Courses

This course will begin with the skeleton, and students will learn about and internalize the structure, form and movement of the body in an effort toward making more informed drawings of the live model. A portion of the course will focus on the comparative anatomy of animals.

Anatomy can offer a concrete structure for drawing and painting the human figure. This course relates the study of the skeleton and the muscles to the live model. It will concentrate on the skeletal system in the fall semester and the muscles in the spring semester. Students will complete three life-size drawings of the human skeletal system, which will include views of the skull, torso and extremities, establishing the core of the human figure. Two triptychs, each consisting of a nude, muscular and skeletal drawing of a male and a female body, will be completed. We will learn the landmarks of the skeletal system, their relationship to the muscular system and how they work together to define the human form. An anatomy text such as Albinus on Anatomy by Hale and Coyle or Anatomy for the Artist by Jeno Barcsay is required.

This course will begin with the skeleton, and students will learn about and internalize the structure, form and movement of the body in an effort toward making more informed drawings of the live model. A portion of the course will focus on the comparative anatomy of animals.

Anatomy can offer a concrete structure for drawing and painting the human figure. This course relates the study of the skeleton and the muscles to the live model. It will concentrate on the skeletal system in the fall semester and the muscles in the spring semester. Students will complete three life-size drawings of the human skeletal system, which will include views of the skull, torso and extremities, establishing the core of the human figure. Two triptychs, each consisting of a nude, muscular and skeletal drawing of a male and a female body, will be completed. We will learn the landmarks of the skeletal system, their relationship to the muscular system and how they work together to define the human form. An anatomy text such as Albinus on Anatomy by Hale and Coyle or Anatomy for the Artist by Jeno Barcsay is required.

You are what you eat—or are you? Do you know what is in your food? From farm to fork what happens in between? Is what the food producer tells you true? FOOD: Projects in Bio Art focuses on how food production, industrial farming and GMOs have become part of our daily life. Projects will consists of growing plants hydroponically, DNA analysis of local food, and time-lapse photography and microscopic imaging of foodstuffs. In addition, we will explore the cultural differences, taboos and evolution of eating practices.

We will look at culinary styles around the world, and their social, economic and political ramifications. We will examine urban farming, molecular cuisine, digital gastronomy, as well as pesticides and contaminates. Part forensic and part horticulture in practice, we will gather plants to extract pigments for watercolor; design food sculptures, including stencils for cakes; and use spices in novel ways. We will explore the effect microorganisms have on food— from cheese to e-coli to yogurt. From the good, the bad and the ugly, how has genetic engineering affected our lives? What effect is global warming having on food sources? Performance, painting, sculpture, public art, photography, illustration and cartooning, as well as community-based projects are welcome.

From the decipherment of the human genome to industrialized food production, science has spilled out of the laboratory into our lives. As scientists engage in molecular engineering, the corporeal body and the manipulation of life forms have become a public and aesthetic discourse unto themselves. This course will examine intersections between laboratory practices and visual art production. Projects will employ video microscopes and scanning devices, scientific specimen collections, plant tissue engineering, new anatomical models and molecular cuisine. In addition, each student will design their own terrarium with fish, aquatic plants and/or micro eco-systems. Field trips and guest lecturers will complement course material. Students may work in a variety of media, from drawing and painting to the digital and performing arts.

Tracing the animal kingdom from jellyfish to insects to humans, students will gain a working knowledge of comparative animal anatomy. The focus will be on vertebrates (reptiles, birds, and mammals) and the morphological differences which constitute groups, families and individual species. There will be discussions on ecology, evolution and the depiction of animals throughout art history. Students will work from specimens from the SVA Bio Art Lab, on-location drawings and photos.

Humans have been tampering with species development for thousands of years, and creating countless varieties of domesticated plants and animals. Today, advances in biotechnology allow for the creation of entirely novel life forms such as transgenic rats glowing with jellyfish genes. In this course, students will be introduced to the emerging field of biological arts through hands-on laboratory practices and discussions. Through bi-weekly excursions to local biotech labs, parks, pet stores and seafood markets we will examine altered organisms. In the lab, students will create a postnaturalist journal, bacterial paintings, culture plant tissue, generate and disperse native seed bombs, learn proper techniques for preserving vertebrates and generate post-mortem chimerical sculptures from biological media. Discussions will range from bio-ethics/ecological thought to science fiction/biological reality, and more.

In this course, we will visit local sites in search of urban botanicals from which to draw creative inspiration. We’ll explore micro and macro environments, the fractal realm of self-similarity and symmetry; we’ll see how the nature/nurture dialectic has been exploited by artists, and we’ll look to the less obvious lichens, molds and mosses as alternatives to the more ornamental botanicals. To meet the countless challenges that botanicals present, students will explore various mediums to create drawings/collages that range from the simple to the complex.

Body casting is the art of replicating the human form in a plaster casting. Students will make body castings from live models, that will then be corrected to match the live subject. Other techniques will involve using oil-based clay to create a “skin” for the plaster. Silicone rubber will be explored for mold-making and as a casting material. Discussions will include commercial applications for body cast products, special-effects makeup, specialty costuming, animatronic characters, three-dimensional commercial sculptures and holiday event mask-making.

This course is an intensive production-based course focusing on the creation of mixed-media installations using ceramic as the starting medium. The course will be divided into two sections. The first will cover different aspects of plaster mold production and the use of liquid clay (slip) in order to produce duplicates of an object. The second section will focus on the students’ project ideas through the review of work of artists producing installation art; group and individual critiques and exhibition reviews. Once a basic knowledge of mold-making and slip casting is established, students will propose a series of projects of which some will be selected during group critiques for full production. Specific analysis of mixed media use for each student’s project will be reviewed and organized in terms of production and aesthetics during group session. Attention will be given to the context in which the installation is placed and viewed and its impact on the physical and cultural environment of society. Homework will be extensive in order to acquire an independent work ethic.

This course is an intensive production-based course focusing on the creation of mixed media installations using ceramic as the starting medium. The course will be divided into two sections. The first will cover the different aspects of plaster mold production and the use of liquid clay (slip) in order to produce duplicates of an object. The second section will focus on the students’ specific project ideas through the review of work of artists producing installation art; group and individ- ual critiques, and exhibition reviews. Once a basic knowledge of mold making and slip casting is established, students will propose a series of projects of which some will be selected during group critiques for full production. Specific analysis of mixed media use for each student’s project will be reviewed and organized in terms of production and aesthetics during group session. Attention will be given to the context in which the installation is placed and viewed and its impact on the physical and cultural environment of society. Homework will be extensive in order to enable the student to acquire an independent work ethic.

Studying the human form as a medium for making art in three-dimensional, sculptural modes is the focus of this course. The representation of the human body through traditional and nontraditional sculptural approaches will be emphasized. Projects will explore technical, aesthetic and conceptual aspects of the human figure.

As an introduction to the material world, this course explores diverse media and their potentialities to create volume, line and mass. Ranging from the ethereal to the fabricated, materials such as clay, plaster, cardboard, wood, resin and wire will be investigated by exercises in casting, mold-making, installation and site-specific work. Discussion will include concepts of space, gravity and light, among others, as they pertain to three-dimensional form.

This course is designed as a series of projects to encourage students to solve problems and discover working processes. Each project will begin with a discussion of contemporary artists, as well as current museum and gallery exhibitions. Various materials will be explored, from woodworking to mold-making, welding to video. We will meet for group critiques.

This workshop takes a worldview of the sculpture-making process and will show how different cultures and art forms have impacted today’s sculpture. Students will not only draw on their own personal/cultural pasts to develop ideas and make sculpture, but also to challenge or ally those ideas with different information and influences. A wide range of materials and fabrication methods are available in this course. Through critiques and slide discussions, issues of form, content and context will be examined and interpreted. The use of language as applied to sculpture is of particular interest. A partial listing of the current vernacular that we will be cataloging and assessing for our use includes: architectonic, socially concerned, outsider art, site-specific, randomness and objectness. We’ll attend exhibitions, films, lectures or performances that relate to our activities. There will also be required reading.

Sculpture without limits. Every kind of sculpture can be investigated. Every type of material can be used. Welding, building, carving, modeling, site-specific and mixed-media assemblage will be taught. Hands-on instruction and strong technical skills enable each sculptor to realize his or her own thoughts. Weekly critiques will discuss work done in class. The idea comes first and then the sculpture. Where it came from, what it means, how it got there. Visits to museums, galleries and studios will be assigned. Slide lectures will augment discussion.

Collaborative Practices examines the role, and its challenges, of collective art-making. Students will look to art historical antecedents to observe how collaborative practices have progressed throughout art history. We will discuss and define distinctions between collectivism and collaboration, and identify key concerns of contemporary art groups/collaborations. Issues surrounding authorship, altruism, social and economic divides, relational aesthetics, studio output and internships will be emphasized. All projects will be collaboratively made and will investigate the invisible administrative labor behind studio practice, as well as tactile material processes as handled by various par ties. Key to this course will be active discussion and a willingness to let go of the artist’s hand.

This course will focus on cut-and-paste techniques as they are employed in imagemaking. The traditional underpinnings of collage will be investigated as a common thread to rethink, reposition and rework images and sound. Analog and digital approaches will be used to create a synthesis between popular and art-historical forms of collage. The course will be content driven and employ narrative, non-linear, representational and symbolic approaches to collage. We will begin using print media, then merge print with other mediums (paint, pastels, textures, found objects) to create mixed-media projects. We will transition into photo and digital collage/montage to analyze media as it has been used in the past and as it has developed with the advent of the Internet. Additionally, the course will explore cut-and-paste techniques using Photoshop, audio mash-ups and remixes.

This course will look at alternative visions of the art process as a cabinet of curiosities. Cell phones, computers, digital cameras, macro-videography—if you can film it, we will use it. Devices that produce an array of visual imagery are now embraced by art. From high-quality to low-res pixilated imagery, projects will range from self-portraits to group portraits, social/political content, gender and sexuality, psychological and cultural experiments, the conventional vs. the subversive, darkness and light. Students will also learn to incorporate music/soundscapes as an integral part of their work. Projects will investigate what stories you want to tell by using a variety of approaches and genres. Point of view, subjectivity, lighting, image quality, black-and-white vs. color, sound or silence—all are considerations that will be emphasized and implemented.

Digital fabrication practices have revolutionized design and manufacturing, and are reshaping the world around us. Increasingly these tools are being employed by artist to create works previously impossible or impractical to make. This course will be an exploration of CNC (Computer Numerical Control) based fabrication and its integration into contemporary art- and object-making. It will emphasize technology such as the CNC laser cutter, CNC router and CNC plasma, and discuss various fabrication methods and refine skillsets. We will also examine how this technology affects our understanding of space and material, modes of production, and other considerations.

This course introduces methods and concepts in sculpture using state-of-the-art technology. Students will work collaboratively on sculptural installations using CNC (computer numerically controlled) and rapid prototyping machines. Each project will focus on generating a component-based system where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The final, full-scale installation will include new spatial concepts and novel materials. Software and equipment instructions will be provided. Guest lectures and studio visits are included. Note: No previous experience with digital design or advanced machining is required.

If you’ve ever wanted to experiment with robotics, to make a video that “knows” when someone is watching it, or build a sculpture that beeps when you touch it, this is the course for you. In this course, students will construct several electronics projects that illustrate the possibilities of physical computing, and to provide students with tools for further exploration. Using Max/MSP/Jitter we will build custom electronics and program these microcontrollers to create strange and meaningful forms of interaction. Note: No prior programming or soldering experience is required, but an interest in accessing your inner mad scientist is a must. 

A continuation of FID-3611, Electronics and Interactivity I, in this course students will design their own projects with custom electronic circuitry and custom software. Students will use relatively simple electronic circuits and basic computer programming to develop rich and meaningful interactive sculpture, installation and audio/video works. How to program Arduino microcontrollers to respond to various kinds of sensors will be explored, and students will work with Cycling ‘74 Max/MSP/Jitter to control and respond to digital video, audio and other types of data. Prerequisite: FID-3611, Electronics and Interactivity I, or equivalent experience building circuits, programming microcontrollers (e.g., PIC, Javelin, BASIC Stamp 2) and some knowledge of Max/MSP/Jitter. Note: Midyear entry with instructors’ permission.

Digital embroidery transforms a hand-crafted couture into a fine arts media. Just like a tattoo where an image is created with color and needles, the embroidered fabric or paper is needle-stitched in colored threads. The image is a file that can be saved and repeated as a multiple or repeat pattern. The course will cover digital sewing using registration applications. Techniques related to fashion and the fine arts will be explored. A visit to a commercial embroidery atelier will be at the conclusion of the course.

Limited to 12 students

You are what you eat—or are you? Do you know what is in your food? From farm to fork what happens in between? Is what the food producer tells you true? FOOD: Projects in Bio Art focuses on how food production, industrial farming and GMOs have become part of our daily life. Projects will consists of growing plants hydroponically, DNA analysis of local food, and time-lapse photography and microscopic imaging of foodstuffs. In addition, we will explore the cultural differences, taboos and evolution of eating practices.

We will look at culinary styles around the world, and their social, economic and political ramifications. We will examine urban farming, molecular cuisine, digital gastronomy, as well as pesticides and contaminates. Part forensic and part horticulture in practice, we will gather plants to extract pigments for watercolor; design food sculptures, including stencils for cakes; and use spices in novel ways. We will explore the effect microorganisms have on food— from cheese to e-coli to yogurt. From the good, the bad and the ugly, how has genetic engineering affected our lives? What effect is global warming having on food sources? Performance, painting, sculpture, public art, photography, illustration and cartooning, as well as community-based projects are welcome.

What is referred to as “video art” has become a ubiquitous feature of 21st-century art practice, yet it is an art form whose emergence is still a relatively fresh aspect of contemporary art history. This course will explore the origins of video art, examining its sources in film, photography and performance art. Through screenings of key works; discussion with artists, critics and curators, and in directed readings, students will be exposed to important works and individuals associated with the first two decades of video. Special attention will be paid to an understanding of the cultural and social context that supported the emergence of video art. We will focus upon the evolution of video art from both a technological perspective as well as the development of a video’s critical and institutional framework. Artists whose works will be viewed and discussed include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Peter Campus, Vito Acconci, Frank Gillette, Juan Downey, Joan Jonas, Chris Burden, Lynda Benglis, Stan, Ira Schneider, Andy Mann, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Shigeko Kubota, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Mary Lucier, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ilene Segalove, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Dara Birnbaum, Ant Farm, TVTV, Videofreex, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Graham, Doug Hall, Richard Serra, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and Ernie Kovacs.

As video art became more widely accepted and the tools became increasingly affordable and available, the medium quickly emerged as a primary site for the global dialogue that characterizes contemporary art practice. Among the topics to be addressed in this screening, lecture and discussion course will be the emer- gence of Asian, Latin American and European Video Art, the continued develop- ment of sculptural video installation work and the emergence of the market for video art. The blurring of the lines among video art digital art forms, digital cinema and art made for the Internet will also be addressed. Artists whose works will be viewed and discussed include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Peter Campus, Vito Acconci, Frank Gillette, Juan Downey, Joan Jonas, Chris Burden, Lynda Benglis, Stan, Ira Schneider, Andy Mann, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Shigeko Kubota, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Mary Lucier, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ilene Segalove, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Dara Birnbaum, Ant Farm, TVTV, Videofreex, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Graham, Doug Hall, Richard Serra, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and Ernie Kovacs. Prerequisite: AHD-2302, History of Video Art: 1965 to 1985.

As in the past, artists today look to the history of art for inspiration. But we also want our work to communicate with more diverse audiences outside of the art world. So we appropriate the ideas and practices of disciplines that were not previously considered within the realm of art. Our projects in this course will explore these “alien” methodologies. We’ll repurpose techniques of mass production to modulate the scale and adaptability of our work. We’ll utilize film techniques to deal with issues of time compression, psychological space and storytelling. We’ll adapt developments in science to conjure the invisible or to actualize the unimaginable. We’ll investigate how the Internet and social media sites have reconfigured old notions of public and private and we’ll exploit this new virtual space in our art. The world as we know it is more complex and nuanced than it was just a generation ago. The goal of this course is to discover how art has evolved in this new environment. Students may also develop other areas of interest as a focus of their work. All practices are allowed. The course will include readings, film screenings, and other activities that relate to our studio projects.

This course is designed to give students an introductory look into creating Augmented and Virtual realities, specifically with a focus on freeform interaction. As a survey class to new technologies, students will draw parallels between being at the forefront of the technology, and how to utilize these tools into their own contemporary art practice. The class will look into AR builders, 3D object and asset libraries, open source applications, SDK (software development kits), as well as other collaborative elements of production. This course is meant for beginners with very little AR/VR/coding experience as well as more advanced students looking to expand their current practice. As a secondary element to this class, students will be posed with questions of the historical foundation of new technologies, as well as dealing with theory and practice of visual communication in an augmented realm. They’ll interact with experimental storytelling, the internet as a visual tool, post-photography, and post-internet thematics, and also the implications of introducing a 3D Digital Imaging platform like AR/VR to artistic practice. Students will present their work within a digital space and be asked to consider how their work functions from both a traditionally formal and conceptual aspect, as well as how that translates into contemporary media. From photorealism to hyper-stylization, and working with everything from texturing, lighting, rendering, photographic vantage points, topology, and more, students will learn about the wide ranges of possibilities in this new and fascinating technology, while developing their own artistic voice using these new mediums.

Prerequisite: FID-2020, Sophomore Seminar or FID-3446/7, Digital Sculpting, or instructor’s permission. Note: Open to students from all departments. 

In this seminar, students will focus on the media image and its implications in their work. In practice, the photograph has become a drawing tool for the artist and we will explore photography and video in relation to painting and drawing. Projects in lighting and composition, as well as color and its effects will be explored in still photography and the moving image. Stop-motion video effects will be used to animate a drawing. Photography and related software will be employed to address space, texture and volume as formal concerns in image-making. Students will learn how to document their work, how to use a camera that goes beyond point-and-click and what range of possibilities can be achieved with these instruments. How to color correct prints and videos will also be covered. Sound and editing techniques as they apply to art production is included in this media primer.

In this seminar, students will focus on the media image and its implications in their work. In practice, the photograph has become a drawing tool for the artist and we will explore photography and video in relation to painting and drawing. Projects in lighting and composition, as well as color and its effects will be explored in still photography and the moving image. Stop-motion video effects will be used to animate a drawing. Photography and related software will be employed to address space, texture and volume as formal concerns in image-making. Students will learn how to document their work, how to use a camera that goes beyond point-and-click and what range of possibilities can be achieved with these instruments. How to color correct prints and videos will also be covered. Sound and editing techniques as they apply to art production is included in this media primer.

Limited to 15 students

Through exploration and invention, and by embracing all media, students will engage in a critical discourse about what is happening in real time in the visual arts now, through their work. A fully mixed-media orientation is receptive to all students, including those who are primarily painters, photographers or video-makers, performers, etc., and to all approaches. The emphasis is on enabling students to experiment with a full range of traditional, unconventional and exotic materials, techniques and ideas: digital fabrication, audio, electricity, fluids, mechanical parts, photomontage, optics, metal, paper, wood. The development of student concepts and personal interests will be strongly supported. Our thinking will be placed in contemporary and historical context through presentations of visual and textual resources: slide shows, video, articles, Web-based online materials and a weekly update on current exhibitions. Among the many ideas that will be explored are: perception, transformation, performance, the body and language, as well as the environmental, political and site-specific in art. Resources will be discussed and extensive technical help will be provided. There will be group critiques. Instruction will be on an individual basis.

