Art 081

The following courses serve as classes for the bachelor of arts (B.A.) and the bachelor of fine arts (B.F.A.) curricula.

07:081:105 Visual Arts Practice (VAP) (1) Involves supervised practical experience within the Department of Visual Arts studios, computer, media or photography labs, and galleries. Substantive projects outside of the department may qualify.
Three credits are required of all B.F.A. visual arts majors; 2 credits are required of all B.A. art majors.

07:081:121 Drawing Fundamentals (4) Introductory course designed to familiarize the student with the basic principles of drawing. Students are taught to see the three-dimensional world around them and to capture that world in two-dimensions. Projects are designed to increase the student's technical and perceptual ability within a variety of approaches. The first half of the semester focuses on the use of line to address composition, creating space, perspective, accuracy in "seeing," and mastery of materials such as pencil and charcoal. The second half of the semester focuses on the use of value, gesture, and mark-making to address composition, the creation of space, the use of perspective, accuracy in "seeing," and additionally introduces work with pen and ink. Critiques and discussions address formal issues as well as conceptual aspects of drawing such as ideation, subject, meaning, context, intentionality, alternate readings of the work, etc. Art historical and contemporary art examples will be shown throughout the course, and it is expected that students make at least one trip to New York City during the semester to tour contemporary galleries and attend three visiting artist lectures.

07:081:122 4-D Fundamentals: Time and Space (4) Working with the computer and with everyday technologies including smart phones, the internet, cameras, and audio recording devices, students learn fundamentals of time- and screen-based contemporary art practices. The class introduces students to a range of experimental techniques and approaches, working with photomontage, image sequencing, video recording and editing, and sound. The class includes screenings, demos, workshops, labs, readings, group discussions, and critiques. Students will develop their own creative and independent voices while working on a series of focused assignments. The course will culminate in a public screening of student artwork produced during the course.

07:081:200-201 Seminar in Contemporary Art A and B (3,3) The focus of the seminar is on actual works of art, beginning with Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, and culminating with current exhibitions of contemporary art. Students are required to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art in the first semester, and to familiarize themselves with galleries in New York, particularly in Chelsea and the Lower East Side, during the second semester. Work in all media from painting, drawing, and sculpture to film, photography, and performance will be discussed.
Prerequisites: 01:082:105-106.

07:081:221 Drawing I-A: Collage (4) Explores the idea of drawing as a contemporary discipline that expands on the traditional notion and definition of drawing. Ideas of fracture, montage, image/object, process, and environment will all be explored as students develop their own vocabulary and studio practice. Historical models, relevant texts, and contemporary artists will be examined. Research/special projects and group and individual critiques are an integral part of the course.
Prerequisite: 07:081:121.

07:081:222 Drawing I-B: Systems and Mapping (4) This course will examine the nature of drawing as a discipline and process as well as its relationship to other visual arts media. The creation of various systems as a way to generate, organize, compose, pattern, plan, model, design, execute, and possibly destroy artwork will be explored. Examining and understanding other artists' work, reading relevant texts, research/special projects, the personal development of an active studio practice, and group and individual critiques are an integral part of this course.
Prerequisite: 07:081:121 or permission of instructor.

07:081:227 Visual Thinking A: Black and White (4) An exploration of formalist design principles and basic compositional strategies in two and three dimensions; basic skill sets within a variety of materials and approaches; familiarity with the process of conceptual to visual ideation; and development of a working vocabulary with which to assess their own work and the work of others.

07:081:228 Visual Thinking B: Color (4) Basic principles of color that address issues related to its physical properties, scientific principles, practical application, cultural implications, and concepts of color "theory."

07:081:231 Design I-A: Typography (4) Introduction to typography, the practice of making verbal language visual. Builds visual awareness of letterforms and their composition in space through studio projects that engage with type as a means for clear communication and visual expression. In addition to studio work, this course demands absorbing technical and historical knowledge in order to develop a visual sensitivity for typographic form.

07:081:232 Design I-B: Methods and Thinking (4) Introduction to a visual communication design process. Work with both hand methods and digital technologies to develop original design solutions. Assignments integrate conceptual thinking with formal experimentation. Students explore problems dealing with visual metaphor, symbols, and the combination of type and image for making meaning.

