Blog Assignment 4

PowerPoint Assignment
This PowerPoint was created for a group of students in a printing class I taught this summer.  Students learned about a variety of different printing methods.  The PowerPoint I created was a brief presentation about Chinese seals or chops.  These are the red stamps commonly found in the corners of many Asian artworks.  They are used to identify the author or the owner of an artwork.

Of the slides in the PowerPoint I am most proud of the discussion slide.  Because I was trying to present a chunk of information in as few slides as possible, as simply as possible, I created a slide of an artwork with visible seals, and added two simple discussion questions. This allowed students some processing time if needed with the questions posted, while at the same time allowing them to listen to the discussion while looking at the work.

If I had to do the presentation again, I would probably add a link to some sort of supplemental video on the history of Chinese chops or the process.  I would so this in addition to an in class demonstration because it would be helpful to those students who may miss the class in the future or need to go back and refresh.

Students responded well to the presentation because I was mindful to keep it very short.  Art students typically want to get started right away, and this was a good way to present some information and start a dialogue with them about why they are used, and how signatures are important to show ownership, etc.