Massachusetts College of Art, spring 2000

SF174 Visual Language

Tuesdays, 8 -12:30 p.m., Room 305, South Building

Instructor: Nita Sturiale
Email: nita@artscience.org
Home phone: 617-625-9307
Office hours: please make apt.

Teaching Assistant: Megan Hurst
Email: mhurst@midior.com

 

~ To weekly schedule ~


Syllabus

Course Description

"SF174 Visual Language: an introduction to visual surface, conceptual thinking, composition, and negative space. Research, clear communication of concepts, solving problems, developing a sense of process, material selection, and presentation skills are essential to developing a powerful visual language. Studies include line, value, shape, form, texture, pattern, space, and time. Students learn how visual language can be employed to achieve specific project goals. The critique process helps students develop criteria such as clarity of concept and technical execution for evaluating their own work." [From the MassArt catalog]

This course is a laboratory for developing a Visual Language Vocabulary. In the context of this College of Art, our goal is to learn things we don't already know towards the long-term goal of being effective, satisfied and articulate artists. My responsibility as a teacher is to present information and provocations that I think you will learn from. Over the following weeks skill-oriented and conceptual subjects will be presented in an order that reflects your interests and questions. So, in turn, this approach depends on your responsibility to voice your interests and questions. Class participation, discussion and attention is fundamental and required. I assume you are here because you want to be here and because you are committed to learning and developing as an artist. I also assume you will attempt to do your best at all times. If either of these points is not true for you, then please discuss this with me early on.

Being an artist requires a tremendous amount of self-motivation. This course challenges you to push yourself into thinking about YOUR IDEAS. What is YOUR content? What do you want to express? If you are a painter, what aesthetic or conceptual issues are you dealing with? If you are graphic designer, what is your particular unique style? The visual languages that engage viewers, inspire communities, sell products, cause action, and sometimes offend moralities are your medium. Cross-cultural differences make the process of exploring this medium more complex and interesting. This course is about learning to move around in this exploration effectively and articulately.

Topical Outline (not necessarily in order):

The course schedule includes tutorials, field trips, visiting artists, presentation and discussion periods. Each week a notetaker will be asked to record who is presenting, what they are presenting and what is said about it. By the end of the semester, we will have a record of this class' development of a visual language vocabulary.

Topics:

  • YOUR ideas,
  • The visual language of the human body,
  • The visual language presented to us in everyday life,
  • Formal issues related to visual language (line, value, shape, form, texture, pattern, space, and time),
  • Discussion skills,
  • Critiquing skills,
  • A selection of digital media skills,
  • Reflective reading and writing skills,
  • Examples of other artists' work,
  • Articulating your visual language,
  • YOUR ideas,

Tutorials:

  • Visual Perception and the Human Visual System, parts 1 and 2,
  • How to use a scanner,
  • Intro to PhotoShop,
  • How to use a digital camera,
  • How to create a project for the computer screen - combining images, text and interactivity, WebPages, slide shows,
  • How to get a project off the computer screen - printing issues ,
  • Intro to an introduction to introductory digital video editing with Adobe Premiere,
  • WebPages/HTML Intro

Course Requirements

  • Be present in body - come to class - more than two unexcused absences will result in a NC grade,
  • Be present in mind and mouth - participate in class discussion and critique sessions,
  • Read the readings and be prepared to discuss the readings at length in class,
  • Write 3 Reading Responses to the selections handed out in class or to your own (check with Nita or Megan before writing about your chosen selection) pertaining to visual language,
  • Present 3 artworks over the course of the semester - this will give you about 3 weeks for each project. Your projects should be thoughtful, well-fabricated, challenging and fulfill your intentions. A presentation schedule will be arranged the second week of classes.
  • You are responsible for keeping track of your reading responses and presentations - 3 responses, 3 artworks, one of which uses digital media- if, at the end of the semester my records show that you have not completed these satisfactorily you will not get credit for the course.

Media Requirements for Your Artworks:

  • 2D- flat, height and width, up and down, a line, a path, what do you think?
  • 3D- a cube, a box, a form, a shape, what can 3d communicate that 2d doesn't?
  • Time-based - use time, motion and space in some way (video, performance, sound),
  • One of the above projects should use the computer in some way (software and hardware tutorials will be presented throughout the semester - if necessary, get help with this early in the semester from Nita, Megan or other classmates),
  • Collaborations are strongly encouraged.

Weekly Schedule as of Feb 22, 2000

Jan 25

  • Read syllabus thoroughly,
  • Get email account and a ZIP disk,
  • Watch a couple of videos;
    ("Modern Times" by Chaplin and "An American Girl" by Sabrina Zanelli-Foresi)
  • For next week, create a flat poster that expresses/sells/describes/promotes an IDEA.

Feb 1

  • Present and discuss posters
  • Scanning tutorial

Feb 8

  • Finish poster critique
  • Photoshop tutorial

Feb 15

  • Visit and discuss Rapture Exhibit
  • More Photoshop

Feb 22

  • Presentations (2D)
  • Nate
  • Mariel
  • Henry
  • Nolan

Feb 29

  • Presentations (2D)
  • Ilene
  • Jake
  • Beaven
  • Gabby
  • Tim
  • First Reading Response Due

Mar 7 No Class

Mar 14

  • Presentations (2D)
  • Nancy
  • Martha
  • Eddie
  • Kelley
  • Dave
  • Alvin

Mar 21

  • Presentations (3D)
  • Nate
  • Gabby
  • Tim

Mar 28

  • Presentations or field trip to MIT List Gallery

Apr 4

  • Presentations (3D)
  • Mariel
  • Ilene
  • Jake
  • Kelley
  • Second Reading Response Due

Apr 8 Saturday

  • Trip to Arnold Arboretum with artist, Ron Wallace.
    meet at Gym Building entrance at 9 am.

Apr 11

  • Presentations (3D)
  • Martha
  • Nancy
  • Dave
  • Tim
  • Nolan

Apr 18

  • Presentations (3D)
  • Henry
  • Eddie
  • Gabby (time-based)

Apr 25

  • Presentations (time-based)
  • Nancy
  • Ilene
  • Mariel
  • Jake
  • Beaven
  • Dave
  • Last Reading Response Due

May 2 LAST CLASS - BRING SNACKS!

  • Presentations (time-based)
  • Nate
  • Martha
  • Henry
  • Nolan
  • Eddie
  • Kelley

 

*Schedule will definitely change for many great reasons!

 

Readings:

Most of the selections handed out in class are taken from the following books and journals:

  • Steven Johnson, Interface Culture , Harper, 1997
  • William J. Mitchell, The Reconfigured Eye, MIT Press, 1992
  • John Stilgoe, Outside lies Magic
  • Edward Tufte, Envisioning Information
  • Science News
  • The Sciences
  • ArtByte
  • Discover

Other articles:

  • Lemley, Brad,"Isn't She Lovely", Discover, February 2000.
  • Lerman, Liz, "Toward a Process for Critical Response"
  • Lambert, Craig, "The Stirring of Sleeping Beauty" Harvard Magazine,
  • Logothetis, Nikos K., "Vision: A Window on Consciousness", Scientific American, November 1999.
  • Weschler, Lawrence, "The Looking Glass", The New Yorker, January 31, 2000.

Online Resources

 

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