Course Description:

 

The class serves as an introduction to painting media, experience, and history. This course aims to build basic perceptual skills in terms of painting from observation and imagination. Through studio practice students will engage with the elements of art: line, value, shape/volume, texture and color to lead to their deliberate manipulation for different types of spatial illusion, compositions, and expressive meaning. Each unit will feature a different painting method– which will be explored through presentations, readings, reflections, and studio projects. Each unit emphasizes engagement with The Creative Process: a combination of idea sketching, art-making, reflection, refinement, and presentation. 

 

Course Objectives: 

 

Students will analyze visual information in terms of proportional relationships, spatial relationships and basic geometric shapes in order to accurately depict objects and groupings of objects. Students will use value to create the illusion of volume, depth, and the natural way light describes form. Students will use a variety of tools and techniques spontaneously to interpret subjects in particular expressive ways. Students will discuss painting using a commonly understood terminology.

 

Course Requirements:

 

Actively engage in studio work, discussions, and critique:

Complete studio projects for critique deadlines; submit all completed projects for final critique.

Completing required readings and demonstrates comprehension in class discussion.

Complete daily and weekly sketch assignments and participate in art-making and planning.

 

Grading:

 

Criteria for evaluation include: employment of the creative process; completion of assignments; level of self-challenge, time and effort spent; quantity and quality of work produced; understanding of concepts covered; and growth and development of aesthetic sensibility.

 

Participation:

 

Playing an active role in class discussions, exercises and critiques is essential to success in this class. The majority of seminars will consist of brief in-class discussions and studio projects that occur under the guidance of the instructor and in tandem with your classmates. Studio classes, group critiques, and discussion days are all equally essential toward meeting the learning objectives of the course.

 

Be prepared: Always have a pencil, eraser, sketchbook, and an open mind.

Stay engage: Inquire, practice, reflect, try, and make.

Practice civility: Honor your classmates’ opinions by listening during discussions and always offer your critique respectfully. 

 

Please turn off/silence your cell phones! ALWAYS!