Assignment Prompt: “Painting by Removal”

Typically, painting requires building, adding, and augmenting a painted surface that may or may not be depicting an image or a scene. It requires a constant state of ‘improvement’ and adjustment. Here, we are going to think about using layers, and a removal of those layers, to create an image that goes back and forth between what it can be and what it was.

Practicum:

(1) create two different compositions, using an 8x8 panel, and a 11x14 panel.

(2) on the 8x8 composition, you are going to use one layer of stenciling to create a composition.

(3) on the 11x14 composition: you will use 3 layers.

Goals:

• using a different way of applying paint to a surface.

• thinking about planning, and execution of a painting

• how to be succinct with paint

• think about how transparency /different types application (glazing, impasto, abstraction, realism) effect a painting.

Assignment Prompt: “Color Intervention”

Rather than affirming those things that we artist-educators highly value—nuanced perception, artistic investigation, and confidence in one’s own creative capacities—the Western color teaching tradition is often structured to constrict, control, and regulate color, mandating limited pseudo-scientific experiments in which students must replicate predictable results by solving predictable problems.

You are going to be working collaboratively with several classmates to arrange a full spectrum still life in a non-traditional location, you will document the still life, and then paint from it.

Practicum:

+bring in seven objects that fit the following criteria:

1. you can carry,

2. non-perishable,

3. not very precious,

4. each object represents a different color in the ROYGBIV spectrum, or each color from a color wheel depicting primary and secondary hues

+Contribute to group discussion and collaboration on still life arrangement and location. Meet together outside of class to arrange still life and look at objects

+one painting (minimum 18x24) from photograph of the still life—please only use printed images.

Goals:

• think about the subtly of classifying color: accurate color mixing using mediums, wet into wet techniques, and glazing

• working collaboratively and learning how color is understood by different people & think about place and direction of a piece

• understanding relational scale, color, and texture

• time management

• consider how these objects reflect daily lives, consumerism, and disposability

Assignment Prompt: “Medium is the Message”

“The medium is the message” is a phrase coined by the Canadian communication theorist Marshall McLuhan and the name of the first chapter in his Understanding the Media: The Extensions of Man (1964). McLuhan proposes that a communication medium itself, not the message it carries, should be the primary focus of study. He showed that artifacts such as media affect any society by their characteristics or content.

• In this spirit, I want you to consider how the medium of your choice impacts the work. This may look like using qualities of the medium as a metaphor–the bodily qualities of clay, the visceral qualities of paint, the consideration of time in video work, etc.

• Your “message” or subject may be communicated, or found, through the process of its making, as well. How does repetition impact the subject of a work? What does it mean work digitally in this specific moment in time?

For this assignment you will have to decidedly use material intentionally, and in such a way that the audience can piece together or infer meaning from the choice of materials and how they are used.

Assignment Prompt: “Art for Sale”

Create a website with a team of three for a fictional service, product, or series of products. The goal is to make the viewer think critically about contemporary culture and the ways in which services and products are marketed through the web.

Make this site as convincingly commercial- looking as possible. The goal is to make the viewer think about underlying issues implicit in the work. This may require that you research your topic. The goal is cultural critique. The project may draw attention to social ills or foibles, or seek to correct them, or simply question social trends or values.

Specs:

1. Minimum of 3 webpages;

2. Must include at least one image rollover;

3. Every page must include at least one rollover/s (text or image);

4. Site should be visually cohesive;

5. All pages must be linked to a single external CSS stylesheet;

6. Optimize images for the web;

7. Store images in an ‘images’ subfolder;

8. Images cannot violate copyright protections;

9. Content must be culturally sensitive;

10. A standard page layout should be no larger than 960 x 600 pixels, assuming most monitors have a resolution around 1024 x 768 pixels;

11. The root folder should only hold files needed to run the website;

12. Make the site responsive using scaling images plus media queries and/or grids.

Team Expectations:

With your team, imagine what item/ service you want to sell – start by asking what social issues are important or interesting to you and go from there. Create a list of the kinds of web pages that might persuade someone to buy your product/service while convincing viewers that your site is real. Examples may include About Us, Customer Service..., Services, etc. Decide how your team can best work collaboratively.

*** Every team member should understand how the site is created using HTML and CSS.***

Everyone should contribute to its coding. You may work together coding pages or code them separately then tweak them together. If HTML and CSS are easy for you, take the time to support anyone in your group who may not be as familiar. Teaching others is a great way to learn!

Develop and submit a Project Plan, which you will post on our blog and “pitch” to the class:

1. a brief overview of the item you are selling,

2. an explanation of the conceptual concerns underlying your project,

3. a site diagram and wireframe overview of the website structure;

4. color schemes

5. typeface / font decisions

6. any research you may have completed

7. optional: any other information, illustrations or graphics that help convey your concept.