedia society rich in information. It also considers writing as a key concept that enables man to acquire sophisticated, social, symbolic as well as interdependent intellectual competencies. The expanded writing forms the background in creation of a “studio” through a writing program. This is a learning environment based on enquiry that targets to make students fluent in the art skills as well as habits regarding advanced literacy and reflection around various languages. The environment creates a model of interaction among students that can be transported as well as being adapted by both students and teachers to other fields (Buck, 1999).
Writing on art
In the following essay, “arts” and “writing in expanded form” are perceived as discursive words or adjectives that are used to describe and limit. The concept of writing in expanded sense also extends into visual arts where writing is considered as a verb referring to an activity in the world of arts or writing within arts. The established distinction between art and writing witnessed today can be dated back to the days of European renaissance where institutions specialized in topography as well as geometry both of which distinctively separated “art” and” writing” identities. However, research has shown that, this difference is arbitrary. The institutionalization that created this difference also came along with other institutions that offered mode of criticism to both fields of art and literature, offering skills that were above creative works. The fundamentals of this criticism were based on the argument that, creative works regarding writing and visual arts tried hiding something: the truth being behind surface that always represented a different thing. This approach to correct reading/viewing is based on the argument that, creative work should be legitimized using critical readings. In the art world, the function of writing plays a critical role on and about arts (Penn, 1994).
The main objective in studying writing in expanded sense is to shift the boundary between theoretical writing and visual arts which is its object. It was until 1960s when the conceptual art shifted the limits between the two areas. This gave written language more power and authority to explore theory or philosophy beyond visual language. This enabled explosion of multimedia in arts creating a large number of possibilities for visual artists to write theoretical works of their own (Rude, 2004).
Writing in an artistic sense may be considered as an inscription representing a field action. It can also represent a process of actualizing concepts and expanding them within a particular language that can either be written or iconographic. Whether the inscription is written or in iconographic, the language used should not signify something else but should come out as a force eluding common sense as well as utility. In the study of arts and design, every inscription should be perceived and read as a performance as well as machinery for expression so that, whether one is looking or reading the inscription, the forces are intensified rather than being frozen (Hamilton, 1993).
The expanded sense of writing provides artists with a capacity to write texts that have power of variation as well as a theory in practice. Traditionally, people used terms as sovereign artists or a creative author of a particular work but in expanded sense of writing, the concept of writing is better understood as a system that encompasses various relations that include social and political as well philosophical aspects. This automatically removes the distinction that exists between creative practices and critical theory (Livingston, 1987).
Writing in expanded sense is perceived as close to “social sculpture” which is an idea that was given by Joseph Beuys. The idea suggests that, concepts can be molded into materials that can be in used reaching areas that cannot be attained by both speech and abstract thinking. Writing in expanded sense is therefore not just a communication of information but an act that stimulates people’s thought (Archer, 2000).
Melbourne Writer/artists gave two illustrations using different processes, mediums and concepts. Each of them portrays theoretical concepts in written form, made actual as visual art. The rules in the art world are bent by each of the artists through expanding their writings towards visual realm and by so doing breaking limits as well as bridging theory of philosophy with poetic literature. In the first case of Nicole Tomlinson…and…, an installation at a gallery located on a first floor is made consisting of acetate sheets hung in series using transparent wires with a word “ and “ copied on each using a laser. Each of the words was different as they were brought from different theoretical texts but enlarged using laser copier. This was a representation of a new structuring of words organizing them as material objects located in space with a minute difference being drawn from the repetition of words. Another case was illustrated by Andrew McQualter in his “word piece”. This is a painting comprising of words “Gertrude stein Wittgenstein” where the two steins are spaced to make a rhyme. The word piece is a poem that both suggests connection of the two steins and also adds to the theoretical projects of the two words. This represented the similarities between the two figures and their contribution to the writing in its expanded sense (Klaus, 2007).
Studio environment
Taught concepts in expanded writing
The traditional way of writing has now been expanded to constitute complex skills of knowledge. Once artists acquire skills of writing in expanded sense, they further learn to orchestrate them for new challenges. Just like musician artist or athletes, good art students are not termed well because of their perfect performance very time they act but because of their continued learning. Complex skills include medium, intellectual competencies as well as inquiry and social skills in the use of language, commonly known as the rhetoric (Wilkinson, 1986).
