10/28 response

This week, I only had one 30 minute tutoring session, but I actually feel really good about it.  The student started by saying that she had intended to come in with a full draft, but due to a personal tragedy, only had a couple of paragraphs.  When she went to open the document, she also got an e-mail accepting her into a summer internship in England, so that drastically brightened her mood after recounting the tragedy.  She then showed me what she had.  Basically, she was supposed to visit a museum and write about her experience and relate it to the in class readings.  So far, she had described the actual trip but not much about how she liked it or how it related to the readings.  So, I decided to ask her these questions, and she responded very well.  It was clear she was very passionate about the subject and had a lot of knowledge on it.  She explained that the museum was an example of the "white cube" model of a museum...or something like that, I don't remember the exact term.  Apparently, museums used to be super colorful and exciting but now they are more commonly minimalist, allowing the viewer to focus only on the art.  She also explained that each piece had very little information about it.  I asked her if she liked that or would have wanted more.  She explained that she would have liked more information but she also understood how that fit in with the minimalist theme.  She said that the pieces were not connected like a narrative, which is what she would have ideally done had it been her exhibit.  She said this made the viewer do a little more work and the curator a little less.  I then asked her if the museum was how she expected it to be before she went, or if it was different.  She said it was definitely different from what she imagined.  Because it was an exhibit on circus art, she had imagined it very colorful and grand.  Obviously, it was minimalist, and therefore none of the above.  She also stated that she thought that the curator chose minimalist not because it fit best, but because museums often follow that theme when they have a limited budget with which to work.  When she left, she said that talking through all of her ideas was definitely helpful.  I encouraged her saying she was obviously very knowledgeable on the subject so she shouldn't have a problem with this paper.