Art & Art History
Department

ART 333 Advanced Topics in Studio Art                    back to courses index
All Studio Faculty

Various topics presented as upper-level courses, each focusing on a particular studio art activity. Topics may be defined in terms of techniques, medium, or subject matter. This course may be repeated for credit only if the topic is not repetitive. For a description of each course, see the current online “Schedule of Classes.” Regularly scheduled topics include:

Advanced Topics in Studio Art: The Photo Book
Colby Caldwell

This course primarily explores the sequencing of images and text in a variety of different contexts and issues with the book format serving as the vehicle for this exploration. With the presentation in 1843 and 1844 of “British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions” by Anna Atkins and the “Pencil of Nature” by William Fox Talbot respectively, these two innovative artists established photography as a viable art form by connecting it to an established vehicle: the book format. Using a variety of online desktop publishing venues as Apple iPhoto, Lulu, and others, students will engage in directed assignments working in groups and individually. Each assignment will result in a self-published book. The nature of the book as a creative, inventive, and important format will be also addressed through readings, field trips, and class visitors. Students should have an introductory familiarity with Photoshop and other digital concerns. Prerequisite: ART 212 or ART 214 or consent of the instructor.

Advanced Topics in Studio Art: Drawing & Printmaking
Sue Johnson

This course explores the intersections between direct drawing techniques and in-direct drawing as practiced in printmaking. Diverse artists among them Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, Warhol and numerous contemporary artists have discovered the expressive potential of printmaking as a way to expand drawing techniques and as a way to develop work in series by exploring variations on a theme. As a creative process printmaking encourages experimentation because as the artist builds up an image in stages and in layers, changes and new ideas can be incorporated into the overall image that result in rich mixed media works on paper. Studio projects explore subject matter drawn from observation and imagination in color and black & white media. Instruction provided in drawing using wet and dry media, printmaking techniques of drypoint, relief, monotype, and basic construction of books. Lecture and discussion, writing and research, studio projects and critiques. Pre-requisite: one of the following; ART 105, ART 204, ART 206, ART 210, ART 347 or permission of the instructor.

 

Advanced Topics in Studio Art: Photography Between the Covers:  Issues of Narrative/Non-Narrative Sequencing with Image and Text

With the presentation in 1844 of “The Pencil of Nature”, William Fox Talbot established photography as a viable art form by connecting it to an established vehicle: the book format.  As photography continued its journey to be seen as a relevant art form, the book format has led the way.  From Julia Margaret Cameron to Robert Frank to the explosion of post-war Japanese photo books, photographers have found the book as an expressive vehicle for their work.  In some cases, the book was the primary way to present their work.

This course primarily deals with the sequencing of images and text in a variety of different contexts and issues.  The book format will be the vehicle for our exploration.  Using a variety of online desktop publishing venues such as Apple iPhoto, Blurb, and others - students will engage in directed assignments working in groups and individually.  Each assignment will result in a self-published book.  Students should have an introductory familiarity with Photoshop and other digital concerns.  While primarily we will work with photographs, students can interpret this inventively to address their specific concerns.  We will also address and investigate through readings, field trips, and class visitors, the very nature of the book as a creative, inventive, and important format in establishing photography as an art form from its inception.  Students will be expected to think and research deeply about issues of content, format, and meaning that pertain to the book form both in contemporary examples as well as historical precedents.