From low-tech projection to high-tech immersive environments, video installation has become a dominant medium for contemporary artists. Drawing from the history of film and video art, the students will explore some of the different techniques of analog and digital media in their work in the digital lab. This course will focus on developing students’ knowledge of video installation and encourage experimentation with a variety of approaches to the projected image. Students will generate four projects throughout the semester. We will meet regularly as a group and on a one-on-one basis to discuss current exhibitions, readings and student projects, and screen film/video work by some of the major figures in the field. The remaining time will be spent in the studio/lab. Students are encouraged to incorporate their personal interests and perspectives into their work. Projects will relate to ideas and forms of light projection from conception and production to display and distribution; creative relationships between visual and audio; the physicality of light; narrative and non-narrative structure; original and appropriated material; public and private exhibition; interaction with performance and objects/sculpture. The course will touch on issues of gender, social and political activism, and the history of media communication.

Video mapping (or spatial augmented reality) is an exciting projection medium that
can turn almost any surface, regardless of its shape and size, into a dynamic video
display. This course is intended for students who want to move into this powerful,
creative medium and will focus on exploring popular video mapping software
and hardware technology. Students will create a video-mapping project that will
be featured on an architectural space in Manhattan. Note: Open to students from
all departments.

This course is a continuation of FID-3634, Video Mapping Art. Having explored the techniques of basic video mapping, students will proceed into advanced augmented reality theory and practice. This course will examine techniques in spatial scanning, multi-projector systems, projecting in moving objects, Kinect-based augmented reality installations, Colossal outdoors video projections and multiplatform performance environments. In addition, students will be introduced to specialized digital tools for video mapping such as TouchDesigner, HeavyM, Z Vector, DynaMapper (for iPad), TorsionSoft, Millumin, VPT (Video Projection Tools), LPMT (Little Projecting-Mapping Tool), Resolume Arena 4, Arkaos GrandVJ XT and Visution Mapio 2 Pro. Students will complete a project based in video mapping, which integrates course material in interesting and meaningful ways. To this end, at least half of the class time will be allocated for working on these projects with guidance from the instructor.

This course will begin with the skeleton, and students will learn about and internalize the structure, form and movement of the body in an effort toward making more informed drawings of the live model. A portion of the course will focus on the comparative anatomy of animals.

Anatomy can offer a concrete structure for drawing and painting the human figure. This course relates the study of the skeleton and the muscles to the live model. It will concentrate on the skeletal system in the fall semester and the muscles in the spring semester. Students will complete three life-size drawings of the human skeletal system, which will include views of the skull, torso and extremities, establishing the core of the human figure. Two triptychs, each consisting of a nude, muscular and skeletal drawing of a male and a female body, will be completed. We will learn the landmarks of the skeletal system, their relationship to the muscular system and how they work together to define the human form. An anatomy text such as Albinus on Anatomy by Hale and Coyle or Anatomy for the Artist by Jeno Barcsay is required.

This course will begin with the skeleton, and students will learn about and internalize the structure, form and movement of the body in an effort toward making more informed drawings of the live model. A portion of the course will focus on the comparative anatomy of animals.

Anatomy can offer a concrete structure for drawing and painting the human figure. This course relates the study of the skeleton and the muscles to the live model. It will concentrate on the skeletal system in the fall semester and the muscles in the spring semester. Students will complete three life-size drawings of the human skeletal system, which will include views of the skull, torso and extremities, establishing the core of the human figure. Two triptychs, each consisting of a nude, muscular and skeletal drawing of a male and a female body, will be completed. We will learn the landmarks of the skeletal system, their relationship to the muscular system and how they work together to define the human form. An anatomy text such as Albinus on Anatomy by Hale and Coyle or Anatomy for the Artist by Jeno Barcsay is required.

FID-2131 / FID-2132
Instructor: B. DePalma
The premise of this course is that drawing constitutes the fundamental basis of all visual language. As such, drawing will be explored through the development of both technical skills and concepts. Dialogues will revolve around contemporary visual issues. Work will involve the use of all media. Experimentation and invention will be stressed. Drawing will be viewed as a primary vehicle through which an artist grows in the struggle for freedom of expression.

FID-2153 / FID-2154
Instructor: B. Larsen
In this course, students will develop ideas conceptually and physically. The first step is to deconstruct a book and reconstruct it as an idea book or journal (with a variety of papers), which will become a personal encyclopedia of ideas. The fall semester will emphasize recognition (history of drawing included), documentation (personal record keeping) and making drawings. The spring semester continues these practices while also advancing presentation skills (matting, framing, documentation and storage of artworks). During the first hour of each session we will meet as a group to share our books and then work on drawing projects, with individual instruction available. Models will be available for a portion of most class sessions. Documentary films on Andy Goldsworthy, Jean Cocteau (Orpheus), Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol will be shown.

FID-2159-A
Instructor: S. DeFrank
What does it mean to draw? How is drawing relevant in today’s art world? This course is about the experience of drawing and looking at drawings and about the possibilities of extending our traditional ideas concerning the limits of drawings. We will attempt to answer these questions through a series of discussions and exercises in and out of class. All types of materials are encouraged. Figurative and abstract imagery will be examined.

FID-3113-A
Instructor: D. Chow
This course studies the application of pigments to the surface of paper and equivalent materials. This implies the history and practice of drawing, as seen from different points of view. The course stresses looking as a process of perception and invention of inner and outer images and the observation of the work in its making.  Limited to 20 students

Focusing on the perceptual skills involved in image-making, this course will examine drawing as an act of producing independent works of art and as a preparatory process in organizing a finished work. Assigned projects will explore the formal elements of art, such as line, space, scale and texture. Materials will include pencil, charcoal, pen-and-ink and wash, among others. Projects range from the figure and still life, for example, to mapping and storyboarding.

This is the second part of a two-semester course. Focusing on the perceptual skills involved in image-making, this course will examine drawing as an act of producing independent works of art and as a preparatory process in organizing a finished work. Assigned projects will explore the formal elements of art, such as line, space, scale and texture. Materials will include pencil, charcoal, pen-and-ink and wash, among others. Projects range from the figure and still life, for example, to mapping and storyboarding.

This course will focus on the model. We will concentrate on the figure in space, how to structure a picture, the use of the picture plane as an organizing tool, and plastic form. We’ll use charcoal and then diversify media and scale. In the spring semester, students will approach the figure very directly, and then be encouraged to use the figure as a catalyst to explore other themes. Through direct observation, students will be encouraged to work with diverse materials as a means with which to approach the act of drawing.

Using a model, this course will begin with 10 one-minute poses and then move into a series of 20-minute poses. All materials are acceptable: watercolor, pencil, and pen-and-ink, among others. And all styles are welcome. Students will develop their own distinctive process.

From the decipherment of the human genome to industrialized food production, science has spilled out of the laboratory into our lives. As scientists engage in molecular engineering, the corporeal body and the manipulation of life forms have become a public and aesthetic discourse unto themselves. This course will examine intersections between laboratory practices and visual art production. Projects will employ video microscopes and scanning devices, scientific specimen collections, plant tissue engineering, new anatomical models and molecular cuisine. In addition, each student will design their own terrarium with fish, aquatic plants and/or micro eco-systems. Field trips and guest lecturers will complement course material. Students may work in a variety of media, from drawing and painting to the digital and performing arts.

Tracing the animal kingdom from jellyfish to insects to humans, students will gain a working knowledge of comparative animal anatomy. The focus will be on vertebrates (reptiles, birds, and mammals) and the morphological differences which constitute groups, families and individual species. There will be discussions on ecology, evolution and the depiction of animals throughout art history. Students will work from specimens from the SVA Bio Art Lab, on-location drawings and photos.

In this course, we will visit local sites in search of urban botanicals from which to draw creative inspiration. We’ll explore micro and macro environments, the fractal realm of self-similarity and symmetry; we’ll see how the nature/nurture dialectic has been exploited by artists, and we’ll look to the less obvious lichens, molds and mosses as alternatives to the more ornamental botanicals. To meet the countless challenges that botanicals present, students will explore various mediums to create drawings/collages that range from the simple to the complex.

This course covers basic watercolor painting materials and techniques. Form, composition and color will be discussed and students will explore the expressive and stylistic possibilities of the medium. Visual examples from art history and contemporary art will be part of the class critiques.

Among the first artists were shamans, mystics who created some of the earliest art to explore visionary experiences and our human relationship with the natural world. This course will look at art’s ancient roots in shamanic rituals, and see how these practices can enhance our creative and visionary skills today. Grounded in a relationship with the living world, shamans explore the mystical universe by acquiring a deeper knowledge of the self to help heal the self and society. This approach remains deeply embedded in the human psyche and continues to inspire artists. We’ll look at global indigenous traditions of shamanic art and modern art influenced by these insights. We’ll discuss related concepts such as social sculpture, research on psychology, and dreams and consciousness. And we’ll learn to create our own symbolic images, objects, installations and performance/ rituals, developing our own vocabulary of self-expression in an exploration of the personal process and visionary traditions in art. Projects can take the form of 2D, 3D and time-based media, performance and video. It will also include field trips to museums, a forest and outdoor projects at natural sites to connect with the living energies of nature.

Collaborative Practices examines the role, and its challenges, of collective art-making. Students will look to art historical antecedents to observe how collaborative practices have progressed throughout art history. We will discuss and define distinctions between collectivism and collaboration, and identify key concerns of contemporary art groups/collaborations. Issues surrounding authorship, altruism, social and economic divides, relational aesthetics, studio output and internships will be emphasized. All projects will be collaboratively made and will investigate the invisible administrative labor behind studio practice, as well as tactile material processes as handled by various par ties. Key to this course will be active discussion and a willingness to let go of the artist’s hand.

This course will focus on cut-and-paste techniques as they are employed in imagemaking. The traditional underpinnings of collage will be investigated as a common thread to rethink, reposition and rework images and sound. Analog and digital approaches will be used to create a synthesis between popular and art-historical forms of collage. The course will be content driven and employ narrative, non-linear, representational and symbolic approaches to collage. We will begin using print media, then merge print with other mediums (paint, pastels, textures, found objects) to create mixed-media projects. We will transition into photo and digital collage/montage to analyze media as it has been used in the past and as it has developed with the advent of the Internet. Additionally, the course will explore cut-and-paste techniques using Photoshop, audio mash-ups and remixes.

You are what you eat—or are you? Do you know what is in your food? From farm to fork what happens in between? Is what the food producer tells you true? FOOD: Projects in Bio Art focuses on how food production, industrial farming and GMOs have become part of our daily life. Projects will consists of growing plants hydroponically, DNA analysis of local food, and time-lapse photography and microscopic imaging of foodstuffs. In addition, we will explore the cultural differences, taboos and evolution of eating practices.

We will look at culinary styles around the world, and their social, economic and political ramifications. We will examine urban farming, molecular cuisine, digital gastronomy, as well as pesticides and contaminates. Part forensic and part horticulture in practice, we will gather plants to extract pigments for watercolor; design food sculptures, including stencils for cakes; and use spices in novel ways. We will explore the effect microorganisms have on food— from cheese to e-coli to yogurt. From the good, the bad and the ugly, how has genetic engineering affected our lives? What effect is global warming having on food sources? Performance, painting, sculpture, public art, photography, illustration and cartooning, as well as community-based projects are welcome.

From the decipherment of the human genome to industrialized food production, science has spilled out of the laboratory into our lives. As scientists engage in molecular engineering, the corporeal body and the manipulation of life forms have become a public and aesthetic discourse unto themselves. This course will examine intersections between laboratory practices and visual art production. Projects will employ video microscopes and scanning devices, scientific specimen collections, plant tissue engineering, new anatomical models and molecular cuisine. In addition, each student will design their own terrarium with fish, aquatic plants and/or micro eco-systems. Field trips and guest lecturers will complement course material. Students may work in a variety of media, from drawing and painting to the digital and performing arts.

This studio course is structured through “case studies” in which artworks of similar
and disparate media will be presented, and their structures and consequent meanings
will be addressed. For example, the works of abstract painters Jackson Pollock and Robert Ryman have radically different interpretations and meanings. The course begins with the far-reaching influence of Marcel Duchamp, and then focuses on work from the 1970s to the present. Topics include: painting, sculpture, installation, performance and video, as well as hybrids (Paul Kos’s video projections on paintings, Joseph Beuys’s performances generating objects and installations). We will examine the influence of seminal composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage and La Monte Young on visual artists (Nam June Paik and Yoko Ono, among others), as well as the influence of texts and musical scores on artists such as Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, David Salle and Christopher Wool. Students will submit weekly responses to the works discussed; these responses can take a variety of forms: visual (drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, video, performance), text (written and/or read aloud), or a combination of these forms. There will also be assigned readings. Note: Open to students from all departments.

As in the past, artists today look to the history of art for inspiration. But we also want our work to communicate with more diverse audiences outside of the art world. So we appropriate the ideas and practices of disciplines that were not previously considered within the realm of art. Our projects in this course will explore these “alien” methodologies. We’ll repurpose techniques of mass production to modulate the scale and adaptability of our work. We’ll utilize film techniques to deal with issues of time compression, psychological space and storytelling. We’ll adapt developments in science to conjure the invisible or to actualize the unimaginable. We’ll investigate how the Internet and social media sites have reconfigured old notions of public and private and we’ll exploit this new virtual space in our art. The world as we know it is more complex and nuanced than it was just a generation ago. The goal of this course is to discover how art has evolved in this new environment. Students may also develop other areas of interest as a focus of their work. All practices are allowed. The course will include readings, film screenings, and other activities that relate to our studio projects.

This course is designed to give students an introductory look into creating Augmented and Virtual realities, specifically with a focus on freeform interaction. As a survey class to new technologies, students will draw parallels between being at the forefront of the technology, and how to utilize these tools into their own contemporary art practice. The class will look into AR builders, 3D object and asset libraries, open source applications, SDK (software development kits), as well as other collaborative elements of production. This course is meant for beginners with very little AR/VR/coding experience as well as more advanced students looking to expand their current practice. As a secondary element to this class, students will be posed with questions of the historical foundation of new technologies, as well as dealing with theory and practice of visual communication in an augmented realm. They’ll interact with experimental storytelling, the internet as a visual tool, post-photography, and post-internet thematics, and also the implications of introducing a 3D Digital Imaging platform like AR/VR to artistic practice. Students will present their work within a digital space and be asked to consider how their work functions from both a traditionally formal and conceptual aspect, as well as how that translates into contemporary media. From photorealism to hyper-stylization, and working with everything from texturing, lighting, rendering, photographic vantage points, topology, and more, students will learn about the wide ranges of possibilities in this new and fascinating technology, while developing their own artistic voice using these new mediums.

Prerequisite: FID-2020, Sophomore Seminar or FID-3446/7, Digital Sculpting, or instructor’s permission. Note: Open to students from all departments. 

Performance art is a way of extending and expanding your studio practice. Like drawing, it’s a way of working out ideas in real time. This studio course is designed for anyone interested in the inherent practices and narratives of performance art, and anyone who wants to push the disciplinary limits of their work. Each week students will make their own experimental performances while exploring the history and evolution of performance art. Group exercises will hone physical and vocal skills as well as build confidence. We will look at and engage with a wide range of performance forms, including Dada, happenings, fluxus, conceptual performance, punk, drag, social practice and mixed-media spectacles. Note: Open to students from all departments.

Much of contemporary culture, in one way or other, refers to photography. This introductory course offers a hands-on approach to shooting and printing photographs. It also covers photo theory, history and influential emerging photographers. Students will shoot and process their photographs in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, master archival inkjet printing and learn to shoot in a studio set-up using strobes—skills that have practical and artistic applications. In addition to our classroom work, we will regularly visit photo exhibitions at Chelsea galleries. By the end of the semester, students will have developed some knowledge of contemporary photographic discourse and the technical skills to shoot and print their own work.

Humans have been tampering with species development for thousands of years, and creating countless varieties of domesticated plants and animals. Today, advances in biotechnology allow for the creation of entirely novel life forms such as transgenic rats glowing with jellyfish genes. In this course, students will be introduced to the emerging field of biological arts through hands-on laboratory practices and discussions. Through bi-weekly excursions to local biotech labs, parks, pet stores and seafood markets we will examine altered organisms. In the lab, students will create a postnaturalist journal, bacterial paintings, culture plant tissue, generate and disperse native seed bombs, learn proper techniques for preserving vertebrates and generate post-mortem chimerical sculptures from biological media. Discussions will range from bio-ethics/ecological thought to science fiction/biological reality, and more.

This course will explore fashion as conceptual art on the canvas of the body. We will explore how to design and create clothing and costumes; how to adapt and design patterns; sew and construct garments and accessories; decorate with paint and dye, printed photos, appliqué, embroidery, beadwork, neon wire, quilting and stuffing; and explore experimental and soft sculpture techniques. Students may also work with props and backdrops, special effects makeup, and other elements to create a complete look. Art fashion can be exhibited as art, or used to create characters for performance, photographs and videos, or to develop your own iconic look and become a living work of art.

In this course, students will define their own priorities in paint. The emphasis will be on creating a dialogue within each student’s body of work while continuing to explore new artistic territory. Studio time is stressed: how best to further identify and realize one’s goals, how to organize one’s efforts, how to work both intellectually and physically in the studio, and how to communicate one’s intentions. Individual instruction will be given with the encouragement of an exchange between fellow students. We will explore various media to further inform and advance painting efforts. Students will be asked to use New York’s vast cultural resources on a regular basis. The understanding of our visual culture, the evolution of our creative working process and the ability to communicate our ideas are the means toward future study. Models will be available as required.

This course is for painters who want to work with materials, processes and techniques other than, or in addition to, traditional techniques of brush and paint on canvas. Students can explore collage, assemblage, relief, wall sculpture, fresco, in situ wall paintings, new media and other approaches to extending the dimensionality of painting’s surface. Any material can be used: fabrics, wood, metals, plaster, plastics, found objects, etc. We will critically examine differences between painting and sculpture in the context of picture plane, opticality, illusion, realness and objectness, and the way these terms are defined art historically, and look at how artists today engage these traditions. Photographs of this course can be viewed at rpasvaphotos.com. Note: An assortment of hand tools and power tools are available for fabrication of projects, as well as access to the sculpture studio.

Image-based work is the predominate form of painting today. It can range from simple figuration to highly resolved illusionistic painting, with many divergent alternatives in between. Much of the current work is photographically derived. This course will explore the full range of modes of representation, with an emphasis on the photograph as a source. The use of photographic information, from media-based imagery through digital alteration will be considered. We will cover the ways that photography is both similar to and different from direct observation. Particular emphasis will be placed on helping students to match their technique to their sources and to defining the underlying content. A variety of imagery, media and content will be thoughtfully considered. Contemporary use of historical techniques will be demonstrated.

