Photography plays an important role in the field of graphic design -- within publications, posters, electronic media, etc. Because of the camera's availability and fairly inexpensive cost, photography has become one of the most popular hobbies in the world. Although he/she is in possession of such a device, the average person is not entirely aware of certain image manipulations and other concepts used by the graphic designer. This four-week workshop introduces designers to the lighting studio and the many uses of the camera in creating design artifacts.

Elective

Photography plays an important role in the field of graphic design -- within publications, posters, electronic media, etc. Because of the camera's availability and fairly inexpensive cost, photography has become one of the most popular hobbies in the world. Although he/she is in possession of such a device, the average person is not entirely aware of certain image manipulations and other concepts used by the graphic designer. This four-week workshop introduces designers to the lighting studio and the many uses of the camera in creating design artifacts.

Elective

Interior Architecture and the work of adaptive reuse pose a challenge: To understand an existing idea, concept, materiality, and context, which then becomes the starting point for architectural transformation.  The origin may be ill-used or obsolete; the challenge is to knit together that which exists, with newly created form and materiality.  Through a series of intertwined projects students will use multiple hand hewn modalities to draw and model proposals. This introductory studio is not designed for students with prior architectural training.

Elective

Part I of a two-semester course that will survey major topics in the Histories of Photography. Emphasis will be given to the diverse cultural uses of photography from its invention to the present day. Such uses include: the illustrated press; amateur photography; studio photography; industrial, advertising, and fashion photography; political and social propaganda; educational and documentary photography; and photography as a medium of artistic expression. Much attention will be paid to how photographs construct histories, as well as being constructed by them.

Major Requirement | BFA Photography

This course emphasizes the design process - how to come up with an idea and how to develop it into a finished design - as well as technical skills. Using tools, techniques, and materials from professional studios, students work on paper exploring and analyzing layouts, color, and other design elements within repeated patterns. As students develop their individual styles, they are exposed to design requirements stemming from production methods and the intended end use. Successful work from this course becomes part of students' portfolios.

Elective

This course focuses on issues in the professional textile field, such as the effect of production parameters and end use on design decisions. While helping students become more familiar with the wide ranging market, from the most innovative to the traditional, this course aims at providing an awareness of how one's own work fits into this context. Lecturers include professionals from the field, who advise on the studio work required in this class.

This course is a requirement for second-year Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

As we have moved past the 1.5 degree C target to limit the worst effects of climate change, public attention has shifted from avoiding climate change to adaptation and resilience. The studio asks in the face of challenges like eco-system degradation, longer “fire seasons,” resource scarcity, more frequent devastating storms and climate migration, what contribution can design make to creating a more sustainable future? Drawing on systems design and horizon scanning exercises, we will explore how anticipating the impacts of climate change can contribute to the design of more effective adaptation strategies.

The studio will be divided into three phases. In the first phase students will research changing environmental and societal conditions to understand how they are affecting communities in different places. In the second phase we will draw upon what activists, communities and designers are doing to address those challenges to inform our own systematic proposals. In the final phase, students will select their own direction and design objects and artifacts for those directions. Our hands-on making will be informed by guest lectures and discussions with subject matter experts from the fields of ecological development, climate adaptation, sustainable design and climate security. It is open to undergraduate and master's level students from across departments.

Major Requirement | BFA Industrial Design, MID (2.5yr): Industrial Design

Afterschool Special adds another layer to the MFA Sculpture curriculum in relation to the work done in Graduate Studio and Graduate Critique. The class will be divided into 2 six-week sections taught by an artist and a curator. Through these differing and connected perspectives, students will develop a deeper understanding into the ways that art is displayed, viewed, contextualized and experienced. The course will explore the many roles that the artist plays in society in addition to elaborating the ways that visual art influences contemporary thought through the history of curation and exhibition-making.

The course will consist of lectures, discussions, group critiques and one-on-one studio visits. The first half of the semester will focus on professional practices in the field of fine arts. Students will be introduced to a variety of resources and skills necessary in preparing for upcoming and future opportunities such as residencies, granting applications, and fellowships. There will also be discussions about maintaining post-graduate art practices and cultivating thriving creative communities.  The second half will focus on curation with emphasis placed on current trends and shifts in artistic and curatorial production, theory, and criticism. Students will examine case studies of a range of curatorial practices and consider examples of artist curated shows. Both sections will involve the topic of exhibiting works in various spaces such as galleries (artist-run, for-profit, university, etc.), museums and alternative art organizations. 

Enrollment is limited to 2nd-year Sculpture Graduate Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Sculpture

This studio elective focuses on creating digital image-based artworks. Students will be introduced to a wide variety of contemporary artists working between digital imaging, photography, and digital painting — and a range of technical possibilities for making and producing “painterly” digital artworks. Through several short assignments and one final project, students will experiment and then hone in on image-making processes that suit and expand their practices. These projects are complemented by readings and discussions which provide context for contemporary digital art-making: an exciting and ever-changing space for creative work.