Research has shown that, writing in text form and other forms of art are inseparable and therefore studios are teaching both writing and reading in an interdependent way. The students learn many forms of writing and different genres including imaginative arts and literature. Students for example may be required to analyze formal as well as informal writing from various art classes, workplaces, public media and academic journals where they use the tool of writing to read and also reading as a tool of writing. A student may therefore write a summary of readings and use ideas to come up with responses. For example, a student may read with an intention of imitating a style or gathering information for his/her own text or arts work (Beardsley, 1987).
Talk also plays an important role in writing studios where it includes debates, lecture by students and group discussions. Such talks interlink various concepts of arts such as oral language, reading in different formats like peer workshops where students begin reading their drafts loudly and writing. The students develop the art of listening, drawing, taking notes and making a reflection on their group talks through lectures, tapes, videos, as well as field observations. Field observations form the most common and usually the unnoticed form of art writing in many colleges (Clarke, 2001).
Writing is a medium that has undergone expansion as far as documents of nonverbal media and multimedia is concerned. It is therefore possible to write and talk using computer networks and the future targets include pictures and animations as well as sounds. Art teachers of advanced classes teach designing of documents, incorporating graphs, iconic features, diagrams, charts, use of varied fonts into student’s texts. Students are required to investigate on the symbolic role and document on the same. Such symbolic systems include computer languages, dramatic performance and visual media where students make investigations based on their own thinking (Kostelanetz, 1986).
Intellectual competencies
Expanded form of writing is also linked on an individual’s capacity to think critically and develop intellectual habits as well as form skills for inquiry. These enable the artist to be coherent and logical in his/her work as it engages the artist more actively in terms of processing and interpreting as well as evaluation of information. Expanded sense of writing is therefore not aimed at ensuring students have finished texts, but it acts as an adjunct to all the activities done by the student. Writing studios focus on development of competencies around certain topics of inquiry researched by students through a variety of writing-based methods that include introspection as well as retrospection, field observation analyzing collected textual data and interviews. Students collect data, categorize, make a selection or discard, logically order the selection, make inferences, interpret as well as evaluate (Engelberg, 1988).
Writing in expanded sense facilitates and records such operations paving way for direct instructions, collaborative criticism, drafting, re-writing and so on. The main Goal is to help student develop critical judgments through reasoning and writing. The theme that unifies inquiries regarding writing in expanded sense is art language itself with a focus on the functioning of writing on the students’ lives, through their education as well as professional settings encountered latter in life. The interests of the students are engaged and opportunities created for them where they can have an open forum. This enables the students in exploring their ideas and also be challenged. The purpose of the art teachers is to create and initiate occasions for their students in forming critical judgments that are independent and can be shared even by others. Their role is not helping students in mastering particular bodies of information or instilling political or theoretical perspectives (Spilka, 1998).
Social skills of art use: rhetoric
When art is studied and practiced as a body that reflects social purposes and that which has a capacity to constitute social relations, it expands to include the entire art of communication. This encompasses both modern and ancient art of rhetoric. Rhetoric principles involves the writers selecting and varying dimensions such as information, style, arguments, format as well as medium to fit audience, purpose and community at large. A studio that teaches writing in expanded sense asks students to critically examine values and various ethical commitments guiding the general application of such principles. (Gaylin, 1979)
Students are prepared on how to transfer their knowledge of rhetoric to new situations as well as communities including work places and public forums. This requires them to study and experience a variety of rhetoric occasions together with the talk that characterize such occasions. An example of a modern rhetoric is “invention” which refers to the intellectual skills that are used in exploration and discovery. It also includes “arrangement” where traditional issues such as organization, coherence among finished writings as well as logic (Snodgrass, 1998).
Conclusion
When writing in expanded sense is taught as an art, it involves attention to enhance clarity and style as well as technical issues such as grammar and spelling. In the expanded sense of writing, technical control is regarded with concern as a rhetoric matter because audience have a certain expectation on standard writing conventions. Teachers ask students to submit their written work at various level of completeness including the level of publication to their classes such as class magazine. Finally, as communication is reshaped by recently discovered information technologies, the art of rhetoric is changed. Writing that comprises of a hybrid form of talk is being created together with writing, reading and publication. Future generations of students are expected to be fluent in a wide range of media presentation. Students are therefore expected to combine their learnt art skills with flexibility in the environment of modern electronics.
References
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