- Visual Arts: Making and Meaning

Catalog description

Students will investigate modes of creative research and methodologies of art and design to inform and expand their understanding of visual vocabulary and expression. Using process as a through line through this course, students will investigate materials and concepts, examining how these can be applied in both art and design contexts. In each section of the course, students will be introduced to material(s) that they will then translate and change, shifting between 2D and 3D—ultimately allowing one project outcome to become the source material for the next. Traditional ideas of a final product will be questioned through the students’ engagement with processes that are constantly being asked to change into different dimensionality, modes of representation, or expression. Students will follow a trajectory of acquiring a basic vocabulary integral to art and design practices—that of form, color, composition, and material capacities—and then applying it as they move from one project to the next. This class will use demonstrations, readings, discussions, projects, critiques, and in-class workshops to explore materials and ideas and how they interact with each other. We are interested in students being engaged in the question of process as they learn the techniques and ideas that will guide them in seeing and doing, making, and meaning through the visual arts. The exploration of technique and process will be augmented by discussions of relevant contemporary artists related to each module. Students will have the opportunity to research artists and share their work, sharpening their ability to speak critically about art and design.