Fall 2002

Course Description: A Semester of Senses

This intermediate level / 300 design course is structured to study the linked areas of fine art and design.  Design will be defined as the essential language of visual communication.  It is the process of giving form to ideas, and the visual/physical product.  Our emphasis will be on the expressive and communicative nature of images and visual forms through an open studio investigation of evolving, refining and articulating visual ideas.

The course is structured around the theme of the senses.  As visual artists and designers we will investigate the visual representation and translation of the other 4 senses.  Each project will involve a different approach to representation and visual language.  Technically, we will be exploring cross application work with a broad range of applications.  Some projects will involve two applications and others will incorporate four or more.  Our outputs will include large format ink jet, high resolution ink jet, video, web based works, and onscreen presentations.

The studio/classroom will be conducted as a collaborative workshop.  Together, we will intensively explore the fundamentals of design and the multifaceted applications of the computer in the design process and production.  An ongoing exchange of ideas, questions and images will be established through preliminary exercises, collaborative activities, classroom discussions and the experimental open workshop environment.

Requirements

· 100% effort and participation
· Attendance (2 unexcused absences permitted)
· Completion of all projects on time (both disk and print copy required)
· Final project critiques:  students must present finished work to participate

· Preliminary projects 20%
· Final projects 80%
· Collaborative projects involve a common responsibility and grade

· Dreamweaver MX:  Visual Quick Start (required)
· Flash MX:  Visual Quick Start (required)
· Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere texts are recommended

1. Feel:  Association and Metaphor

Close your eyes, extend your hand into the darkness and describe what you feel.  Pay attention to texture, temperature, associations and record your responses in a sketchbook.  Do not look inside, do not reveal the contents.  To touch is to explore, to feel is to know.  To associate is to imagine, connect and expand.

Gather elements and materials that connect to the tactile experience and create a composition (digital image and mixed media) that conveys the experience.  Explore media, virtual and physical.  Create a large format print and physical work which conveys your experience and ideas effectively.

Photoshop, Painter…Pixels to Large Format Print
Scanning, Print Media and Methods
Critique Date:  September 18

Our sense of smell is often a key trigger for images and memory.  Specific odors are linked to memories of specific places, moments, situations and people.  Memories have their own time base and unique sequencing of events.  In this project we will explore memory and smell as source material for video.  Students will be introduced to the basics of digital video and create a work inspired by personal experience and memory images.

Premiere +, Image Sequencing and Video
Critique Date:  October 16

This project draws upon the origins of abstraction and non-objective images through the visual representation of sound.  Since sound is non-visual we will investigate translations through diagramming and parallel visual forms.  We will consider the relationships between rhythm and pattern, variation and progression, texture and tone, format and composition.  As sound is time-based and interactive, we will develop this project in Flash MX as a movie formatted for the web.  We will then create a complementary print, physical version based upon the same sound.

Illustrator, Flash, Sound Edit
Critique Dates:  Flash:  November 18

Taste, style and preference are all terms that blend the personal with the historical, the present with tradition.  In this project we will work with a stylistic definition of taste.  Students will be asked to position themselves in relation to a style of precedence and to create elements for a unified web site which presents the previous three projects.  To position is not to copy or replicate, but instead to integrate a personal sensibility with deliberate references.

Dreamweaver, +
Critique Dates:  “The Sense Site:”  December:  Final exam

Preliminary Projects

Throughout the semester, students will generate and informally present and discuss numerous preliminary projects.  These preliminary projects are designed to introduce concepts and techniques relevant to the Section focus.  Students are required to turn in preliminary assignments along with their final section project grouping all together in a clearly labeled folder/envelope.

· Preliminary projects are due as assigned and will not be credited if late.
· Preliminary projects must be printed (when possible).
· Participation is evaluated as part of the preliminary projects.
· Artist Statements are preliminary assignments
· Class written critiques are preliminary assignments

After every class critique session, each student is required to select two other works for a concise and constructive written critique.  These written critiques should be signed and submitted in two copies.  They are due at the beginning of the next class after critique.

Final Projects

· Final projects must be submitted on disk.
· Final projects should be matted/mounted and presented in a finished and professional manner (exhibition-ready).
· All web-based work will be considered for the web server:  digital.uncg.edu
· Collaborative projects involve a shared responsibility and grade.

Every project must include an Artist Statement.  The statement should address two elements, one the technical description (the How) and the other a statement of intent (the Why).  My assumption is that if you cannot retrace your steps in making an image you don’t really understand the image or the process.  This might mean making the image a second time (or 20th) in order to understand your tools and processes and generate clear and articulate processes.  It is important to understand the impact of tools, media and methods along with the sequencing or the production/creation process.  The technical statement should include a listing of media along with central elements/steps in the creation process.  The statement of intent should address your ideas about the piece and can be personal or formal.

Students who do not have completed work to present in scheduled formal critiques will be considered absent for the day and will not be permitted to participate.  They are welcome to listen.  They will receive a 0 for presentation/participation when work is submitted, - 10%.  Artists must present their own work; no surrogates or absentee artists.

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