Creative Process of Creating and Interpreting Cultural Artifacts

Select an artifact that interests you and conduct a conversation about it with another person. Then, incorporate that dialogue to write about how artists collaborate and influence each other’s work.

Introduction

You can’t live through a day without making an impact on the world. And what’s most important is to think about the impact of your actions on the world around you.

– Jane Goodall, primatologist and anthropologist 

Think for a moment and try to remember the last time that a piece of art—a book, a movie, a song, a painting, or any other work—made you cry. Perhaps, they were tears of joy. Or, maybe you were sad because a certain lyric reminded you of a painful moment from your past, or because you could relate to a character’s struggles. In any case, the art made an impact on your life, just as it was designed to do. Understanding the positive and negative impacts we can have on others through art and other artifacts is a critical part of working together successfully.

In this assessment, you will continue to strengthen your self- and social-awareness skills and relationship-building skills as you explore how the humanities can be used to impact others, why it’s important to reflect on that impact, and how understanding your impact can help you collaborate with your co-workers and peers.

What you see depends not only on what you look at, but also on where you look from.

– James Deacon, artist

Through this course, you have studied what it means to be human. And you’ve explored the unique ways people all over the world express themselves and their different perspectives through art, culture, music, religion, literature, and more. Along the way, you’ve also learned how important it is to broaden your own perspective, so you can think and act appropriately in different cultural environments and better collaborate and solve problems with peers, colleagues, and co-workers whose experiences and perspectives are different from your own.

In this assessment, you’ll look back at all you’ve learned so far and discover how these same concepts and skills will allow you to continue to broaden your perspective, collaborate with others, and solve problems as you encounter new cultures and ideas outside of the classroom.

Many of humanity’s finest achievements—such as the International Space Station, the Allied victories in the Second World War, and the founding of the United Nations—were made possible by people of different cultures coming together to pursue a shared goal. In fact, history shows us that when diverse groups collaborate, they are likely to achieve more than groups that are less diverse(Page, 2008) With this in mind, you’ll continue to strengthen your relationship-building skills by exploring how nations and cultures have collaborated throughout history. And you’ll consider how collaboration can help you to achieve success in your own workplace and community.

References

Page, S. E. (2008). The difference: How the power of diversity creates better groups, firms, schools, and societies. Princeton University Press. https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691138541/the-difference

Quotefancy. (n.d.). Jane Goodall. https://quotefancy.com/quote/981661/Jane-Goodall-Your-life-matters-You-can-t-live-through-a-day-without-making-an-impact-on

Quote Me on That. (2016). Where you look from. http://www.quotemeonthat.com/quotes/category/perspective

Overview

This assessment allows you to practice your problem-solving skills and self- and social-awareness skills as you reflect on the nature of the creative process. In this assessment, you will:

• Explore how your own experiences influenced your choice of a cultural artifact. Did you choose a literary work, film, song, or painting? Explore ways in which your personal experiences and cultural context might have influenced that choice. This allows you to think critically about our perspectives are shaped by cultural context.
• Examine the creative process then use the information to analyze your selected artifact. Do you think there are fundamental differences in the creative process when it is a collaborative process rather than a solitary one? Also apply what you’ve learned from your research into the life of the artist, or the artists working together, who created the artifact.
• Explain how the artist’s cultural and personal experiences can be detected in the cultural artifact. No matter what profession you work in, creative thinking is a path to success. Reflecting on the creative process and learning about what inspires others will help you better access your creative potential.
• Expand your interpretive skills and deepen your understanding of the practice of interpreting the achievements of human creativity. Exploring similarities between the creative and the interpretive processes will give you new insights into both, and thereby improve your competencies in creative problem-solving.

Preparation

Select an artifact that you would like to use as the subject of your writing. You are free to choose from any type of artifact, which can range from things like literary works, film, musical pieces, or artwork. After you have your artifact selected, find a person with whom you can have a 10–15 minute dialog about your artifact. This person might be a family member, friend, co-worker, et cetera. You may hold your conversation in person, over the phone, or virtually; the choice is yours.

Your conversation should be informal and relaxed—we want you to have fun with it. And here are some ideas on how to guide your conversation:

1. Show or play the artifact to the other person and allow them to examine it.
2. Share your reasons for why you chose this artifact and why it resonates with you.
3. Provide a few interesting details about the artist.
4. Invite the person to share their thoughts about the artifact and reactions to anything you shared.

Additionally, unlike the previous assessments, you won’t have a template to use. Your writing should follow an academic format and flow.

Instructions

In this assessment, you will write an academic piece that addresses the prompts listed below.​​​​​:

• Step 1:Reflect on how culture and artistic expressions influence human thought and behavior.
  • Provide insights on how this artifact might influence people’s thinking and behavior in the future.
• Step 2: Explain how the artifact reflects both collaborative and individual efforts.
  • Describe the path, journey, or process the artist used to create the artifact and discuss the collaboration or influences that happened between the artist and others.
  • Describe the ways the artist put his or her interpretation and creativity to shape and craft the final artifact.
  • Explain how the artist’s cultural and personal experiences can be detected in the cultural artifact.
  • Provide specific examples to support your response.
• Step 3: Relate how the creative process uses problem-solving, relationship-building, and self- and social-awareness skills.
  • Describe the creative process the artist used and provide examples of how the artist used problem-solving, relationship-building, and self- and social-awareness skills to help him or her to complete the artifact.
  • Provide an example of how you can use the artist’s process and methods to support your endeavors. If you have had a similar experience, you may use your experience to illustrate the connection between these concepts and skills.
  • Provide specific examples to support your descriptions.
• Step 4: Explain how the interpretive process can be a collaborative process.
  • Identify how people in a group sharing ideas, thoughts, experiences, et cetera, could influence one another in the course of connecting with or interpreting the artifact. Provide a specific example of when you experienced this.
    • If so, how did it change? Provide specific details.
    • If not, why do you think this is?
  • Describe your conversation with another person about your artifact.
    • What did you enjoy or not enjoy about the conversation?
    • Did the other person point out something you didn’t notice? What was it?
    • Did you connect with the other person and find some shared experience through your conversation about the artist or artifact?
    • Did this also uncover something new you learned about yourself or the other person?
    • Did you connect with the other person by finding some shared experience through your discussion about the artist or artifact?
    • Did this also uncover something new you learned about yourself or the other person?
  • Provide specific examples to support your response.

Additional Requirements

Your submission should meet the following requirements:

• Written communication: Written communication should be free of errors that detract from the overall message.
• Formatting: Format your submission in APA style, with a title page, double spacing, and a reference page.
• Citations: Properly cite sources according to APA rules. Review Evidence and APA for more information on how to cite your sources.

Competencies Measured

By successfully completing this assessment, you will demonstrate your proficiency in the course competencies through the following assessment scoring guide criteria:

• Competency 1: Analyze personal cultural bias.
  • Reflect on how culture and artistic expressions influence human thought and behavior.
• Competency 2: Examine how diversity influences decision-making and collaboration.
  • Explain how the artifact reflects both collaborative and individual efforts.
• Competency 4: Analyze the role of culture and artistic expression in human thought and behavior.
  • Explain how the interpretive process can be a collaborative process.
• Competency 5: Address assessment purpose in a well-organized text, incorporating appropriate evidence and tone in grammatically sound sentences.
  • Write in a well-organized and concise manner that adheres to the rules of grammar, usage, and mechanics.