07:081:243 Media I-A: Introduction to Media Art: Screen/Image/Sound (4) This introductory course focuses on the production and concepts of screen-based media artwork. Students learn about the interdisciplinary field of media art, which can include video art, installation, and video sculpture; artists' cinema; experimental film and video; participatory art; live media performance; and art for the internet. Students learn to navigate a landscape of continuously changing technologies and devices. The course includes lectures, workshops, technical demos, readings, critiques of student work, and screenings of artists works. Students create a series of group and individual media art projects. No technical experience required. Open to all students.

07:081:244 Media I-B: Experimental Practices and Techniques (4) A course on experimental approaches to screen-based media art including experimental documentary and narrative, collage and montage, sampling, remixing, and abstraction. The course includes a series of technical workshops that may include 2-D animation, compositing, and other visual and digital tools and effects. Screening and discussions about media art in relation to art history and contemporary art. Includes lectures, workshops, technical demos, readings, critiques of student work, and screenings of artists' works. Students create a series of short video and sound artworks. Open to all students.

07:081:251-252 Painting I-A and B (4,4) Introduces a range of technical and experimental approaches to painting with oil and/or acrylic in ways that relate to the histories of Modernist painting. The course offers varied approaches to the problems of structure, shape, and color, both in representation and abstraction. The development of formal coherence and imagery are guided and practiced through individual and group critiques. Selected readings and museum visits required.

07:081:261 Photography I-A: Introduction to Digital Photography (4) A rigorous introduction to digital photography, featuring the digital camera, digital image file development including camera RAW, and the presentation of photographs on screen and in print. This studio-based course explores photography by considering technical, creative, historical, cultural, and critical issues of the multifaceted medium of photography. Open to all students.

07:081:262 Photography I-B: Darkroom Photography (4) Explores the foundations of film photography with an emphasis on technique and aesthetic concerns, coupled with an introduction to the history of photography. Emphasizes mastery of the 35mm and large format film camera techniques, lighting, black-and-white film development, gelatin silver printing, visual literacy, editing, and presentation methods. Open to all students.

07:081:271 Print I-A: Silkscreen (4) In-depth exploration of silkscreen including hand-drawn, computer-generated positives, and production. The course encourages the combination of other print media and will include a short segment on print as a 3-D structure. Artistic development concerning composition, content, and conceptual ideas will be addressed through individual and group critiques.

07:081:272 Print I-B: Relief (4) In-depth exploration of woodcut, linocut, reduction print; work will be in both black and white and printing of multicolored blocks including reduction block printing. The course encourages the combination of other print media. Artistic development concerning composition, content, and conceptual ideas will be addressed through individual and group critiques.

07:081:281-282 Sculpture I-A and B (4,4) An introduction to the fundamentals of sculpture. Utilizing traditional and nontraditional techniques. Processes will include learning the application of various hand tools and machines, welding, additive and subtractive techniques, and mold making. Slide presentations will be shown and informal discussions held throughout the semester.

07:081:303 Seminar in Media (3) A survey of contemporary media art including video art and installation, expanded and artists' cinema, experimental film and video, sound art, and art for the internet. Students are introduced to a range of media art practices that may include experimental narratives and documentaries, radical and activist media, multimedia installations, found footage collage and remix work, online art interventions, and live media performance. The course explores histories, theories, and critical writing on avant-garde media from the 20th century to the present. Open to all students.

07:081:306 Seminar in Print (3) This seminar considers the history of print, paper, and collaboration from Guttenberg to the internet. The course focuses on the dissemination of printmaking and on the multiple in installation, paper, photography, sculpture, and book forms. Readings, lectures, slides, and film presentations familiarize students with current ideas, history, criticism, practices, and artists who deal with the multiple. The history of the relationship between the collaborative studio and the artist is explored through the Brodsky Center for Innovative Editions (BCIE), a working model for the collaborative shop housed adjacent to the print studios.

07:081:310 Seminar in Photography (3) Examines historical and contemporary discourse in photography. The course will include detailed discussion of major theoretical approaches to photography. Students encounter aspects of the history of photography and its interaction with other cultural forms through the development of historical, cultural, and political factors and their relationships to the present through key readings, lectures, film, and guest speakers.

