Fall, 2014, Towson University Nora Sturges
ART 436.001, Painting IV
ART 472.001, Advanced Drawing II
Monday 2:00-5:50, CA 4026/4028
Office: CA4016 Phone: x42795 email:nsturges@towson.edu
Office Hours: Monday and Wednesday 1:00-2:00,
and other times by appointment. Sign up for
office hours online at nsturges.youcanbook.me by 6am the day
of the appointment.
COURSE DESCRIPTION
ART 436:
Continued studio experience for advanced students with emphasis on personal
direction.
ART 472: Continued
studio experience in drawing for advanced students. Emphasis on conceptual
approaches, independent problems and personal direction.
For many,
this course is the last stop before going out into the world as an artist. The
course is designed to include the variety of activities that make up a healthy
studio practice—making, looking, thinking. Some course activities aim to lay
the groundwork for future art-making (beyond the end of the semester). The ultimate goal of the course is to help
students make the transition from school to real world.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
To develop a
personal voice, vision and vocabulary in painting/drawing; to gain insight into
what is unique to you as an artist.
To
understand what may be original in art; to cultivate originality in one’s work.
To become
more familiar with contemporary painting and drawing, and more thoughtful about
your work’s place in the context of contemporary art and art history.
To gain
insight into and improve your artistic process; to improve strategies for
developing ideas and imagery.
To discover,
make, and develop connections between your self and your work.
To continue
to develop critical skills, with respect to your own work and that of others.
To continue
to develop technical and formal skills particular to painting/drawing.
To
understand and acquire the work ethic necessary for success as an artist.
COURSE
ACTIVITIES
6-8 hours of work outside of class will be required each
week.
Painting/Drawing/Art-making
Activities-- 70%
Painting/Drawing out of class (mostly): Professional
artists almost always work in series, or bodies of work. One piece leads
naturally to another on the same or a similar theme, which leads to another.
Within the body there is exploration, discovery, evolution and growth. During
the semester, you will spend the bulk of your homework time creating an
evolving group of artworks linked by common concept, subject matter, formal
goals, or some other area of exploration.
This is not an assignment to do a set of paintings or
drawings that all go together. Do not buy a bunch of the same size canvasses in
advance. This is an open-ended process, and I hope each of you will be
surprised by where you end up. The emphasis is on exploration, discovery,
evolution, and growth.
Your work does not need to fit into traditional painting/drawing
categories; you may use any materials you like.
Painting/Drawing in class: There will be four
art-making assignments that will (in most cases) be completed in class. These
are intended to benefit your artistic process and sense of possibility. When
there is not an assignment, you will work on your personal work in class. We
will have class time for working almost every class, so be prepared to make the
most of it.
A note on grading:
Ultimately,
success in art-making depends not only on skill, but on the artist’s
intelligence, commitment and intensity. Individual works will not be graded;
instead you will receive an in-progress letter grade on your studio work at
midterm (feel free to ask informally for a rough idea of your grade earlier). Success
of art products as a demonstration of skill will be only one aspect of the
grade. See below for specific criteria.
Research and
Thinking Activities-- 20%
Blog Entries: Artist
Research
You will carry out regular
research into artists related to your work/aesthetic/interests. The
artists do not all have to be painters/draw-ers (photographers, sculptors, even
filmmakers may influence painters/draw-ers), but they should nearly all be
contemporary (living or recently dead), and they should mostly be artists who
have had museum or major gallery shows, or been the subject of articles in
major publications (Art in America, Hyperallergic). Find new artists, rather
than looking at old favorites again (except when directed to).
You
will create a blog to hold your artist research. This same blog can be used for
the artist research component of other classes, and any art you find inspiring.
Your goal is to research many artists over the course of the semester, to think
about them and their work, to read artist interviews and criticism to help you
formulate thoughts, and then to post images and personal comments on the
artists’ work. Comments should cover what you find appealing/interesting about
the work/artist, what you don’t like, what you might apply to your own work, quotes
from the artist or critic that you find interesting, and any other thoughts you
have. Posts may vary in depth of comment, but aim to have at one quality post a
week, plus two or three others that are much more limited (it is fine to
sometimes just post a few images and the artist’s name). Please attribute any quotes—do not
plagiarize.
Try to make artist research a regular part of your life, if it
isn’t already. Consider looking at art instead of Facebook (or whatever thing
you waste time on) a couple times a week.
