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Painting and printmaking courses
PAPR 591
Topics: Art and Critical Theory
1 credit
Students may choose to register for one extra credit in “Art and Critical Theory” in connection with PAPR 605. In addition to participating in regular class activities, students who sign up for this will attend three different art exhibitions (private galleries and/or museums) and present a critical analysis/review to the class.
PAPR 605
Graduate Painting
3 credits
This course will give teachers the opportunity and a structured time frame to pursue their own artistic development. Instruction will intertwine the technicalities of drawing and painting concepts with an emphasis toward cultivating each teacher’s formal and conceptual creative process. Throughout the course, discussion and investigation into contemporary art issues will be encouraged with the aid of presentations and group critiques. While participants will share their creative courage and knowledge, this course is designed to encourage the growth of individual expression. The course may be repeated for credit with the understanding that students undertake increasingly advanced projects. Students are asked to provide their own easels.
Making Meaning: Experimental 2-D Art Making
3 credits
This class will explore approaches to communicating concepts through experimental approaches to 2-D media. The course will provide students (who are already art teachers) with the opportunity to explore a variety of two-dimensional drawing and painting techniques (traditional drawing materials, water-soluble mediums and alternative drawing materials) while developing an approach to communicating concepts that can be utilized in their own artwork as well as their classrooms. Students will explore how process, materials, imagery and context work together to communicate concept by creating artwork. In addition, students will implement several different approaches to concept development as well as critiques, utilizing discussion, writing and rubrics in the classroom. The students will create both individual artworks and a series of related artworks based on a concentration that is generated by the student. The class will consist of demonstrations, directed studio time, written and oral critiques, and open studio time.
Final project: Students will choose a concentration that will be the basis of a series of 2-D artworks that utilize the approaches to 2-D art-making discussed in class. Students will work on this series during open studio time in class and at home as needed in order to be ready for the final critique, which will be held during the last two class periods.
Graduate Mural Painting
3 credits
The Graduate Mural Painting Class is a one-of-a-kind learning experience that prepares students to create interior murals for the home and for clients, solo or with collaborative teams of professionals or students. Students will learn preparation techniques and processes including design, mockups, grids, scale, and planning for budget and timetables. Each student will complete a mural on a 4x8-foot panel, and most of the paint is provided with the class.
Personal Directions in Painting and Drawing
3 credits
Students will work independently both in and out of class on personal studio work (painting and drawing) throughout the duration of this course. Group assignments and discussions will be provided in order for students to better understand the deeper meaning in their own studio work and practices. Ultimately, students will be asked to search for the “questions” that lead them in terms of what they would like their work to be about. Several different approaches to group critiques will be utilized in order to give each artist a greater understanding of how his or her work is viewed and what he or she can do to better explore the direction of his or her work.
Encaustic I
3 credits
This class is a graduate level, semester-long exploration of the encaustic medium in painting. Students will learn the history of the medium, supplies, and tools, support and grounds, safe working practices, archival considerations, and basic to intermediate working techinuques. This is an excellent class for those who also like drawing or mixed media. While this is a techniques class, emphasis will be placed on the conceptual content of the students’ work as well as the successful assimilation of course material. Fee required.
Graduate Drawing
3 credits
This course is designed to further the teachers’ art making practice through the continued development of conceptual, aesthetic and technical skills. Work from a considerable variety of perceptual, procedural, imaginary and theoretical strategies is possible with emphasis being placed on the investigation of drawing as a media in which to create strong statements of an individualized personal expression, regardless of imagery. Teachers are encouraged in continuing the development of their creative voices, and in gaining mastery with their chosen techniques in self directed projects. Group critiques and presentations of the diverse methods and compelling ideas found in contemporary drawing will provide topics upon which to consider, reflect and respond. Please note that for the purposes of this class, drawing will be defined inclusively and not limited to the traditional graphic media.
PAPR 615
Experimental Printmaking
3 credits
This class will cover a variety of printmaking methods and students will be encouraged to pursue one area for further development and experimentation. The first part of the class will introduce the many options and materials in the areas of monoprints, collagraphs and drypoint as well as various ways of combining different plates and different processes in unique prints as well as in editions. The remainder of the class will be spent on focused explorations in a series of pieces that may relate to one’s personal work in other media or may represent a new direction. This class is suitable for beginners as well as those with previous printing experience since the emphasis is on invention and experimentation. Most materials may be purchased through the instructor.
