1. Choose and fully identify two specific works made after 500 CE that combine images with text. The works must come from different art historical periods. Note: Do not choose works with text consisting only of names, labels, or artists’ signatures. Discuss the relationship between text and image in the two works you have chosen.
2. Choose two works of architecture from different cultures, identifying each work as fully as possible. At least one work must come from beyond the European tradition. Discuss how each work conveys power and authority.
3. First, discuss the traditional arts and the historical attitude toward art of one of these cultures: India, China, or Japan. Second, explain when and how the culture came into contact with other cultures—especially Western cultures—and the results of that contact on both. (Note: you must do both parts here. This is NOT merely a chronological survey of the culture you select. )
4. Identify, compare and contrast three artists from different centuries who have used their art to comment on social or political issues, citing specific works in support of your selections. Comment on the reasons that you feel these artists have succeeded or failed in producing recognition or change through their art.
5. Referring to specific works and/or artists, compare and contrast at least five varying interpretations of the human body from prehistory to the present. Include the attitudes towards the human body in each culture. Describe the impact of the different artists’ styles and representations of the body and identify the artists or work that you consider most interesting or compelling and explain why you think so.
6. Discuss the influence of African art on European and American art from the 19th century through the present, citing specific works, artists, styles, or movements that have been influential.
7. Compare and contrast the themes, purposes, media, and styles of the arts of any Native American and/or Mesoamerican cultures with another culture we have studied.
8. Discuss the influence of photography on the art of the late 19th and 20th centuries, citing specific uses of photography. Discuss the shifting and sharing of the functions and purposes of art by painting, drawing, and photography.
9. Discuss, compare and contrast at least three technological advances, occurring in at least three different centuries, which have changed the media and/or purposes of art in major ways.
10. Select a personal interest, whether it be literature, law enforcement, medicine, education, sports, dance, culinary arts etc. and locate examples of three artists (from different time periods and regions) who created art (sculpture, painting, drawing, ceramics or architecture) based on that interest or theme . Identify and describe at least two works from each artist that relate to the theme. Compare and contrast the work of each artist. Be sure to focus on how the theme is represented in the art and the history of that art.