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Visual and Environmental Studies

VISU S-12 Exploring the Nature of Drawing (31903)
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Paul Stopforth
Studio. (4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 1-4 pm. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200. Limited enrollment.

This introductory course explores a wide variety of approaches, materials, and sources in the development of strong personal connections to the practice of drawing. Approaches and methods are directed towards specific means of visual problem solving and towards the exploration of a range of expressive possibilities and outcomes.
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VISU S-21 Drawing Into Painting (31904)
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Paul Stopforth
Studio. (4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 9 am-noon. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200. Limited enrollment.

This introductory painting course begins with a number of drawing projects in which water-based mediums lead to the making of a series of oil paintings. The ongoing integration of drawing and painting underpins projects that make use of found and collected objects as subject matter.
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VISU S-40 Introduction to Still Photography (30603)
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Edward Grazda
Studio. (4 credits: UN, GR) T,Th 9 am-noon. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200. Limited enrollment.

Individual and group exercises introduce still photography as a descriptive and interpretive medium. Goals of the course are familiarity with the history and aesthetics of photography, proficiency in the technical aspects of camera operation and darkroom work, and development of a personal approach to the medium. There are lectures, seminars, photo lab sessions, and regular critiques of students' work. All equipment and materials are provided.
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VISU S-45 The Web as a Photographer's Medium (31973)
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Sue M. Johnson
Studio. (4 credits: UN, GR, NC) Eight-week session. T 3:30-6 pm, Carpenter Center, Room B19 and Th 3:30-6 pm, 53 Church Street, Room 104. Optional sections to be arranged. Tuition $2,200. Limited enrollment.

The web has opened up countless options for photographers to publish their work, but it also demands new strategies in conceptualizing and producing photographic narratives. Students learn the basics of HTML, Photoshop, and multimedia production for the web during class workshops. Weekly class discussions and assignments explore non-linear editing, design strategies, and multimedia storytelling techniques for the web. Prerequisites: Students should have their own laptop computers if possible, and some basic photographic and digital skills.
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VISU S-60 Mixed Media (31905)
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Annette R. Lemieux
Studio. (4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 9:30 am-noon. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200. Limited enrollment.

This class introduces contemporary art through slide and video presentations and assigned readings. Students create two- and three-dimensional works for critique using materials that reflect the practices and concerns of contemporary art.
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VISU S-112a Principles of Graphic Design (30577)
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Toshihiro Katayama
Studio. (4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M,W 1-3:30 pm. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200. Limited enrollment.

This course focuses on graphic design as an entity distinct from graphic art. Students are introduced to the interrelationship of visual and verbal communication through typographic symbols, posters, and book cover designs. Projects are rooted in traditional design methods and tools. A working knowledge of the Macintosh computer is helpful but not necessary. At the instructor's discretion, students who prove that they are qualified for more advanced work may be allowed to transfer into VISU S-112b during the first week of the term.
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VISU S-112b Principles of Graphic Design Using Computer Technology (31315)
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Toshihiro Katayama
Studio. (4 credits: UN, GR, NC) M,W 3:30-6 pm. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200. Limited enrollment.

This course covers the same topics as VISU S-112a at a more advanced level. It is designed for students who are versed in the use of mainstream electronic media and feel comfortable composing in programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe PageMaker, and Adobe Illustrator. These students preferably have previous experience in some aspect of design, be it traditional cut-and-paste layout techniques, digital media authoring (Internet design), or logo and identity design. Knowledge of and enthusiasm for using computers as a design tool are key.
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VISU S-140b Documentary Photography (31635)
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Edward Grazda
Studio. (4 credits: UN, GR) T,Th 1-4 pm. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200. Limited enrollment.

Students work on a documentary photography project of their own choosing from accessible environs. The aim is to assemble and sequence a body of work that reveals something about the subject and about the photographer. Classes evaluate students' work as well as examine the history of documentary photography through lectures and films. Students should have a clear idea for a project on the first day of class. Prerequisite: Competence in black-and-white film processing and printing required.
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VISU S-160 Crucial Issues in Landscape Creation and Perception (30352)
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John R. Stilgoe
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 6:30-9 pm. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200.

This is a lecture/slide/video course emphasizing the chief forces now shaping American understanding of everyday form, such as the manipulation of aesthetic standards by advertising and Hollywood imagery; the perfection of powered flight and the aerial view; the importance of snapshot photography in relation to home video; the post-1960s fascination with outdoor privacy; contemporary and potential spatial disorientation resulting from computer-aided electronic media; the post-1920 retreat of well-educated people into wilderness; the shaping of gender roles and self-image through clothing design and fashion shifts; and the long-term impact of national advertising campaigns on American notions of quality, uniqueness, proportion, and pleasure as reflected in ordinary visual realms.
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VISU S-167 Adventure, Fantasy, and Visual Representation of Alternate Topography (31119)
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John R. Stilgoe
(4 credits: UN, GR, NC) T,Th 3:30-6 pm. Eight-week session. Tuition $2,200.

This lecture/slide/film/video course focuses on the visual constituents of high adventure and fantasy engagements (beginning with the tradition of Parrish, Rackham, and Pyle), emphasizing castles and wandering woods, rogues, tomboys, and superheroes; polar exploration and cryptocartography; post-1930s comic book illustration; fantasy film after 1955; martial arts and animal sensibility; urban fear; wilderness-challenge courses; and computer-generated and video-adventure simulations. It analyzes the place of such private-policy enterprises as corporate image-making, interprets them against corporate Gothic and romantic imagery, and extrapolates their importance into the immediate visual future.
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