07:081:317 Seminar in Sculpture (3) Study of sculpture from the 60s to current contemporary sculpture through readings, discussions, museums, galleries, and practicing sculptor's studio visits.

07:081:321 Drawing II-A: The Figure (4) Intensive study of the human figure using a variety of techniques to develop skill, accuracy, and expressiveness.
Prerequisite: 07:081:121.

07:081:322 Drawing II-B: Body as Subject (4) Self-directed work where subjectivity, the abject, and the body in its less-representational formats will be examined through critical texts, presentations, and class discussions.
Prerequisite: 07:081:121.

07:081:328 Seminar in Design A: History (3) Exploration of historical and contemporary critical debates in graphic design. Students investigate the ways historical, cultural, political, and economic factors have shaped design through readings, lectures, research, and presentation. Students situate their practice within the design discourse of today through an examination of the development of the discipline.
Open to both 081 (visual arts) and 208 (design) majors.

07:081:329 Seminar in Painting (3) This course consists of readings, presentations, and studio assignments pertaining to current painting practice and the precedents that created it. Through discussions in museums and galleries in the presence of painting, students practice looking and situating what we see with the help of the texts, and learn to engage painting discourse from within.

07:081:331 Design II-A: Systems (4) Exploration of complex multipart design problems dealing with series, sequences, and grids. Development of personal interests and voice as a designer within given prompts addressing book design, identity design, and motion graphics. Further develops skills in design research, visual experimentation, and digital applications for print and screen. Prerequisites: 07:081:231-232.

07:081:332 Design II-B: Introduction to Interaction Design (4) This course is focused on modalities and aesthetics of a wide range of digital media and techniques. In four distinct modules covering hypertext, algorithmic forms and motion, data visualization, and physical interaction, students gain insights and a set of skills for digital methodologies and interfaces of artistic expression and design. Pre- and corequisite: 07:081:331.

07:081:343 Media II-A: Media Art Installation and Expanded Cinema (4) This course focuses on making and displaying screen- and time-based media in galleries and other architectural environments. Students learn about sequencing in space as well as principles and practices of sound and exhibition design. The course explores how different spaces affect moving images, sound, and projections, and how moving images, sound, and projections can construct and alter space. Students learn about historical precedents and current practices, from pre-cinematic magic lantern shows to expanded cinema, and from video sculpture and site-specific installation art to multichannel video installations, urban screens, and artists' cinema. The course includes technical workshops on syncing multiple channels of video and surround sound. Students create their own media installations and environments. Prerequisites: 07:081:243-244 or permission of instructor.

07:081:344 Media II-B: Media and Performance (4) A course on various intersections between media and performance art. Topics may include performance for the camera, online performances and interventions, participatory art works, autobiography and video diaries,the filmed body as medium, and live video and cinema performance and events. Students create their own recorded or live media art projects. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor.

07:081:351-352 Painting II-A and B (4,4) This course nurtures individual growth as a painter in technical mastery and conceptual understanding. Emphasis is placed on working in increasingly self-directed series. Selected readings and visits to exhibitions required, as are group discussions and reviews. Prerequisites: 07:081:251-252 or permission of department.

07:081:356 Seminar in Drawing (3) Examines contemporary drawing within the context of its history and traditions and as a discipline where boundaries are fluid enough to explore drawing through the use of diverse media with nonspecific temporal and spatial boundaries. Drawing is considered in its relationship to a broad range of other disciplines including painting, sculpture, performance, installation, choreography, design, music, and architecture, among others. As a way of supporting development of their studio practice students will explore aesthetic, historical, cultural, and theoretical issues in relation to drawing as a medium, method and practice through written assignments, readings, presentations, lectures, studio visits to practicing artists, and visits to galleries and museums.

07:081:361 Photography II-A: Digital Image and Print (4) Features the refinement of digital photography with an emphasis on making exhibition-quality prints and building print portfolios. Through creative assignments, this studio-based course explores photography with particular focus on expressive, historical, and theoretical aspects of the ubiquitous medium. Prerequisites: 07:081:261, or all students with Photoshop experience and permission of the instructor.

