Course Description

This course is a continuation of CEFA 160 Basics of Composition and Form and an opportunity to further explore the relationship between form and concept in two-dimensional art and design. You will continue to examine the elements and principles of composition through projects that allow you to deepen your understanding of various art forms. You work through the creative process of determining appropriate form and media to visually communicate concepts. Projects allow for experimentation of a range of tools and techniques, involve advanced conceptual thinking, and require independent research. Through digital illustrated lectures, demonstrations, online discussions, and critiques you become more familiar with historical and contemporary theories from contemporary art and visual culture. As with the online version of CEFA 160, projects will employ conventional techniques, such as drawing, collage, and painting, and can incorporate digital technology. Note: In addition to 3 hours spent interacting with online lecture and/or studio materials (classroom time), students will need to schedule 2 to 6 hours per week for completing course projects (homework time).

SKETCHBOOK ETHICS

1. Never live without a sketchbook
2. Work in your sketchbook daily
3. Use your sketchbook like a diary for remembering places you have been with sketches, cutting and pasting and writing
4. Related artwork found in magazines, newspapers, flyers should be pasted in your sketchbook with your comments
5. Review museum shows, art-related TV programs, notes on art books and magazines you have skimmed
6. Copy master drawings
7. Make many thumbnail sketches as preliminary drawings of class and homework assignments
8. Use your sketchbook to explore different media
9. Practice sketching your perception
10. Drawings need not be “finished.” You need quantity of works and quality of observations in your sketchbook
11. Surprise yourself with your new vision
12. Bring your sketchbook with you to each drawing class
13. You may use the sketchbook for some homeworks and assignments
14. If you are brave, exchange the sketchbook with another student
15. Enjoy your new habit !

Sketching technique hints

Hold the pencil lightly.
* Straight lines can be drawn easily and quickly.
* Use an arm movement for long straight lines, not just a wrist movement.
* Use one continuous motion or a series of overlapping strokes.
* The pencil should be aimed by fixing your eye on the second point, and drawing the pencil towards it.
* Diagonal lines or incline lines can be drawn by using the same techniques as the straight line, however turn the paper so that the line appears to be horizontal.

Artistic Styles

1. Impressionism - The Impressionists were interested in the world outside their studio. Scientific discoveries about light and color led them to use these new principles in their paintings. They focused on the dazzling effects of sunlight on objects and on the landscape. The emphasis is on reflected light rather than the form of objects or realistic representation. The edges of forms melt and blur in the light because the artists used dabs of pure color that are blended in the eye of the viewer rather than mixed by the artist on the canvas. If you stand too close to an Impressionist painting you will only see dots and dabs of color. It is when you step back that your eye will blend the colors and forms will come into view.

2. Post-Impressionism - Post-Impressionists refers to a group of artists who worked with or were influenced by the Impressionists but then moved on to work in other directions. They expanded their own style to create works that led to later developments in the art of the twentieth century. Some focused on the underlying structure and geometry of forms, while others highlighted texture or pattern for expressive effects. Since the Post-Impressionist period many artist have thought about paintings as objects with colorful, lively surfaces rather than scenes
3. Pointillism - Pointillism was developed by Georges Seurat. The name comes from using just the point of the brush to apply small dots of paint. The eye sees the colors as mixed but makes the painting "glow" with color. This style was based on the new scientific theory of light developed during the 19th century.

4. Expressionism - Some modern painters were more concerned with feelings. Matisse insisted that his work had but one purpose: to give pleasure. German artists who had experienced World War I painted emotional subjects that ranged from fear and anger to concern with death. Some used arbitrary color rather than the actual color of objects.
5. Cubism - Cubism was developed by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. This style emphasizes structure and design. It was influenced by three basic ideas. First, that all shapes in nature are based on geometric solids such as the cylinder, the sphere and the cone. Second, was the discovery by scientists that all matter is made up of atoms. Finally, European artists were influenced by the cubical forms of African sculpture that had recently been exhibited in Paris. Cubist painters tried to paint three dimensional objects from many different points of view at the same time. Some works appear fractured and objects within them appear at different levels and seen from different angles
6. Surrealism - Surrealism is based on fantasy and imagination. After World War I, artists rebelled against the culture that had led to such suffering and devastation. Surrealists presented very realistic, almost photographic images, but of impossible situations. The paintings are strange and dreamlike. Some are nightmares while others are funny, mysterious or frightening. Surreal paintings will contain recognizable objects and realistic details
7. Pop Art - Pop Art refers to an art style based on the products and images of popular culture. These painters used brand-name products, famous people, advertising and comic book images as subject matter. They tried to bring attention to everyday objects that people see and use without much thought or notice. They often commented the American way of life and its dependence on material culture
8. Abstract expressionism - The art of throwing paint quite liberally and as fast as possible onto a large canvas. Abstract expressionism arose after the Second World War as alternative to geometric abstraction, which had become for many postwar American painters boringly repetitive. This abstraction is introspective and emotional.

