Arts Workshops
K40.1605 Future Noir
D. Goodman SSII: MW 5:30-8:30 4 CR
Rapid transformation of 20th-century technology and culture has engendered a new cinematic genre, sometimes called “future noir.” It includes utopias, dystopias, and documentaries on social and environmental change. Visionary projects by artists and architects can also be included in this genre, for they address issues of the future city through drawings and designs. Using New York as a prototype, this course examines a variety of urban issues. Films like Brazil, Metropolis, and River of Steel serve as a basis for discussions of technology and culture. Projects by architects and planners provide an introduction to the problems of designing cities and urban services. Reading assignments include urban theorists like Mumford, Le Corbusier, Jacobs, and Koolhaas. Students are asked to write a short paper and create an essay, in slides or photographs, on the New York environment; they should have access to a camera. Topics might include Times Square, Wall Street, subways, parks, skyscrapers, art in the city, or the homeless. Documentary methods for making a strong environmental statement are discussed. Photography and film techniques are also introduced.
K40.1625 Digital Art
Philip Sanders SSI: MW 5:30-8:30 4 CR
Digital media have led to new methods of visual communication that affect how we work, play and see our environment and ourselves. Digital media let us build images and edit graphics easily and effectively. Painting and imaging programs form flexible and powerful tools for constructing imagery that lead to new ways of creating artwork and new aesthetics. When computer imaging is combined with interactivity, and new means of distribution such as CD, DVD, and the Internet, the result is interactive multimedia. This project based studio course, designed for beginning to intermediate students, explores ways of constructing images and considers the aesthetic and social effects of digital media. In the computer lab, we focus on methods of creating digital art, including painting programs, digital image editing, interactivity, and time-based work. We will use critiques of individual student work, readings, and discussion to examine the evolving formal criteria and social implications of this work. Readings include selections from Paul Klee’s Pedagogical Sketchbook. We visit exhibits of digital work, either on-line or in person.
Discovering Subject Matter for Drawing and Painting
K40.1410 4 CR SSII: W 9:30-3:30 Katz
formerly titled “visualizing new york.”
The character of a work of art is based on sources which provide visual information, and are then converted by the art student into elements of pictorial form. A variety of different locations can be helpful in providing source material for drawing and painting. To provide this varied subject matter, field trips are built into this studio course. One of our goals will be to capture the open feeling of these beautiful sites rather than simply reproducing them. In addition, we will develop a better understanding of the complexities of visual art through discussions of contemporary art theory and references to well known artists. Through visiting and working at sites—including the grounds, luxurious home and studio of the important nineteenth-century American artist, Frederick Edwin Church (now a NY State Historical site), and the seaside locations on the east end of Long Island used by William Merritt Chase, another American artist—the art student has the chance to add to his/her visual vocabulary. Selected venues in Manhattan complete this unique studio art experience. Portable art materials will be used to facilitate the outdoor drawing and painting aspect of the course. The site schedule is presented at the first meeting at Gallatin. The final class meets at the Gallatin School for a class critique of the term’s work. Students should plan to pay for their own travel and admissions fees, including visits to the Church estate and the east end of Long Island (weather permitting).
Guerilla Screenwriting
K40.1574 4 CR SSII: MW 1:30-4:30 Dinwiddie/Cristiani
This arts workshop will focus on creative storytelling strategies for low-budget film and television projects. Students will be guided from the development process of an original idea through revisions and preparation for the outline of a shooting script. The study of narrative tools will be coupled with exposure to cinematic techniques that allow for optimal creativity in the framework of independent film and television production. Students are encouraged to bring their own work-in-progress. Texts may include The Poetics by Aristotle, Story: Substance, Style and the Art of Screenwriting by Robert McKee, screenplays, production breakdowns and films such as Luc Besson’s La Femme Nikita, episodes from the Warner Bros. TV version of La Femme Nikita, John Badham’s Point of No Return. David Cronenberg’s The Dead Zone, Michael Piller’s TV version of the same source material, and Argentinian filmmaker Eliseo Subiela’s Man Facing Southeast.
Future Noir
K40.1605 4 CR SSII: MW 5:30-8:30 Goodman
Rapid transformation of 20th-century technology and culture has engendered a new cinematic genre, sometimes called “future noir.” It includes utopias, dystopias, and documentaries on social and environmental change. Visionary projects by artists and architects can also be included in this genre, for they address issues of the future city through drawings and designs. Using New York as a prototype, this course examines a variety of urban issues. Films like Brazil, Metropolis, and River of Steel serve as a basis for discussions of technology and culture. Projects by architects and planners provide an introduction to the problems of designing cities and urban services. Reading assignments include urban theorists like Mumford, Le Corbusier, Jacobs, and Koolhaas. Students are asked to write a short paper and create an essay, in slides or photographs, on the New York environment; they should have access to a camera. Topics might include Times Square, Wall Street, subways, parks, skyscrapers, art in the city, or the homeless. Documentary methods for making a strong environmental statement are discussed. Photography and film techniques are also introduced.
Digital Art and Media
K40.1625 4 CR SSI: MW 5:30-8:30 Sanders
Digital media and new methods of visual communication affect how we work, play, see our environment and ourselves. With digital media we can build images and edit graphics easily and effectively. Painting and imaging programs form flexible and powerful tools for constructing imagery that lead to new ways of creating work, new design criteria, and new aesthetics. When computer imaging is combined with interactivity, and distribution such as CD, DVD, and the Internet, the result is interactive multimedia. This project based studio course, designed for beginning to intermediate students, explores ways of constructing images and interactivity. In the computer lab, we focus on methods of creating digital media and art, including painting programs, digital image editing, authoring interactivity and time-based work. Critiques of individual student work, readings, and discussion will examine the evolving formal criteria, aesthetics and social implications of this work. Readings include selections from Paul Klee’s Pedagogical Sketchbook. We will visit exhibits of digital work, both on-line or in person.