Art Studio: Top in Printmaking Risograph (A)

About ARTS 2300 A

Topics exploring themes in printmaking at the intermediate level. Students will work with approaches to the print and the dialogues around them, beyond what is covered in our customary offerings. Representative topics: Printmaking: Risograph; Printmaking: Woodcut. May repeat for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisites: ARTS 1010, ARTS 1011, ARTS 1014, ARTS 1100, or ARTS 1400.

Notes

Prereqs enforced by the system: ARTS 1010, ARTS 1011 ARTS 1014, ARTS 1100, or ARTS 1400; SART, AHST and ARTE majors only until after the third day of registration; then ARTS and AHST minors may also enroll; beginning Monday April 13th any student may enroll space permitting. FS1Z $120

Section Description

Top in Printmaking Risograph - 95746 - ARTS 2300 - A Heimo Wallner

Risograph printing is a technique best described as a ‘digital screen printing’.
The process is similar to screen printing, but with the convenience of an office copier. 
It’s known for its vivid colours (that other printers can’t produce) and its specific textures.
These machines deliver ‘perfect imperfections’ and provide a cheap and easy method for reproducing work at large quantities, like posters, prints and zines.
(from: http://www.risopop.com)

We will create analog and digital originals for our prints and learn how to print them accordingly - using the scanner of the Risograph or utilising programs like Photoshop, Adobe Acrobat, Spectrolite, and more.

Graphic design, typography, and questions of visual communication will be addressed, as well as how to use the Risograph as a medium to create one's art rather than as just a means of reproduction.

The first half of the semester will cover essential technical issues and an experimental phase. We will use the second half of the semester to focus on the student's artistic practice and how to use the Risograph in this context.
Throughout the semester, we will look at examples of artists who use the Risograph and explore the world of zines, self-published books, flyers, and pamphlets.

This course is a studio course designed to give students the opportunity to work while receiving instructive intervention. It may include the following: demonstrations, presentations, student projects, group projects, critiques and papers. All assignments must be completed to pass this course.  Students will work with peer groups for some projects and critiques. Giving and getting honest responses to one's work is critical to your learning. The opportunity to respond to another's work is a valuable tool in developing your ability to articulate what you see and how you see it. Receiving attentive observations and descriptions of your work will assist you in learning to see and expand your ideas.
A critique is not a matter of what you like (although the work may appeal to you) but rather understanding what the artist wanted to accomplish and how they succeeded or not. Sharing your ideas and thoughts will contribute to every one's learning and make this experience exciting for us all.
Guidelines for each assignment will be handed out or verbally described as needed.

Section Expectation

We will start with fundamental questions of printmaking. Gradually we will acquire analog and digital skills to achieve desired results. Experimentation is a key element in art making, even more so when working with a somewhat complex process. Students will learn to appreciate unexpected results.
The goal is to learn how to use the Risograph independently and produce esthetically and artistically engaging work that reflects technical proficiency.
Attendance and active participation* are required. Six hours per week outside of class time will be necessary to complete the assignments successfully.

By the end of the semester you will:

apply basic principles of multi-color printing in layers - Riso shares these principles with other printing techniques like wood-cut or silkscreen where the opacity or transparency of the inks and the order of the layers influences the final result strongly.

know how to turn your originals into grey-scale layers using conventional drawing and painting materials or digital applications like Photoshop and Illustrator - respectively their open source equivalents.

learn to use the Risograph independently. Manually (printing from the scanner bed) and digitally (printing from a computer).

be able to address basic issues of layout and typography

create contents that are important to you and learn about ways how to present them. (graphic novels, zines, advertisements, flyers, posters...)

have produced a final that orients itself on questions of contemporary art making.

You will have researched contemporary artists and art pieces and besides the fantastic final that you present you will have written a proposal for it and an artist statement.

*Participation is a positive, attentive involvement in the process of working & critiquing. It requires an open mind to consider new ideas.
In this class, critiques of your work will happen on a regular basis (one on one and group critiques). In a studio course, critiques are the main source of evaluation. In order to understand your progress in this class you must pay full attention to what is said during critiques of your work both in personal discussions and during class. The purpose of the critique is to help you communicate as clearly and forcefully as possible. The process of transforming self-expression into communication is at the heart of this course.

Evaluation

Will be based on three equal parts:
Conception
processing of instructions, developing and discussing ideas, research, sketches, first drafts

Production
creating the original, color definitions/separations (analog or digital), printing, assembling/presenting, AND: clean up.

Reflexion
self-evaluation, participating in critiques and discussions, conclusions

I will state specific learning goals at the beginning of each assignment. Your projects will be graded taking these learning goals into account, but beside these specific assignments, I make efforts to grade the arc of the whole course and your development in it, recognising that in art while one is working towards one thing, often other skills and ideas are developing. A failure to meet the objectives in one project may lead to exceeding them in another.
Generally speaking though, the following are grade descriptions and expectations indicating an overall approach to the semester’s course.
 
A = Student completes all assignments with an excellent attention to craft and presentation. Finished work exceeds expectations outlined in assignments. Student is always well prepared for all aspects of class and is not afraid to take risks or ask questions in the service of learning more. The student understands what possibilities are present in each assignment and lifts their own work as well as class critiques to new and fresh levels of discussion. The student’s work displays a substantial and unique improvement over the course of the semester (you have made the work your own even as you achieved the goals of the assignment.)
 
B = Student completes all assignments with a strong attention to craft and presentation. Assignments have been engaged on a solid level, both formally and conceptually. The student understands the concepts and formal principles of the class well enough to articulate this understanding to others during critiques, and in the work itself. Student is well prepared for class work, homework and discussions in terms of materials and ideas. The student’s work shows steady improvement over the course of the semester.
 
C = Student completes all assignments satisfactorily within the parameters of each assignment. Assignments have been engaged with enough commitment to complete the assignment both formally and conceptually. The student occasionally participates in critiques and discussions and is mostly, but not always, prepared for class work, homework, and discussions. Student’s articulation of class content to others during critiques and discussions is average. The student’s work displays little to some improvement over the course of the semester. 
 
D = Student completes most, but not all, of the class assignments satisfactorily. Assignments were not engaged with enough rigor to fulfill the demands of learning the particular skill or concept introduced therein. The quality of craft and presentation in the work is not up to the expectations stated in the assignment. Student’s articulation of course content during critiques and discussions reveals missed study material. Participation in class critiques and/or discussions is minimal. Student is often unprepared for class work, homework, and discussions in terms of materials and ideas. The student’s work displays little to no improvement over the course of the semester.
 
F = Student offers an unacceptable amount of work in terms of the course expectations for earning credit. A grade of “F” usually implies an unacceptable attendance record and little to no participation in the assignments, discussions and class as a whole.

Important Dates

Courses may be cancelled due to low enrollment. Show your interest by enrolling.

Resources

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