Sample Syllabi
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KIRSTIN E. LAMB 79 Dana Street, Providence, RI 02906 / 617-270-8357 [email protected] / http://kirstinlamb.squarespace.com SAMPLE SYLLABI In this Document: Visa 0100 Section 4 Fall 2014 / Studio Foundations / Brown University Visa 1120 Spring 2008 / Drawing II / Brown University Visa 0131 Fall 2007 / Painting I / Brown University (formerly called VA 131) STUDIO FOUNDATION: VISA 0100 SECTION 4 FALL 2014 VISUAL ART DEPARTMENT BROWN UNIVERSITY List Building Room 225 T,TH 1pm – 2:50pm September 4th – December 11th 2014 Instructor: Kirstin Lamb Contact Information: Office Hours: T, TH 3-4pm and by appointment / Location: List Room 529 Email: Kirstin [email protected] OR [email protected] Phone: 617-270-8357 COURSE DESCRIPTION Visual art can encompass a broad array of disciplines, from painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, and sculpture, to video, performance, animation, installation, graphic design and fiber arts. The scope of this course allows for a short introduction to many of the varied means of expression available to contemporary visual artists, but insists upon a firm foundation in drawing and two-dimensional work. The focus of this course will be on the development of rendering and compositional skills, primarily in a mixed media drawing format, as well as an exploration of broader strategies of making. Investigations of color theory, perspective, composition, and extensive work from in class still life, model, and landscape will all be integral components to the class. Weekly slide lectures will place assignments in historical and contemporary context. COURSE OBJECTIVES • Gain a working knowledge of formal concepts such as light and shadow, line, volume, negative space, mark making, composition, scale, and measurement • Render from life with greater competence and precision • Explore the basic principles of color theory and one and two point perspective • Examine conceptual practices in art making through in class projects, collaborations, and readings • Develop critique and editing skills • Craft an individuated relationship to subject matter and working praxis • Maintain a daily relationship with the studio through sketchbook practice to be begun at the start of the session • Gain a broader view of both contemporary and historical visual art COURSE REQUIREMENTS • Completion of all in-class and homework assignments • Regular attendance in class • Participation in group critique and discussion • Readings to be assigned throughout the semester • Final Critique • Ambition in the scope of work devised and executed • Adherence to local and school standards of health and safety • 6-8 hours of studio work weekly outside of class time (suggested minimum) • Daily journal practice • COLLECTION OF ALL WORK MADE IN THIS COURSE/STUDIO (save all class assignments, drawings, and extracurricular projects to present in your final individual critique) ATTENDANCE POLICY Attendance at each class is mandatory. A studio class needs everyone’s presence to succeed! Missing classes can be harmful to the improvement of skill development, quality of output, and understanding of conceptual concerns related to this course. Lenience for absences due to extended illness, emergencies, and extremely unfortunate circumstances will be considered on an individual basis. Lateness in this course, beyond 20 minutes time, will also count as a course absence after 2 late arrivals. Be aware of your obligation to your peers and arrive on time. EPA POLICY Students will be required to follow EPA guidelines and restrictions in the handling and disposal of waste generated during their studio practice. Smoking and eating are not allowed in the studios or the studio balconies. For our course, Spray Fixative and other sprayed products must be used in the fifth floor Spray booth. All media introduced into the classroom must be approved by the instructor. EPA regulations will be explained in depth at our first class meetings, including waste disposal procedures. GRADING POLICY A = Exceptional effort on in-class and homework assignments, completion of all required work, daily use of sketchbook, marked improvement in skill and criticality, complete attendance in class, habitual and positive participation in group critique and discussion, ambition in self-directed projects, flexibility in encountering new and unfamiliar projects and ideas B = Sustained and constructive effort on in-class and on homework assignments, completion of all required work, improvement in skill and criticality, regular attendance in class, positive contribution to class environment and community, strong work in journal. C = Satisfactory effort on in-class and on homework assignments, some class absences, marginal participation in class or participation