You are what you eat—or are you? Do you know what is in your food? From farm to fork what happens in between? Is what the food producer tells you true? FOOD: Projects in Bio Art focuses on how food production, industrial farming and GMOs have become part of our daily life. Projects will consists of growing plants hydroponically, DNA analysis of local food, and time-lapse photography and microscopic imaging of foodstuffs. In addition, we will explore the cultural differences, taboos and evolution of eating practices.

We will look at culinary styles around the world, and their social, economic and political ramifications. We will examine urban farming, molecular cuisine, digital gastronomy, as well as pesticides and contaminates. Part forensic and part horticulture in practice, we will gather plants to extract pigments for watercolor; design food sculptures, including stencils for cakes; and use spices in novel ways. We will explore the effect microorganisms have on food— from cheese to e-coli to yogurt. From the good, the bad and the ugly, how has genetic engineering affected our lives? What effect is global warming having on food sources? Performance, painting, sculpture, public art, photography, illustration and cartooning, as well as community-based projects are welcome.

From the decipherment of the human genome to industrialized food production, science has spilled out of the laboratory into our lives. As scientists engage in molecular engineering, the corporeal body and the manipulation of life forms have become a public and aesthetic discourse unto themselves. This course will examine intersections between laboratory practices and visual art production. Projects will employ video microscopes and scanning devices, scientific specimen collections, plant tissue engineering, new anatomical models and molecular cuisine. In addition, each student will design their own terrarium with fish, aquatic plants and/or micro eco-systems. Field trips and guest lecturers will complement course material. Students may work in a variety of media, from drawing and painting to the digital and performing arts.

In this multimedia course, students will explore color and the principles of color theory. Each project will incorporate a specific lesson about color and light as a starting point, which is subsequently developed into a more complex and personal work. This is a challenging course that will help students to acquire the skills to make visually dynamic works, as well as expand the way they use, perceive and understand color. Projects will incorporate painting, photography, collage and digital images. In addition to home assignments, students are required to keep a sketchbook and to review exhibitions. Note: Please bring acrylic paints (approved, nontoxic materials only) to each session. Students must own or have access to a digital camera.

Each session of this course will begin with a 20-minute warm-up assignment as a way to experiment with different approaches to painting and image-making. Students will then work on assigned and self-initiated projects. Working from observation, using systems to develop work and understanding drawing as a key to painting are just some of the approaches that will be explored. Experimentation with various materials and techniques is encouraged, as well as development of content through focusing on issues of identity, taste, politics, spirituality and philosophy. Home assignments, journal keeping and reviewing exhibitions are required. This is a rigorous course, as are the process of art-making and the discipline of being an artist.

Note: Only approved, nontoxic materials can be used.

This course will concentrate on both the technical aspects and conceptual basis for working from and with photography in painting. The apparent objectivity of photographs will be used to investigate their hidden codes: what the photograph documents, what is suggested, what is left out and the social role of subject matter. We will discuss the formal qualities of images and how they might change the reception of a painting. Some emphasis will be given to the categories of dreams and hallucinations, memory and time, pictures and politics, and commercial images.

Foundation-year painting will explore various means of representation through the application of pigments to canvas, panels and paper. Color and its organizational principles will be investigated—both as a practical and theoretical endeavor. An exploration of form and content will be undertaken with an emphasis on technical skills. Class critiques and museum visits will be employed as vehicles to develop critical terms concerning painting.

This is the second part of a two-semester course.
Foundation-year painting will explore various means of representation through the application of pigments to canvas, panels and paper. Color and its organizational principles will be investigated—both as a practical and theoretical endeavor. An exploration of form and content will be undertaken with an emphasis on technical skills. Class critiques and museum visits will be employed as vehicles to develop critical terms concerning painting.

From an image’s conception to its execution, ideas, materials and processes run together. In this workshop, we’ll investigate the use of novel and traditional materials and the range of pictorial sources: fine art to pop art, everyday life to nightlife, institutions and the politics of space, objective and subjective analyses. What’s your worldview? What’s your comfort zone and how can you exploit it? With an emphasis on interpretation of work through the materials used (paint, honey, nail polish), the context in which they appear (wall, floor, street) and the formal elements of construction (scale, application, space, light, subject), we will look for ways to describe and strengthen your point of view. Instruction is one-on-one with class critiques. Discussions about work by artists who employ analytic, eccentric, comedic, political, romantic or intuitive points of view are included.

Together, we will examine our assumptions about traditional painting in relation to a more contemporary experience of art-making. All approaches are welcome. Focus will be on discovering the problems of interest to each student and finding the material/metaphor most appropriate to each person’s objectives. Dialogue will center on developing the strengths of personal ideas in relation to the vast and rich community of painting’s vital past and intriguing present. A project-based course for students interested in developing their own ideas through a range of work in various media, emphasizing painting, but also encouraging works in other media. We will visit galleries and museums, and students will review various exhibitions on a regular basis. There will be group critiques throughout the semester.

Students will employ any media of their choice to further inform and advance their creative efforts. The emphasis will be on developing a dialogue and methodology that refines and explores new artistic territory. “Studio-time” is stressed to discover how best to further identify and realize intentions, how to organize efforts, and how to work both intellectually and physically in the studio. Research and archival practices will be taught. Internet sites will be employed to expand both technical and intellectual information and resources. Instruction is given on an individual basis. Students are encouraged to exchange ideas and techniques with their peers, as well as visit New York’s vast cultural resources on a regular basis. The understanding of visual culture, the evolution of a creative working process and the ability to communicate visual ideas are the goals of this course. There will be individual and group critiques.

This painting course will engage students in their development of the narrative image. Using traditional and experimental approaches to oil paint, acrylic and gouache, students will explore composition, color and process in relation to the narrative possibilities of the picture. Students will work from models, memory, and imagination and will explore the uses of the narrative image and its possibility to express ideas. The uses of narrative in contemporary art and storytelling in art history will be discussed. Students will develop their ideas as well as their technical skills.

The goal of this course is to give students a strong foundation in both the intellectual and the formal aspects of painting. While representation in painting will be the subject, the focus will be on painting as a language and a process. Working from observation, various aspects of pictorial construction will be emphasized. Students will execute quick wet-into-wet paintings of the models to become more intimate with the material aspects of painting. Light and shadow will be discussed as a motor of representation. We will explore contrast of value, as well as warm and cool tonality, and then examine color and color theory and create paintings based on a complementary palette. Even while working within structured projects and a restricted palette, the expressive means of painting will be emphasized. The last phase of the course will focus on more complex projects in full palette. Students will be encouraged to develop their personal interests and subjects without abandoning formal aspects of painting. Group critiques emphasizing the verbalization of intent will be an essential element. Home assignments, slide presentations and museum visits are included.

What do we do when we look? What happens as we build pictures? What makes an image memorable? We will consider the context for these concerns from Cézanne to psychedelic art to current exhibitions. Learn to focus your intentions while finetuning your intuition. Work from observation, imagination or printed sources with an emphasis on the distinctly physiological experience of painting.

Silkscreen changed the look of art in the early 1960s when painters like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg started combining printing and painting to make unique works of art. This transformation of a once commercial process into a multifaceted art making tool made it possible to repeat images and create unlimited variations whether on paper, canvas, plastic, glass, metal, wood or any number of other materials. Silkscreen has also incorporated the use of digital photography and computer manipulations for image making. Students will be encouraged to make the most of this wide-open process and to seek their own creative solutions. Work will be critiqued on an ongoing basis.

In this course, students will develop a painting practice that employs imagery and pictorial means from both abstract and representational realms. This painting tradition includes the work of Henri Matisse, Philip Guston, Elizabeth Murray and Gerhard Richter, to name a few. Students will be encouraged to create images that incorporate the formal languages of modes of abstraction. The development of a mature studio practice will be stressed.

This course covers basic watercolor painting materials and techniques. Form, composition and color will be discussed and students will explore the expressive and stylistic possibilities of the medium. Visual examples from art history and contemporary art will be part of the class critiques.

Image-based work is the predominate form of painting today. It can range from simple figuration to highly resolved illusionistic painting, with many divergent alternatives in between. Much of the current work is photographically derived. This course will explore the full range of modes of representation, with an emphasis on the photograph as a source. The use of photographic information, from media-based imagery through digital alteration will be considered. We will cover the ways that photography is both similar to and different from direct observation. Particular emphasis will be placed on helping students to match their technique to their sources and to defining the underlying content. A variety of imagery, media and content will be thoughtfully considered. Contemporary use of historical techniques will be demonstrated.

This course will look at alternative visions of the art process as a cabinet of curiosities. Cell phones, computers, digital cameras, macro-videography—if you can film it, we will use it. Devices that produce an array of visual imagery are now embraced by art. From high-quality to low-res pixilated imagery, projects will range from self-portraits to group portraits, social/political content, gender and sexuality, psychological and cultural experiments, the conventional vs. the subversive, darkness and light. Students will also learn to incorporate music/soundscapes as an integral part of their work. Projects will investigate what stories you want to tell by using a variety of approaches and genres. Point of view, subjectivity, lighting, image quality, black-and-white vs. color, sound or silence—all are considerations that will be emphasized and implemented.

You are what you eat—or are you? Do you know what is in your food? From farm to fork what happens in between? Is what the food producer tells you true? FOOD: Projects in Bio Art focuses on how food production, industrial farming and GMOs have become part of our daily life. Projects will consists of growing plants hydroponically, DNA analysis of local food, and time-lapse photography and microscopic imaging of foodstuffs. In addition, we will explore the cultural differences, taboos and evolution of eating practices.

We will look at culinary styles around the world, and their social, economic and political ramifications. We will examine urban farming, molecular cuisine, digital gastronomy, as well as pesticides and contaminates. Part forensic and part horticulture in practice, we will gather plants to extract pigments for watercolor; design food sculptures, including stencils for cakes; and use spices in novel ways. We will explore the effect microorganisms have on food— from cheese to e-coli to yogurt. From the good, the bad and the ugly, how has genetic engineering affected our lives? What effect is global warming having on food sources? Performance, painting, sculpture, public art, photography, illustration and cartooning, as well as community-based projects are welcome.

From the decipherment of the human genome to industrialized food production, science has spilled out of the laboratory into our lives. As scientists engage in molecular engineering, the corporeal body and the manipulation of life forms have become a public and aesthetic discourse unto themselves. This course will examine intersections between laboratory practices and visual art production. Projects will employ video microscopes and scanning devices, scientific specimen collections, plant tissue engineering, new anatomical models and molecular cuisine. In addition, each student will design their own terrarium with fish, aquatic plants and/or micro eco-systems. Field trips and guest lecturers will complement course material. Students may work in a variety of media, from drawing and painting to the digital and performing arts.

What is referred to as “video art” has become a ubiquitous feature of 21st-century art practice, yet it is an art form whose emergence is still a relatively fresh aspect of contemporary art history. This course will explore the origins of video art, examining its sources in film, photography and performance art. Through screenings of key works; discussion with artists, critics and curators, and in directed readings, students will be exposed to important works and individuals associated with the first two decades of video. Special attention will be paid to an understanding of the cultural and social context that supported the emergence of video art. We will focus upon the evolution of video art from both a technological perspective as well as the development of a video’s critical and institutional framework. Artists whose works will be viewed and discussed include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Peter Campus, Vito Acconci, Frank Gillette, Juan Downey, Joan Jonas, Chris Burden, Lynda Benglis, Stan, Ira Schneider, Andy Mann, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Shigeko Kubota, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Mary Lucier, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ilene Segalove, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Dara Birnbaum, Ant Farm, TVTV, Videofreex, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Graham, Doug Hall, Richard Serra, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and Ernie Kovacs.

As video art became more widely accepted and the tools became increasingly affordable and available, the medium quickly emerged as a primary site for the global dialogue that characterizes contemporary art practice. Among the topics to be addressed in this screening, lecture and discussion course will be the emer- gence of Asian, Latin American and European Video Art, the continued develop- ment of sculptural video installation work and the emergence of the market for video art. The blurring of the lines among video art digital art forms, digital cinema and art made for the Internet will also be addressed. Artists whose works will be viewed and discussed include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Peter Campus, Vito Acconci, Frank Gillette, Juan Downey, Joan Jonas, Chris Burden, Lynda Benglis, Stan, Ira Schneider, Andy Mann, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Shigeko Kubota, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Mary Lucier, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ilene Segalove, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Dara Birnbaum, Ant Farm, TVTV, Videofreex, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Graham, Doug Hall, Richard Serra, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and Ernie Kovacs. Prerequisite: AHD-2302, History of Video Art: 1965 to 1985.

As in the past, artists today look to the history of art for inspiration. But we also want our work to communicate with more diverse audiences outside of the art world. So we appropriate the ideas and practices of disciplines that were not previously considered within the realm of art. Our projects in this course will explore these “alien” methodologies. We’ll repurpose techniques of mass production to modulate the scale and adaptability of our work. We’ll utilize film techniques to deal with issues of time compression, psychological space and storytelling. We’ll adapt developments in science to conjure the invisible or to actualize the unimaginable. We’ll investigate how the Internet and social media sites have reconfigured old notions of public and private and we’ll exploit this new virtual space in our art. The world as we know it is more complex and nuanced than it was just a generation ago. The goal of this course is to discover how art has evolved in this new environment. Students may also develop other areas of interest as a focus of their work. All practices are allowed. The course will include readings, film screenings, and other activities that relate to our studio projects.

This course is designed to give students an introductory look into creating Augmented and Virtual realities, specifically with a focus on freeform interaction. As a survey class to new technologies, students will draw parallels between being at the forefront of the technology, and how to utilize these tools into their own contemporary art practice. The class will look into AR builders, 3D object and asset libraries, open source applications, SDK (software development kits), as well as other collaborative elements of production. This course is meant for beginners with very little AR/VR/coding experience as well as more advanced students looking to expand their current practice. As a secondary element to this class, students will be posed with questions of the historical foundation of new technologies, as well as dealing with theory and practice of visual communication in an augmented realm. They’ll interact with experimental storytelling, the internet as a visual tool, post-photography, and post-internet thematics, and also the implications of introducing a 3D Digital Imaging platform like AR/VR to artistic practice. Students will present their work within a digital space and be asked to consider how their work functions from both a traditionally formal and conceptual aspect, as well as how that translates into contemporary media. From photorealism to hyper-stylization, and working with everything from texturing, lighting, rendering, photographic vantage points, topology, and more, students will learn about the wide ranges of possibilities in this new and fascinating technology, while developing their own artistic voice using these new mediums.

Prerequisite: FID-2020, Sophomore Seminar or FID-3446/7, Digital Sculpting, or instructor’s permission. Note: Open to students from all departments. 

This course will concentrate on both the technical aspects and conceptual basis for working from and with photography in painting. The apparent objectivity of photographs will be used to investigate their hidden codes: what the photograph documents, what is suggested, what is left out and the social role of subject matter. We will discuss the formal qualities of images and how they might change the reception of a painting. Some emphasis will be given to the categories of dreams and hallucinations, memory and time, pictures and politics, and commercial images.

Much of contemporary culture, in one way or other, refers to photography. This introductory course offers a hands-on approach to shooting and printing photographs. It also covers photo theory, history and influential emerging photographers. Students will shoot and process their photographs in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, master archival inkjet printing and learn to shoot in a studio set-up using strobes—skills that have practical and artistic applications. In addition to our classroom work, we will regularly visit photo exhibitions at Chelsea galleries. By the end of the semester, students will have developed some knowledge of contemporary photographic discourse and the technical skills to shoot and print their own work.

In this seminar, students will focus on the media image and its implications in their work. In practice, the photograph has become a drawing tool for the artist and we will explore photography and video in relation to painting and drawing. Projects in lighting and composition, as well as color and its effects will be explored in still photography and the moving image. Stop-motion video effects will be used to animate a drawing. Photography and related software will be employed to address space, texture and volume as formal concerns in image-making. Students will learn how to document their work, how to use a camera that goes beyond point-and-click and what range of possibilities can be achieved with these instruments. How to color correct prints and videos will also be covered. Sound and editing techniques as they apply to art production is included in this media primer.

In this seminar, students will focus on the media image and its implications in their work. In practice, the photograph has become a drawing tool for the artist and we will explore photography and video in relation to painting and drawing. Projects in lighting and composition, as well as color and its effects will be explored in still photography and the moving image. Stop-motion video effects will be used to animate a drawing. Photography and related software will be employed to address space, texture and volume as formal concerns in image-making. Students will learn how to document their work, how to use a camera that goes beyond point-and-click and what range of possibilities can be achieved with these instruments. How to color correct prints and videos will also be covered. Sound and editing techniques as they apply to art production is included in this media primer.

Limited to 15 students

Through exploration and invention, and by embracing all media, students will engage in a critical discourse about what is happening in real time in the visual arts now, through their work. A fully mixed-media orientation is receptive to all students, including those who are primarily painters, photographers or video-makers, performers, etc., and to all approaches. The emphasis is on enabling students to experiment with a full range of traditional, unconventional and exotic materials, techniques and ideas: digital fabrication, audio, electricity, fluids, mechanical parts, photomontage, optics, metal, paper, wood. The development of student concepts and personal interests will be strongly supported. Our thinking will be placed in contemporary and historical context through presentations of visual and textual resources: slide shows, video, articles, Web-based online materials and a weekly update on current exhibitions. Among the many ideas that will be explored are: perception, transformation, performance, the body and language, as well as the environmental, political and site-specific in art. Resources will be discussed and extensive technical help will be provided. There will be group critiques. Instruction will be on an individual basis.

From low-tech projection to high-tech immersive environments, video installation has become a dominant medium for contemporary artists. Drawing from the history of film and video art, the students will explore some of the different techniques of analog and digital media in their work in the digital lab. This course will focus on developing students’ knowledge of video installation and encourage experimentation with a variety of approaches to the projected image. Students will generate four projects throughout the semester. We will meet regularly as a group and on a one-on-one basis to discuss current exhibitions, readings and student projects, and screen film/video work by some of the major figures in the field. The remaining time will be spent in the studio/lab. Students are encouraged to incorporate their personal interests and perspectives into their work. Projects will relate to ideas and forms of light projection from conception and production to display and distribution; creative relationships between visual and audio; the physicality of light; narrative and non-narrative structure; original and appropriated material; public and private exhibition; interaction with performance and objects/sculpture. The course will touch on issues of gender, social and political activism, and the history of media communication.

Video mapping (or spatial augmented reality) is an exciting projection medium that
can turn almost any surface, regardless of its shape and size, into a dynamic video
display. This course is intended for students who want to move into this powerful,
creative medium and will focus on exploring popular video mapping software
and hardware technology. Students will create a video-mapping project that will
be featured on an architectural space in Manhattan. Note: Open to students from
all departments.

This course is a continuation of FID-3634, Video Mapping Art. Having explored the techniques of basic video mapping, students will proceed into advanced augmented reality theory and practice. This course will examine techniques in spatial scanning, multi-projector systems, projecting in moving objects, Kinect-based augmented reality installations, Colossal outdoors video projections and multiplatform performance environments. In addition, students will be introduced to specialized digital tools for video mapping such as TouchDesigner, HeavyM, Z Vector, DynaMapper (for iPad), TorsionSoft, Millumin, VPT (Video Projection Tools), LPMT (Little Projecting-Mapping Tool), Resolume Arena 4, Arkaos GrandVJ XT and Visution Mapio 2 Pro. Students will complete a project based in video mapping, which integrates course material in interesting and meaningful ways. To this end, at least half of the class time will be allocated for working on these projects with guidance from the instructor.