07:081:362 Photography II-B: The Book and Online Presence (4) A course focused on refining your photographic images or images of your artwork for a book or catalog made in InDesign and printed on-demand; a slide presentation of the work; and a website or blog. Your project will be self-directed. Prerequisites: Basic Photoshop experience and any visual arts studio concentration course (design, drawing, media, painting, photography, print, or sculpture) or permission of the instructor.

07:081:371 Print II-A: Intaglio (4) In-depth focus on intaglio, including engraving, drypoint, etching, aquatint, and spit bite. The course encourages the combination of other print media and will include a segment on photo polymer plates. Artistic development concerning composition, content, and conceptual ideas will be addressed through individual and group critiques.

07:081:372 Print II-B: Lithography (4) In-depth focus on lithography, including stones, aluminum plates, photo-litho plates, and color lithography. The course encourages the combination of other print media. Artistic development concerning composition, content, and conceptual ideas will be addressed through individual and group critiques.

07:081:381-382 Sculpture II-A and B (4,4) In this course students explore a selection of diverse concepts, materials, and processes associated with making sculpture. Emphasis will be on exploring alternative methods of art production, expanding conceptual development as well as furthering students' technical skills. The course will address the development in transforming ideas into form.
Prerequisites: 07:081:281-282.

07:081:383 Seminar in Design B: Issues (3) The goal of this course is to introduce students to contemporary design. It will expose you to contemporary designers who will help you define yourself as a designer. This course examines the designer's engagement with audiences as an agent of social change; it will help students develop a personal philosophy of design and a sense of how they will practice as a designer. Open only to 208 (design) majors.

07:081:385 Design Practicum (3) Provides practical design experience where students undertake appropriate real-world assignments. This class should be taken in the junior or senior year when students have sufficient technical and conceptual experience to benefit from the class.

07:081:391,392 Independent Study (3) (B.F.A.,BA)

07:081:393,394 Internships (3) (B.F.A.,BA)

07:081:396 Art and Society (3)

07:081:420 Artists Writings (3)

07:081:421,422 Drawing III-A, III-B (4,4) Through practice, experimentation, research, and use of a variety of media and methodologies, students will explore more complex approaches to their drawing practice. These may include: the use of image and text; time, sequence, and narrative in drawing; and drawing as a performance practice, among others. Self-directed work in the studio and research and reading of critical texts are required. Prerequisites: 01:081:221 and 222 (Drawing I-A and I-B) or corequisite 07:081:321 and 322 (Drawing II-A and II-B) or corequisite 07:081:451-454 (Painting III-A and III-B or Advanced Painting A or B) or by permission of the instructor. 

07:081:431 Design III-A: Design for the Digital Realm (4) This course trains students to research, analyze, prototype, and develop design concepts for digital media such as online, tablets, and mobile apps, for three distinct social and cultural contexts. The focus is on practice and experimentation to master UI/UX design. This course consists of three projects addressing experience design and its presentation. Pre- and corequisite: 07:081:332.

07:081:432 Design III-B: Portfolio (4) Development of a diverse, refined body of work and format for its presentation. Lectures and readings survey current issues in design practice. Critiques and discussions underpin the process of defining and articulating the student's interests and approach to design. Pre- and corequisite: 07:081:431.

07:081:433-434 Advanced Design A and B: Practicum (4,4) Design Practicum is a hands-on course that provides an opportunity to design for real-world situations in a noncommercial environment. It is an advanced production studio for students interested in collaborating with academics from other fields, university administrators, local representatives, and other designers. Students will engage in research, concept development, design, production, and presentation. Students are expected to work in close contact with peers and outside collaborators to produce visual projects that meet mutually agreed upon parameters. Pre- and corequisite: 07:081:431.

07:081:441 Media III-A: Independent Media Production (4) Students work under the direction of faculty and in discussion with the class on producing self-directed, independently conceived media artworks that reflect their own interests and ideas. Students will proceed through all stages to fully realize their work--from research, proposal, production, postproduction to installation, screening, or other form of display. Ongoing group discussions, critiques, readings, and screenings related to students' creative projects. Prerequisites: 07:081:343-344 or permission of instructor.

07:081:442 Media III-B: Interaction Design and Data Visualization (4) This course is focused on modalities and aesthetics of a wide range of digital media and techniques. In four distinct modules covering hypertext, algorithmic forms and motion, data visualization, and physical interaction, students gain insights and a set of skills for digital methodologies and interfaces of artistic expression and design. Prerequisite: 07:081:441 or permission of instructor. Cross-listed with Design II-B 07:081:332.

