| For purposes of this guide, the "visual arts" include painting, sculpting, drawing, and photography.
The "performing arts" include film, music, dance and theatre. Research in this field is often concerned
with critical analysis of the art, artist, artistic movement or performance itself. In performing arts,
the emphasis is on the performance or production, as opposed to the text (such criticism is more aligned
with research outlined in the Topical Study Guide for the Humanities).
Subjects of research might include an artist or a painting; a dancer or a dance technique; a musical performance or a musical instrument; an actor or director; costuming or set design. Research of this type can not be done without an eye to the original work (primary source). Research will also include the need to unearth artistic themes, techniques, movements, and media. Finally, research might also focus on the audience by examining audience experience, appreciation, attitude and reaction. |
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In the multimedia environment of the arts, the Web is an excellent resource for finding
primary resources. Digitization of music and visual art works
allows researchers to see and hear copies of the materials regardless of geography. Access to the
collections held in galleries and libraries is becoming easier from the desktop and permits a level of
research that once required travel to the site. Online researchers may view digitized copies of the art
itself, find research and criticism on the piece (film, picture, song, etc.), locate facts about the
work and discuss it with others who are interested in it.
Copyright issues have been discussed in the news, especially in regard to MP3 (music) files, but also for works of art, images, logos, and icons. A student is generally able to use materials for research purposes without problem. But use of these materials beyond the classroom environment may bring legal implications. Redistributing items such as these via a personal Web site could have serious implications. |
Go to Google Image Search. Type "Modern Dance" in the search box. Browse your results. To find higher quality images, change the selection on the left side of the blue title bar, "Images Showing," from "All image sizes" to "Large images".
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