You
will receive a grade for your research at midterm:
A:
Regular posts of artists’ work, often with thoughtful, insightful comments on
what is of interest in the work or what sets this work apart, sometimes with
information (for instance quotes or excerpts from articles/interviews) that
demonstrates some depth of research into the artist. Artists are discovered
from a variety of sources, and by following threads.
B:
Mostly regular posts of work from multiple sources. Evidence of some thought
and learning about most of the artists, though not with A-level depth or
insight.
C:
Sporadic posts (many from the night before it’s due) of work that comes from a
very limited number of sources (for instance a google search on “landscape painting”),
little evidence of thought or learning about the artists. Comments are on the
level of “I like the artist’s use of bright colors,” and information is from
the first paragraph of a Wikipedia entry (or equivalent).
D
and F: Few or no posts.
Blog
Entries: Thoughts
You
will receive weekly thinking assignments (posted to Blackboard) during the most
of the semester in the form of questions or prompts. You will respond to these
in writing in your blog (there is no expectation about length unless specified).
We will often discuss the topic as a group in class, so it’s particularly
important that you do your thinking and record your thoughts in writing in a
timely manner. You will receive an in-progress grade on these thinking
assignments at midterm as part of your blog grade. These blog entries must be
posted by Sunday night in order to be on time. I want to be able to read them
early Monday morning, before I see you in class.
Presentation:
A Virtual Curated Exhibit
At
the end of the semester, you will make a 10-minute presentation to the class
about an imaginary exhibit you have curated, which will include artists linked
by some theme or quality of your choosing. The show must include at least one
of your own artworks. Aim to include at least some of the artists you have
researched this semester (or aim to research some of the artists you are
considering including), and some who you already knew (if desired). Your
presentation should include the title of your exhibit, a curator’s statement (could
be informal) describing the theme for the show (why are these artists/works
being exhibited together), slides of the artworks included in the show, and
information on the artists. This should be fun! What show would you curate if
you had the opportunity?
Participation
Participation
in Critiques and Discussions—10%
As
this is an advanced class, each of you has an obligation to give helpful
feedback to your peers that goes beyond any thoughts of syllabus requirements
and grades. Even if you are shy. Think of this as a support group for artists,
rather than a teacher-lead class activity. You will receive a participation
grade at mid-term.
GRADING
CRITERIA
Art-making
Skillful handling of all aspects of artworks (composition,
brushwork, color, surface, etc.)
Individuality, creativity (in form and image) of work
Growth and evolution of series of personal works over the semester;
significant conceptual and technical growth over the semester
Energy, openness and risk-taking in exploring a wide range of
ideas through experiments and studies
Excellence of critical skills in evaluating one’s own work; ability
to learn from one work and apply what’s learned to the next; active problem
solving during the making process
Commitment, effort and self-motivation; working intensely and
energetically toward one’s own art-making goals
Punctuality and being prepared for class, making the most of class
time, focus
Independence and work ethic, being consistent in meeting or surpassing weekly time requirements for
work outside of class
Blog (and presentation, eventually)
Regularity (weekly) of artist research;
timeliness of responses to thinking prompts
Depth of reflection on and insight into researched artists and
thinking prompts
Evidence of learning about the researched artists
Researched artists are relevant to student’s interests and
discovered from a variety of sources
Virtual curated exhibit is well conceived and described; artworks
fit concept in interesting ways
Participation
Regularity of participation in critiques
and discussions
Quality of comments (insightful, articulate comments
demonstrating engagement with the critique/discussion and the ongoing development
of the work being discussed)
General (has an impact on all grades)
Intellectual curiosity, open-mindedness to new ideas; actively seeking to learn
Fine Print on Grading
** Your Undergraduate Catalog states: Degree Requirements: Students must
fulfill the following requirements to graduate with a Bachelor of Science
Degree: [Item] 6. Completion of a major (a
grade equivalent of [C] 2.00 or higher must be earned in all courses applied
toward the major and, if applicable, minor.)
** When grades are averaged, the following 4 point scale will be used:
A=4, A-=3.67, B+=3.33, B=3, B-=2.67, C+=2.33, C=2, D+=1.33, D=1, D-=.66, F=0
** There is no longer a grade of C-. Final grades will be rounded up, or
down, to the nearest grade.
