AP European History Review – Learn the Art of Test Preparation
Want to learn the art of AP European history review? Tests are generally a huge portion of your final grade, meaning your performance can literally make or break your grade. Fortunately, by taking the time to review before the exam you can significantly improve your grade. Here’s how:
First, you’ll need to go over all of the main themes. Make sure you understand the chronological order of events. Major topics include ‘The Industrial Revolution’ or ‘The 30 Years War.’ This basic European history review ensures that you will at least understand questions on the test, and will give you a framework for further detail.
Next, get a little more in depth. Depending on the teacher, you might also have to learn some dates (which I hate, sorry if you have to do this). Memorize the important facts like people’s names, critical cities and broad policy decisions. For example: What was the significance of the Enclosure Acts in England? Memorizing super nitty-gritty details isn’t the best use of your time, although it may come in handy for very in-depth questions or essays.
Finally, remember to manage your time efficiently. Every day between now and the test date is a day that should be spent studying. Your brain remembers facts repeated over multiple days much better than those learned in a last minute cram session. If you need review material, get it now. Spreading your review over a longer period makes the test much less stressful, probably because you’re far better prepared!
South Carolina Art Colleges – Review of the Best Art Schools in South Carolina
In the heart of the American Southeast, South Carolina boasts expansive beaches, charming towns and the historic city of Charleston, home to the large Gibbs Museum of Art. Charleston hosts the annual MOJA Festival celebrating African American and Caribbean arts, music and culture, an event representative of the diverse cultural influences that have shaped the arts in South Carolina.
Just outside of Charleston is Middleton Place, the oldest landscaped gardens in the United States. Columbia, SC’s largest city is home to the Columbia Museum of Art and boasts an expanding art and theater scene in its revitalizing downtown. Other South Carolina landmarks include the Spartanburg Art Museum, and Brookgreen Gardens, in Murrells Inlet South Carolina, a national historical landmark with the world’s most significant collection of figurative sculpture by American artists in an outdoor setting.
SC is home to noted art & design schools such as Winthrop University (est. 1886) accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) and the Council for Interior Design, and the University of South Carolina-College of Visual and Performing Arts (est. 1801), accredited by the National Association for Schools of Art And Design (NASD).
A number of liberal arts colleges and universities in South Carolina offer programs for students interested in pursuing studies in the fine arts, graphic design and related fields. The College of Charleston, for example, was founded in 1770 and is the 13th oldest college in the U.S. The school is located near the Gibbes Museum of Art and offers majors in Arts Management, Art History, Music and Studio Art.
The Visual Arts Program at South Carolina State University offers a Bachelor of Art in Studio Art with concentrations in Ceramics/Sculpture, Digital Media, and Printmaking as well as a Bachelor of Science degree program in Art Education for individuals wishing to teach art.
The largest SC Universities include the University of South Carolina-Columbia with a total enrollment of over 27,000 and Clemson University, located in Clemson South Carolina and enrolling over 17,000 students. Both schools offer degree programs for students interested in a career in fine art or commercial art and design.
Winthrop University, in Rock Hill South Carolina, offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in Ceramics, Jewelry/Metals, Painting, Photography (both commercial and fine art), Printmaking, Sculpture and Visual Communication Design (in illustration or graphics). The emphasis is on combining creativity and community and preparing students for the technical, aesthetic and intellectual challenges of understanding the changing global environment, and preparing for careers working creatively in the arts in their communities.
Coastal Carolina University is a small school located in Conway South Carolina, near the lovely oceanfront community of Myrtle Beach and owns it’s own 1,000 acre barrier island on the Atlantic coast. The school offers Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Studio Art and Graphic Design with coursework in ceramics, painting, photography, printmaking, art education and art history. The program allows students to explore many media before choosing a focus and producing a body of original work exhibited in the university’s Rebecca Randall Bryan Art Gallery.
Most liberal arts schools teaching art and design provide a grounding in art history, design theory, media and technique, as well as computer technology. Students develop portfolios with samples of their completed projects to present to potential employers, graduate schools or galleries if they decide to pursue careers as independent artists or artisans.
There is a significant demand for creative people in all industries in SC. Artists and designers can find employment in corporations creating advertisements, brochures, logos and packaging and product designs. They can work in agencies, design firms, film and media companies and publishers, as well as museums, and galleries.
A Brief Book Review – Ross King’s The Judgment of Paris
My college art professor was fond of saying “Steal from everyone, there are no art police”. In a sense he was right and in a sense he was wrong, that is regarding ‘art police’. Throughout history, civilizations have enforced their own standards of acceptability in regards to art…sometimes more rigid, sometime less. Now days standards aren’t so rigid and the modern artist enjoys an extraordinary level of freedom to create and exhibit what he or she will. But there have been many times and many cultures in the past when art was heavily policed, and if you didn’t play by the cultural rules of the day your name was ostracized and your career was jailed.
Paris, France in the mid 1800′s was just such a culture and the novel “The Judgment of Paris” by Ross King is the thrilling account of how a loosely knit band of painters Manet, Courbet, Cezanne, Whistler, Monet and others who would dare to challenge the all powerful art police of the day, the French Academy of the Arts.
“The Judgment of Paris” is the story of the French Impressionist Movement. A more sumptuous written tale of art history you will not find. By following the careers of broad group of French artists in Paris in the late 1800′s, those who played by the rules and those who didn’t… such as the spurned and controversial Manet and the feted, lauded and nationally acclaimed but now forgotten Meissonier, by examining their machinations, and weaving in how their lives would be caught by the politics and events of the time, the suffrage and starvation of Paris under siege by the Prussians, the bloody communal movement, the arrogance of the ruling art academy, the intolerance of citizens when confronted with new art forms, the power-plays of those who would work under the capricious and precarious despot, Napoleon the Third, … author Ross King takes us on a fascinating journey through the emergence of one of the most important art movements in modern history.
As a self-taught painter much of my learning about art history has been through catching the occasional lecture, talking with fellow artists, and skimming through art books whenever I can. I skim because rarely does an art history book grab me as a page-turner. I am happy to report that I have found that rare art history book. “The Judgment of Paris” is much more than a well-written art history book. Here is a juicy complex detailed and nuanced drama about the Impressionists, the art history thriller that must be devoured and savored from cover to cover, like slowly eating a rich layered piece of chocolate cake, wanting it not to end. Luckily when you finish this book there is a second equally delicious read awaiting, King’s “Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling”.