SANFORD WURMFELD: Color Seminar  

This is a course for which both Studio MFA and Art History MA students are eligible.  The goal is to investigate color in art and specifically in painting.  The approach to color will be limited to its study as a sensation, that is to say, the effects of the psycho-physical relation between painting (the stimulus) and the viewer.  The semantic use of color in art, i.e. color as an iconographic device, will not be covered.  The course will entail the learning of color terminology, color ordering systems, modes of appearance of color and many other controllable perceptual or sensory effects of the use of color as well as an historical review of the development of these ideas together with the application of these effects in art.  Weekly assignments will require the student to read texts and to complete color exercises to sharpen their analytic skills.  There will be assigned short papers on the analysis of color in specific works of art, a mid-term, and a final project.  Students will have the option to do a studio based final project or a term paper.

Since material is presented in class in a sequential manner, attendance is required.  Unexcused absences will be reflected in the final grade, and more than three absences will result in a failing grade. The goal of the course is to foster an understanding of color use that will further the ability of the student to analyze more specifically all works of art which might as well lead to new critical and creative directions in art. 

GABRIELE EVERTZ: Painting, combined.
ArtCr 225/336 Meets Thursdays

The goal of this course is to introduce you to the practice of painting, painting concepts and the experience of color expression. Particular emphasis is placed on vision and perception so as to develop your natural sensibility and intention within the parameters of color abstraction. Exercises deal with the investigation of color interactions and assignments will be painted in a precise, careful manner on paper to observe color effects. Gradual individual understanding is gained by finding your signature colors and express your visual/verbal concepts for their communication with the viewer. When painting on canvas, we can apply our observations to give shape to your particular intention, concept or idea.  Quoting from well established sources in Art and Science, you will be introduced to the “laws” of color. Course work consists of the completion of large scale canvases, six at 60x60 inches minimum, and a smaller work of 48x48 inches, for a total of seven paintings. Extensive weekly homework is to be expected. We use non-toxic acrylic paint only. You will be supplied with all the texts necessary to serve as guide and study material throughout this course. The final project consists of an "open topic" body of work and a type-written, 3-page paper, analytically describing your process and concept. Lectures, group discussions, and two museum visits are designed to assist you to a deeper comprehension of the sensations and perception of color expression.

CARRIE MOYER: Artcr 235, Painting and Artcr 336, Advanced Painting
This course is designed to assist both beginning and advanced students in the development of their own unique set of painting interests. Using the fundamentals of picture making (composition, light, color, facture) as our starting point, traditional and contemporary painting materials and processes will be introduced and explored. Assignments will be customized for different skill levels and are designed to build technical proficiency as well as an understanding of the expressive potential of painting. Students will be encouraged to think expansively about their work: Is painting simply a vehicle for one’s private thoughts and feelings or can it communicate broader social and political issues? Learning how to analyze and interpret visual art will be another crucial aspect of the course; therefore active participation in group discussions and class trips is mandatory. Students should expect to complete most assignments outside of class time.

ANDREA BLUM: Art in the Public Context
andreablum@earthlink.net

Art in the Public Context is a Seminar designed to consider the relationship of what a work is, relative to the context in which it is sited. The emphasis is on the social, psychological and political aspects connecting a work to its audience.

Using a formal, conceptual and historical analysis, the student is asked to propose several propositions throughout the semester that would compliment and/or expand the parameters of their studio practice.

The focus is on the incremental process of editing a project that can take any form, and, depending, need not be actualized in real time & space.

Example projects: public space intervention; exhibition display; travel brochure; symposium; special topics lecture; performance; etc.

This is not a course on public art.

Process: The first presentation will be a proposal that considers how space is ‘claimed’ (i.e. sight/sound/smell/taste/form/location/participation, etc.). The second presentation will be the same project revised, plus an idea for another project that can be related to, or completely different from, the first. The third presentation will be a third project related to or different from the former two. The final DVD will include the other two revised projects, plus a compilation of texts, resources, and  images that trace the development of the work throughout the semester, and it’s relationship to the studio practice. A 3-page written text (minimum) will accompany this summary to be woven into the presentation.

PAUL RAMIREZ JONAS: Graduate Combined Media Seminar

This seminar will be structured around the participants' work. The first few weeks will be spent doing in-class workshops. Some exercises will be aimed at revealing and articulating each participant's creative process. Other exercises will seeks to find any points of commonality and difference among class participants. After this groundwork has been established, the rest of the semester will be spent critiquing work. Each cycle of critiques will have a different format of discussion. In addition, there will be a sprinkling of illustrated short lectures and/or readings in response to the work we are critiquing.

