This course will examine scientific and technical applications developed by Western artists and visual theorists from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Concentrating on pictorial traditions, the course will address what artists, authors and artist/engineers have referred to as scientific, technical, mechanical, and purely mental solutions to optical, proportional and quantitative visual problems. General themes will be perspective, form, color, and mechanical devices, and will include discussions on intellectual training, notebooks, treatises, and collecting. The course will examine artists such as Masaccio, Leonardo, Piero della Francesca, D|rer, Serlio, Carlo Urbino, Cigoli, Rubens, Vel`zquez, Saenredam, Vermeer, Poussin, Andrea Pozzo, Canaletto, Phillip Otto Runge,Turner, Delacroix, Monet, and Seurat.

Elective

This course focuses on contemporary art in and out of Africa, with specific reference to Nigeria. Our objective is to situate Contemporary Nigerian Art within the dialectics of modernism and postmodernism beginning first with the colonial implantation of the modernist trend in Africa. We examine the impact on the artistic vision and direction of the major artists in Africa, while highlighting the careers of their counterparts operating outside the continent within the postmodernist currents of Paris, New York, London, Berlin, etc.

Elective

This course will focus on the cultural and artistic activities which came into being as a result of contacts between the civilizations of Europe and Asia (China in particular). Among the topics explored will be: the ancient world, the Silk Route and Buddhism, the nomads of Eurasia as agents of cultural exchange, early European travelers to China (Marco Polo), the Jesuits at the court of the Chinese emperors during the Ming and Qing dynasties, and finally the Western colonial experience.

This is a co-requisite course. Student must also register for THAD H604 - Art and Religion on the Silk Road - Part B. 

Elective

The Bronze Age saw the development of several advanced civilizations in the Mediterranean basin. Perhaps the best-known among these is the civilization of Pharaonic Egypt. This course will focus on the art and architecture of Egypt and their neighbors to the north: the Aegean civilizations known as Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean. While art historical study of these cultures will be emphasized, evidence for trade and other cultural interchange between them will also be discussed. The course will cover such topics as the Pyramids of Giza, the Tomb of Tutankhamun, and the Palace of Knossos.

Elective

This course explores the diversity of form, style, and narrative content of works created by African American artists from the antebellum period to the present. Specific attention will be devoted to several underlining issues including but not limited to identity, race, class, ethnicity, representation, sexuality and aesthetic sensibilities.

Elective

This corequisite course (Art and Religion on the Silk Road - Part B) is a required supplement to Art and Religion on the Silk Road - Part A. The course is designed as an additional workshop consisting of museum and library visits and hands on work on materials in those collections which relate to the topics explored in Part A. Readings will assigned ahead of these visits to gain an understanding of the material seen. Written responses to the readings and the visits are due weekly. In addition, to the RISD Museum collections (Asian Art, Costume and Textiles, Decorative Arts, Classical Antiquities) and the Fleet Library special collections, we will tentatively visit the John Carter Brown Library, the Hay Library and the Haffereffer Museum at Brown University. Provided funds will be available, we may visit the Boston Museum of Fine arts, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem MA, and the Harvard Art Museum.

This is a co-requisite course. Student must also register for THAD H504 - Art and Religion on the Silk Road - Part A.

Elective

This course will introduce the arts of China through the lens of native and imported religious and philosophical traditions, exploring different approaches to representation and belief. After an introduction to the anthropological study of religion, we will cover four main periods: the pre-historic (Paleolithic - Neolithic), the early dynastic (ca. 2000 - 221 BCE), the imperial (221 BCE - 1911), and the modern-contemporary (post 1911). We will focus on elite and folk approaches to representation and belief with an emphasis on mythology and symbolism. Topics to be explored include: the dragon and the phoenix as symbols, the Han search for immortality, Buddhist cave temples, Taoist landscape painting, the Confucian scholar tradition, ritual garments, the influence of European culture and Christianity, and Communist personality cult.