9. Super-realism - Super-realism is also known as Hyper-realism, or Photo-realism. It portrays subjects realistically in 2D or 3D, sometimes so real that viewers are fooled into thinking that sculptures were real people. These artists use a variety of media for their paintings and sculptures but the end result is always a precise and life-like image or form.

Resources

Art galleries / Canada link

Artist Run Centers / Vancouver Center A

Grunt

Artspeak

Hellen Pitt Gallery

IMAGES

Art history slide collection

Image Search art history links

ART Links

Art history

resources for art educators link

ART Terminology PDF (8.5 mb) here

course schedule
SESSION 1 Definitions of Style

history and analysis of major artistic styles
Practice: Creative methods and techniques as a consequence of our values and beliefs; introduction to sketching techniques and visual thinking methods. Seeing the world through artistic eyes: increasing perception and observation: on site inspiration

Practice: exploration of sketching techniques
Materials: assorted drawing tools on paper
Homework: pick a favorite artwork and make a visual map of style using sketching and brainstorming techniques. Make a formal analysis of style, methods and elements.

SESSION 2 "Emotional intelligence"

the role of emotion and reason in defining the style

Practice: showing emotions - spontaneous creativity, impression versus expression, meaning of “duende” (after G. Lorca); using intellect– composition rules, planning the process, predetermination; photo based works
Suggested materials: mixed media (drawing tools, inks, pastels, crayons, gouache or acrylics), photography

Homework: make 2 artworks using the same source; one inspired by the senses/emotion and another by the reason/order (please use media according to concept)

SESSION 3 Figure as style

Human figure as a reference to artistic style. Stylization methods through art hisory.
Practice: figure studies in 2D and 3D (life drawing and clay modeling based on intense observation).
Materials: pencil, charcoal, crayons, pastels, clay or modeling paste, water-based paints
Homework: 2D and 3D study of the human figure. Create a series of (at least 5) sequences representing your stylization process; use materials to best express your method.

SESSIONS 4 Space and time

duration and environment in visual arts; abstraction and symbolism
Practice: linear drawing and spatial illusion; Introduction and demonstration of spatial systems; analysis of the “working space” of the composition; Dynamics: fast and slow, pause and activity
Materials: mixed , collage and 3D modeling (paper, cardboard, scissors, glue, collage, paint)
Homework: define space and time as your personal stylistic elements (mixed media); be free to explore both 2D and 3D environments (relief), or use digital resources

SESSION 5 Figure as meaning

Body art, performance, human body as inspiration and
Practice: human figure as a theme; case studies , methods and processes
Materials: mixed techniques (painting, drawing on various surfaces and 3D modeling)
Homework: make an artwork that is inspired by the human body. Be free to experiment and use mixed media.

SESSION 6 Materials and techniques

Stylebook presentations.

Influence of materials on style, evolution of iconography; post- digital art
Practice: control versus accident; step-by-step evolution of visual elements (pictograms, narrative, storytelling); restriction of materials, tools and methods as stylistic refinement (form analog to digital and backward)
Making art using primal materials (nature, installation, environment) and virtual reality
Materials: drawing materials & tools; water-based paints, pastels, raw materials like sand, saw dust, plants, etc); digital resources

Assignment presentations please consider answering to the following questions:

What is the general scope of your ideas?

What are your intents for this topic?

What materials are appropriate for your current work and why?

What would you like people to experience in your piece?

What does your approach provides that other similar projects do not provide or provide differently?

What are the resources & inspiration you used for this work?