The Artist Discourse Community

Sarah Russ Rebecca Agosta English 1103 28 March 2014

Topic Summary

How does the artist community on campus relate to the artist community off of campus? How do experts and beginners on and off of campus differ from each other? What types of literacies are used within both communities and how do they overlap? In my research, I wanted to study the relationship of the artists on and off of campus and how they are associated. I included myself as a part of my study in the artist discourse community and I viewed galleries on and off of campus and attempted entering my own work into a gallery onto campus as well as interview artists who have held their own exhibitions. I studied what influenced artists and what it took to get work into a gallery. My range of sources includes an interview of an artist from the McColl center, observing discussions from a previous UNCC student, observing the inspirations for art from the juror of Direct-Indirect, participating in entering my work into a gallery, observing a gallery off campus, and observing a discussion of the partnership with UNCC and the McColl center.

McColl Partnership with UNCC: Panelists Rowe, Reception and Panel Discussion, 2014, Observation

McColl Partnership with UNCC: Panelists

McColl Partnership with UNCC: Panelists In this event that I attended, I took notes on the discussion of the students that worked with Crystal Nelson from the McColl center about the project that they worked on together. Their project focused on the different communities in Charlotte and the problems that came with each specific community. Crystal introduced new methods of presenting work to the students.

This is relative to my research because this shows the overlap in artist communities on and off campus. This collaboration with Crystal occurred over several months showing the communication, interaction, and sharing of information that goes with discourse communities. This also demonstrates the experts and beginners of a discourse community as the students and Crystal work together.

Direct-In-Direct

Rowe, Side Gallery, Direct-In-Direct, 2014, Print

This artifact comes from the juried gallery show that I entered some work into and although my works did not get into the show, I still feel this is a relevant source. I will be able to add more information to this artifact after March, 31st as that is when the actual jurying of the gallery will occur. I will observe this event as well. The relevance comes from the relationship between the participants in the show and the juror of the show. Entering work into a gallery is a large part of every artist community and the engagement of participants to juror shows more elements of a discourse community. The goal of this specific event was to showcase works based on the requirements in the article. Contribution was made through the submission of art pieces.

McColl Partnership with UNCC: Interview Nelson, Crystal, Personal Interview, 21, March, 2014

McColl Partnership with UNCC: Interview

McColl Partnership with UNCC: Interview

McColl Partnership with UNCC: Interview

McColl Partnership with UNCC: Interview In this event, I interviewed Crystal Nelson at the McColl center in order to further develop how McColl artists associate with UNCC. Specifically, I looked at the project that Crystal did with UNCC and I looked into Crystals own projects and how UNCC had influenced her as well as she had influenced UNCC.

My questions correspond to the lines drawn separating the questions. 1. How were you a part of the partnership between UNCC and the McColl center? 2. What is it like working as an artist and how did you get to that point? 3. What inspires you to create art? 4. Where is your ideal place to show work?
This interview demonstrates the difference between the expert and beginner of a discourse community, the shared goal of showcasing artwork, and the communication of the process of producing and showing work.

McColl Gallery Visit The McColl Center for Visual Art. Gallery Exhibition. 2014. Observation

I attended the event in which all of the artists residing at the McColl center displayed their work. I observed all of the artists works and enjoyed seeing the variety of artworks. I had a focus on Crystal Nelsons studio, as she is the artist that I interviewed for my project so I felt that she was the most relevant.

I can compare Crystals studio to my own working space. What each community has relative; goals shared in wanting to present work. Crystal is an expert in already presenting as compared to myself wanting to present work. There is a shared language in the understanding of processes that artists go trough in order to create and present work.

Previous UNCC Student: Ryan Best Ryan Best, Macy, Illustration class discussion, 2014, Observation

Previous UNCC Student: Ryan Best In this event, I observed the class discussion between a previous UNCC student and a class of current UNCC students. Ryan discussed his process of becoming a full time artist and the steps he went through to get there.

This is relevant to my research because it demonstrates the shared goal of wanting to have the profession of artist . This goal is shared through communication as it was a class discussion. The members of the class ranged between experts to beginners.

Direct-In-Direct; Juror Sara Schneckloth Sara Schneckloth, Rowe, Studia as Laboratory- Experiments in Drawing, 2014, Observation

Direct-In-Direct; Juror Sara Schneckloth This was an observation of the Juror during her works and the inspirations of her works. She also described what she had been looking for when selecting pieces to put into the show. This is relevant because the show that Sara juried is an activity that I participated in. There was communication between Sara and many of the art students and teachers in the artist community of Rowe. We share the goal of wanting to be an artist as a profession. Of course the genre used in discussing works would have been much more confusing to those who do not participate in the creation of artwork.

Discourse Communities

Wardle, Elizabeth A., and Doug Downs. Writing about Writing: A College Reader. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2011. Print.1. A discourse community has a broadly agreed set of common public goals. 2. A discourse community has mechanisms of intercommunication among its members. 3. A discourse community uses its participatory mechanisms primarily to provide information and feedback. 4. A discourse community utilizes and hence possesses one or more genres in the communicative furtherance of its aims. 5. In addition to owning genres, a discourse community has acquired a specific lexis. 6. A discourse community has a threshold level of members with a suitable degree of relevant content and discoursal expertise

I will be focusing on Swales six defining characteristics of discourse communities for my research paper. I choose Swales because I consider his characteristics to be appropriate to the topic that I am researching. I also found Swales definitions to be easier to comprehend. I will use this in each type of research in my paper to help demonstrate how my research can be considered a discourse community. I will give examples of each characteristic within all of my types of research.

McColl Scholarly Article

Janes, Thoden. "McColl Center expands vision to social action Artists-in-residence at renamed space urged to go out, engage community." Charlotte Observer, The (NC) 21 Nov. 2013, 1st State, Asection News: 1A. NewsBank. Web. 25 Mar. 2014. http://iw.newsbank.com/iwsearch/we/InfoWeb?p_action=doc&p_theme=aggdocs&p_topdoc=1&p_queryname=11B3A012BB2D0858&p_docnum=1& p_sort=YMD_date:D&p_product=AWNB&p_docid=11B3A012BB2D0858&p_text_direct0=document_id=(%2011B3A012BB2D0858%20)&p_multi=CHOB&s_lang=enUS&p_nbid=S5EJ45QBMTM5NjA0NzI5My45NzM4ODY6MToxMDoxNTIuMTUuMC4w

The McColl center has been collaborating with UNCC for four years. This article goes into detail about one of the previous years discussing their collaboration. This is relevant because it shows evidence of the mix of on and off campus artists that has been occurring. It demonstrates that there is a common goal between the communities of collaboration. There is a sharing of information through this collaboration. I can compare this article to the current collaboration of student artists with the artist from the McColl center.