This course is for students who already have a basic foundation in etching and monoprint techniques and want to take their skills to the next level. Advanced techniques such as three-plate color registration prints, transparent color roll-ups, viscosity printing, hand applied and blended surface color techniques, spit-biting, and a refinement of black-and-white techniques for line work, including hard ground, aquatint and soft ground will be covered. Prerequisite: FID-2841/FID-2842, Etching and Monoprint as Illustration, or equivalent.

In this advanced silkscreen course, students will pursue an ambitious semesterlength book project or series—from concept to finished and bound multiples. Various ways to present silkscreen prints as sequential images will be explored, including books, themed portfolios and comics. Bookbinding techniques will be covered, including Japanese bookbinding, accordion fold and multiple-signature binding methods. Large-scale digital output is available. Prerequisite: At least one silkscreen course, or instructor’s permission

This course will explore the use various techniques in relief printing—woodcut, linoleum, monoprint—to create original artist books or portfolios of prints. There will be demonstrations in both traditional hand-cut relief techniques as well as the use of digital cutting starting from Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files. Color separation techniques and the use of overlapping color will be demonstrated. Students will have the option to create editions of each work or to work in a series of unique monoprints. Various bookbinding techniques and styles will be covered.

This course will focus on the many ways of working with color and inking processes in etching. Traditional and contemporary techniques, including drypoint, hard ground, soft ground, lift ground, white ground and aquatint, will be used to capture the qualities of pen and ink, crayon and brush. These processes can be combined on a single plate or with multiple plates to create layered depths of color and texture. Inking techniques include intaglio, surface rolls, stencils and viscosity—a method of applying multiple colors on a single plate. Chine collé, collagraphs, monotypes, Xerox transfers, offsetting and three-dimensional prints will be demonstrated, along with photo-etching processes. Print on various papers, canvas, silk, aluminum, and other surfaces to make one-of-a-kind prints, editions, collages and mixed-media works.

This course is for students interested in developing painterly and drawn images using copper-plate etching techniques. Copper is a soft, sensitive and responsive metal that is able to capture all the graphic and tonal subtleties of drawing and painting. Students will discover new forms of expression by learning how to build an image through drawing and layering. Intaglio techniques, including hard ground, soft ground, spit-bite, white ground, sugar lift, and open bite will be covered. All processes will be demonstrated and applied through self-initiated etching projects.

This in-depth etching course explores the wide range of materials and techniques used to create the linear, tonal and photographic images of the intaglio print. Basic techniques cover line etching for pen-and-ink effects, drypoint for velvety lines, soft ground for both crayon-like lines and textures, aquatint for tones and lift grounds for the quality of watercolor. Inking techniques include black-and-white and color intaglio, à la poupée, stenciling, and chine collé for added color and texture. All processes will be discussed and demonstrated, along with photo etching techniques, monoprints, collagraphs and carborundum prints. Students will develop the skills to proof, edition and curate prints. On-going critiques will be included.

This course will introduce students to numerous basic etching and monoprint techniques, including hard ground, soft ground, aquatint and color printing. Once students become familiar with functioning in a print shop, they will learn to use prints as a viable technique for fine illustration. The emphasis will be on experimentation and personal expression. We will discuss the early relationship of printmaking to illustration, and will study and discuss specific illustrators who use printmaking as a final technique for answering illustration problems.

Silkscreen is ideal for making bold, iconic images. This course will cover all aspects of the silkscreen process, including making separations by hand and by computer and printing on various media. Students will learn how to use silkscreen as a tool for strengthening their image-making abilities and color sense.

Japanese woodblock printing reached its technical zenith in the latter 1800s, with the art movement known as Ukioye. This course will emphasize the contemporary forms of Japanese block printing using watercolor and gouache inks to achieve a soft effect similar to watercolor paintings and pastel drawings. Images will be carved into the woodblock and then the surface will be inked with brushes and transferred to paper by hand printing. Demonstrations in proper tool honing and paper handling will be given; students are encouraged to explore a variety of approaches to the creation of multicolored woodblock prints.

This course will give a thorough introduction to letterpress printing. We will begin with hand-set, movable wood and metal type in combination with etched plates and linocuts, and then explore making and using photopolymer plates from digital files. This medium is versatile and adaptable, mixing easily with other printmaking processes; the quality of image can range from hard edge to painterly. Letterpress printing also impresses a third dimension of depth and texture to the image and text on paper. Simple, accurate color registration is easy on the letterpress. The experience of hand typesetting using vintage metal and wood typefaces will enhance students’ knowledge and understanding of typography. Printing blocks and plates range from completely manual, hand-cut and collaged to digital photopolymer plates. Letterpress die cutting allows students to actually shape their projects. Operation and maintenance of several letterpresses will be included. Each session will begin with a demonstration followed by studio time to work on individual projects, from type-based graphic designs to fine art limited editions.

Note: Printshop facilities are available outside of class hours.

The majority of mass printing is produced by the lithographic process. It has the remarkable ability to reproduce all the subtle qualities of charcoal, pencil, ink, watercolor, and more. This innate characteristic is why so many artists over the years have chosen to work in lithography. Goya, Lautrec, Picasso, Rauschenberg, Johns and Bourgeois, to name a few. Lithography is a medium that readily lends itself equally to painting and drawing, as well as various digital and photographic media. This course will offer traditional hand-drawn and state-of-the-art methods in realizing multicolored, professionally printed editions or work resulting in unique monoprints. These will include the options to work with hand-drawn aluminum plates, Bavarian limestone, photographic plates or any combination of these techniques.

Exploring the power of the poster as art and advertising is the premise of this course. The process of creating a poster, from concept through final execution, will be covered. Students will complete a minimum of eight projects, each with a different focus. In the spirit of artists like Shepard Fairey, Barbara Kruger and Andy Warhol, we will examine how to experiment with concept, symbolism, form and function. Projects will be collectively researched and ideas will be presented for discussion. Projects will be printed using a range of screen-printing techniques, 56 and students will experiment with printing on substrates, applying various inks and ink alternatives. We will also examine the aesthetic and the expressive power of posters created by masters in this field. Note: Open to advertising and design majors only.

This course will introduce the printmaking processes of woodcut, linocut, monoprint and collagraph to create various types of prints. All processes will be demonstrated and applied in self-directed projects. The relief print is the oldest method of printmaking; its directness and ease of color application make it particularly appealing to artists of all fields. In woodcut, the non-image areas of the print are carved away and color is applied to the high surfaces of the block using rollers or brushes. Color can also be rubbed in below the surface to create depths and color mixing. Paper is then pressed against the inked surface of the block or plate to transfer the color image from the block. The monoprint is unique within printmaking because every print is different. Images are painted or drawn directly onto blank plates and then transferred to paper with a printing press, resulting in large, direct, painterly prints. The use of multiple printing, chine collé and color overlays will also be explored.

Note: Printshop facilities are available outside of class hours.

This seminar will focus on questions specific to printmaking, publishing and artist’s multiples. Visiting artists, publishers, curators and printers will discuss emerging trends in printmaking, with a special focus on the expanded printmaking technologies in the digital age. Issues such as materials, scale, cost, presentation and distribution will complement discourse concerning printmaking’s iconographic base. Students will create a body of work and interact through critique formats. Note: Open to all students.

Silkscreen, one of the most versatile and widely used methods of printmaking, will be explored through demonstrations and self-initiated projects. Painters as well as photographers will find a new way of expressing their ideas through screen printing. Images can be made using hand-drawn separations, photographic film, digital separations and photocopied images. Printing on canvas, T-shirts, wood, metal, glass, as well as large-scale works, are all possible with silkscreen. Large-scale digital output is available. Water-based silkscreen ink is used in class allowing for soap-and-water cleanup.

Silkscreen, one of the most versatile and widely used methods of printmaking, will be explored through demonstrations and self-initiated projects. Painters and photographers will find a new way of expressing their ideas through screen printing. Images can be made using hand-drawn separations, photographic film, digital separations and photocopied images. Printing on canvas, T-shirts, wood, metal and glass, as well as large-scale works, are all possible with silkscreen. Large-scale digital output is available. Water-based silkscreen ink is used in class allowing for soap-and-water cleanup.

Note: Printshop facilities are available outside of class hours.

Silkscreen changed the look of art in the early 1960s when painters like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg started combining printing and painting to make unique works of art. This transformation of a once commercial process into a multifaceted art making tool made it possible to repeat images and create unlimited variations whether on paper, canvas, plastic, glass, metal, wood or any number of other materials. Silkscreen has also incorporated the use of digital photography and computer manipulations for image making. Students will be encouraged to make the most of this wide-open process and to seek their own creative solutions. Work will be critiqued on an ongoing basis.

Using silkscreen, students will explore various ways to present print as sequential images—artists’ books, themed portfolios and comics, even fanzines. The course will cover the process from concept to finished and bound multiples. Methods of making color separations for multicolor prints using traditional hand-drawn and modern photographic techniques will be included. Bookbinding techniques will be demonstrated, such as Japanese bookbinding, accordion folding and signature binding. Large-scale digital output is available.

Using silkscreen, students will explore various ways to present print as sequential images—artists’ books, themed portfolios and comics, even fanzines. The course will cover the process from concept to finished and bound multiples. Methods of making color separations for multicolor prints using traditional hand-drawn and modern photographic techniques will be included. Bookbinding techniques will be demonstrated, such as Japanese bookbinding, accordion folding and signature binding. Large-scale digital output is available.

This advanced course will combine silkscreen printing with sculptural concerns to create large scale or three-dimensional mixed-media works. Concepts, fabrication, and sculptural edition problems will be tested and solved. We will explore tools, materials and methods, along with curating and documentation, and printing on a variety of different substrates such as plastic, metal, textiles and ceramics. Find out about decals, heat forming, embossing, pochoir and 3D printing. Get studio tips and logic. Learn about jigs for cutting and drilling. This course is a “hands-on make anything” tour de force. Field trips and guests artists are included. Note: A working knowledge of silkscreen is recommended.

This course will concentrate on the use of silkscreen to realize personal projects, print editions, multiples, posters and portfolio pieces. Emphasis will be placed on idea concept, material choices and craft. The use of hand-drawn, photographic, photocopied and digital color separation techniques will be introduced in class. Large-scale digital output is available. Water-based silkscreen ink will be used, allowing for soap-and-water cleanup.

This course will appeal to fine artists as well as graphic designers and emerging fashion designers. Demonstrations will demystify the process of printing on canvas, T-shirts or totes. Learn to use various methods of printing on fabric, from silkscreen to block printing and stencils. You will be guided through “step and repeat” color separation used in printing entire bolts of fabric, to “engineered” images for pre-made piece goods like jackets, hats and patches. Students will use textile inks that are permanent and washable for professional results. Start your own T-shirt business and know what to buy and where to buy it.

Among the first artists were shamans, mystics who created some of the earliest art to explore visionary experiences and our human relationship with the natural world. This course will look at art’s ancient roots in shamanic rituals, and see how these practices can enhance our creative and visionary skills today. Grounded in a relationship with the living world, shamans explore the mystical universe by acquiring a deeper knowledge of the self to help heal the self and society. This approach remains deeply embedded in the human psyche and continues to inspire artists. We’ll look at global indigenous traditions of shamanic art and modern art influenced by these insights. We’ll discuss related concepts such as social sculpture, research on psychology, and dreams and consciousness. And we’ll learn to create our own symbolic images, objects, installations and performance/ rituals, developing our own vocabulary of self-expression in an exploration of the personal process and visionary traditions in art. Projects can take the form of 2D, 3D and time-based media, performance and video. It will also include field trips to museums, a forest and outdoor projects at natural sites to connect with the living energies of nature.

Body casting is the art of replicating the human form in a plaster casting. Students will make body castings from live models, that will then be corrected to match the live subject. Other techniques will involve using oil-based clay to create a “skin” for the plaster. Silicone rubber will be explored for mold-making and as a casting material. Discussions will include commercial applications for body cast products, special-effects makeup, specialty costuming, animatronic characters, three-dimensional commercial sculptures and holiday event mask-making.

This course is an intensive production-based course focusing on the creation of mixed-media installations using ceramic as the starting medium. The course will be divided into two sections. The first will cover different aspects of plaster mold production and the use of liquid clay (slip) in order to produce duplicates of an object. The second section will focus on the students’ project ideas through the review of work of artists producing installation art; group and individual critiques and exhibition reviews. Once a basic knowledge of mold-making and slip casting is established, students will propose a series of projects of which some will be selected during group critiques for full production. Specific analysis of mixed media use for each student’s project will be reviewed and organized in terms of production and aesthetics during group session. Attention will be given to the context in which the installation is placed and viewed and its impact on the physical and cultural environment of society. Homework will be extensive in order to acquire an independent work ethic.

This course is an intensive production-based course focusing on the creation of mixed media installations using ceramic as the starting medium. The course will be divided into two sections. The first will cover the different aspects of plaster mold production and the use of liquid clay (slip) in order to produce duplicates of an object. The second section will focus on the students’ specific project ideas through the review of work of artists producing installation art; group and individ- ual critiques, and exhibition reviews. Once a basic knowledge of mold making and slip casting is established, students will propose a series of projects of which some will be selected during group critiques for full production. Specific analysis of mixed media use for each student’s project will be reviewed and organized in terms of production and aesthetics during group session. Attention will be given to the context in which the installation is placed and viewed and its impact on the physical and cultural environment of society. Homework will be extensive in order to enable the student to acquire an independent work ethic.

Collaborative Practices examines the role, and its challenges, of collective art-making. Students will look to art historical antecedents to observe how collaborative practices have progressed throughout art history. We will discuss and define distinctions between collectivism and collaboration, and identify key concerns of contemporary art groups/collaborations. Issues surrounding authorship, altruism, social and economic divides, relational aesthetics, studio output and internships will be emphasized. All projects will be collaboratively made and will investigate the invisible administrative labor behind studio practice, as well as tactile material processes as handled by various par ties. Key to this course will be active discussion and a willingness to let go of the artist’s hand.

Digital fabrication practices have revolutionized design and manufacturing, and are reshaping the world around us. Increasingly these tools are being employed by artist to create works previously impossible or impractical to make. This course will be an exploration of CNC (Computer Numerical Control) based fabrication and its integration into contemporary art- and object-making. It will emphasize technology such as the CNC laser cutter, CNC router and CNC plasma, and discuss various fabrication methods and refine skillsets. We will also examine how this technology affects our understanding of space and material, modes of production, and other considerations.

This course introduces methods and concepts in sculpture using state-of-the-art technology. Students will work collaboratively on sculptural installations using CNC (computer numerically controlled) and rapid prototyping machines. Each project will focus on generating a component-based system where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The final, full-scale installation will include new spatial concepts and novel materials. Software and equipment instructions will be provided. Guest lectures and studio visits are included. Note: No previous experience with digital design or advanced machining is required.

Studying the human form as a medium for making art in three-dimensional, sculptural modes is the focus of this course. The representation of the human body through traditional and nontraditional sculptural approaches will be emphasized. Projects will explore technical, aesthetic and conceptual aspects of the human figure.

You are what you eat—or are you? Do you know what is in your food? From farm to fork what happens in between? Is what the food producer tells you true? FOOD: Projects in Bio Art focuses on how food production, industrial farming and GMOs have become part of our daily life. Projects will consists of growing plants hydroponically, DNA analysis of local food, and time-lapse photography and microscopic imaging of foodstuffs. In addition, we will explore the cultural differences, taboos and evolution of eating practices.

We will look at culinary styles around the world, and their social, economic and political ramifications. We will examine urban farming, molecular cuisine, digital gastronomy, as well as pesticides and contaminates. Part forensic and part horticulture in practice, we will gather plants to extract pigments for watercolor; design food sculptures, including stencils for cakes; and use spices in novel ways. We will explore the effect microorganisms have on food— from cheese to e-coli to yogurt. From the good, the bad and the ugly, how has genetic engineering affected our lives? What effect is global warming having on food sources? Performance, painting, sculpture, public art, photography, illustration and cartooning, as well as community-based projects are welcome.

As in the past, artists today look to the history of art for inspiration. But we also want our work to communicate with more diverse audiences outside of the art world. So we appropriate the ideas and practices of disciplines that were not previously considered within the realm of art. Our projects in this course will explore these “alien” methodologies. We’ll repurpose techniques of mass production to modulate the scale and adaptability of our work. We’ll utilize film techniques to deal with issues of time compression, psychological space and storytelling. We’ll adapt developments in science to conjure the invisible or to actualize the unimaginable. We’ll investigate how the Internet and social media sites have reconfigured old notions of public and private and we’ll exploit this new virtual space in our art. The world as we know it is more complex and nuanced than it was just a generation ago. The goal of this course is to discover how art has evolved in this new environment. Students may also develop other areas of interest as a focus of their work. All practices are allowed. The course will include readings, film screenings, and other activities that relate to our studio projects.

This course is designed to give students an introductory look into creating Augmented and Virtual realities, specifically with a focus on freeform interaction. As a survey class to new technologies, students will draw parallels between being at the forefront of the technology, and how to utilize these tools into their own contemporary art practice. The class will look into AR builders, 3D object and asset libraries, open source applications, SDK (software development kits), as well as other collaborative elements of production. This course is meant for beginners with very little AR/VR/coding experience as well as more advanced students looking to expand their current practice. As a secondary element to this class, students will be posed with questions of the historical foundation of new technologies, as well as dealing with theory and practice of visual communication in an augmented realm. They’ll interact with experimental storytelling, the internet as a visual tool, post-photography, and post-internet thematics, and also the implications of introducing a 3D Digital Imaging platform like AR/VR to artistic practice. Students will present their work within a digital space and be asked to consider how their work functions from both a traditionally formal and conceptual aspect, as well as how that translates into contemporary media. From photorealism to hyper-stylization, and working with everything from texturing, lighting, rendering, photographic vantage points, topology, and more, students will learn about the wide ranges of possibilities in this new and fascinating technology, while developing their own artistic voice using these new mediums.

Prerequisite: FID-2020, Sophomore Seminar or FID-3446/7, Digital Sculpting, or instructor’s permission. Note: Open to students from all departments. 

The goal of this course is to enable students to work in metal for creating sculpture. Practical assignments will cover the fundamentals of welding, including MIG and TIG. We will explore techniques for shaping metal bars, sheets and plates (by machine and by hand), as well as how to grind, polish and finish metal, and then combine these techniques into finished projects. Students will be introduced to the computer-driven plasma cutter, which can cut steel up to a half inch in thickness.

As an introduction to the material world, this course explores diverse media and their potentialities to create volume, line and mass. Ranging from the ethereal to the fabricated, materials such as clay, plaster, cardboard, wood, resin and wire will be investigated by exercises in casting, mold-making, installation and site-specific work. Discussion will include concepts of space, gravity and light, among others, as they pertain to three-dimensional form.

This course is designed as a series of projects to encourage students to solve problems and discover working processes. Each project will begin with a discussion of contemporary artists, as well as current museum and gallery exhibitions. Various materials will be explored, from woodworking to mold-making, welding to video. We will meet for group critiques.

