Text only

ART 105

I. TITLE: Studio Art for Non-Majors

II. CATALOG DESCRIPTION: A studio course designed to introduce non-art majors to the processes of visual language and basic studio techniques that are fundamental to creating images. (six hours per week)

III. PURPOSE: This course encourages independent thought and expression through visual communication. It emphasizes a critical understanding of the methodologies of the discipline of art through hands-on experience. Problem solving is central, emphasizing analysis of options and evaluation in the form of in-class critiques. Both historical and contemporary materials and techniques will be employed in order to explore both tradition and change in artistic practice. The cultural diversity of artistic practice will also be explored through a range of media.

IV. OBJECTIVES: This course will:
1. introduce students to the fundamental concept of knowing through visual and spatial communication.
2. allow the student to practice the methods of the discipline, demonstrating the relationship between artistic choices and the society in which the artist functions.
3. introduce students to the forms, materials and aesthetics associated with a range of cultures internationally, by exploring the media and aesthetics of nonwestern cultures, and incorporating those observations into the student’s work.

V. CONTENT OUTLINE: The course will include line contour and gesture drawing, fundamental perspective, and value (use of dark and light). Students will work with vanous wet and dry media, including collage and montage. Subject matter will include still life, landscape, self-portraits and other ways of dealing with the human form. Students will keep a sketchbook/journal.

VI. INSTRUCTIONAL ACTIVITIES: This is a studio art course in which students will actively practice the techniques of art-making, gaining hands-on experience with the materials of art. Reading, writing and speaking are not the only ways people communicate. In an increasingly visual society, students need to be able to understand the ways ideas are communicated through visual media. The problem solving format of this course will require students to apply critical thinking skills in order to communicate ideas using the language of form and space. Students will also participate in discussions--or critiques--of art and will keep ajournal in which they will record the development of their ideas and examine the thought processes which lead from the origin to the successful completion of art projects. The critiques will require the students’ to develop their speaking skills and to articulate verbally their thoughts about their work, while thejournal will encourage the development of their writing skills in this same area.

The skills are honed by the by the development of a visual vocabulary and careful reading of the works developed by the students. Visual work can read much like any book. Careful visual reading of work produced can show the differences between the artists’ intentions and what is actually presented. For example, the student intends to produce a work that expresses the sensitivity of a quiet love song and uses black and red forms with sharp and jagged edges, visually it reads as harsh and aggressive. The student can take that information gained to refine his or her second approach to the assignment.

VII. FIELD AND CLINICAL EXPERIENCES: This is a studio/lab course which will take advantage of local exhibitions and the campus itself, as relevant.

VIII. RESOURCES: Visiting artists, Waterfield library, departmental slide collection, and the Clara Eagle and Curris Center Galleries.

IX. GRADING PROCEDURES: High academic standards for grading will emphasize skills development and problem solving, with attention paid to improvement. There will be both in-class and out-of-class assignments. The assignments will be evaluated based on the students ability to find solutions that meet the assignments criteria, the creativity in solving the visual imagery in the assignment, and the amount of craftsmanship, time, and effort involved in the creation of the assigned work.

An example of problem solving in a visual arts assignment could be similar to the following: The faculty member lectures and shows example of harmony (repetition, rhythm) and variety (contrast, elaboration) some of the Principles of Visual Organization and asks the students to create a piece of design, using line (one of the elements of design) that makes a four step progression from one design which talks of harmony to another that talks of variety. Each student needs to assimilate the meaning of the two terms and solve the problem with the abstract imagery of line. The students must ask what is harmony and how do I visually represent it and make a progression into a design which speaks of variety.

662/3 % of the grade will be based on classwork and 33 1/3 % will be based on homework.

X. ATTENDANCE POLICY: Attendance is required. More than three (3) absences will result in grade reduction.

XI. ACADEMIC HONESTY POLICY: All work during evaluations, on papers, or other academic or creative activities must be the student’s own. Cheating, plagiarism, or other academic dishonesty is clearly a violation of academic standards and University policy--and will result in automatic failure of this course.

XII. TEXT AND REFERENCES: None

Last updated February 14, 2000. Designed and maintained by Kyosung Koo