Elective

This studio course will continue to advance students' metalsmithing techniques. Chasing and repousse, along with lost wax casting, will be introduced and developed throughout the semester. Skills and material knowledge learned in the sophomore year will also be used to fulfill assignments. Overlap between all skills is encouraged in most assignments. Inquiry into the finer points of fabricating and inventing innovative findings for jewelry will be an ongoing consideration. Research, drawing, and sample making are expected to precede each class assignment to facilitate students design process.

Major Requirement | BFA Jewelry + Metalsmithing

Part II of a two-semester course that will survey major topics in the Histories of Photography. Emphasis will be given to the diverse cultural uses of photography from its invention to the present day. Such uses include: the illustrated press; amateur photography; studio photography; industrial; advertising, and fashion photography; political and social propaganda; educational and documentary photography; and photography as a medium of artistic expression. Much attention will be paid to how photographs construct histories, as well as being constructed by them.

Preference given to Sophomore Photography Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Photography

This course continues from Textile Seminar I and focuses on issues in the professional textile field, such as the effect of production parameters and end use on design decisions. While helping students become more familiar with the wide ranging textile market, from traditional work to the most highly innovative, this course aims to provide an awareness of how one's personal expression fits in to this context. Lecturers include professionals from the field, who advise on the studio work required in this class.

This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

The goal of Independent Drawing Projects is for students to develop a distinct, carefully conceived, and self-directed body of works through a process of investigation, critical assessment and production. Through a rigorous studio practice, students are expected to identify and develop their own conceptual interests and material approaches. Individual and group critiques support, facilitate, and intensify this process. While drawing concentrators will be given priority, interested students outside of the concentration and beyond the sophomore level may take this course.

For the drawing concentrator, the work created for the Independent Drawing Project serves as the culmination of the Drawing Concentration program.

Elective

The goal of Independent Drawing Projects is for students to develop a distinct, carefully conceived, and self-directed body of works through a process of investigation, critical assessment and production. Through a rigorous studio practice, students are expected to identify and develop their own conceptual interests and material approaches. Individual and group critiques support, facilitate, and intensify this process. While drawing concentrators will be given priority, interested students outside of the concentration and beyond the sophomore level may take this course. For the drawing concentrator, the work created for the Independent Drawing Project serves as the culmination of the Drawing Concentration program.

Elective

This 3-credit studio course will teach design fundamentals to the elective non-GD major students entering the field of Graphic Design from other disciplines, and will feature in-class instruction which may include 2D and 3D form basic principles of color; image-making from photography, drawing, collage, etc. point and plane / figure and ground exercises; sequencing and exposure to various formats, etc.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graduate Graphic Design Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Graphic Design (3yr)

Chronological survey of graphic design through slide lectures. The course will study how graphic design responded to (and affected) international, social, political, and technological developments since 1450. Emphasis will be on printed work from 1880 to 1970 and the relationship of that work to other visual arts and design disciplines. In addition to the lectures, the course will schedule a studio section in which design projects are integrated with research.

Majors are pre-registered for this course by the department. Enrollment is limited to Graphic Design Students.

Major Requirement | BFA Graphic Design, MFA Graphic Design (3yr)

This course focuses on advanced composition in Graphic Design and Typography using an array of materials, techniques and formats. Form remains an area of study in graphic design that does not need an application, only a surface. Emphasis will be placed on experimental form-making/image-making using generative and iterative approaches. Form need not follow function. Studio assignments are supported by lectures showing contemporary graphic form, from historical to contemporary work, that are effective and evocative. This elective aims to build a collection of work that can be shared with the larger graphic design community.

Elective

This course focuses on advanced composition in Graphic Design and Typography using an array of materials, techniques and formats. Form remains an area of study in graphic design that does not need an application, only a surface. Emphasis will be placed on experimental form-making/image-making using generative and iterative approaches. Form need not follow function. Studio assignments are supported by lectures showing contemporary graphic form, from historical to contemporary work, that are effective and evocative. This elective aims to build a collection of work that can be shared with the larger graphic design community.

Elective

How does one artfully navigate a creative landscape in CG character and environment design despite the deluge of derivative art and industry homogeneity? This class challenges students to swim against the current, to create a character and setting design that is unique and amazing. Sessions will be a balance of critical thinking, through ZBrush instruction, studio work and class critique. Critiques will focus on the inventiveness of the character and environment, the credibility of essential form, legibility of the designs and their suitability to the narrative outline.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $25.00

This course fulfills the Computer Literacy requirement for Illustration Students.

Elective

This course emphasizes the mining and contextualization of one's own work as a nexus for growth through the active, ongoing and evolving consideration of your own studio practice as a topic of study in itself. This work will spring from and shed light on your creative intuition, processes and outcomes in a way that will helps you to communicate your work to others through language. In turn, it is hoped this voicing of essential components of your work will help streamline your practice and expedite your artistic production.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $0.00 - $25.00

Major Requirement | MFA Illustration