This workshop takes a worldview of the sculpture-making process and will show how different cultures and art forms have impacted today’s sculpture. Students will not only draw on their own personal/cultural pasts to develop ideas and make sculpture, but also to challenge or ally those ideas with different information and influences. A wide range of materials and fabrication methods are available in this course. Through critiques and slide discussions, issues of form, content and context will be examined and interpreted. The use of language as applied to sculpture is of particular interest. A partial listing of the current vernacular that we will be cataloging and assessing for our use includes: architectonic, socially concerned, outsider art, site-specific, randomness and objectness. We’ll attend exhibitions, films, lectures or performances that relate to our activities. There will also be required reading.

Sculpture without limits. Every kind of sculpture can be investigated. Every type of material can be used. Welding, building, carving, modeling, site-specific and mixed-media assemblage will be taught. Hands-on instruction and strong technical skills enable each sculptor to realize his or her own thoughts. Weekly critiques will discuss work done in class. The idea comes first and then the sculpture. Where it came from, what it means, how it got there. Visits to museums, galleries and studios will be assigned. Slide lectures will augment discussion.

This advanced course will combine silkscreen printing with sculptural concerns to create large scale or three-dimensional mixed-media works. Concepts, fabrication, and sculptural edition problems will be tested and solved. We will explore tools, materials and methods, along with curating and documentation, and printing on a variety of different substrates such as plastic, metal, textiles and ceramics. Find out about decals, heat forming, embossing, pochoir and 3D printing. Get studio tips and logic. Learn about jigs for cutting and drilling. This course is a “hands-on make anything” tour de force. Field trips and guests artists are included. Note: A working knowledge of silkscreen is recommended.

This studio course will focus on basic metalworking for creating jewelry. Techniques covered will include: soldering and annealing, metal construction and forming, polishing and stone setting, as well as decorative finishes for surface treatment of metals, such as texturing, patinas, antiquing and stamping. Each student will begin with designing and creating a ring set with a stone, followed by personal projects that employ the areas covered in class. There will be time for experimentation. Individual instruction on additional techniques such as making chains, jump rings, clasps and hooks will be given for projects that require these techniques. Assignments vary each semester and students are welcome to continue their projects from a previous course. Note: Previous design or metal experience not required.

Artists as diverse as Claes Oldenburg and Louise Bourgeois have employed soft sculpture to investigate the whimsical as well as the darker aspects of identity and the human psyche. This course is designed to integrate various processes of traditional soft sculpture with contemporary applications that utilize digital technologies. A series of demonstrations that explore 2D and 3D surfaces will introduce students to the traditional methods of sewing, felting, dyeing, knotting, and weaving. Digital demonstrations will explore pattern design for laser cutting, digital embroidery and textile design that can be outsourced to print. Students are invited to create work using these applications in isolation or in combination.

Through exploration and invention, and by embracing all media, students will engage in a critical discourse about what is happening in real time in the visual arts now, through their work. A fully mixed-media orientation is receptive to all students, including those who are primarily painters, photographers or video-makers, performers, etc., and to all approaches. The emphasis is on enabling students to experiment with a full range of traditional, unconventional and exotic materials, techniques and ideas: digital fabrication, audio, electricity, fluids, mechanical parts, photomontage, optics, metal, paper, wood. The development of student concepts and personal interests will be strongly supported. Our thinking will be placed in contemporary and historical context through presentations of visual and textual resources: slide shows, video, articles, Web-based online materials and a weekly update on current exhibitions. Among the many ideas that will be explored are: perception, transformation, performance, the body and language, as well as the environmental, political and site-specific in art. Resources will be discussed and extensive technical help will be provided. There will be group critiques. Instruction will be on an individual basis.

From low-tech projection to high-tech immersive environments, video installation has become a dominant medium for contemporary artists. Drawing from the history of film and video art, the students will explore some of the different techniques of analog and digital media in their work in the digital lab. This course will focus on developing students’ knowledge of video installation and encourage experimentation with a variety of approaches to the projected image. Students will generate four projects throughout the semester. We will meet regularly as a group and on a one-on-one basis to discuss current exhibitions, readings and student projects, and screen film/video work by some of the major figures in the field. The remaining time will be spent in the studio/lab. Students are encouraged to incorporate their personal interests and perspectives into their work. Projects will relate to ideas and forms of light projection from conception and production to display and distribution; creative relationships between visual and audio; the physicality of light; narrative and non-narrative structure; original and appropriated material; public and private exhibition; interaction with performance and objects/sculpture. The course will touch on issues of gender, social and political activism, and the history of media communication.

Video mapping (or spatial augmented reality) is an exciting projection medium that
can turn almost any surface, regardless of its shape and size, into a dynamic video
display. This course is intended for students who want to move into this powerful,
creative medium and will focus on exploring popular video mapping software
and hardware technology. Students will create a video-mapping project that will
be featured on an architectural space in Manhattan. Note: Open to students from
all departments.

This course is a continuation of FID-3634, Video Mapping Art. Having explored the techniques of basic video mapping, students will proceed into advanced augmented reality theory and practice. This course will examine techniques in spatial scanning, multi-projector systems, projecting in moving objects, Kinect-based augmented reality installations, Colossal outdoors video projections and multiplatform performance environments. In addition, students will be introduced to specialized digital tools for video mapping such as TouchDesigner, HeavyM, Z Vector, DynaMapper (for iPad), TorsionSoft, Millumin, VPT (Video Projection Tools), LPMT (Little Projecting-Mapping Tool), Resolume Arena 4, Arkaos GrandVJ XT and Visution Mapio 2 Pro. Students will complete a project based in video mapping, which integrates course material in interesting and meaningful ways. To this end, at least half of the class time will be allocated for working on these projects with guidance from the instructor.

This course will explore fashion as conceptual art on the canvas of the body. We will explore how to design and create clothing and costumes; how to adapt and design patterns; sew and construct garments and accessories; decorate with paint and dye, printed photos, appliqué, embroidery, beadwork, neon wire, quilting and stuffing; and explore experimental and soft sculpture techniques. Students may also work with props and backdrops, special effects makeup, and other elements to create a complete look. Art fashion can be exhibited as art, or used to create characters for performance, photographs and videos, or to develop your own iconic look and become a living work of art.

Digital embroidery transforms a hand-crafted couture into a fine arts media. Just like a tattoo where an image is created with color and needles, the embroidered fabric or paper is needle-stitched in colored threads. The image is a file that can be saved and repeated as a multiple or repeat pattern. The course will cover digital sewing using registration applications. Techniques related to fashion and the fine arts will be explored. A visit to a commercial embroidery atelier will be at the conclusion of the course.

Limited to 12 students

Artists as diverse as Claes Oldenburg and Louise Bourgeois have employed soft sculpture to investigate the whimsical as well as the darker aspects of identity and the human psyche. This course is designed to integrate various processes of traditional soft sculpture with contemporary applications that utilize digital technologies. A series of demonstrations that explore 2D and 3D surfaces will introduce students to the traditional methods of sewing, felting, dyeing, knotting, and weaving. Digital demonstrations will explore pattern design for laser cutting, digital embroidery and textile design that can be outsourced to print. Students are invited to create work using these applications in isolation or in combination.

This course will appeal to fine artists as well as graphic designers and emerging fashion designers. Demonstrations will demystify the process of printing on canvas, T-shirts or totes. Learn to use various methods of printing on fabric, from silkscreen to block printing and stencils. You will be guided through “step and repeat” color separation used in printing entire bolts of fabric, to “engineered” images for pre-made piece goods like jackets, hats and patches. Students will use textile inks that are permanent and washable for professional results. Start your own T-shirt business and know what to buy and where to buy it.

This course will explore fashion as conceptual art on the canvas of the body. We will explore how to design and create clothing and costumes; how to adapt and design patterns; sew and construct garments and accessories; decorate with paint and dye, printed photos, appliqué, embroidery, beadwork, neon wire, quilting and stuffing; and explore experimental and soft sculpture techniques. Students may also work with props and backdrops, special effects makeup, and other elements to create a complete look. Art fashion can be exhibited as art, or used to create characters for performance, photographs and videos, or to develop your own iconic look and become a living work of art.

Collaborative Practices examines the role, and its challenges, of collective art-making. Students will look to art historical antecedents to observe how collaborative practices have progressed throughout art history. We will discuss and define distinctions between collectivism and collaboration, and identify key concerns of contemporary art groups/collaborations. Issues surrounding authorship, altruism, social and economic divides, relational aesthetics, studio output and internships will be emphasized. All projects will be collaboratively made and will investigate the invisible administrative labor behind studio practice, as well as tactile material processes as handled by various par ties. Key to this course will be active discussion and a willingness to let go of the artist’s hand.

What is referred to as “video art” has become a ubiquitous feature of 21st-century art practice, yet it is an art form whose emergence is still a relatively fresh aspect of contemporary art history. This course will explore the origins of video art, examining its sources in film, photography and performance art. Through screenings of key works; discussion with artists, critics and curators, and in directed readings, students will be exposed to important works and individuals associated with the first two decades of video. Special attention will be paid to an understanding of the cultural and social context that supported the emergence of video art. We will focus upon the evolution of video art from both a technological perspective as well as the development of a video’s critical and institutional framework. Artists whose works will be viewed and discussed include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Peter Campus, Vito Acconci, Frank Gillette, Juan Downey, Joan Jonas, Chris Burden, Lynda Benglis, Stan, Ira Schneider, Andy Mann, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Shigeko Kubota, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Mary Lucier, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ilene Segalove, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Dara Birnbaum, Ant Farm, TVTV, Videofreex, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Graham, Doug Hall, Richard Serra, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and Ernie Kovacs.

As video art became more widely accepted and the tools became increasingly affordable and available, the medium quickly emerged as a primary site for the global dialogue that characterizes contemporary art practice. Among the topics to be addressed in this screening, lecture and discussion course will be the emer- gence of Asian, Latin American and European Video Art, the continued develop- ment of sculptural video installation work and the emergence of the market for video art. The blurring of the lines among video art digital art forms, digital cinema and art made for the Internet will also be addressed. Artists whose works will be viewed and discussed include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Peter Campus, Vito Acconci, Frank Gillette, Juan Downey, Joan Jonas, Chris Burden, Lynda Benglis, Stan, Ira Schneider, Andy Mann, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Shigeko Kubota, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Mary Lucier, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ilene Segalove, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Dara Birnbaum, Ant Farm, TVTV, Videofreex, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Graham, Doug Hall, Richard Serra, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and Ernie Kovacs. Prerequisite: AHD-2302, History of Video Art: 1965 to 1985.

HDD-3200-B
Fall semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: J. Jacobson
This course will examine art since the late 1960s with an emphasis on the ideas of canonical artists, as well as those who are beginning to receive recognition. Minimal, postminimal, conceptual, pop and other genres will be thoroughly surveyed and considered in relation to current artistic practices. We will also examine thematic issues such as myth-making, do-it-yourself, self-criticism, with- drawal and, particularly, what artists, historians and critics mean by “contemporary art.” Throughout the semester, we will discuss and read critical texts and artists’ writings appropriate to each subject; students will make regular visits to museums, galleries, studios and other art spaces. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority registration for this course.

Fall semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: M. Gal
A thorough survey of the visual arts will be provided in this course, as well as the philosophies of art, of the last four decades. The goal is to thoroughly familiarize students with the visual arts, and attendant ideas, beginning with the American art of the 1960s and concluding with contemporary art. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority registration for this course.

HDD-3200-C
Fall semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: B. Mathes
This course will focus on the social and political nature of postmodern art, from the tumultuous 1960s to the present. Issues of race, class, gender and sexuality will be considered alongside more philosophical considerations such as the notion of what constitutes “art,” the meaning of originality and authorship and the changing role of popular culture in art. We will study various styles, conceptual approaches and subcultures that have had significant influence, such as pop and performance-based art to postminimalism and the East Village scene. Emphasis will be placed on American artists, and there will be regular visits to galleries and museums. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority registration
for this course.

HDD-3200-D
Spring semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: S. Paul
This course will investigate contemporary art, from pop art to postmodernism. Beginning with the 1960s, which witnessed the birth of pop art, minimalism, postminimalism and conceptual art, we will study how these movements continue to be relevant today. Readings include primary texts and critical works. There will be visits to museums and gallery exhibitions. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority registration for this course.

HDD-3200-E
Spring semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: R. Morgan
As the title for the course suggests, “ideas” are an intrinsic aspect of art and the aesthetic process. The focus will be given to ideas, both as intentional ingredients within works of art and as critical responses given to various works by artists, crit- ics, art historians and theorists—primarily through an examination of the art and writing of the past four decades. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority regis- tration for this course.

As in the past, artists today look to the history of art for inspiration. But we also want our work to communicate with more diverse audiences outside of the art world. So we appropriate the ideas and practices of disciplines that were not previously considered within the realm of art. Our projects in this course will explore these “alien” methodologies. We’ll repurpose techniques of mass production to modulate the scale and adaptability of our work. We’ll utilize film techniques to deal with issues of time compression, psychological space and storytelling. We’ll adapt developments in science to conjure the invisible or to actualize the unimaginable. We’ll investigate how the Internet and social media sites have reconfigured old notions of public and private and we’ll exploit this new virtual space in our art. The world as we know it is more complex and nuanced than it was just a generation ago. The goal of this course is to discover how art has evolved in this new environment. Students may also develop other areas of interest as a focus of their work. All practices are allowed. The course will include readings, film screenings, and other activities that relate to our studio projects.

This seminar will introduce important concepts relative to future art practices, and address such questions as: Do you stand there with nothing to say or are you getting everything you can from your critiques and giving your fellow students everything you’ve got? This course is designed to give you the tools for a successful studio visit. Through a series of exercises, you will learn how to have a more meaningful dialogue with the most cantankerous critic, how to talk about your work and the work of others, how to process the input you receive, and how to manage the emotions around your work.

Limited to 15 students

This course maps the major movements and tendencies in modern art beginning with the realism of Courbet in the 19th century and continuing into the 20th century, including impressionism, postimpressionism, symbolism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, expressionism, Dada and surrealism. The art will be discussed in terms of the individual artist’s intent as well as in terms of historical events and cultural issues at the times in which they were created. Museum field trips are an important part of the course.

*Note: AHI-2020-A, Modern Art Through Pop I, is available only to international students whose first language is not English. Registration is by placement only; please consult with your academic advisor.

This course is a survey of art from the emergence of “modernism” through the radical transformations in established modes of art-making of the postwar period. Close attention will be paid to the social, political and economic contexts in which artistic styles and forms have materialized, grown or changed from mid-century to the present.

*Note: AHI-2025-A, Modern Art Through Pop II, is available only to international students whose first language is not English. Registration is by placement only; please consult with your academic advisor.

Limited to 20 students per section
This course is intended for students who wish to pursue graduate studies, artistin-residence programs and gallery representation. Topics will include: writing an artist’s statement, grant proposals, an analysis of art galleries, applying to graduate schools and portfolio presentation. Note: Open to senior fine arts majors only.

Instructor: J. Avgikos
Unlike the historical avant-garde that situated itself outside of mass culture, today’s emerging avant-garde art seems to anticipate ways of working from within and in relation to mass culture. Art is steadily moving out from the “white cube” to participate in a global continuum that’s hosted by satellite TV and cable, the Internet, all forms of wireless communication and international biennials. The fractious history of art and mass culture has grown exponentially within the past two decades in direct proportion to the invention of new imaging technologies and the development of global economies. This course proposes to examine the scant, but rich, history of relations between art and mass culture, and to chart the rise of media-related art. We will immerse ourselves in screenings of contemporary video/multimedia work of the past two decades and seek out as many pertinent exhibitions as we can throughout the semester. We will also read interviews with artists and curators, as well as texts on media theory, globalism and the like. Note: Senior fine arts and visual and critical studies majors have priority registration for this course.

Instructor: C. Matlin
This course is about the ideas and thinkers you might have missed while in art school. Some texts may be familiar, many will not. The aim of the course is to fill in the gaps in your reading knowledge. To this end, we will read some of the major texts in 19th- and 20th-century aesthetic and art historical thought: Alexis de Tocqueville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Clement Greenberg, Raymond Williams, Judith Butler, Griselda Pollock, and more. We will try to refrain from reading ourselves backward into the text, as anachronism has no place here. Instead, we will use the texts as a guidepost for our understanding of our current world, whether art-related or not. As such, the inclusion of art and artists into the discussion is encouraged. Note: Senior fine arts and visual and critical studies majors have priority registration for this course.

Instructors: S. Ellis, M. Levenstein
This course will examine the evolution of painting practice and theory since the advent of pluralism and postmodernism in the early 1970s. During this period, the medium was confronted with challenges from almost every faction within critical discourse. Rather than disappearing under this onslaught, as was widely predicted through much of the 20th century, the medium adapted to its new context, found ways to absorb many of the critical arguments directed against it and, in the process, re-imagined its potential for confronting contemporary experience. We will consider this history up to the present in assigned texts and exhibitions as well as in studio discussion of student work.

Instructor: M. Gal
The purpose of this course is to reflect upon the relationships among art, information and politics. While art is often perceived by both artists and audiences as unrelated to and independent of politics and social history, we will examine how social contexts can impact aesthetics. Through your own projects and other artists’ work we will explore the current realities within which your images are made. We will specifically discuss the following questions: Is art history merely the history of the affluent taste? During war can we afford having merely iconographic interests? What aesthetic outlets are available, or could be made available, for contemporary artists? Is explicitly political art necessarily propaganda and is apolitical art free of ideology? How much fiction is there in documentary and vice versa? We will look at artworks produced by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and others; we will watch international documentaries such as The Battle of Algiers and Hairpiece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People, and readings will range from Ways of Seeing to Fast Food Nation. Note: Senior fine arts and visual and critical studies majors have priority registration for this course.

Instructor: C. Kotik
In the 1960s, installation art became a prominent tool for many artists to convey their ideas about the changing structure of society, the art market and, above all, art itself. The temporal and site-specific aspects of installation work corresponded well to the flux of artists’ ideas. The practice of creating installations or environments has roots in history that can be traced back to the Counter-Reformation. This course will review the history of this medium, concentrating above all on the renewed interest in installations in the 1980s and emphasizing current work of both well- and lesser-known installation artists. Lectures, museum trips and gallery visits will be included. Note: Senior fine arts and visual and critical studies majors have priority registration for this course.

This is so contemporary is the title of an artwork by Tino Sehgal that is a reflection on contemporary art. But what is contemporary art? What is a contemporary artist? And what is required to be successful in the contemporary art world? These questions will guide students to find their place as emerging artists. The course begins with a series of visits to artists’ studios and talks with artists about their art, the process of finding subject matter, and what it means to be a contemporary artist. We will also visit museums, galleries, exhibition spaces, gardens, alternative art spaces and
private collections to view artworks and to discuss the demands for contemporary artists. As an accompaniment to all of this we will read short texts about art and discuss the current situation of art. Student will make a presentation about their art and will receive material specific to their own art production. Moreover each student will keep an artist’s journal with visuals inspired by course material.

