Artifact Analysis Worksheet

An artifact is something made by a human. 

It can be a form of art or a form of self-expression that has meaning to you. It can be anything that a human conceived of as art and deliberately crafted. 

For this assignment, you are being asked to share your artifact with your classmates. Please consider this as you select your artifact by choosing something you are comfortable sharing and avoiding potentially offensive material. 

In the Learning Resources area, there is also a document on “reading” images and text. It includes many questions which can guide deeper analysis of your artifact.

Share your artifact   or a link to your artifact in the space below. 

Include a   description of the artifact and include research on the background of the   artifact. For example, information about the artist involved. 

*** Make sure to   cite your sources by including a list of any outsides sources of information   you are using to answer this question. Remember, research is always a good   thing as it shows effort.

What does this   artifact mean to you? Please explain.

To explore this, consider these additional questions: 

How has it inspired or moved you? Has this artifact helped   make your life or the life of others better? How does it connect to your life   or to the educational journey you are starting along with your classmates?  

• Select an artifact, something that is important to you or resonates with you in some way. Make certain you have a way to share the artifact electronically. You can save the website/link to the artifact if you found it online or take a photo or scan the artifact.
• Use the Artifact Analysis Worksheet to evaluate your artifact.
• Use the Academic Writing Expectations (AWE) Checklist to guide your writing for each question on the workshe 

Humans are art making creatures. From the evocative hunting depictions of our ancient ancestors to modern dance, humans have reacted to their environment by painting, singing, dancing, writing, and recording the things they encounter. In this week’s assignment, you will be asked to select an artifact to analyze. Make sure that you choose something that really resonates with you, but also make sure that you would not mind sharing it with the members of the class. Understand that this is an academic workspace, and select an image, poem, or song that you would be comfortable sending to the entire class. You are free to select any object that is shareable electronically with your classmates.

Photo credit: Microsoft Corporation. (Producer). MP900309017 [photo of brushes and art supplies]. Retrieved February 6, 2014 from http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/images/results.aspx?qu=art&ex=1%20-%20ai:MP900309017|#ai:MP900309017

Evaluating a work of art requires some distance from the piece. You will be asked to analyze the artifact that you select and to describe why the piece was selected. Please choose something that you would not mind others critiquing. For example, if you select a painting that your sister painted, you might not want to have someone write that they didn’t like the subject or style. Make sure that you are comfortable with the piece being viewed and analyzed by other members of the class.

In this Assignment you will identify and analyze an artifact of your choice. The resources used in the Week 2 Notes and Readings are just a few of the options for types of media you might select as meaningful to you.