Dylan DeWitt

Assistant Professor
Image
head shot of Dylan DeWitt
MFA, Yale University
BFA, RISD

Dylan DeWitt investigates the unusual, the everyday and the puzzling territories in between. His experiential works aim to provoke heightened perceptual states in viewers, posing questions about perception and attention, how we decide which parts of the world are significant and what counts as an image. Topics of interest include optics, color perception and pattern recognition, as well as philosophies of mind and meaning.  

DeWitt holds a BFA in Illustration from RISD and an MFA in Painting and Printmaking from Yale University. His work has appeared in New American Paintings, Floorr Magazine and Art Maze Mag. He has been a resident at the Jentel Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Hambidge Center and Yale/Norfolk. In addition to teaching at RISD, he has taught drawing and painting at the University of Arkansas School of Art and Hartford Art School. He lives and works in Hartford, CT.

Courses

Fall 2023 Courses

ILLUS 601G-01 - GRADUATE ILLUSTRATION STUDIO III: SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND AGENCY
Level Graduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Fall 2023
Credits 9
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ILLUS 601G-01

GRADUATE ILLUSTRATION STUDIO III: SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT AND AGENCY

Level Graduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Fall 2023
Credits 9
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: T | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM Instructor(s): Andrea Dezso, Dylan DeWitt, Eric Telfort Location(s): Weybosset St Studios, Room 305 Enrolled / Capacity: 12 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course is predicated on deep student focus on social engagement and the societal benefits attached to their studio work. Students will investigate and critique methodologies of contemporary, socially engaged artists to develop their own progressive work in order to question and shift traditionally narrow and restrictive paradigms in Illustration that preference and reward the hegemonic at the expense of the progressive, dissident, and critical work needed to advocate for the historically underrepresented. Collaborative projects with local artists, individuals and community organizations will be encouraged and supported to directly connect students with local communities. Students will be required to present self-driven work periodically in response to selected topics, readings, and community discussion.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $0.00 - $150.00

Open to Graduate Illustration Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Illustration

ILLUS 2024-07 - PAINTING I: COLOR PERCEPTION AND EXPRESSION
Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ILLUS 2024-07

PAINTING I: COLOR PERCEPTION AND EXPRESSION

Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Fall 2023
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2023-09-06 to 2023-12-13
Times: M | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM Instructor(s): Dylan DeWitt Location(s): Illustration Studies Building, Room 505 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

Students will gain an understanding of basic color characteristics and relationships through observational painting and color mixing exercises. Perceptual phenomena of space and light are directly connected with principles of color organization on the palette, color mixing procedures and adjustment of color interaction in compositions according to properties of hue, value and chromatic intensity. The associative properties of color rooted both in the natural world and in cultural precedent are explored in relation to expressive priorities. Students learn the use of the physical properties of the medium, gaining sensitivity to qualities of volume and depth, the textural character of the artwork and the sense of artistic facture. Painterly precedent from the history of art and contemporary practice will be studied for inspiration and technical insight. The primary medium for the course is oil paint, and students will be introduced to the complex layering and manipulations the medium makes possible. Water-based media such as casein or gouache will play a supporting role as vehicles for color studies and exercises in abstract color theory. The semester ends with an extended project allowing the combination of observed and invented elements and emphasizing compositional color adjustment in connection with the artist's expressive priorities.

Open to Sophomore Illustration Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

Wintersession 2024 Courses

ILLUS 2020-101 - MEANS AND AN END
Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Wintersession 2024
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ILLUS 2020-101

MEANS AND AN END

Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Wintersession 2024
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-01-04 to 2024-02-07
Times: MTW | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM | 02/05/2024 - 02/07/2024; MT | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM | 01/29/2024 - 01/30/2024; MTW | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM | 01/22/2024 - 01/24/2024; T | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM | 01/16/2024 - 01/16/2024; MTW | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM | 01/08/2024 - 01/10/2024 Instructor(s): Dylan DeWitt Location(s): Illustration Studies Building, Room 309 Enrolled / Capacity: 17 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

Basic to all visual expression is the ability to articulate what one sees. Skill and sensitivity in drawing are the essence of such articulation. The object of this course will be to develop the student's skill as a draughtsman, to make the hand a more gifted servant of the eye. High competence is not a prerequisite for this course; commitment is.

