Art Studio: Watercolor

Topics exploring themes in painting at the intermediate level. Students will learn and work through technical, formal, and conceptual issues about painting. Representative topics: Representing Landscapes; Collage and Assemblage; Watercolor Painting. May repeat for credit with different content. Topics vary by offering; periodic offering at intervals that may exceed four years. Prerequisite: ARTS 1010, ARTS 1011, ARTS 1014, ARTS 1100, or ARTS 1400.

Asynchronous online

How does one build imaginative, communicative, expressive, painted images from direct observation? How do you paint not just what you see but how you see it? What factors shape the way we perceive the world, and how can we use this understanding to make meaningful work? Painting: Observation and Image examines these questions through the physical and formal practice of painting in watercolor. This online, summer intensive painting class is also an introduction to the watercolor medium. We will study and practice watercolor with respect to concepts drawn from the broader history of art, from Chinese landscape painting to western modernism, and on to the most contemporary and international practices. Along the way we’ll learn how to apply the medium’s unique formal capabilities, employing technical experimentation to study color concepts, the construction of images and pictorial space, and various ways of seeing.

Please note: This is a summer intensive, and we cover a semester's worth of work in just one month's time. Expect a significant time and work commitment to complete the course – about 30 hours per week! You will make nearly 20 paintings in this course in 4 weeks, from studies to highly finished works. The class is online and asynchronous with timed deadlines for participation and turning in completed paintings. I expect strong documentation as part of the participation and we'll discuss best documentation practices as part of the course. We use Yellowdig and Brightspace to have class critiques and offer and receive feedback between you and your peers.

ATTENDANCE: As this is an asynchronous, online class, I substitute on-time participation for attendance, outlined below. GRADING and EVALUATION: Each assignment (both painting and critical discussions) has a feedback/grade rubric offered in advance. Work submitted on time will be graded on time. Late work may not receive grade/qualitative feedback until later and late work affects your participation grade. All work can be re-worked and resubmitted for new evaluations in your final portfolio, so it is better to submit work, even if unfinished, on time, than to wait. More details on evaluation will be available in the syllabus and course materials.