Internet Literacy, Culture, and Practice
Full course for one semester. Students will develop an understanding of the technology and the issues surrounding the Internet and the web through studio activities, readings, and fieldwork. Students will gain literacy in web development languages (HTML, CSS, and javascript) and design web applications. We will cover the history of the use of computers and networks as a tool for empowerment, explore topics such as hypertextuality, non-linearity, interactivity, authorship, web as archive, net-neutrality, and the open source movement. With the newly acquired literacy in hand we will investigate how the convergence of the web/social-media with social practice/activism reconfigures the ways in which artists and citizens view, participate in, understand, and narrate real-world issues. Prerequisite: Art 161 or consent of the instructor. Studio.
Art and Photography I
Full course for one semester. This course introduces students to the fundamentals of black and white photographic processes and investigates the use of photography in the context of contemporary art. The class will cover camera operation, principles of exposure, basic understanding of light, film development, and darkroom printing. Technical, aesthetic, and conceptual possibilities of photography are explored through shooting assignments, readings, slide presentations, lab work, and critiques. Students will learn to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisite: Art 161. Studio.
Art and Photography II
Full course for one semester. The course will introduce color, larger-scale printing, fiber-based printing, and medium-format materials. With elementary skills and historical context in place, the class will focus on manifestations of the photographic image as an art object, both physically and conceptually. Technical, aesthetic, and conceptual possibilities of photography are explored through shooting assignments, readings, slide presentations, lab work, and critiques. Class time will be spent in lecture, slide presentations, lab work, critique, and occasional field trips. Students will be expected to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisite: Art 290 or consent of the instructor. Studio.
Digital Imaging/Processing
Full course for one semester. This course introduces students to the fundamentals of digital media. Technical and conceptual units will be presented both in a historical context and in light of contemporary arts practice. We will explore the link between art, technology, and the computer through readings, slide presentations, and class discussions. Topics will include the nature of the digital document; the relationship of digital forms to traditional hand-based media; the machine/digital aesthetic; and intersecting discourses of art, new media, and the sciences. Students will learn to acquire, manipulate, and print digital images. The class will also explore the use of the computer as an autonomous art tool through programming and examine the possibility of process-based art. Students will be expected to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisite: Art 161 or consent of the instructor. Studio.
Digital Video/Interactive Art
Full course for one semester. We will explore artistic concepts and technologies involved in the creation of video art and interactive time-based art. Students will learn nonlinear video editing (Final Cut) and interactive graphical programming (Max/MSP/Jitter) while being exposed to the history and discourse of video art and new media art. Class time will be spent in lectures, viewings, lab work, critique, and occasional field trips. Students will be expected to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Enrollment limited to 12. Prerequisite: Art 161 or consent of the instructor. Studio.
Intermediate Photography and Digital Media I
Full course for one semester. This intermediate studio course provides a forum for more advanced and independent work for students who have completed the introductory sequence in photography or digital media. It will function as both a studio intensive and a junior seminar, with regular discussion of articles in contemporary media arts and theory, as well as selected historical writings and works. Assignments will be open-ended, providing thematic guidelines, which build on skills and conceptual awareness from the introductory courses. Assignments will also respond directly to individual and group interests. Possibilities include electronic visualization, collaborative video or still production, documentary, large-format photography, mural printing (photographic and digital), and hybridization of traditional and electronic photography. Topics of reading and research will include the aesthetics and politics of visual truth, the collective imagination of popular culture, the science and psychology of optics and seeing, and the indexical as a mode of representation. Class time will be spent in lecture, slide presentations, lab work, critique, and occasional field trips. Students must be highly self-motivated and will be expected to respond to assignments with technical competence and critical clarity. Prerequisites: Art 291 or 296 or consent of the instructor. May be repeated for credit. Studio-conference.
