ARTH 321
Rebirth of Adam/Eve: Michelangelo's Renaissance Ceiling as an Invitation to Connection and Creation Spring 2025
Division I D Difference, Power, and Equity

Class Details

Michelangelo made a point of remembering, for posterity, how boring he’d found the original prompt for the Sistine Chapel. With his eye-roll still buzzing in our ear, it’s fun to look up to the completed ceiling as the creative detonation of a lame assignment. We can also catch a quiet glimpse of an older creator rooting for his younger self: validating his artistic autonomy back through time with the urgent symphony of roiling bodies he’d painted decades earlier… If what you’ve read here so far strikes you as a modern or close-up framework for a past (and otherwise distant) work of art, great! Michelangelo’s ceiling can work in multiple ways, not least as a visceral, or corporeal, invitation to the wild drama of our human condition–enlivened above and around us as the delicate balancing of oppositional forces, it can all feel a bit miraculous. This was the artist’s choice: to immerse his audience in a radiant painted world that already anticipates human fallibility as the other side of potential–or, as he put it visually, our darkness together with our light. This course jumps into the Sistine’s invitation to bring our current perspectives, interests, and concerns to the project of historical study. Conversely, our goal will be the exploration of Michelangelo’s very Renaissance ceiling as an aperture to new connections, and creations, in our present.
The Class: Format: tutorial; We will meet in smaller tutorials, as well as with the whole group (to learn about Renaissance art and history, for field trips and creative/studio activities, and other things better done together). Students need to reserve both long class periods (though "extra" time spent in class will be offset by less work outside class). Class meetings will be made available via zoom when that makes sense.
Limit: 20
Expected: 20
Class#: 4034
Grading: no pass/fail option, no fifth course option
Requirements/Evaluation: Working in a tutorial structure, students will be engaged with and responsive to course materials/assignments, and to the work of others. Coursework will be assigned flexibly to capture varied interests and goals. Students can expect varied course materials, and choice for many text-based assignments (audio, PDF, paper). Students at any level of experience can expect support in pursuing individual goals and developing their self-understanding as a creator (of ideas, words, images, music, etc.).
Prerequisites: None, open to all students.
Enrollment Preferences: Current and prospective art majors from all wings are welcome, and will enjoy enrollment preference. In the case of over-enrollment, limited spots will also be reserved for first-year and other interested students.
Materials/Lab Fee: $150. Materials fees are covered by the Book Grant for all Williams financial aid recipients.
Distributions: Divison I Difference, Power, and Equity
DPE Notes: Themes, experiences, and cultures of gender- and neuro-diversity animate this course, which is itself a collaborative product and purposefully shaped by diverging voices, materials, and practices. Varied contemporary lenses will help students create meaningful connections to historic themes and concerns around individualism, gender, shame, love (and friendship), community, creativity, visuality, and empowerment--and therefore multiple and experiential connections to course material.
Attributes: ARTH pre-1800

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