PAPR 621
Symbolism and Metaphor
3 credits
Using symbolism and metaphor has been inseparable from making art since mankind’s earliest attempts to seek an understanding of the universe through creative expression. In this class students will be encouraged to explore, develop and expand their own personal iconographies, aided by research into the historical and multicultural ramifications of their chosen contents. With the development of a comprehensive knowledge of the multiple layers of meaning in any given symbol or metaphor, artwork becomes informed and strengthened. This course is mixed media including painting and drawing with a collage element as an integral component.
Color: Painting and Drawing
3 credits
Color is science, color is perception, color is expression. Artists use, adapt and defy established color theories and harmonies. A series of color exercises will explore and define color relationships in drawing, painting and collage.
Mixed Media: Book Arts
3 credits
This class will explore the many approaches to creating one-of-a-kind books. Students will be free to experiment with the concept of bookmaking, to incorporate personal artistic styles and journaling possibilities into the book format and to use a wide variety of usual and unusual materials. Prior bookmaking experience is not necessary.
Mixed Media and Drawing
3 credits
This course emphasizes the role of drawing and experimentation in developing a body of artwork. Participants will begin their research with a warm-up exercise that consists of a series of small mixed-media drawings that build a theme or motif relevant to their artwork. Collage, assemblage, drawing on experimental grounds and painting on nontraditional surfaces often result from this process and can function as a springboard for work created during the course. Students should bring samples and/or slides of their current work to the first class meeting, plan to be present at all scheduled critiques and have regular Internet access to fully benefit from the course.
Mixed Media: Technology and Art
3 credits
This studio course is designed to explore a mixed-media application of technology that expands individual artistic expression. Experimenting with manipulating digital images using a basic computer software program, students will create a series of artworks, related by concept or theme, which presents digital images in combination with traditional art materials (paint, pencils, etc.) and processes (collage, painting, etc.). The history and continuing development of mixed media in the age of technology will be discussed. The instructor will demonstrate various image-transfer processes during the semester. Students are encouraged to explore unusual materials and applications of mediums, to incorporate cultural heritage into their work and to develop applications of the process for their own classrooms. Previous computer experience is not a requirement for success. The instructor will provide copies of the computer freeware used for the class. This class may be repeated with increasingly complex projects.
Mixed Media: Advanced Technology and Art
3 credits
This course is offered online with a few scheduled critiques at sites selected by the participants. Successful completion of the “Mixed Media: Technology and Art” course or permission of the instructor is a prerequisite.
Papermaking and Mixed Media
3 credits
Integrating hand papermaking with other studio processes will be the focus of this course. Students will be given open-ended assignments and media choices as they work individually to strengthen technical processes and meet conceptual goals. Students with previous papermaking experience will expand their studio repertoire of 2-D and 3-D hand papermaking applications to develop greater depth and complexity in thematic expression. Students new to papermaking will go beyond sheet formation and explore free-form paper casting, working with modules, and casting using molds. In addition to evaluating contemporary paper expressions, students will research how self-imposed boundaries in art making can paradoxically free creativity. These boundaries, one’s own set of rules and systems, will be explored as students produce a series of related art works. MIS students are expected to synthesize paper processes with previous studio course work. This might include paper combined with assemblage, artist books, printmaking, photography, clay, painting, metal, and/or other fiber processes and mixed media integration.
Mixed Media Relief (2D and 3D)
3 credits
Participants will investigate the introduction of actual space into the illusionary space of two - dimensional images. Pieces may be thought of as being paintings that have three-dimensional aspects such as shaped canvases or supports, layers, or collaged objects. Pieces may also be thought of as being three-dimensional structures that are painted and hang on the wall. Many materials (volumetric and planar) will be introduced and many processes will be demonstrated. The course will expand concepts about the possibilities of two - dimensional images as well as develop spatial considerations. Building skills and painting techniques will also be addressed. Independent projects will encourage individual expression.