ART BLOGS
Sources for interesting art, artists, and articles
Two more traditional, painting-oriented blogs:
(local Baltimore art blog) http://bmoreart.com/
Sources for video interviews with artists and videos
about art:
HOW TO MAKE A
BLOG
These instructions are for Blogger (I think you need a
google account), but feel free to use any free blog host.
Go to Blogger.com and select create new blog.
Choose a title for your blog (this is what it will say at
the top of the page), and address, and a template.
Once the blog is created, click on its title to get to
the page where you can change its layout and settings. First, check out the
options under “settings,” at the bottom of the list. Click to see what
sub-headings there are. You can choose to allow comments or not, who may
comment, how many posts will be displayed on one page, whether your blog will
be searchable by search engines, etc. If you want to limit viewing your blog to
people who know its address, go to settings>basic and click “edit” in the
privacy section. Then select the options for not listing your blog on Blogger,
and not letting search engines find it. (I
have chosen to do this for my blogs because I am posting images that are in
theory copyrighted; although everyone seems to put images on the internet with
no problems these days, it makes me more comfortable to know that nobody will
find my blog through a search.) It is also possible (on the same page) to limit
viewing to selected individuals who will have to log on to see your blog. Please
don’t choose this unless you feel strongly that you don’t want anyone seeing
your blog.
The other thing you might want to change is the layout of
your blog. Select “Layout” from the sidebar. This is where you can choose what
elements appear on the blog page and how they are arranged. One thing I suggest
you do is click “add a gadget” and add “labels.” This allows you to label each post, then find
posts with that label easily on the page. For a blog that is entirely artist
research, you could label each post with the name of the artist, then your blog
page will show those names as a sort of contents list. If you are using this
blog for more than this class, please label all your posts for this class with
the course number or title so I will be able to find them.
There are lots more options for things like changing the
colors of the template you’ve chosen—just poke around and find out what can be
done. All this stuff can be changed at any time.
When you are ready, click on “new post” to get started.
Give your post a title, a label, and content. You can right-click copy and
paste pictures into the post directly from the internet. When done with your
post, click publish. You can edit/add to the post after it’s been published.
Sometimes I discover an artist when I don’t have a lot of time to spend with
their work—I’ll create a post with the artist’s name, an image, and the website
I was on, and go back later to look more and add to the post.
When you are done, please email me (nsturges@towson.edu)
a link to your blog (and set me up with login info if you’ve chosen to require
login). I would like to make all the class blogs accessible to everyone in the
class; please let me know if you don’t want me to make yours available.
ATTENDANCE
Since you will be graded on work done in class and your participation in
group discussions, and because class members will learn from discussing work in
progress with the instructor and seeing the work of their peers develop, prompt
and regular class attendance is mandatory. You get 1 absence for the
semester. Each absence over the limit will result in a lowering of your final
grade one third letter grade. Extra excused absences may be granted for
religious observance, illness, death in the family, etc. if documentation is
provided—please speak with the instructor if you need to be absent more than
one class. Being late will count as ¼ absence.
EXAM
December 11,
12:30-2:30pm. This is a required part of our semester, and we will use the time
for presentations of the graduate students’ research. Arrange your work
schedules well in advance to accommodate our exam time. Check your exam time
for your other classes now to make sure there is no conflict.
POLICIES AND RULES
Cell Phones: During
class you are to focus on your painting, or the critique, or the slides, etc.
Please put cell phones away, where neither of us can see them, when you are in
the classroom. You are allowed and encouraged to take a break when
painting—this is a good opportunity to check your phone.
Photos:
You are encouraged, when using photo references, to use your own photos.
If you do use internet photos, no more than 20% of a painting may be based on a
single photo, and you must avoid outright copying of photos—if the original
photographer would recognize his/her work in your painting, then you’ve done
something wrong. If the image is copyright-free, then the situation is somewhat
different, but I would still like your work to be truly your work—feel free to
talk about individual situations. Images displayed on a cell phone do not
contain enough visual information or detail to paint from, if the image is to
be a major component in the painting—please get prints made, or use a device
with a larger, better display.
Academic Dishonesty: All students must comply with
Towson University’s Student Academic Integrity Policy. See
http://www.towson.edu/provost/resources/studentacademic.asp
Of particular relevance to this course: Multiple submissions (submitting substantial
portions of the same work for credit in more than one course without prior
permission of the instructor) is also considered academic dishonesty.