Elective

Spring 2024 Courses

ILLUS 2028-05 - PAINTING II: OBSERVATION AND IMAGINATION
Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ILLUS 2028-05

PAINTING II: OBSERVATION AND IMAGINATION

Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: M | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM Instructor(s): Dylan DeWitt Location(s): Illustration Studies Building, Room 502 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Closed

SECTION DESCRIPTION

This course will continue the study of color organization and use of the oil medium begun in the fall semester, with increased emphasis on compositional structure and adjustment. Assignments will feature imaginative or hybrid compositions, combining observed and invented components. Using principles of color, directional light and spatial structure to solidify atmospheric unity, we will explore the implication and construction of narrative. Work in class will solidify the student's ability to evoke volume, space and light. We will examine the breadth of creative choice in representational color use to illuminate the expressive qualities of various options. Students will study the role for color in directing the viewer's navigation of a composite subject, or imbuing a simple image with depth and complexity. Color design is introduced as an abstract structure that underlies figurative imagery, providing an important expressive subtext. Quick compositional studies in casein or gouache of a work in progress will be used to focus atmospheric and spatial effect. The historical development of color use in painting and cultural associations of style will be explored in slide lectures and experimentation. A capstone assignment will tie the principles of color and composition to a large narrative painting combining diverse imagery from reference and imagination, and emphasizing clarity and subtlety of structure in service of personally determined content.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Preference is given to Sophomore Illustration Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Illustration

ILLUS 3236-01 - SPEAK, MEMORY: PAINTING AS MEMOIR
Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ILLUS 3236-01

SPEAK, MEMORY: PAINTING AS MEMOIR

Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: T | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM Instructor(s): Dylan DeWitt Location(s): Illustration Studies Building, Room 309 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

The visual journal is an invaluable tool in a young artist's development. Based on memory, dreams, fantasy, travel, and intuitive stirrings, each student's own journal will be the source of a group of paintings executed in a variety of mediums such as oil, acrylic and watercolor. In addition to their own journals, students may create images/paintings based on pertinent film, memoirs, essays, or other reflective texts by well-known and lesser-known authors. (Suggested references may include: Christopher Isherwood's I Am A Camera; Arthur Koestler, Darkness At Noon; Allen Ginsberg, Howl; Kerouac, On The Road; Elie Weisel, Night; Vladimir Nabokov, Speak Memory; Francis Ford Coppola, Apocalypse Now; Sylvia Plath, The Bell Jar; William Styron, Darkness, Visible: A Memoir of Madness; Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly; Jonathan Swift, Gulliver's Travels; Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz.)

Open to Junior or Senior Illustration Students.

Elective

ILLUS 3112-01 - DRAWING WITH COLOR
Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start date
End date

ILLUS 3112-01

DRAWING WITH COLOR

Level Undergraduate
Unit Illustration
Subject Illustration
Period Spring 2024
Credits 3
Format Studio
Mode In-Person
Start and End 2024-02-15 to 2024-05-24
Times: TH | 1:10 PM - 6:10 PM Instructor(s): Dylan DeWitt Location(s): Illustration Studies Building, Room 309 Enrolled / Capacity: 15 Status: Open

SECTION DESCRIPTION

Color is arguably the single most expressive and mysterious tool available to the artist. However, many artists who are skilled in black and white drawing have difficulty when they turn their hand to color. Crayon creates a bridge, which is at once less intimidating than more traditional media, while at the same time capable of producing highly sophisticated imagery. Through classroom exercises an awareness of the transformative power of color is awoken. Limited color underdrawings are further developed with multiple layers of color. The use of warm and cool color relationships as well as the exploration of polarities of color, in order to create rich, dramatic effects, is examined in depth. Class work gives the student the opportunity to work from the live model. For homework, the student is encouraged to engage in subject matter which has personal significance, perhaps something one had always wanted to create but hadn't had the opportunity.

Open to Junior, Senior or Graduate Students.

Elective

Image
head shot of Dylan DeWitt
MFA, Yale University
BFA, RISD