write a “journal entry” about any and/or all Of the readings. The entry should show critical thinking towards a particUlar topic. idea. artist. piece, etc.
from the readings, as well as consideration Of the discussion questions posted below along with the readings. Please in your writing be
spontaneous. informal, and related to a broader issue or topic in the week’s subject matter. Your writing may be individual. or the prOduct Of small
group discussion work in class Readings:

Richard Candida-Smith. “African American Assemblage Artists in Los Angeles.” in

Candida-Smith. The Modern Moves West: California Artists and Democratic Culture in the

Twentieth Century (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. 2009): 141-153.

Caroline A. Jones. “Chapter One: Introduction to a Movement.” in Jones. Bay Area

Figurative ArtI 1950-1965 (San Francisco: San Francisco Museum Of Art. University Of

California Press. 1990): 1-11.

Rebecca Solnit. “Heretical Constellations: Notes on California. 1946-61″ in Lisa Phillips.

ed. Beat Culture and the New America: 1950-1965. New York: Whitney Museum Of

American Art. 1996: 68-87.

Sandra Leonard Starr. “Assemblage Art A Pocket History.” in Lost and Found in

California: Four Decades Of Assemblage Art (Santa Monica: James Corcoran Gallery.

Shoshana Wayne Gallery and Pence Gallery. 1988). 9-18.

Discussion Questions:

What is the process Of creating an art movement. according to the Caroline A. Jones reading? DO you think art movements should be solely defined
by the artists within them. or by critics outside Of them? What conflicts may exist between these two groups (artists vs. critics) in terms Of defining an
art movement?

Does an art Object depend on its material composition to be defined as “art”? Or is a piece Of “art” determined by the value the artist places on the
“artwork”? Do you think a found-object artwork (like assemblage) should be understood differently than. say. a painting of arranged objects? Why or
why not’?

Richard Candida-Smith talks about now a community’s perception Of art may be different than an artist’s View Of art: “…to conVince people in their
communities that aspects Of their lives are in fact at ran against common sense and an underlying pnilosopny Of the artists themselves.” (146) DO
you think this dichotomy – community perception vs. the Assemblage art Objects and artists – complicates the way we lOOl( at these art objects?
How does the art made by African American Assemblage artists differ from that Of the white Assemblage artists we read about/discussed in L.A.’?
HOW iS it similar?

Compare and contrast a snort poem from Wallace Berman’s Semina 4 (found as a PDF under the “Suggested Readings” folder on ARES) to one or
more Of the required readings on the Beats and/or Assemblage art for the week. Please cite both the poem AND a requir-
analysis Online – Contact SLIDDC’l’f.