Students with
Disabilities:
Towson
University (TU) is in full compliance with section 504 of the Rehabilitation
Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Students with
disabilities should register with the office for Students with Disabilities
(Dowell Hall, Second Level, 410-830-2638) after admission to ensure the timely
provision of required support services. Students must provide documentation of
a disability from the TU Office for Students with Disabilities. Please see the
web site at: http://wwwnew.towson.edu/dss/.
Civility
Policy:
COFAC places
a priority on learning. We value the inherent worth and dignity of every
person, thereby fostering a community of mutual respect. Students have the right to a learning environment
free of disruptive behaviors and offensive comments. Faculty have the right to define appropriate
behavioral expectations in the classroom and expect students to abide by
them. Faculty have the responsibility to
manage and address classroom disruption.
Staff have the right and responsibility to define appropriate behaviors
necessary to conduct any university activity free of disruption or obstruction.
We believe
that in order to achieve these ideals, all COFAC students, staff, and faculty
are expected to exhibit and practice civil behaviors that exemplify: (1)
respecting faculty, staff, fellow students, guests, and all university
property, policies, rules and regulations; (2) taking responsibility for one’s
choices, actions and comments; (3) delivering correspondence – whether verbal,
nonverbal, written, or electronic – with respectful language using professional
writing standards and etiquette; and
(4) accepting consequences of one’s choices and actions.
The use of
offensive, threatening or abusive language, writing, or behavior will not be
tolerated and can lead to academic dismissal.
Further information about civility can be found in Appendix F of the
university catalog.
Weapons
Policy:
Towson
University prohibits the possession or control of any weapon while on
university property. http://inside.towson.edu/generalcampus/tupolicies/documents/06-01.11%20Weapons%20Prohibited.pdf
Departmental
Inclement Weather Policy:
If a delayed
opening for the University is called due to inclement weather, those classes
that are scheduled to meet once a week will still meet in an abbreviated form
provided that at least 1 hour 50 minutes of class time remains. Students are
expected to arrive in class upon the opening of the University as deemed safe
for travel by the University administration.
Given the
independent nature of this class, depending on the class activity, and the
opening time of the university, we may decide not to meet. I will email with a plan first thing in the morning. Please check
email.
Schedule for the next couple
weeks:
8/31—First meeting. Talk about the
semester and see some slides.
Homework:
·
Get blog up
and running if needed, and email Nora a link.
·
Complete first thinking assignment on your blog:
-Which artists have been
important to you in the past? Make a list and write a little about why/how.
-What is or are your goals this
semester? What would make you feel happy or proud at the end of the semester?
What would make you say it was a great semester? (No need to answer these
separately—they are different ways of asking the same thing.)
-What are you planning to do for
your independent body of work? It is ok to simply describe your starting
point—don’t feel you need to plan the whole semester. What will your work be
about? What form will it take (materials, techniques)? Are there any artists
who inform your idea? It would be great to post photos of previous work if it’s
related.
·
Make an artwork! Take 5-6 hours and make
something that is a finished piece. We will start the semester with a couple
weeks of fast art-making—you can slow down after that and spend more time on
each piece, if you prefer.
9/7 No Class—Labor Day
Homework:
·
Explore the
work of “old” artists I assembled here: http://tuart329.blogspot.com/ Make
a list of all the artists you think could be relevant to your work this
semester. Pick at least three from your list, look at more of their work, post
some pictures and write a bit about what you respond to and think you might be
able to use.
·
Make a list
of ideas for artworks, for this semester and further into the future. Perhaps
look through your sketchbook for forgotten ideas that still have potential. Look
to artists you like for ideas. Make your list as long as possible.
·
Read about
the studies marathon we will be doing next class and gather supplies and any
references you will need.
·
Make another
artwork! Take another 5-6 hours and make something.
9/14
In class:
·
First activity
is a Studies Marathon. You will make at
least 15 studies of ideas from your list of ideas (see homework). We will
have about 2 hours for this. Don’t feel like you need to use fancy materials
for this if you don’t want to—photocopier paper and old pizza box lids are
fine.
·
Bring the two artworks you made for homework to class. Second activity is a
non-critical critique. We will put all the studies from class and the two
artworks on the wall and respond to them in order to help each artist see
possibilities.
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