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General Report: Techlearn project report Françoise Rosset, Russian January 11,2000 Abstract Please note: Because this Techlearn project represents the third phase of an ongoing project, with Phases I and II funded by previous techlearn grants, the present report is an edited version of the earlier ones. My Techlearn project was to complete the virtual Russian Art Gallery. It is now complete, even though obviously one could build on it forever; the portions I expected to complete are done and it has turned out quite large. The main purpose of the Gallery is to be a resource of visual materials for students in several classes in the Russian Department, reflecting our committment to teach culture as well as language and literature. The Gallery has been and will continue to be used for student assignments and research, as well as occasionally for class lectures. In fact, some revisions to the Gallery in this last phase reflect the dynamics of two courses I taught this semester, my FYS on Art and Politics, and Russian Folklore, as well as next semester's Russian Art and Culture. The complete Gallery (ca. 250 pages -- I'm having trouble counting correctly) covers selected -- not exhaustive -- materials and movements from pre-history to 1930. Materials are organized into movements and separate branches of said movements. A specific breakdown is listed below in the report. Sections are organized into "slide shows." Each work of art is presented on its own page, linked to the previous and next work as well as to the menu for that section. There are constant links between movements, between sections, as well as to the Gallery home page and Wheaton College. Distribution: Ultimately the Gallery will be linked to the Department Home page. Because most of the art works were scanned from copyrighted material, the Gallery will be password protected, and not fully published on the Net. In the long run, I may seek permission from the copyright owners to publish the entire Gallery on the web. This has NOT been addressed yet as I needed to complete the Gallery as a whole first. My schedule was delayed by two months due to a serious back injury in August and September which prevented me from spending any time over ten minutes at the computer. The issue of copyright, as well as consulting and fine-tuning with Mike Graca, I will be addressing on my own time during the rest of the year. I will not need another grant to finish the Gallery itself, which is done. Report A. Pedagogical goals My third Techlearn project was to create the final portions of a virtual Russian Art Gallery. The main purpose of the Gallery is to be a resource for students in several classes in the Russian Department, including but not limited to the following: FYS, Russian 281, Russian Arts and Culture; Russian 200, Russia from Icons to Revolution; Russian 284, Russian Women; and Russian 203, Russian Drama and now Russian Folklore, where it was actively used this term along with a separate bank of folklore images. It is specifically a resource of visual material, not to replace text or analysis but to provide access to several important movements in Russian cultural history in one systematic source. It allows students to view and study their "slide shows" in depth and at their own pace. I wanted students to have access to a core of Russian art materials which they normally have to study on reserve and in a series of books. Studying visual materials is not the same as studying texts, from which you can easily take notes. Short of sketching or photo-copying, it is difficult to take adequate notes for visual material. In addition, the material may be used for class lectures in other Depart-ments, and can be made available to the Art Department as well when the Gallery is completed. This would not even require publishing on the web. B. Technological strategies Each work of art is presented on its own page with minimal written information (the main purpose of the Gallery is for students to study and analyze the specific art works), and ample navigational options. Each individual artwork is usually linked to the previous and next work in the category, to the menu for that category, and, very occasionally, to a close-up or detail page. Internal links connect all sections of the Gallery and each and every section menu is also linked to the Wheaton Russian Department and to Wheaton College. Students will be expected to study these works and to respond, either verbally in class, or through short or large papers; they did so in my FYS and the Folklore class. My work strategy was to identify significant movements and periods as well as representative works of art for each; process workable categories in menu form; scan pictures; create pages; and link absolutely everything. The work for this last phase consisted of: Revising and correcting all existing pages, including making all backgrounds neutral and homogeneous. There are now three basic backgrounds, including a lighter and darker greyish taupe. Rescanning countless earlier and less-than-pretty scans. Checking and re-checking all links. And last but not least, creating another 70 pages of new material. The new material consists of: Revisions and additions to the Wanderers section, prompted by my FYS. There now is a new separate sub-section of urban genre paintings. Significant revisions and additions to the Avant-Garde section which is the core of the Gallery -- these include two new paintings each for Neo-Primitivism and Suprematism and revisions to Suprematism and Constructivism Two new separate sections, with menus, for the Avant-Garde, Non-objective Art and Applied Art (Posters and porcelain, textiles and theatre); these total 24 new pages. A complete new section on Russian Women Artists, which had always been planned and was simply the last section to get done. In keeping with Wheaton's policy of integrating women's work at all levels of instruction, I wish to point out that women are represented in the other sections as well, primarily in the Avant-Garde. The structure of the completed Gallery is as follows: Russian Art Gallery Main Menu, gateway to: Prehistoric Petroglyphs of Karelia, Northern Russia Wooden Architecture of Old Russia: The Churches on Kizhi Other Churches of Lake Onega Wooden Houses The Medieval Period: Icons Religious Objects Secular Objects The Wanderers/XIXth century: Landscapes Genre paintings: urban scenes Genre paintings: peasant life Themes of Russian Folklore and History Individual painters The Russian Style The Russian Avant-Garde: Neo-Primitivism Rayonism Cubism Suprematism Non-objective Art Constructivism Applied Art Russian Women Artists: Exter, Goncharova, Guro, Popova, Rozanova, Serebriakova, Stepanova, Udaltsova all have separate shows. C. Assessment Students have used the Gallery successfully in several classes and I have used it to lecture to both my FYS and the Folklore class. Assessment from outside Wheaton is underway now that the Gallery itself is complete. I will be getting assessments from Profs. Burke at Trinity, Toops at Wichita State, and Forrester at Swarthmore, all tenured Slavists, and plan to get input from the Wheaton Art Department as well. My own assessment is that the Gallery gives a good and representative, and aesthetically engaging, overview of Russian art -- of those periods covered in the Gallery. C-bis. Assessment of what's left to do. Primarily the issue of dissemination to a broader audience. As I mentioned above, my ability to do computer work was considerably affected by a back injury this summer, which left me trying to catch up my class work during the entire semester. The final formatting of the Gallery and finding out whether the Gallery can be published on the web at all will be matters for me to address on my own during the year. D. Dissemination Most of the paintings were scanned from copyrighted material so any internet access to those portions of the Gallery would be password protected. Students have ample access to the Gallery on Zip disk--although for now the disks have to be gotten from reserve. I will continue to disseminate it in this manner for the students. We may now consider password-protected access from the Department page, since the the Gallery is done. And again, I will look into permission from the copyright owners to publish the entire Gallery on the Web without a password. In the meantime, the Gallery is available, as before, on zip disk for your examination. And I want to take this opportunity to thank the college and the techlearn committee for their support in this sometimes massive endeavor.

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