Elective

Registration by application only. Application is restricted to concentrators in the Theory & History of Art & Design. A call for applications will be sent to all THAD concentrators.

Please contact the instructor for permission to register. 

Elective

Registration by application only. Application is restricted to concentrators in The Theory & History of Art & Design. A call for applications will be sent to all THAD concentrators.

Elective

This course will explore the architectural traditions of the Indigenous cultures of North America, Mesoamerica, and South America in historic perspective. Examinations will focus on the critical cultural and environmental circumstances which led to the development of distinctive architectural styles throughout the Americas. Approached from an anthropological/archaeological perspective, specific topics of discussion will include the following: construction methods and material choices, spatial arrangements and use areas, the relationship between physical and social community structure, and architectural manifestation of cultural belief systems. Emphasis will also be placed on manipulations of the landscape in response to social and climatic needs. Architectural culture discussed in this course will range widely in scale, dispersal and geography - from the igloo of a small Inuit hunting party to the entire Mayan city of Chichen Itza, to the terrace and irrigation systems of the Inca.

Elective

This course will examine the role played by urban mythology in 19th and 20th - century European and American art. We will study the late - 19th - century idea of the flaneur, which influenced both visual arts and literature. We will discuss the Futurists' fascination with machines and the Surrealists' concept of a city perceived as a human body. We will analyse the Impressionists' views of Parisian streets, Frans Masereel's woodcuts The City, de Giorgio Chirico's metaphysical paintings and Edward Hopper's nostalgic images of the American metropolis. We will study how the interest in urban reality has influenced the development of new art movements of the last two centuries.

Elective

This course will explore the approaches and contexts of Leonardo da Vinci's draftsmanship. Studying some of his surviving 6000 drawings and notes, we shall locate his aesthetic and analytical processes in the context of a broad range of projects, such as paintings, sculpture, treatises, machines, weapons, maps, festivals, built environments, and philosophical propositions. Nature and the natural sciences will be considered as presented in the drawings of Leonardo. Leonardo's adherence to artisanal traditions, to members of princely courts and republics, to a Classical ideal, and more generally to investigative and inventive strategies will be considered.

Elective

This course provides an art historical survey and thematic exploration of 9 centuries of Yoruba Art and Aesthetics and its intercession with history (including but not limited to colonialism and postcolonial impact, interventions, and discourses), religion, philosophy, and the socio-political beliefs of one of Africa's most ancient civilizations, and a visible presence in the African Diaspora.

Elective

This writing-intensive course helps students consider the relationship between writing and design, examining language and writing as an active component of a dynamic studio practice. We will explore contemporary culture and issues that affect designers through reading, writing, and discussion, and will examine several different types of design writing in the process. Exercises train students in essential tasks such as conducting formal analyses, writing catalogue entries, and making visual presentations, and we will discuss methods for idea generation, research and writing about our work and our selves, as well as engaging with professional design writing practices like reviews and interviews. We will hone strategies for gathering, organizing, and archiving research material, and will discuss the ways in which writing, as well as self reflection, researching texts, reading arts publications and reviews, and studying like-minded artists can contribute to a critical, engaged, and continually evolving body of work.

How can we add to the future enrichment of our disciplines? How do we make future collegiate teaching a more meaningful practice? This semester-long professional practice course is designed for artists, designers, architects, and educators who are considering teaching in higher education after graduation and/or those who will be teaching during Wintersession as they complete their course of study at RISD. The goal is to introduce graduate students to a reflective teaching foundation and to provide an orientation to the collegiate teaching and learning experience. The first half of the course is composed of readings and discussions related to seven teaching portfolio assignments. The second half of the course entails Individual Teaching Practice Sessions in which students prepare a class that is observed, videotaped, and receives detailed feedback from faculty and peer observers. Major outcomes of the course are: a partial teaching portfolio including a teaching and inclusivity philosophy, course proposals and an extensive course syllabus.