that is not constructive in critique, lack of completion of some self-directed work NC = Unsatisfactory or marginal effort on in-class and on homework assignments, lack of completion of required class work, lack of improvement in skill and criticality, an excess of class absences, no participation or negative participation in class and critique, negligible contribution to class community. RECOMMENDED TEXTS (I will give some readings, lecture slides, and exercises from these texts, but please expect a wide variety of sources from week to week. Some of these texts will be optional references only. Please purchase books for your own reference; you will not be required to purchase any one text for this course.) A Primer of Visual Literacy Donis A. Dondis Ways of Seeing John Berger The Object Stares Back James Elkins Techniques of the Observer Jonathan Crary Visual Thinking Robert Arnheim Inside the White Cube Brian O’Doherty Art In Theory Ed: Harrison, Wood, and Gaiger The Visual Culture Reader Ed. Nicholas Mirzoeff Design and Form Johannes Itten The Art of Color Johannes Itten Color: A Natural History of the Palette Victoria Finlay Basic Perspective Drawing: A Visual Approach John Montague Geometry of Design Kimberly Elam The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and Techniques Ralph Mayer The Drawing Book: A Survey of Drawing: The Primary Means of Expression Ed. Tania Kovats Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain Betty Edwards The Art of Drawing Bernard Chaet On Line: Drawing Through the 20th Century (MOMA) Ed: Butler, Zegher Drawing: A Contemporary Approach Teel Sale, Claudia Betti COURSE SCHEDULE Week 1 Thursday September 4th Introductory Slide Lecture: What is Foundations? AND Line: Gesture, Contour, Blind Contour Sol Lewitt, Alan Saret, Robert Motherwell, Martin Ramirez, Joan Mitchell, Alberto Giacometti, Heide Fasnacht, Eugene Delacroix, Frank Gehry, Willem de Kooning, Michael Heizer, Fred Sandback, Walter de Maria, Julie Mehretu, Alice Neel, John Cage, Robert Ryman, Eva Hesse, John Baldessari, Cy Twombly, Joan Snyder In Class: Exquisite Corpse, Review Syllabus Assignment (Due Tuesday September 9th): BLIND CONTOUR AND GESTURE • Make 5 blind contour drawings of objects, plants, or hands • Make 5 gesture drawings of clouds, dancing people, or birds and squirrels (something moving) • Begin your daily journal / purchase a journal no smaller than 9 x 12 inches • Purchase supplies for this course (see attached supply list) Week 2 Tuesday September 9th In Class: Gesture Drawing Exercises, Blind Contour Exercises Negative Space, Implied Ground, Foreground and Background Assignment (Due Thursday September 11th): CONTINUOUS CONTOUR • Make a personal still life at home of at least 3 objects • Draw the objects using a continuous contour line (unbroken solid line / no sketchy marks) • This can be a blind continuous contour or a sighted continuous contour, your choice / for examples please see the canvas course web page Thursday September 11th Slide Lecture: Shape, Value, Contrast and Measurement (Sighting and Scale) Itten’s Design and Form slides on Contrast (much-little, smooth-rough, etc), Sol Lewitt, Dorothea Rockburne, Betty Woodman, Joel Shapiro, Terry Winters, Louise Bourgeois, de Chirico, Leger, Brancusi, El Lissitzky, Miro, Henry Moore, Ben Nicholson, Jean Helion, David Smith, Robert Motherwell, Franz Kline, Lygia Clark, and Robert Morris In Class: Primer on Scale and Measurement (Sighting) Implied Ground, Ink wash, Shape and Form, Platonic Forms, Cones, Spheres Still Life, Light and Shadow, Value Study drawings, Spatial Arrangement and Foreground / Background Assignment (Due Tuesday September 16th): VALUE • Make a value scale with at least 10 values of light to dark in charcoal; you may also try this in graphite if you wish. Please do this on your 18 x 24 inch paper. • Draw an object of personal significance with a single light source. Make sure you have at least 6 values of light to dark Week 3 Tuesday September 16th NATURE LAB: Trip to the Nature Lab (arrive in class early – we leave at 12:45pm to go to the RISD Nature Lab down the hill) One Value Drawing and One Contour Drawing of the same specimen Additional specimen drawings as possible in your journal or Bond sketchpad Tour of the lab’s resources Assignment (Due September 23rd): FANTASTIC PLANET / NEW SPECIES • Take your carefully studied imagery from the nature lab and combine and manipulate different animals, plants, and bones into an imagined creature or world of creatures / open media • Online Slide Lecture: Animals: Audubon, Jennifer Pastor, Stubbs, Ann Craven, Edward Hicks, Susan Rothenberg, cave drawings at Lascaux, Lucy Gunning, Paul de Vos, Jean- Baptiste Oudry, Jan Weenix, Eugene Delacroix, Frans Snyders, Justin Gibbens, Nina Katchadourian, Robert Longo, Laurie Hogin, Dana