Academics

Drawing, Painting and Mixed Media

Cathy Osman teaching a painting class

 

Cathy Osman

A Plan of Concentration in Painting and Drawing should be seen first as a broad-based course of study. The course structure emphasizes perceptual and technical skills and directs students toward critical and historical awareness and to the identification of a personal direction in Painting and Drawing.

The making of art is a process of discovery, informed by craft, intuitive play, rigorous self examination and an awareness of history. Although we are in a climate of continual change, a climate in which traditional values in art are in constant question, students need to acquire solid skills in perception, close observation and careful analytic thinking.

Starting Points (Basic and Introductory Courses)

Drawing I (ART7)
A beginning course designed to develop skills and knowledge in seeing. A variety of tools and materials will be explored while working from the still life, landscape and the figure. Fundamental issues of line, shape, tonal value, composition and design elements will be our basis of investigation. (Introductory)

Painting I (ART8)
This course will explore oil painting through a series of projects based on the model, still life, and landscape. The class will begin by working on paper, expanding to include panel and stretched canvas. Emphasis is on close observation as well as individual response. (Introductory)

Studio Art I (ART2) (team taught with Boylen and Segar)
The foundation course for the visual arts. Includes work with formal visual elements of line, texture, shape, space and structure in a variety of materials. This course provides a base for further work in the visual arts curriculum. Some digital design work will be included. (Introductory)

Drawing II (ART522) (team taught with Segar)
This course will focus on working from life, one day a week with the model and the rest of the week from outside sources. This class will build figurative skills and thematic development in intermediate students. Primarily, the class will focus on tonal and linear work though we will explore some issues of color and mixed media. A good deal of the work will be done independently outside of class. (Intermediate)

Painting II (ART366)
This course will be a mixed level course with both intermediate and advanced students responding to assignments designed to lead students toward better painting skills and towards the identification of a personal direction in painting. (Intermediate)

Printmaking (ART 783)
The first section of this class, taught by Brian Cohen, will introduce students to working directly on metal plates through drypoint, sanding, scraping, sandblasting, and mezzotint. We will treat the plate as a surface to be roughened or sculpted in the stages of developing an image. We will examine the various ways a textured plate can be printed, changed, and developed. The class will work from landscape, still-life, and figure, and from the student’s own sources. The second part of the class, taught by Paul Shore, will teach woodblock printing. It will begin with the basics involved in cutting and printing a black and white image. Then color will be incorporated into the works by way of multiple blocks and stencil. (Intermediate)

Art Seminar Critique (ART359)
Group critique of students’ work on Plan. Methodology and goals will be discussed as well as short readings on art and current issues. Graded on a Pass/Fail basis. May be repeated. MEETS ALTERNATE TUESDAYS. Students are required to attend 6 public lectures by visiting artists on Tuesday afternoons at 4:00 pm followed by a critique session from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. (Advanced)

Pursuing Interests (Intermediate and Thematic Courses)

Landscape Drawing/Painting (ART724)
The core of this course will be working outside directly from observation, investigating our perception of the landscape through experimentation with various approaches and materials. Initially we will focus on drawing, moving into water-based materials and color. Emphasis will be placed on individual response supported by directed assignments.

 

Drawing the Figure (ART704)
This course will focus on drawing the figure. In-class work will concentrate on direct observational drawing, examining line, value, proportion, mass, anatomy as they relate to the human form. Extensive outside of class drawing will encourage abstraction, thematic development and a personal drawing language.

Works on Paper: Transformations & Experiments (ART 606)
With an emphasis on process students will be encouraged to explore collage, mixed media, three dimensional relief and monoprinting as a way of generating opportunities for the unexpected; of subject matter, process and rethinking the definitions of working with and on paper.

The Language of Color (ART888)
This course will look at color through various lenses, historical, cultural and symbolically. We will "see" color as not only attached to objects, space and light but also as decoration and metaphor. We will consider color as inspiration for poets, philosophers, musicians and painters. Primarily we will paint but there will be work with paper, found materials or non-western approaches to presentation.

Areas Of Interest For Plan-Level Work

Sample Tutorial Topics