Art Studio: Watercolor Painting

Topics exploring themes in painting at the intermediate level. Students will learn and work through technical, formal, and conceptual issues about painting. Representative topics: Representing Landscapes; Collage and Assemblage; Watercolor Painting. May repeat for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisite: ARTS 1010, ARTS 1011, ARTS 1014, ARTS 1100, or ARTS 1400.

Asynchronous online course

This online, asynchronous summer intensive painting class is an introduction to the watercolor medium and to the practice of building communicative paintings in general. This course is designed for beginner and 'expert' alike. We will study and practice watercolor with respect to concepts drawn from the broader history of art, from Chinese landscape painting to western modernism and on to the most contemporary, international practices. Along the way we’ll learn how to apply the medium’s unique formal capabilities, employing technical experimentation to study color concepts, abstraction, the construction of images, and ways of seeing. Lastly and most importantly, we'll consider how all of this applies to the creation of evocative, communicative, and engaging paintings and images. Please note: This is a summer intensive, and we cover a semester's worth of work (3 credits worth of material) in just one month's time. You can expect a significant time and work commitment - see more below in ‘expectations.”

HOW THE CLASS WORKS: Concept: videos, media, and text outline and demonstrate painting concepts, techniques, and assignment contexts. These are delivered asynchronously through Brightspace Painting: Painting, painting, and more painting!!! You will make nearly 20 paintings during this class, from studies to finished works. These works require your practice and development of specific skills and concepts stemming from histories of the discipline and outlined in the assignments. Paintings are iterative and cumulative over the duration of the course. Critical Feedback: you will provide and receive regular written critical feedback in a variety of modes. Brightspace allows us to post images of work, give and receive feedback in individual and group contexts. I'll be using this tool to offer regular feedback on both finished and in progress works. Mid-Term and Final Portfolio: You will receive qualitative and grade feedback on a mid-term and final portfolio. This portfolio is assembled as a digital folder of jpeg images, an image information list, and a written self-reflection. *Work and pace: Expect a brisk pace and a challenging, but accomplishable, amount of work. This is a summer intensive class; in 4 short weeks we cover the same 3 credits of material typical of a semester. The university defines a credit hour as “two hours of outside class work for each hour in class or equivalent.” (Source) Summer intensives typically meet in person 12 hours per week, thereby setting 36 hours per week as the class work expectation - a full time commitment. For this class you can expect 20- 30 hours of work each week. This includes painting, participating in the class critiques, preparing materials, reading and taking in content, writing self reflections, and documenting and organizing your work.

PAINTINGS: 60% Each project will have stated learning objectives and a rubric, and the works are evaluated on the degree to which those objectives were practiced in the paintings. When submitting work you’ll want to ask yourself: did I focus exclusively on the skill and concept under study? Do my paintings demonstrate my practice with that idea and approach? Did I give myself enough time working to develop that skill through iterations and variations? Did I work outside of my comfort zone and try something new? TIP: Notice the emphasis on practice – not whether you’ve made a “good painting” Feel free to fail, flail, and wobble in your work. Make something ugly (it’s often more interesting . . . .) Dig into the process and practice. Repetition, trial and error, looking at the results and trying a different direction; that’s how you grow your work and succeed. The main thing is to completely and deeply commit yourself to the process and then learn from what takes place. PARTICIPATION: 40% Participation grades are determined by on-time submissions of work, portfolios, self-reflections, and your critical commentary in class discussions on Brightspace. It’s about respecting the process, your work, your peers, and yourself in the class. When participating you’ll want to ask yourself: Did I show up ready to work? Did I finish the work and submit it on time? Did I give substantive feedback to my peers in the class discussion? Did my comments go beyond taste (I like your colors! Cool style!) and offer something constructive (I’ll discuss how to focus our crits and commentary)? Did I take care in photographing and presenting my work for class posts and my portfolio?