| Visual Studies Courses |
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Spring 2008 VIS STD 180B Thirty hours lecture and 90 hours studio per semester. Prerequisites: Environmental Design 11A-11B or consent of instructor; A is prerequisite to B. Projects in graphic form, color, and word-image relationships. Extended Course Description This is a studio class in which we explore the relationship between word and image. Points of departure include literature, history, autobiography, poetry and myth. Pictures, stories and the origins of meaning: Where do they come from? Where do we take them? The emphasis throughout is on creative work. Projects will involve a variety of media, including painting, drawing, and the handling of color, plus montage and the artist’s book. Writing will also be important here. The class works as follows: First, an initial reading (for example, a parable by Franz Kafka, a story by James Joyce, a classical myth as retold by Ovid, or a T’ang dynasty poem by Li Po), followed by discussion and in-class studio work. The central notion here is that of response. Room 491 will be your studio space for the semester; each student has a desk, and is encouraged to make use of the room beyond class sessions as well. Prerequisites: ENV DES11A-B, or the equivalent fine arts courses, and upper division or graduate standing. Non-CED majors with at least some visual arts studio background are encouraged to apply. Students with an interest in writing also welcome. If you’re applying from outside the college, please meet with the instructor during office hours in the week preceding class. Bring examples of your work. VIS STD 181 Thirty hours lecture and 75 hours studio per semester. Learn the classic methods of photography using film, paper, and the darkroom. The course will cover 35mm camera operation, black and white film, and print processing along with essential aesthetic considerations. There will be hands-on demonstrations, laboratory sessions, slide shows, and in-class critiques, all designed to facilitate progress of assigned projects. There will be an introduction to digital technology. Historical and contemporary issues in photography will be discussed. Each student will finish class with a portfolio of photographs. (F,SP) Extended Course Description This course is an intensive investigation of photographic technique and practice. Specific assignments will introduce students to the mechanics of the medium using 35mm cameras, black and white film and a wet darkroom. The final project will address concepts of representation, narrative and abstraction. The course format will include technical demonstrations such as studio lighting, lectures on historical and contemporary photographic work and class critiques. There will be brief intro to digital photography. Each student will finish the course with a portfolio of photographs on one theme. Students will acquire a strong visual vocabulary, learn how to communicate through images and how to read images from a variety of sources. Students from all disciplines benefit from becoming visually literate. There are no prerequisites for this course. VIS STD 186A Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Prerequisites: 181. Fifteen hours of lecture/seminar or sixty hours of studio per unit per term for eight weeks. (F,SP) Extended Course Description Downtown Berkeley in Transition Students will photograph Downtown Berkeley from both a social and architectural perspective. By careful observation of a familiar environment, students will examine the structure of City Center from both a political and personal level. The course will introduce the student to the theory and practice of documentary photography. The work will be produced in both analog and digital format. The collaborative aspect of this class will be emphasized with the production of a final group presentation. This is a demanding and time intensive course. You will become very proficient in the practice of photography. Prerequisites: College-level photography class and the submission of a portfolio of images. Bring your portfolio of 8 to 10 images to the first class session. VIS STD 187A Course may be repeated for credit. Prerequisites: Environmental Design 11A-11B. Extended Course Description The emphasis in this course is on developing greater facility, awareness, and self-expression in freehand drawing. Aspects of composition will be stressed throughout the course. We will work from a variety of subjects, including architecture still life, landscape, and the model. A variety of drawing media will be employed such as pencil, pen and ink, charcoal, pastels, grease media, felt tip, etc. The work of a variety of artists and practitioners throughout history, who have used drawing as a primary means of expression, will be shown in books and in slide presentations. There will be weekly out of class assignments. Class critiques of work done both in class and as home work will be part of each session. A portfolio consisting of in and out-of-class assignments will be submitted for review at mid-term and at the end of the semester. VIS STD 280 Course may be repeated for credit as topic varies. Fifteen hours of lecture/seminar per unit per semester. Prerequisites: 181,186. Advanced work in visual studies and photography. (F,SP) Extended Course Description Graduate Seminar / Word and Image This is a class about imagination and ideas. A road trip, perhaps—or a voyage. We begin each week with a theme—often a single word—as point of departure. Everyone in the group does a project in response—a drawing, a painting, a collage—the medium is open. In the following class we look at the work, and a conversation ensues. And then, a new word. The endeavor here involves a kind of opening—not just in terms of skill (although this can play a part), but more in finding the right (visual) language to give form to one’s feelings about and understanding of the surrounding world. A challenge that carries over into any of the design fields—and beyond… Students from all departments welcome. A good place to explore your initial ideas about the master’s thesis. Also, for graduate students interested in teaching drawing (as GSIs in ENV DES 11A) this course is a strongly encouraged. |
