Thought I’d post some descriptions for the classes I’m taking next semester.
Narrative Drawing
How do you build a narrative? How do you “compose” a visual story in the space of a piece of paper? This class will make projects that address these questions as well as introducing students, through slides and gallery visits, to a wealth of artists who use narrative in their own work. Drawing especially lends itself to telling a story. Those stories may derive from personal experience, political or social critique, fantasy or irony. They might take the form of cartoon imagery, graffiti or collage. Materials could include pencils, ink, paint or other media. Learn how contemporary artists in all mediums are working with narrative structures to make powerful statements about how they see the world.
Drawing without drawing
In “Drawing without Drawing” we will investigate the contemporary phenomenon of artists using less traditional materials and sources as the foundation for their artistic practice. Through course projects, lectures, and class discussions, we will further define the drawing practice within its aesthetic and conceptual parameters. This mixed media (or open media) approach to drawing is designed to challenge the standard conventions of drawing. Projects are not devised to exclude the traditional format or processes associated with drawing, but rather to introduce a more inclusive presence of alternative materials. Projects will be both conceptually and process oriented, with a focus on the individual’s self determined solution.
Intro to crititcal whiteness
This course offers students an introduction to the interdisciplinary methods through which scholars seek to understand the construction, consolidation, and change of white racial identity in the west over the last several hundred years. Readings will be drawn from history, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, journalism, and critical theory. Assignments will include an ongoing written log in response to assigned reading as well as explorations of racialized cultural spaces and objects in the present-day Bay Area.
Minimalism
While we know that the term “Minimalism” implies a reduction to barest necessities, we often lose sight of the rich diversity of works and working methods employed by U.S. artists in the 1960’s and 1970’s that get squeezed under the big tent of “Minimalism.” In fact, Minimalism was a mode of working fundamentally rooted in the phenomenology of bodily experiences, and extended beyond sculpture to dance, performance, music, and environmental art. In this course we will look at everything from objecthood to anti-form, paying special attention to artists’ writings.