This course is for students who already have a basic foundation in etching and monoprint techniques and want to take their skills to the next level. Advanced techniques such as three-plate color registration prints, transparent color roll-ups, viscosity printing, hand applied and blended surface color techniques, spit-biting, and a refinement of black-and-white techniques for line work, including hard ground, aquatint and soft ground will be covered. Prerequisite: FID-2841/FID-2842, Etching and Monoprint as Illustration, or equivalent.

In this course, students will define their own priorities in paint. The emphasis will be on creating a dialogue within each student’s body of work while continuing to explore new artistic territory. Studio time is stressed: how best to further identify and realize one’s goals, how to organize one’s efforts, how to work both intellectually and physically in the studio, and how to communicate one’s intentions. Individual instruction will be given with the encouragement of an exchange between fellow students. We will explore various media to further inform and advance painting efforts. Students will be asked to use New York’s vast cultural resources on a regular basis. The understanding of our visual culture, the evolution of our creative working process and the ability to communicate our ideas are the means toward future study. Models will be available as required.

In this advanced silkscreen course, students will pursue an ambitious semesterlength book project or series—from concept to finished and bound multiples. Various ways to present silkscreen prints as sequential images will be explored, including books, themed portfolios and comics. Bookbinding techniques will be covered, including Japanese bookbinding, accordion fold and multiple-signature binding methods. Large-scale digital output is available. Prerequisite: At least one silkscreen course, or instructor’s permission

This course will begin with the skeleton, and students will learn about and internalize the structure, form and movement of the body in an effort toward making more informed drawings of the live model. A portion of the course will focus on the comparative anatomy of animals.

Anatomy can offer a concrete structure for drawing and painting the human figure. This course relates the study of the skeleton and the muscles to the live model. It will concentrate on the skeletal system in the fall semester and the muscles in the spring semester. Students will complete three life-size drawings of the human skeletal system, which will include views of the skull, torso and extremities, establishing the core of the human figure. Two triptychs, each consisting of a nude, muscular and skeletal drawing of a male and a female body, will be completed. We will learn the landmarks of the skeletal system, their relationship to the muscular system and how they work together to define the human form. An anatomy text such as Albinus on Anatomy by Hale and Coyle or Anatomy for the Artist by Jeno Barcsay is required.

This course will begin with the skeleton, and students will learn about and internalize the structure, form and movement of the body in an effort toward making more informed drawings of the live model. A portion of the course will focus on the comparative anatomy of animals.

Anatomy can offer a concrete structure for drawing and painting the human figure. This course relates the study of the skeleton and the muscles to the live model. It will concentrate on the skeletal system in the fall semester and the muscles in the spring semester. Students will complete three life-size drawings of the human skeletal system, which will include views of the skull, torso and extremities, establishing the core of the human figure. Two triptychs, each consisting of a nude, muscular and skeletal drawing of a male and a female body, will be completed. We will learn the landmarks of the skeletal system, their relationship to the muscular system and how they work together to define the human form. An anatomy text such as Albinus on Anatomy by Hale and Coyle or Anatomy for the Artist by Jeno Barcsay is required.

Among the first artists were shamans, mystics who created some of the earliest art to explore visionary experiences and our human relationship with the natural world. This course will look at art’s ancient roots in shamanic rituals, and see how these practices can enhance our creative and visionary skills today. Grounded in a relationship with the living world, shamans explore the mystical universe by acquiring a deeper knowledge of the self to help heal the self and society. This approach remains deeply embedded in the human psyche and continues to inspire artists. We’ll look at global indigenous traditions of shamanic art and modern art influenced by these insights. We’ll discuss related concepts such as social sculpture, research on psychology, and dreams and consciousness. And we’ll learn to create our own symbolic images, objects, installations and performance/ rituals, developing our own vocabulary of self-expression in an exploration of the personal process and visionary traditions in art. Projects can take the form of 2D, 3D and time-based media, performance and video. It will also include field trips to museums, a forest and outdoor projects at natural sites to connect with the living energies of nature.

Body casting is the art of replicating the human form in a plaster casting. Students will make body castings from live models, that will then be corrected to match the live subject. Other techniques will involve using oil-based clay to create a “skin” for the plaster. Silicone rubber will be explored for mold-making and as a casting material. Discussions will include commercial applications for body cast products, special-effects makeup, specialty costuming, animatronic characters, three-dimensional commercial sculptures and holiday event mask-making.

This course will explore the use various techniques in relief printing—woodcut, linoleum, monoprint—to create original artist books or portfolios of prints. There will be demonstrations in both traditional hand-cut relief techniques as well as the use of digital cutting starting from Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator files. Color separation techniques and the use of overlapping color will be demonstrated. Students will have the option to create editions of each work or to work in a series of unique monoprints. Various bookbinding techniques and styles will be covered.

This course is an intensive production-based course focusing on the creation of mixed-media installations using ceramic as the starting medium. The course will be divided into two sections. The first will cover different aspects of plaster mold production and the use of liquid clay (slip) in order to produce duplicates of an object. The second section will focus on the students’ project ideas through the review of work of artists producing installation art; group and individual critiques and exhibition reviews. Once a basic knowledge of mold-making and slip casting is established, students will propose a series of projects of which some will be selected during group critiques for full production. Specific analysis of mixed media use for each student’s project will be reviewed and organized in terms of production and aesthetics during group session. Attention will be given to the context in which the installation is placed and viewed and its impact on the physical and cultural environment of society. Homework will be extensive in order to acquire an independent work ethic.

This course is an intensive production-based course focusing on the creation of mixed media installations using ceramic as the starting medium. The course will be divided into two sections. The first will cover the different aspects of plaster mold production and the use of liquid clay (slip) in order to produce duplicates of an object. The second section will focus on the students’ specific project ideas through the review of work of artists producing installation art; group and individ- ual critiques, and exhibition reviews. Once a basic knowledge of mold making and slip casting is established, students will propose a series of projects of which some will be selected during group critiques for full production. Specific analysis of mixed media use for each student’s project will be reviewed and organized in terms of production and aesthetics during group session. Attention will be given to the context in which the installation is placed and viewed and its impact on the physical and cultural environment of society. Homework will be extensive in order to enable the student to acquire an independent work ethic.

Collaborative Practices examines the role, and its challenges, of collective art-making. Students will look to art historical antecedents to observe how collaborative practices have progressed throughout art history. We will discuss and define distinctions between collectivism and collaboration, and identify key concerns of contemporary art groups/collaborations. Issues surrounding authorship, altruism, social and economic divides, relational aesthetics, studio output and internships will be emphasized. All projects will be collaboratively made and will investigate the invisible administrative labor behind studio practice, as well as tactile material processes as handled by various par ties. Key to this course will be active discussion and a willingness to let go of the artist’s hand.

This course will focus on the many ways of working with color and inking processes in etching. Traditional and contemporary techniques, including drypoint, hard ground, soft ground, lift ground, white ground and aquatint, will be used to capture the qualities of pen and ink, crayon and brush. These processes can be combined on a single plate or with multiple plates to create layered depths of color and texture. Inking techniques include intaglio, surface rolls, stencils and viscosity—a method of applying multiple colors on a single plate. Chine collé, collagraphs, monotypes, Xerox transfers, offsetting and three-dimensional prints will be demonstrated, along with photo-etching processes. Print on various papers, canvas, silk, aluminum, and other surfaces to make one-of-a-kind prints, editions, collages and mixed-media works.

This course is for painters who want to work with materials, processes and techniques other than, or in addition to, traditional techniques of brush and paint on canvas. Students can explore collage, assemblage, relief, wall sculpture, fresco, in situ wall paintings, new media and other approaches to extending the dimensionality of painting’s surface. Any material can be used: fabrics, wood, metals, plaster, plastics, found objects, etc. We will critically examine differences between painting and sculpture in the context of picture plane, opticality, illusion, realness and objectness, and the way these terms are defined art historically, and look at how artists today engage these traditions. Photographs of this course can be viewed at rpasvaphotos.com. Note: An assortment of hand tools and power tools are available for fabrication of projects, as well as access to the sculpture studio.

Image-based work is the predominate form of painting today. It can range from simple figuration to highly resolved illusionistic painting, with many divergent alternatives in between. Much of the current work is photographically derived. This course will explore the full range of modes of representation, with an emphasis on the photograph as a source. The use of photographic information, from media-based imagery through digital alteration will be considered. We will cover the ways that photography is both similar to and different from direct observation. Particular emphasis will be placed on helping students to match their technique to their sources and to defining the underlying content. A variety of imagery, media and content will be thoughtfully considered. Contemporary use of historical techniques will be demonstrated.

This course is for students interested in developing painterly and drawn images using copper-plate etching techniques. Copper is a soft, sensitive and responsive metal that is able to capture all the graphic and tonal subtleties of drawing and painting. Students will discover new forms of expression by learning how to build an image through drawing and layering. Intaglio techniques, including hard ground, soft ground, spit-bite, white ground, sugar lift, and open bite will be covered. All processes will be demonstrated and applied through self-initiated etching projects.

This course will focus on cut-and-paste techniques as they are employed in imagemaking. The traditional underpinnings of collage will be investigated as a common thread to rethink, reposition and rework images and sound. Analog and digital approaches will be used to create a synthesis between popular and art-historical forms of collage. The course will be content driven and employ narrative, non-linear, representational and symbolic approaches to collage. We will begin using print media, then merge print with other mediums (paint, pastels, textures, found objects) to create mixed-media projects. We will transition into photo and digital collage/montage to analyze media as it has been used in the past and as it has developed with the advent of the Internet. Additionally, the course will explore cut-and-paste techniques using Photoshop, audio mash-ups and remixes.

This course will look at alternative visions of the art process as a cabinet of curiosities. Cell phones, computers, digital cameras, macro-videography—if you can film it, we will use it. Devices that produce an array of visual imagery are now embraced by art. From high-quality to low-res pixilated imagery, projects will range from self-portraits to group portraits, social/political content, gender and sexuality, psychological and cultural experiments, the conventional vs. the subversive, darkness and light. Students will also learn to incorporate music/soundscapes as an integral part of their work. Projects will investigate what stories you want to tell by using a variety of approaches and genres. Point of view, subjectivity, lighting, image quality, black-and-white vs. color, sound or silence—all are considerations that will be emphasized and implemented.

Digital fabrication practices have revolutionized design and manufacturing, and are reshaping the world around us. Increasingly these tools are being employed by artist to create works previously impossible or impractical to make. This course will be an exploration of CNC (Computer Numerical Control) based fabrication and its integration into contemporary art- and object-making. It will emphasize technology such as the CNC laser cutter, CNC router and CNC plasma, and discuss various fabrication methods and refine skillsets. We will also examine how this technology affects our understanding of space and material, modes of production, and other considerations.

This course introduces methods and concepts in sculpture using state-of-the-art technology. Students will work collaboratively on sculptural installations using CNC (computer numerically controlled) and rapid prototyping machines. Each project will focus on generating a component-based system where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The final, full-scale installation will include new spatial concepts and novel materials. Software and equipment instructions will be provided. Guest lectures and studio visits are included. Note: No previous experience with digital design or advanced machining is required.

FID-2131 / FID-2132
Instructor: B. DePalma
The premise of this course is that drawing constitutes the fundamental basis of all visual language. As such, drawing will be explored through the development of both technical skills and concepts. Dialogues will revolve around contemporary visual issues. Work will involve the use of all media. Experimentation and invention will be stressed. Drawing will be viewed as a primary vehicle through which an artist grows in the struggle for freedom of expression.

FID-2153 / FID-2154
Instructor: B. Larsen
In this course, students will develop ideas conceptually and physically. The first step is to deconstruct a book and reconstruct it as an idea book or journal (with a variety of papers), which will become a personal encyclopedia of ideas. The fall semester will emphasize recognition (history of drawing included), documentation (personal record keeping) and making drawings. The spring semester continues these practices while also advancing presentation skills (matting, framing, documentation and storage of artworks). During the first hour of each session we will meet as a group to share our books and then work on drawing projects, with individual instruction available. Models will be available for a portion of most class sessions. Documentary films on Andy Goldsworthy, Jean Cocteau (Orpheus), Francis Bacon and Andy Warhol will be shown.

FID-2159-A
Instructor: S. DeFrank
What does it mean to draw? How is drawing relevant in today’s art world? This course is about the experience of drawing and looking at drawings and about the possibilities of extending our traditional ideas concerning the limits of drawings. We will attempt to answer these questions through a series of discussions and exercises in and out of class. All types of materials are encouraged. Figurative and abstract imagery will be examined.

FID-3113-A
Instructor: D. Chow
This course studies the application of pigments to the surface of paper and equivalent materials. This implies the history and practice of drawing, as seen from different points of view. The course stresses looking as a process of perception and invention of inner and outer images and the observation of the work in its making.  Limited to 20 students

Focusing on the perceptual skills involved in image-making, this course will examine drawing as an act of producing independent works of art and as a preparatory process in organizing a finished work. Assigned projects will explore the formal elements of art, such as line, space, scale and texture. Materials will include pencil, charcoal, pen-and-ink and wash, among others. Projects range from the figure and still life, for example, to mapping and storyboarding.

This is the second part of a two-semester course. Focusing on the perceptual skills involved in image-making, this course will examine drawing as an act of producing independent works of art and as a preparatory process in organizing a finished work. Assigned projects will explore the formal elements of art, such as line, space, scale and texture. Materials will include pencil, charcoal, pen-and-ink and wash, among others. Projects range from the figure and still life, for example, to mapping and storyboarding.

If you’ve ever wanted to experiment with robotics, to make a video that “knows” when someone is watching it, or build a sculpture that beeps when you touch it, this is the course for you. In this course, students will construct several electronics projects that illustrate the possibilities of physical computing, and to provide students with tools for further exploration. Using Max/MSP/Jitter we will build custom electronics and program these microcontrollers to create strange and meaningful forms of interaction. Note: No prior programming or soldering experience is required, but an interest in accessing your inner mad scientist is a must. 

A continuation of FID-3611, Electronics and Interactivity I, in this course students will design their own projects with custom electronic circuitry and custom software. Students will use relatively simple electronic circuits and basic computer programming to develop rich and meaningful interactive sculpture, installation and audio/video works. How to program Arduino microcontrollers to respond to various kinds of sensors will be explored, and students will work with Cycling ‘74 Max/MSP/Jitter to control and respond to digital video, audio and other types of data. Prerequisite: FID-3611, Electronics and Interactivity I, or equivalent experience building circuits, programming microcontrollers (e.g., PIC, Javelin, BASIC Stamp 2) and some knowledge of Max/MSP/Jitter. Note: Midyear entry with instructors’ permission.

Digital embroidery transforms a hand-crafted couture into a fine arts media. Just like a tattoo where an image is created with color and needles, the embroidered fabric or paper is needle-stitched in colored threads. The image is a file that can be saved and repeated as a multiple or repeat pattern. The course will cover digital sewing using registration applications. Techniques related to fashion and the fine arts will be explored. A visit to a commercial embroidery atelier will be at the conclusion of the course.

Limited to 12 students

This in-depth etching course explores the wide range of materials and techniques used to create the linear, tonal and photographic images of the intaglio print. Basic techniques cover line etching for pen-and-ink effects, drypoint for velvety lines, soft ground for both crayon-like lines and textures, aquatint for tones and lift grounds for the quality of watercolor. Inking techniques include black-and-white and color intaglio, à la poupée, stenciling, and chine collé for added color and texture. All processes will be discussed and demonstrated, along with photo etching techniques, monoprints, collagraphs and carborundum prints. Students will develop the skills to proof, edition and curate prints. On-going critiques will be included.

This course will introduce students to numerous basic etching and monoprint techniques, including hard ground, soft ground, aquatint and color printing. Once students become familiar with functioning in a print shop, they will learn to use prints as a viable technique for fine illustration. The emphasis will be on experimentation and personal expression. We will discuss the early relationship of printmaking to illustration, and will study and discuss specific illustrators who use printmaking as a final technique for answering illustration problems.

Studying the human form as a medium for making art in three-dimensional, sculptural modes is the focus of this course. The representation of the human body through traditional and nontraditional sculptural approaches will be emphasized. Projects will explore technical, aesthetic and conceptual aspects of the human figure.

This course will focus on the model. We will concentrate on the figure in space, how to structure a picture, the use of the picture plane as an organizing tool, and plastic form. We’ll use charcoal and then diversify media and scale. In the spring semester, students will approach the figure very directly, and then be encouraged to use the figure as a catalyst to explore other themes. Through direct observation, students will be encouraged to work with diverse materials as a means with which to approach the act of drawing.

Using a model, this course will begin with 10 one-minute poses and then move into a series of 20-minute poses. All materials are acceptable: watercolor, pencil, and pen-and-ink, among others. And all styles are welcome. Students will develop their own distinctive process.

You are what you eat—or are you? Do you know what is in your food? From farm to fork what happens in between? Is what the food producer tells you true? FOOD: Projects in Bio Art focuses on how food production, industrial farming and GMOs have become part of our daily life. Projects will consists of growing plants hydroponically, DNA analysis of local food, and time-lapse photography and microscopic imaging of foodstuffs. In addition, we will explore the cultural differences, taboos and evolution of eating practices.

We will look at culinary styles around the world, and their social, economic and political ramifications. We will examine urban farming, molecular cuisine, digital gastronomy, as well as pesticides and contaminates. Part forensic and part horticulture in practice, we will gather plants to extract pigments for watercolor; design food sculptures, including stencils for cakes; and use spices in novel ways. We will explore the effect microorganisms have on food— from cheese to e-coli to yogurt. From the good, the bad and the ugly, how has genetic engineering affected our lives? What effect is global warming having on food sources? Performance, painting, sculpture, public art, photography, illustration and cartooning, as well as community-based projects are welcome.

From the decipherment of the human genome to industrialized food production, science has spilled out of the laboratory into our lives. As scientists engage in molecular engineering, the corporeal body and the manipulation of life forms have become a public and aesthetic discourse unto themselves. This course will examine intersections between laboratory practices and visual art production. Projects will employ video microscopes and scanning devices, scientific specimen collections, plant tissue engineering, new anatomical models and molecular cuisine. In addition, each student will design their own terrarium with fish, aquatic plants and/or micro eco-systems. Field trips and guest lecturers will complement course material. Students may work in a variety of media, from drawing and painting to the digital and performing arts.

Tracing the animal kingdom from jellyfish to insects to humans, students will gain a working knowledge of comparative animal anatomy. The focus will be on vertebrates (reptiles, birds, and mammals) and the morphological differences which constitute groups, families and individual species. There will be discussions on ecology, evolution and the depiction of animals throughout art history. Students will work from specimens from the SVA Bio Art Lab, on-location drawings and photos.

Silkscreen is ideal for making bold, iconic images. This course will cover all aspects of the silkscreen process, including making separations by hand and by computer and printing on various media. Students will learn how to use silkscreen as a tool for strengthening their image-making abilities and color sense.

What is referred to as “video art” has become a ubiquitous feature of 21st-century art practice, yet it is an art form whose emergence is still a relatively fresh aspect of contemporary art history. This course will explore the origins of video art, examining its sources in film, photography and performance art. Through screenings of key works; discussion with artists, critics and curators, and in directed readings, students will be exposed to important works and individuals associated with the first two decades of video. Special attention will be paid to an understanding of the cultural and social context that supported the emergence of video art. We will focus upon the evolution of video art from both a technological perspective as well as the development of a video’s critical and institutional framework. Artists whose works will be viewed and discussed include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Peter Campus, Vito Acconci, Frank Gillette, Juan Downey, Joan Jonas, Chris Burden, Lynda Benglis, Stan, Ira Schneider, Andy Mann, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Shigeko Kubota, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Mary Lucier, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ilene Segalove, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Dara Birnbaum, Ant Farm, TVTV, Videofreex, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Graham, Doug Hall, Richard Serra, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and Ernie Kovacs.