REINER LEIST: Advanced Photography: Conflict, site and biography
ArtCR 372.00 Section 051F
reiner.leist@hunter.cuny.edu, 212-290-2523
Room 11003, 11th Floor Classroom and Darkroom, Digital Lab

Combines practical instruction, readings, lectures, field trips, visiting artists and group discussions intended to foster an aesthetic appreciation of photography as well as digital imaging, and a critical awareness of how images in our culture are produced and constructed. Practical instruction in advanced black and white techniques as well as digital imaging. Uses of analog and digital imaging techniques combined with other strategies, including 3D, 4D and interventions in public space are welcome and encouraged as long as one layer of the process remains photographic. A student-initiated term project provides opportunities for personal exploration. Projects are continuously presented in a critical forum. Students are encouraged to complete a project by the end of the semester.

Learning Objectives: Students will improve their critical awareness of how images in our culture are produced and constructed. Students will learn the importance of the context of a photograph or a series of photographs. Students will learn various aspects of the motivation to photograph, to make art. Students will learn advanced darkroom techniques and alternative processes. Students will learn a basic understanding of lighting. Students will learn of institutional practice, the role of the curator and the collection.

CONSTANCE DEJONG: Combined Media: Video and Audio (Undergraduate)

Students will produce and be exposed to art that uses video and audio. This is not a form specific course as video and audio (separately and in combination) are elements of many different art forms. Example: video for playback on screens, video for projection, performance and installation works that include sound and/or moving images, as well as 2D and 3D work that include sound and/or moving images. Regular illustrated lecture-presentations will introduce you to ideas and examples of different kinds of time-based art.  Students produce a midterm and final project, as well as several small specific assignments with a one-week turn around time; one written response to a field trip and a second short writing assignment responding to the work of a particular artist assigned to each student following the midterm project. The course has a weekly lab component (one hour of the class time) to teach and/or build your skills in working with video, audio, web and related digital areas of production. Editing, sound capturing, working with the camera, and stop animation are among the subjects that will be covered.

CONSTANCE DE JONG: Audio/Sound (Graduate Elective)

Sound can be a component of many art forms - performance, installation, video-based work, objects, and lecture-presentations, to name a few. This class will introduce the conceptual, practical and production aspects of working with sound/audio. Real time and recorded audio will be covered. You will work on a project for presentation at mid-semester and a second for end of semester presentation can be collaborative work. Class will include readings on the subject of sound/audio in visual art, discussions of works presented in regular lecture-talks, and one short written response.

MALIK GAINES: Undergraduate Combined Media: Interdisciplinary Projects

This course will foster interdisciplinary creative work and promote modes of art making that transgress the boundaries of specific media, forms, and institutions.  While disciplinary distinctions shape everyday experiences, physical spaces and social hierarchies, they also indicate what they guard against, the possibility of disorder.  Meanwhile, disordered disciplines have played an important role among art’s traditions.  A history of interdisciplinarity will be explored by considering specific works along with notions of ritual, festival, the Gesamtkunstwerk (or total work of art), multi-media display, pop art, internet art, and ideas of art and everyday life.  Students will be given weekly assignments that test different disciplinary boundaries, and will create a final project reflecting their work in the class.  Readings will contribute to an understanding of course themes, and will inform the creative assignments.

MALIK GAINES: Graduate Seminar: Performance

This seminar considers theories of performance that will provide a context for developing new performance work. A series of assignments, organized around specific performance constraints, will shape a discussion about performance within and beyond art practice. Readings will help introduce relevant conceptual frameworks, including the body, alienation, duration, situation, and theatricality. Course time will be spent discussing critical themes and engaging in group critiques of student work.   

LYNN SULLIVAN: Sculpture 251/352 Section 002

The goal of this sculpture class for both advanced and beginning students is to develop and further an understanding of materials, objects, spaces and the meanings we embed within them.  Each of four assignments will be introduced with a discussion and presentation of relevant contemporary and historical art works.  Reading material will be listed.  The projects are driven by philosophical concepts about things & materials in the world and shaped by theories of art and social culture. Students will transform materials and spaces and consider the following questions: What is immateriality and its role in sculpture? How are we cognizant of things?  How does a material represent a history of its past? How do you give a recognizable material a new role? What is the difference between a hand held object or a room sized thing? What role can the scale model play in art? What is the nature of a system of objects? How can structure and function add meaning to your work? How does the viewer move around and experience your work? How is your work presented or is it distributed and never in one place? In the class, process (how things are made) is emphasized as an individual choice and a means of communication rather than a skill alone. While we will instruct about various processes, tools and equipment, the student must creatively seek out means and materials that best fit their response to the project concepts. Materials are largely open and can include wood, bolted metal, minor casting & found materials. We will work with you to assess the best way and the best materials to achieve your plans. A student’s independent thinking, research and experimentation are key to successfully completing each project. The four projects will each conclude with group critiques involving strong participation in discussion by all members of the class.

J.D.Walsh: 3D Space and the Moving Image (undergraduate CM)

In this course, students will explore areas of performance, video, web-based artworks, sound, durational artwork, indeterminacy, and installation in relation to the history of sculpture. Students will use ideas surrounding contemporary sculpture as a starting point for dealing with time-based media. Issues of representation, abstraction, composition, etc. can be explored and built upon by introducing students to new media.