07:081:446 Advanced Media A (4) Students work under the direction of faculty and in discussion with the class on producing self-directed, independently conceived media artworks that reflect their own interests and ideas. Ongoing group discussions, critiques, readings, and screenings in media art. Pre-or corequisites: 07:081:441-442 or permission of instructor.

07:081:447 Advanced Media B (4) Students work under the direction of faculty and in discussion with the class on producing independent media art projects. The class addresses life after art school, including options and approaches to exhibiting and distributing media art, preparing portfolios, and writing proposals and statements. Prerequisites: 07:081:442 or permission of instructor.

07:081:451-452 Painting III-A and B (4,4) Students focus on individual practice, such as development of personal style and content meaning. Selected readings and visits to exhibitions required, as are group discussions and reviews. Prerequisites: 07:081:351-352. Primarily for students who have concentrated in this area.

07:081:453-454 Advanced Painting A and B (4,4) Mentored individual work in painting toward thesis.
Pre- or corequisites: 07:081:451-452.

07:081:455-456 Advanced Drawing A and B (4,4) Exploration of advanced projects in drawing. Pre- or corequisites: 07:081:321 or 322 (Drawing III-A or III-B); or 07:081:451-452 (Painting III-A or III-B).

07:081:461-462 Photography III-A and B: Exhibition and Portfolio  (4,4) Concentrates on individual development by which students can develop an awareness and understanding of experimental and creative approaches to conceptual projects within the framework of contemporary photographic art practice. Photography IIIB continues further experimentation and analysis where students are encouraged to develop a more informed and individual approach to their photographic practice within the context of contemporary art. Advanced theoretical studies and individual practical investigations are used to support an emerging independent work process culminating in a final body of work. Prerequisites: 07:081:361-362.

07:081:463-464 Advanced Photography A and B (4,4) Projects in this special topics class concentrate on the approach to specialized development in photography areas such as artists books, multimedia approaches, performance, installation, and photography-based public art. Individual and group work includes research and short- and long-term project development. Prerequisites: 07:081:461-462.

07:081:471 Print III-A: Letterpress (4) In-depth focus on letterpress including hand typesetting and polymer plates on the Vandercook press. The course will cover broadsides, artists' books, and chap books. Artistic development concerning composition, content, and conceptual ideas will be addressed through individual and group critiques.

07:081:472 Print III-B: Papermaking (4) In-depth focus on papermaking including Western style formation, working with Japanese fibers, three-dimensional pulp casting, coloring of pulps, stencils, watermarking, sizing, pressing, and drying. Artistic development concerning composition, content, and conceptual ideas will be addressed through individual and group critiques.

07:081:473 Advanced Print A: Mass Media Print (4) In-depth focus on the digital print in mass printed culture including zines, books on demand, the poster as an art form, and installation. Artistic development concerning composition, content, and conceptual ideas will be addressed through individual and group critiques.

07:081:474 Advanced Print B: Artists' Books (4) In-depth focus on handmade artists' books including Japanese stab binding, accordion structures, single and multiple signatures, Coptic, and alternative books. Artistic development concerning composition, content, and conceptual ideas will be addressed through individual and group critiques.

07:081:481-482 Sculpture III-A and B (4,4) This class will set an environment that encourages students to explore, define, and develop their artistic voice. Students will be working independently on their own projects. The object is to learn about one's own work through lectures, readings, and group and individual critiques.
Prerequisites: 07:081:381-382.

07:081:483-484 Advanced Sculpture A and B (4,4) Independently conceived sculpture project developed in consultation with the instructor.
Pre- or corequisites: 07:081:481-482.

07:081:491,492 Independent Study (3) (B.F.A.,BA)

07:081:493,494 Internships (3) (B.F.A.,BA)

07:081:497-498 Thesis and Exhibition A and B (3,3) Summary work for art majors combining individual creative work with the planning and production of a senior exhibition and the writing of a senior thesis. Students in the design concentration take the Thesis and Exhibition A and B courses as a separate section, taught by design faculty. Students create works that explore a personal focus within design, and present their work within the senior exhibition. Open only to B.F.A. seniors.