As video art became more widely accepted and the tools became increasingly affordable and available, the medium quickly emerged as a primary site for the global dialogue that characterizes contemporary art practice. Among the topics to be addressed in this screening, lecture and discussion course will be the emer- gence of Asian, Latin American and European Video Art, the continued develop- ment of sculptural video installation work and the emergence of the market for video art. The blurring of the lines among video art digital art forms, digital cinema and art made for the Internet will also be addressed. Artists whose works will be viewed and discussed include Nam June Paik, Wolf Vostell, Bruce Nauman, Yoko Ono, Peter Campus, Vito Acconci, Frank Gillette, Juan Downey, Joan Jonas, Chris Burden, Lynda Benglis, Stan, Ira Schneider, Andy Mann, Martha Rosler, Allan Sekula, Shigeko Kubota, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Mary Lucier, Woody and Steina Vasulka, Ilene Segalove, William Wegman, Tony Oursler, Muntadas, Keith Sonnier, Bruce and Norman Yonemoto, Dara Birnbaum, Ant Farm, TVTV, Videofreex, Marcel Odenbach, Dan Graham, Doug Hall, Richard Serra, Terry Fox, Howard Fried, Paul Kos, Paul McCarthy, Mike Kelley and Ernie Kovacs. Prerequisite: AHD-2302, History of Video Art: 1965 to 1985.

HDD-3200-B
Fall semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: J. Jacobson
This course will examine art since the late 1960s with an emphasis on the ideas of canonical artists, as well as those who are beginning to receive recognition. Minimal, postminimal, conceptual, pop and other genres will be thoroughly surveyed and considered in relation to current artistic practices. We will also examine thematic issues such as myth-making, do-it-yourself, self-criticism, with- drawal and, particularly, what artists, historians and critics mean by “contemporary art.” Throughout the semester, we will discuss and read critical texts and artists’ writings appropriate to each subject; students will make regular visits to museums, galleries, studios and other art spaces. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority registration for this course.

Fall semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: M. Gal
A thorough survey of the visual arts will be provided in this course, as well as the philosophies of art, of the last four decades. The goal is to thoroughly familiarize students with the visual arts, and attendant ideas, beginning with the American art of the 1960s and concluding with contemporary art. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority registration for this course.

HDD-3200-C
Fall semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: B. Mathes
This course will focus on the social and political nature of postmodern art, from the tumultuous 1960s to the present. Issues of race, class, gender and sexuality will be considered alongside more philosophical considerations such as the notion of what constitutes “art,” the meaning of originality and authorship and the changing role of popular culture in art. We will study various styles, conceptual approaches and subcultures that have had significant influence, such as pop and performance-based art to postminimalism and the East Village scene. Emphasis will be placed on American artists, and there will be regular visits to galleries and museums. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority registration
for this course.

HDD-3200-D
Spring semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: S. Paul
This course will investigate contemporary art, from pop art to postmodernism. Beginning with the 1960s, which witnessed the birth of pop art, minimalism, postminimalism and conceptual art, we will study how these movements continue to be relevant today. Readings include primary texts and critical works. There will be visits to museums and gallery exhibitions. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority registration for this course.

HDD-3200-E
Spring semester: 3 humanities and sciences credits
Instructor: R. Morgan
As the title for the course suggests, “ideas” are an intrinsic aspect of art and the aesthetic process. The focus will be given to ideas, both as intentional ingredients within works of art and as critical responses given to various works by artists, crit- ics, art historians and theorists—primarily through an examination of the art and writing of the past four decades. Note: Junior fine arts majors have priority regis- tration for this course.

This studio course is structured through “case studies” in which artworks of similar
and disparate media will be presented, and their structures and consequent meanings
will be addressed. For example, the works of abstract painters Jackson Pollock and Robert Ryman have radically different interpretations and meanings. The course begins with the far-reaching influence of Marcel Duchamp, and then focuses on work from the 1970s to the present. Topics include: painting, sculpture, installation, performance and video, as well as hybrids (Paul Kos’s video projections on paintings, Joseph Beuys’s performances generating objects and installations). We will examine the influence of seminal composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Cage and La Monte Young on visual artists (Nam June Paik and Yoko Ono, among others), as well as the influence of texts and musical scores on artists such as Ed Ruscha, Bruce Nauman, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, David Salle and Christopher Wool. Students will submit weekly responses to the works discussed; these responses can take a variety of forms: visual (drawing, painting, sculpture, installation, video, performance), text (written and/or read aloud), or a combination of these forms. There will also be assigned readings. Note: Open to students from all departments.

In this multimedia course, students will explore color and the principles of color theory. Each project will incorporate a specific lesson about color and light as a starting point, which is subsequently developed into a more complex and personal work. This is a challenging course that will help students to acquire the skills to make visually dynamic works, as well as expand the way they use, perceive and understand color. Projects will incorporate painting, photography, collage and digital images. In addition to home assignments, students are required to keep a sketchbook and to review exhibitions. Note: Please bring acrylic paints (approved, nontoxic materials only) to each session. Students must own or have access to a digital camera.

As in the past, artists today look to the history of art for inspiration. But we also want our work to communicate with more diverse audiences outside of the art world. So we appropriate the ideas and practices of disciplines that were not previously considered within the realm of art. Our projects in this course will explore these “alien” methodologies. We’ll repurpose techniques of mass production to modulate the scale and adaptability of our work. We’ll utilize film techniques to deal with issues of time compression, psychological space and storytelling. We’ll adapt developments in science to conjure the invisible or to actualize the unimaginable. We’ll investigate how the Internet and social media sites have reconfigured old notions of public and private and we’ll exploit this new virtual space in our art. The world as we know it is more complex and nuanced than it was just a generation ago. The goal of this course is to discover how art has evolved in this new environment. Students may also develop other areas of interest as a focus of their work. All practices are allowed. The course will include readings, film screenings, and other activities that relate to our studio projects.

This course is designed to give students an introductory look into creating Augmented and Virtual realities, specifically with a focus on freeform interaction. As a survey class to new technologies, students will draw parallels between being at the forefront of the technology, and how to utilize these tools into their own contemporary art practice. The class will look into AR builders, 3D object and asset libraries, open source applications, SDK (software development kits), as well as other collaborative elements of production. This course is meant for beginners with very little AR/VR/coding experience as well as more advanced students looking to expand their current practice. As a secondary element to this class, students will be posed with questions of the historical foundation of new technologies, as well as dealing with theory and practice of visual communication in an augmented realm. They’ll interact with experimental storytelling, the internet as a visual tool, post-photography, and post-internet thematics, and also the implications of introducing a 3D Digital Imaging platform like AR/VR to artistic practice. Students will present their work within a digital space and be asked to consider how their work functions from both a traditionally formal and conceptual aspect, as well as how that translates into contemporary media. From photorealism to hyper-stylization, and working with everything from texturing, lighting, rendering, photographic vantage points, topology, and more, students will learn about the wide ranges of possibilities in this new and fascinating technology, while developing their own artistic voice using these new mediums.

Prerequisite: FID-2020, Sophomore Seminar or FID-3446/7, Digital Sculpting, or instructor’s permission. Note: Open to students from all departments. 

Japanese woodblock printing reached its technical zenith in the latter 1800s, with the art movement known as Ukioye. This course will emphasize the contemporary forms of Japanese block printing using watercolor and gouache inks to achieve a soft effect similar to watercolor paintings and pastel drawings. Images will be carved into the woodblock and then the surface will be inked with brushes and transferred to paper by hand printing. Demonstrations in proper tool honing and paper handling will be given; students are encouraged to explore a variety of approaches to the creation of multicolored woodblock prints.

Limited to 15 students per section
This seminar will introduce students to professional practices associated with artworld operations. How to present work, write an artist’s statement and a proposal for a grant or exhibition, compile a résumé and develop a cohesive body of work will be included. The seminar is intended as preparation for the transition into mentor-centered senior workshops. Budgets, inventory and market value will also be discussed.

This seminar will introduce important concepts relative to future art practices, and address such questions as: Do you stand there with nothing to say or are you getting everything you can from your critiques and giving your fellow students everything you’ve got? This course is designed to give you the tools for a successful studio visit. Through a series of exercises, you will learn how to have a more meaningful dialogue with the most cantankerous critic, how to talk about your work and the work of others, how to process the input you receive, and how to manage the emotions around your work.

Limited to 15 students

This course will give a thorough introduction to letterpress printing. We will begin with hand-set, movable wood and metal type in combination with etched plates and linocuts, and then explore making and using photopolymer plates from digital files. This medium is versatile and adaptable, mixing easily with other printmaking processes; the quality of image can range from hard edge to painterly. Letterpress printing also impresses a third dimension of depth and texture to the image and text on paper. Simple, accurate color registration is easy on the letterpress. The experience of hand typesetting using vintage metal and wood typefaces will enhance students’ knowledge and understanding of typography. Printing blocks and plates range from completely manual, hand-cut and collaged to digital photopolymer plates. Letterpress die cutting allows students to actually shape their projects. Operation and maintenance of several letterpresses will be included. Each session will begin with a demonstration followed by studio time to work on individual projects, from type-based graphic designs to fine art limited editions.

Note: Printshop facilities are available outside of class hours.

The majority of mass printing is produced by the lithographic process. It has the remarkable ability to reproduce all the subtle qualities of charcoal, pencil, ink, watercolor, and more. This innate characteristic is why so many artists over the years have chosen to work in lithography. Goya, Lautrec, Picasso, Rauschenberg, Johns and Bourgeois, to name a few. Lithography is a medium that readily lends itself equally to painting and drawing, as well as various digital and photographic media. This course will offer traditional hand-drawn and state-of-the-art methods in realizing multicolored, professionally printed editions or work resulting in unique monoprints. These will include the options to work with hand-drawn aluminum plates, Bavarian limestone, photographic plates or any combination of these techniques.

The goal of this course is to enable students to work in metal for creating sculpture. Practical assignments will cover the fundamentals of welding, including MIG and TIG. We will explore techniques for shaping metal bars, sheets and plates (by machine and by hand), as well as how to grind, polish and finish metal, and then combine these techniques into finished projects. Students will be introduced to the computer-driven plasma cutter, which can cut steel up to a half inch in thickness.

This course maps the major movements and tendencies in modern art beginning with the realism of Courbet in the 19th century and continuing into the 20th century, including impressionism, postimpressionism, symbolism, fauvism, cubism, futurism, expressionism, Dada and surrealism. The art will be discussed in terms of the individual artist’s intent as well as in terms of historical events and cultural issues at the times in which they were created. Museum field trips are an important part of the course.

*Note: AHI-2020-A, Modern Art Through Pop I, is available only to international students whose first language is not English. Registration is by placement only; please consult with your academic advisor.

This course is a survey of art from the emergence of “modernism” through the radical transformations in established modes of art-making of the postwar period. Close attention will be paid to the social, political and economic contexts in which artistic styles and forms have materialized, grown or changed from mid-century to the present.

*Note: AHI-2025-A, Modern Art Through Pop II, is available only to international students whose first language is not English. Registration is by placement only; please consult with your academic advisor.

Each session of this course will begin with a 20-minute warm-up assignment as a way to experiment with different approaches to painting and image-making. Students will then work on assigned and self-initiated projects. Working from observation, using systems to develop work and understanding drawing as a key to painting are just some of the approaches that will be explored. Experimentation with various materials and techniques is encouraged, as well as development of content through focusing on issues of identity, taste, politics, spirituality and philosophy. Home assignments, journal keeping and reviewing exhibitions are required. This is a rigorous course, as are the process of art-making and the discipline of being an artist.

Note: Only approved, nontoxic materials can be used.

This course will concentrate on both the technical aspects and conceptual basis for working from and with photography in painting. The apparent objectivity of photographs will be used to investigate their hidden codes: what the photograph documents, what is suggested, what is left out and the social role of subject matter. We will discuss the formal qualities of images and how they might change the reception of a painting. Some emphasis will be given to the categories of dreams and hallucinations, memory and time, pictures and politics, and commercial images.

Foundation-year painting will explore various means of representation through the application of pigments to canvas, panels and paper. Color and its organizational principles will be investigated—both as a practical and theoretical endeavor. An exploration of form and content will be undertaken with an emphasis on technical skills. Class critiques and museum visits will be employed as vehicles to develop critical terms concerning painting.

This is the second part of a two-semester course.
Foundation-year painting will explore various means of representation through the application of pigments to canvas, panels and paper. Color and its organizational principles will be investigated—both as a practical and theoretical endeavor. An exploration of form and content will be undertaken with an emphasis on technical skills. Class critiques and museum visits will be employed as vehicles to develop critical terms concerning painting.

From an image’s conception to its execution, ideas, materials and processes run together. In this workshop, we’ll investigate the use of novel and traditional materials and the range of pictorial sources: fine art to pop art, everyday life to nightlife, institutions and the politics of space, objective and subjective analyses. What’s your worldview? What’s your comfort zone and how can you exploit it? With an emphasis on interpretation of work through the materials used (paint, honey, nail polish), the context in which they appear (wall, floor, street) and the formal elements of construction (scale, application, space, light, subject), we will look for ways to describe and strengthen your point of view. Instruction is one-on-one with class critiques. Discussions about work by artists who employ analytic, eccentric, comedic, political, romantic or intuitive points of view are included.

Together, we will examine our assumptions about traditional painting in relation to a more contemporary experience of art-making. All approaches are welcome. Focus will be on discovering the problems of interest to each student and finding the material/metaphor most appropriate to each person’s objectives. Dialogue will center on developing the strengths of personal ideas in relation to the vast and rich community of painting’s vital past and intriguing present. A project-based course for students interested in developing their own ideas through a range of work in various media, emphasizing painting, but also encouraging works in other media. We will visit galleries and museums, and students will review various exhibitions on a regular basis. There will be group critiques throughout the semester.

Students will employ any media of their choice to further inform and advance their creative efforts. The emphasis will be on developing a dialogue and methodology that refines and explores new artistic territory. “Studio-time” is stressed to discover how best to further identify and realize intentions, how to organize efforts, and how to work both intellectually and physically in the studio. Research and archival practices will be taught. Internet sites will be employed to expand both technical and intellectual information and resources. Instruction is given on an individual basis. Students are encouraged to exchange ideas and techniques with their peers, as well as visit New York’s vast cultural resources on a regular basis. The understanding of visual culture, the evolution of a creative working process and the ability to communicate visual ideas are the goals of this course. There will be individual and group critiques.

This painting course will engage students in their development of the narrative image. Using traditional and experimental approaches to oil paint, acrylic and gouache, students will explore composition, color and process in relation to the narrative possibilities of the picture. Students will work from models, memory, and imagination and will explore the uses of the narrative image and its possibility to express ideas. The uses of narrative in contemporary art and storytelling in art history will be discussed. Students will develop their ideas as well as their technical skills.

Performance art is a way of extending and expanding your studio practice. Like drawing, it’s a way of working out ideas in real time. This studio course is designed for anyone interested in the inherent practices and narratives of performance art, and anyone who wants to push the disciplinary limits of their work. Each week students will make their own experimental performances while exploring the history and evolution of performance art. Group exercises will hone physical and vocal skills as well as build confidence. We will look at and engage with a wide range of performance forms, including Dada, happenings, fluxus, conceptual performance, punk, drag, social practice and mixed-media spectacles. Note: Open to students from all departments.

Much of contemporary culture, in one way or other, refers to photography. This introductory course offers a hands-on approach to shooting and printing photographs. It also covers photo theory, history and influential emerging photographers. Students will shoot and process their photographs in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, master archival inkjet printing and learn to shoot in a studio set-up using strobes—skills that have practical and artistic applications. In addition to our classroom work, we will regularly visit photo exhibitions at Chelsea galleries. By the end of the semester, students will have developed some knowledge of contemporary photographic discourse and the technical skills to shoot and print their own work.

Exploring the power of the poster as art and advertising is the premise of this course. The process of creating a poster, from concept through final execution, will be covered. Students will complete a minimum of eight projects, each with a different focus. In the spirit of artists like Shepard Fairey, Barbara Kruger and Andy Warhol, we will examine how to experiment with concept, symbolism, form and function. Projects will be collectively researched and ideas will be presented for discussion. Projects will be printed using a range of screen-printing techniques, 56 and students will experiment with printing on substrates, applying various inks and ink alternatives. We will also examine the aesthetic and the expressive power of posters created by masters in this field. Note: Open to advertising and design majors only.

This course will introduce the printmaking processes of woodcut, linocut, monoprint and collagraph to create various types of prints. All processes will be demonstrated and applied in self-directed projects. The relief print is the oldest method of printmaking; its directness and ease of color application make it particularly appealing to artists of all fields. In woodcut, the non-image areas of the print are carved away and color is applied to the high surfaces of the block using rollers or brushes. Color can also be rubbed in below the surface to create depths and color mixing. Paper is then pressed against the inked surface of the block or plate to transfer the color image from the block. The monoprint is unique within printmaking because every print is different. Images are painted or drawn directly onto blank plates and then transferred to paper with a printing press, resulting in large, direct, painterly prints. The use of multiple printing, chine collé and color overlays will also be explored.

Note: Printshop facilities are available outside of class hours.

Limited to 20 students per section
This course is intended for students who wish to pursue graduate studies, artistin-residence programs and gallery representation. Topics will include: writing an artist’s statement, grant proposals, an analysis of art galleries, applying to graduate schools and portfolio presentation. Note: Open to senior fine arts majors only.

Humans have been tampering with species development for thousands of years, and creating countless varieties of domesticated plants and animals. Today, advances in biotechnology allow for the creation of entirely novel life forms such as transgenic rats glowing with jellyfish genes. In this course, students will be introduced to the emerging field of biological arts through hands-on laboratory practices and discussions. Through bi-weekly excursions to local biotech labs, parks, pet stores and seafood markets we will examine altered organisms. In the lab, students will create a postnaturalist journal, bacterial paintings, culture plant tissue, generate and disperse native seed bombs, learn proper techniques for preserving vertebrates and generate post-mortem chimerical sculptures from biological media. Discussions will range from bio-ethics/ecological thought to science fiction/biological reality, and more.

As stated on ArtBusinees.com, “Many of today’s accomplished artists also know how to work the crowds at events where their art is the center of attention. They are well aware that collectors and others love to speak with artists at gallery openings, open studios, art fairs and anywhere else where artists appear in person alongside their art. Consequently, they use their social networking and public speaking skills to effectively convey who they are and what their art is about in order to expand their fan bases, increase their potential for making sales, and ultimately advance their careers.” This workshop will address public speaking for artists as a necessary part of career planning.

