Art Studio: Painting: Observation & Image

Exploration of the formal and conceptual practices of painting. Introduction of historical genres and issues in painting such as still life, figuration, and abstraction. Prerequisites: ARTS 1010, ARTS 1011, ARTS 1014, ARTS 1100, or ARTS 1400.

Asynchronous online

This is an introductory-to-intermediate course in the discipline of painting. Students will learn about painting basics in terms of tools, materials and formal aspects. Students will increase their visual acuity and painterly literacy through work that focuses on close looking, the compositional arrangement of imagery, and considerations of image in painting and in this image-saturated time. Contemporary and historical painting will be shown and considered. Students will increase their knowledge of technique, formal concepts, painting terminology, historical and contemporary ideas and dialogues, and ways of making, analyzing, and ‘reading’ imagery and painting.

As the name of the course implies, both observation and image are key concepts. Painting by observation demands cultivating increasing your capacity for awareness. On awareness, music producer Rick Rubin beautifully wrote: In most of our daily activities we choose the agenda and develop a strategy to achieve the goal at hand. We create the program. Awareness moves differently. The program is happening around us. The world is the doer and we are the witness. We have little or no control over the content. The gift of awareness allows us to notice what’s going on around and inside ourselves in the present moment. And to do so without attachment or involvement. We may observe bodily sensations, passing thoughts and feelings, sounds or visual cues, smells and tastes. Through detached noticing, awareness allows an observed flower to reveal more of itself without our intervention. This is true of all things. Awareness is not a state you force. There is little effort involved, though persistence is key. It’s something you actively allow to happen. It’s a presence with, and acceptance of, what is happening in the eternal now. In the final assignments of the class, I encourage students to think consciously and critically about images. Images are ubiquitous, more than ever, yet generally only certain types of images are painted. Consider painting images from a wider source pool. Images are also powerful, helping shape popular understandings of events, even when evidence contradicts pictorial versions of stories. Not always, but often images often tell stories. Consider the stories you might wish to tell. We will look at a wide array of contemporary and historical images and paintings in our consideration of the image and attempt to broaden the definition of an image. Is a brushstroke an image, for example? We will experiment with creating new narratives by combining images and references, and with creating images from a wider net of possibilities than pre-existing conventions. Success in the course requires active participation and consistent work habits.

Paintings will be evaluated for craft, cogency, visual intelligence, and level of engagement. Clarity of intention, imagination, experimentation, originality, development, and the processes of critical analysis and valuation will be given weight. Short writing assignments will augment student’s visual work.