This is the first course in the required sequence for the Certificate of Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design.

Elective

How can we add to the future enrichment of our disciplines? How do we make future collegiate teaching a more meaningful practice? This semester-long professional practice course is designed for artists, designers, architects, and educators who are considering teaching in higher education after graduation and/or those who will be teaching during Wintersession as they complete their course of study at RISD. The goal is to introduce graduate students to a reflective teaching foundation and to provide an orientation to the collegiate teaching and learning experience. The first half of the course is composed of readings and discussions related to seven teaching portfolio assignments. The second half of the course entails Individual Teaching Practice Sessions in which students prepare a class that is observed, videotaped, and receives detailed feedback from faculty and peer observers. Major outcomes of the course are: a partial teaching portfolio including a teaching and inclusivity philosophy, course proposals and an extensive course syllabus. This is the first course in the required sequence for the Certificate of Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design.

Elective

How can we add to the future enrichment of our disciplines? How do we make future collegiate teaching a more meaningful practice? This semester-long professional practice course is designed for artists, designers, architects, and educators who are considering teaching in higher education after graduation and/or those who will be teaching during Wintersession as they complete their course of study at RISD. The goal is to introduce graduate students to a reflective teaching foundation and to provide an orientation to the collegiate teaching and learning experience. The first half of the course is composed of readings and discussions related to seven teaching portfolio assignments. The second half of the course entails Individual Teaching Practice Sessions in which students prepare a class that is observed, videotaped, and receives detailed feedback from faculty and peer observers. Major outcomes of the course are: a partial teaching portfolio including a teaching and inclusivity philosophy, course proposals and an extensive course syllabus.

This is the first course in the required sequence for the Certificate of Collegiate Teaching in Art + Design.

Elective

Using RISD as a site for the exploration of strategies for studio-based teaching and learning is the goal of the course. It is designed for students who have completed TLAD-044G Collegiate Teaching: Preparation & Reflection and are interested in models of practice for a future academic environment. The course examines teaching methodologies in graduates' respective fields through case studies, faculty interviews, and article reviews. Learning to teach in a generative and attentive manner can bring teaching closer to one's studio practice. The seminar is composed of guest faculty and graduates, readings, discussions, and project assignments. Graduates in this course will complete a full professional teaching portfolio in preparation for teaching position applications. Individual and group meetings will be equally balanced. The seminar fulfills a partial requirement for the Certificate in Collegiate Teaching in Art and Design.

Elective

This course has been designed as an introduction to handbuilding ceramics with a focus on teaching ceramics. The class aims to provide a foundation for teaching ceramics through a variety of hands-on learning experiences and lively discussions. Introductory ceramic techniques (like basic pinch, slab and coil methods) will be shared and then built upon for a more sophisticated understanding. Additionally, students will leave the course with fired examples that they can use for lessons for teaching ceramics to young people (PK to 12th grade). Students will also be introduced to types of glazes, a variety of surface decoration techniques, tips and tricks for the studio, types of clay, tools, electric kiln firing and some contemporary artists using the techniques you are learning.

Estimated Cost of Materials: $50.00

Elective

This course invites creative practitioners from all disciplines to play and experiment with the notion of teaching as creative practice. What might happen if we consider the classroom our studio, instructional materials as form, and students as peers and collaborators? How do we push the boundaries of what a lecture, a workshop, a syllabus, a lesson plan, an instructional video, a how-to guide, can be? Whether in the context of higher education, community-based education, early childhood, alternative schools, artist residencies, or the inbetweens, we will take up pedagogy as our discipline and devise multidisciplinary, speculative experiments that redefine the space of pedagogy as one of endless creative potential. Studio work will be scaffolded with readings by thinkers such as Paulo Freire, Fred Moten, bell hooks, and la paperson, and we will consider the works of artists like Nina Katchadourian, Slavs and Tatars, Valie Export, and Walid Raad.

Elective