The goal of this course is to give students a strong foundation in both the intellectual and the formal aspects of painting. While representation in painting will be the subject, the focus will be on painting as a language and a process. Working from observation, various aspects of pictorial construction will be emphasized. Students will execute quick wet-into-wet paintings of the models to become more intimate with the material aspects of painting. Light and shadow will be discussed as a motor of representation. We will explore contrast of value, as well as warm and cool tonality, and then examine color and color theory and create paintings based on a complementary palette. Even while working within structured projects and a restricted palette, the expressive means of painting will be emphasized. The last phase of the course will focus on more complex projects in full palette. Students will be encouraged to develop their personal interests and subjects without abandoning formal aspects of painting. Group critiques emphasizing the verbalization of intent will be an essential element. Home assignments, slide presentations and museum visits are included.

As an introduction to the material world, this course explores diverse media and their potentialities to create volume, line and mass. Ranging from the ethereal to the fabricated, materials such as clay, plaster, cardboard, wood, resin and wire will be investigated by exercises in casting, mold-making, installation and site-specific work. Discussion will include concepts of space, gravity and light, among others, as they pertain to three-dimensional form.

This course is designed as a series of projects to encourage students to solve problems and discover working processes. Each project will begin with a discussion of contemporary artists, as well as current museum and gallery exhibitions. Various materials will be explored, from woodworking to mold-making, welding to video. We will meet for group critiques.

This workshop takes a worldview of the sculpture-making process and will show how different cultures and art forms have impacted today’s sculpture. Students will not only draw on their own personal/cultural pasts to develop ideas and make sculpture, but also to challenge or ally those ideas with different information and influences. A wide range of materials and fabrication methods are available in this course. Through critiques and slide discussions, issues of form, content and context will be examined and interpreted. The use of language as applied to sculpture is of particular interest. A partial listing of the current vernacular that we will be cataloging and assessing for our use includes: architectonic, socially concerned, outsider art, site-specific, randomness and objectness. We’ll attend exhibitions, films, lectures or performances that relate to our activities. There will also be required reading.

Sculpture without limits. Every kind of sculpture can be investigated. Every type of material can be used. Welding, building, carving, modeling, site-specific and mixed-media assemblage will be taught. Hands-on instruction and strong technical skills enable each sculptor to realize his or her own thoughts. Weekly critiques will discuss work done in class. The idea comes first and then the sculpture. Where it came from, what it means, how it got there. Visits to museums, galleries and studios will be assigned. Slide lectures will augment discussion.

Instructor: J. Avgikos
Unlike the historical avant-garde that situated itself outside of mass culture, today’s emerging avant-garde art seems to anticipate ways of working from within and in relation to mass culture. Art is steadily moving out from the “white cube” to participate in a global continuum that’s hosted by satellite TV and cable, the Internet, all forms of wireless communication and international biennials. The fractious history of art and mass culture has grown exponentially within the past two decades in direct proportion to the invention of new imaging technologies and the development of global economies. This course proposes to examine the scant, but rich, history of relations between art and mass culture, and to chart the rise of media-related art. We will immerse ourselves in screenings of contemporary video/multimedia work of the past two decades and seek out as many pertinent exhibitions as we can throughout the semester. We will also read interviews with artists and curators, as well as texts on media theory, globalism and the like. Note: Senior fine arts and visual and critical studies majors have priority registration for this course.

Instructor: C. Matlin
This course is about the ideas and thinkers you might have missed while in art school. Some texts may be familiar, many will not. The aim of the course is to fill in the gaps in your reading knowledge. To this end, we will read some of the major texts in 19th- and 20th-century aesthetic and art historical thought: Alexis de Tocqueville, Ralph Waldo Emerson, John Dewey, Clement Greenberg, Raymond Williams, Judith Butler, Griselda Pollock, and more. We will try to refrain from reading ourselves backward into the text, as anachronism has no place here. Instead, we will use the texts as a guidepost for our understanding of our current world, whether art-related or not. As such, the inclusion of art and artists into the discussion is encouraged. Note: Senior fine arts and visual and critical studies majors have priority registration for this course.

Instructors: S. Ellis, M. Levenstein
This course will examine the evolution of painting practice and theory since the advent of pluralism and postmodernism in the early 1970s. During this period, the medium was confronted with challenges from almost every faction within critical discourse. Rather than disappearing under this onslaught, as was widely predicted through much of the 20th century, the medium adapted to its new context, found ways to absorb many of the critical arguments directed against it and, in the process, re-imagined its potential for confronting contemporary experience. We will consider this history up to the present in assigned texts and exhibitions as well as in studio discussion of student work.

Instructor: M. Gal
The purpose of this course is to reflect upon the relationships among art, information and politics. While art is often perceived by both artists and audiences as unrelated to and independent of politics and social history, we will examine how social contexts can impact aesthetics. Through your own projects and other artists’ work we will explore the current realities within which your images are made. We will specifically discuss the following questions: Is art history merely the history of the affluent taste? During war can we afford having merely iconographic interests? What aesthetic outlets are available, or could be made available, for contemporary artists? Is explicitly political art necessarily propaganda and is apolitical art free of ideology? How much fiction is there in documentary and vice versa? We will look at artworks produced by Felix Gonzalez-Torres and others; we will watch international documentaries such as The Battle of Algiers and Hairpiece: A Film for Nappy-Headed People, and readings will range from Ways of Seeing to Fast Food Nation. Note: Senior fine arts and visual and critical studies majors have priority registration for this course.

Instructor: C. Kotik
In the 1960s, installation art became a prominent tool for many artists to convey their ideas about the changing structure of society, the art market and, above all, art itself. The temporal and site-specific aspects of installation work corresponded well to the flux of artists’ ideas. The practice of creating installations or environments has roots in history that can be traced back to the Counter-Reformation. This course will review the history of this medium, concentrating above all on the renewed interest in installations in the 1980s and emphasizing current work of both well- and lesser-known installation artists. Lectures, museum trips and gallery visits will be included. Note: Senior fine arts and visual and critical studies majors have priority registration for this course.

This seminar will focus on questions specific to printmaking, publishing and artist’s multiples. Visiting artists, publishers, curators and printers will discuss emerging trends in printmaking, with a special focus on the expanded printmaking technologies in the digital age. Issues such as materials, scale, cost, presentation and distribution will complement discourse concerning printmaking’s iconographic base. Students will create a body of work and interact through critique formats. Note: Open to all students.

Senior Workshop: (aka The Monday Night Team) is a mentorship program in which an individual student’s art and working process are the subjects of discussion.
The goal of the course is to aid students in developing a working methodology that produces a final body of work. One-on-one critiques, group critiques and outside evaluators (artists/critics) format the course. In addition, reading materials, group discussions and presentations complete the sessions.

Senior Workshop: (aka The Monday Night Team) is a mentorship program in which an individual student’s art and working process are the subjects of discussion.
The goal of the course is to aid students in developing a working methodology that produces a final body of work. One-on-one critiques, group critiques and outside evaluators (artists/critics) format the course. In addition, reading materials, group discussions and presentations complete the sessions.

Senior Workshop is a tutorial in which students develop their senior project with two instructors. A finished studio project and an accompanying written statement are required. Students are expected to be critically informed and historically aware of the conceptual underpinnings of their practice.

Students may substitute a fine arts digital, electronics or bio art course for one seven-week Senior Workshop.

This is the second part of a two-semester course. Senior Workshop is a tutorial in which students develop their senior project with two instructors. A finished studio project and an accompanying written statement are required. Students are expected to be critically informed and historically aware of the conceptual underpinnings of their practice.

Students may substitute a fine arts digital, electronics or bio art course for one seven-week Senior Workshop.

What do we do when we look? What happens as we build pictures? What makes an image memorable? We will consider the context for these concerns from Cézanne to psychedelic art to current exhibitions. Learn to focus your intentions while finetuning your intuition. Work from observation, imagination or printed sources with an emphasis on the distinctly physiological experience of painting.

Silkscreen, one of the most versatile and widely used methods of printmaking, will be explored through demonstrations and self-initiated projects. Painters as well as photographers will find a new way of expressing their ideas through screen printing. Images can be made using hand-drawn separations, photographic film, digital separations and photocopied images. Printing on canvas, T-shirts, wood, metal, glass, as well as large-scale works, are all possible with silkscreen. Large-scale digital output is available. Water-based silkscreen ink is used in class allowing for soap-and-water cleanup.

Silkscreen, one of the most versatile and widely used methods of printmaking, will be explored through demonstrations and self-initiated projects. Painters and photographers will find a new way of expressing their ideas through screen printing. Images can be made using hand-drawn separations, photographic film, digital separations and photocopied images. Printing on canvas, T-shirts, wood, metal and glass, as well as large-scale works, are all possible with silkscreen. Large-scale digital output is available. Water-based silkscreen ink is used in class allowing for soap-and-water cleanup.

Note: Printshop facilities are available outside of class hours.

Silkscreen changed the look of art in the early 1960s when painters like Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg started combining printing and painting to make unique works of art. This transformation of a once commercial process into a multifaceted art making tool made it possible to repeat images and create unlimited variations whether on paper, canvas, plastic, glass, metal, wood or any number of other materials. Silkscreen has also incorporated the use of digital photography and computer manipulations for image making. Students will be encouraged to make the most of this wide-open process and to seek their own creative solutions. Work will be critiqued on an ongoing basis.

Using silkscreen, students will explore various ways to present print as sequential images—artists’ books, themed portfolios and comics, even fanzines. The course will cover the process from concept to finished and bound multiples. Methods of making color separations for multicolor prints using traditional hand-drawn and modern photographic techniques will be included. Bookbinding techniques will be demonstrated, such as Japanese bookbinding, accordion folding and signature binding. Large-scale digital output is available.

Using silkscreen, students will explore various ways to present print as sequential images—artists’ books, themed portfolios and comics, even fanzines. The course will cover the process from concept to finished and bound multiples. Methods of making color separations for multicolor prints using traditional hand-drawn and modern photographic techniques will be included. Bookbinding techniques will be demonstrated, such as Japanese bookbinding, accordion folding and signature binding. Large-scale digital output is available.

This advanced course will combine silkscreen printing with sculptural concerns to create large scale or three-dimensional mixed-media works. Concepts, fabrication, and sculptural edition problems will be tested and solved. We will explore tools, materials and methods, along with curating and documentation, and printing on a variety of different substrates such as plastic, metal, textiles and ceramics. Find out about decals, heat forming, embossing, pochoir and 3D printing. Get studio tips and logic. Learn about jigs for cutting and drilling. This course is a “hands-on make anything” tour de force. Field trips and guests artists are included. Note: A working knowledge of silkscreen is recommended.

This course will concentrate on the use of silkscreen to realize personal projects, print editions, multiples, posters and portfolio pieces. Emphasis will be placed on idea concept, material choices and craft. The use of hand-drawn, photographic, photocopied and digital color separation techniques will be introduced in class. Large-scale digital output is available. Water-based silkscreen ink will be used, allowing for soap-and-water cleanup.

This studio course will focus on basic metalworking for creating jewelry. Techniques covered will include: soldering and annealing, metal construction and forming, polishing and stone setting, as well as decorative finishes for surface treatment of metals, such as texturing, patinas, antiquing and stamping. Each student will begin with designing and creating a ring set with a stone, followed by personal projects that employ the areas covered in class. There will be time for experimentation. Individual instruction on additional techniques such as making chains, jump rings, clasps and hooks will be given for projects that require these techniques. Assignments vary each semester and students are welcome to continue their projects from a previous course. Note: Previous design or metal experience not required.

Artists as diverse as Claes Oldenburg and Louise Bourgeois have employed soft sculpture to investigate the whimsical as well as the darker aspects of identity and the human psyche. This course is designed to integrate various processes of traditional soft sculpture with contemporary applications that utilize digital technologies. A series of demonstrations that explore 2D and 3D surfaces will introduce students to the traditional methods of sewing, felting, dyeing, knotting, and weaving. Digital demonstrations will explore pattern design for laser cutting, digital embroidery and textile design that can be outsourced to print. Students are invited to create work using these applications in isolation or in combination.

In this seminar, students will focus on the media image and its implications in their work. In practice, the photograph has become a drawing tool for the artist and we will explore photography and video in relation to painting and drawing. Projects in lighting and composition, as well as color and its effects will be explored in still photography and the moving image. Stop-motion video effects will be used to animate a drawing. Photography and related software will be employed to address space, texture and volume as formal concerns in image-making. Students will learn how to document their work, how to use a camera that goes beyond point-and-click and what range of possibilities can be achieved with these instruments. How to color correct prints and videos will also be covered. Sound and editing techniques as they apply to art production is included in this media primer.

In this seminar, students will focus on the media image and its implications in their work. In practice, the photograph has become a drawing tool for the artist and we will explore photography and video in relation to painting and drawing. Projects in lighting and composition, as well as color and its effects will be explored in still photography and the moving image. Stop-motion video effects will be used to animate a drawing. Photography and related software will be employed to address space, texture and volume as formal concerns in image-making. Students will learn how to document their work, how to use a camera that goes beyond point-and-click and what range of possibilities can be achieved with these instruments. How to color correct prints and videos will also be covered. Sound and editing techniques as they apply to art production is included in this media primer.

Limited to 15 students

This course will appeal to fine artists as well as graphic designers and emerging fashion designers. Demonstrations will demystify the process of printing on canvas, T-shirts or totes. Learn to use various methods of printing on fabric, from silkscreen to block printing and stencils. You will be guided through “step and repeat” color separation used in printing entire bolts of fabric, to “engineered” images for pre-made piece goods like jackets, hats and patches. Students will use textile inks that are permanent and washable for professional results. Start your own T-shirt business and know what to buy and where to buy it.

In this course, students will develop a painting practice that employs imagery and pictorial means from both abstract and representational realms. This painting tradition includes the work of Henri Matisse, Philip Guston, Elizabeth Murray and Gerhard Richter, to name a few. Students will be encouraged to create images that incorporate the formal languages of modes of abstraction. The development of a mature studio practice will be stressed.

This is so contemporary is the title of an artwork by Tino Sehgal that is a reflection on contemporary art. But what is contemporary art? What is a contemporary artist? And what is required to be successful in the contemporary art world? These questions will guide students to find their place as emerging artists. The course begins with a series of visits to artists’ studios and talks with artists about their art, the process of finding subject matter, and what it means to be a contemporary artist. We will also visit museums, galleries, exhibition spaces, gardens, alternative art spaces and
private collections to view artworks and to discuss the demands for contemporary artists. As an accompaniment to all of this we will read short texts about art and discuss the current situation of art. Student will make a presentation about their art and will receive material specific to their own art production. Moreover each student will keep an artist’s journal with visuals inspired by course material.

Through exploration and invention, and by embracing all media, students will engage in a critical discourse about what is happening in real time in the visual arts now, through their work. A fully mixed-media orientation is receptive to all students, including those who are primarily painters, photographers or video-makers, performers, etc., and to all approaches. The emphasis is on enabling students to experiment with a full range of traditional, unconventional and exotic materials, techniques and ideas: digital fabrication, audio, electricity, fluids, mechanical parts, photomontage, optics, metal, paper, wood. The development of student concepts and personal interests will be strongly supported. Our thinking will be placed in contemporary and historical context through presentations of visual and textual resources: slide shows, video, articles, Web-based online materials and a weekly update on current exhibitions. Among the many ideas that will be explored are: perception, transformation, performance, the body and language, as well as the environmental, political and site-specific in art. Resources will be discussed and extensive technical help will be provided. There will be group critiques. Instruction will be on an individual basis.

In this course, we will visit local sites in search of urban botanicals from which to draw creative inspiration. We’ll explore micro and macro environments, the fractal realm of self-similarity and symmetry; we’ll see how the nature/nurture dialectic has been exploited by artists, and we’ll look to the less obvious lichens, molds and mosses as alternatives to the more ornamental botanicals. To meet the countless challenges that botanicals present, students will explore various mediums to create drawings/collages that range from the simple to the complex.

From low-tech projection to high-tech immersive environments, video installation has become a dominant medium for contemporary artists. Drawing from the history of film and video art, the students will explore some of the different techniques of analog and digital media in their work in the digital lab. This course will focus on developing students’ knowledge of video installation and encourage experimentation with a variety of approaches to the projected image. Students will generate four projects throughout the semester. We will meet regularly as a group and on a one-on-one basis to discuss current exhibitions, readings and student projects, and screen film/video work by some of the major figures in the field. The remaining time will be spent in the studio/lab. Students are encouraged to incorporate their personal interests and perspectives into their work. Projects will relate to ideas and forms of light projection from conception and production to display and distribution; creative relationships between visual and audio; the physicality of light; narrative and non-narrative structure; original and appropriated material; public and private exhibition; interaction with performance and objects/sculpture. The course will touch on issues of gender, social and political activism, and the history of media communication.

Video mapping (or spatial augmented reality) is an exciting projection medium that
can turn almost any surface, regardless of its shape and size, into a dynamic video
display. This course is intended for students who want to move into this powerful,
creative medium and will focus on exploring popular video mapping software
and hardware technology. Students will create a video-mapping project that will
be featured on an architectural space in Manhattan. Note: Open to students from
all departments.

This course is a continuation of FID-3634, Video Mapping Art. Having explored the techniques of basic video mapping, students will proceed into advanced augmented reality theory and practice. This course will examine techniques in spatial scanning, multi-projector systems, projecting in moving objects, Kinect-based augmented reality installations, Colossal outdoors video projections and multiplatform performance environments. In addition, students will be introduced to specialized digital tools for video mapping such as TouchDesigner, HeavyM, Z Vector, DynaMapper (for iPad), TorsionSoft, Millumin, VPT (Video Projection Tools), LPMT (Little Projecting-Mapping Tool), Resolume Arena 4, Arkaos GrandVJ XT and Visution Mapio 2 Pro. Students will complete a project based in video mapping, which integrates course material in interesting and meaningful ways. To this end, at least half of the class time will be allocated for working on these projects with guidance from the instructor.

This lecture series takes place twice a semester in the amphitheater. Renowned artists, critics and curators are invited to present their work and ideas through visual presentations and dialogue. Note: Open to junior fine arts majors.

This is the second part of a two-semester course.

This lecture series takes place twice a semester in the amphitheater. Renowned artists, critics and curators are invited to present their work and ideas through visual presentations and dialogue. Note: Open to junior fine arts majors.

This lecture series takes place twice a semester in the amphitheater. Renowned artists, critics and curators are invited to present their work and ideas through visual presentations and dialogue. Note: Open to senior fine arts majors only.

This is the second part of a two-semester course.

This lecture series takes place twice a semester in the amphitheater. Renowned artists, critics and curators are invited to present their work and ideas through visual presentations and dialogue. Note: Open to senior fine arts majors only.

This course covers basic watercolor painting materials and techniques. Form, composition and color will be discussed and students will explore the expressive and stylistic possibilities of the medium. Visual examples from art history and contemporary art will be part of the class critiques.

This course will explore fashion as conceptual art on the canvas of the body. We will explore how to design and create clothing and costumes; how to adapt and design patterns; sew and construct garments and accessories; decorate with paint and dye, printed photos, appliqué, embroidery, beadwork, neon wire, quilting and stuffing; and explore experimental and soft sculpture techniques. Students may also work with props and backdrops, special effects makeup, and other elements to create a complete look. Art fashion can be exhibited as art, or used to create characters for performance, photographs and videos, or to develop your own iconic look and become a living work of art.