Courses are offered in ceramics, contemporary art issues, drawing, film theory and history, painting, photography, digital photography, printmaking, sculpture and film and video.
VIS 202
Introductory Drawing
This course approaches drawing as a way of thinking and seeing. Students will be introduced to a range of drawing issues, as well as a variety of media, including charcoal, graphite, ink, oil stick, collage, string, wire and clay. Subject matter includes still life, the figure, landscape and architecture. Representation, abstraction and working from imagination will be explored. A structured independent project will be given at the end of the semester.
VIS 204
Introductory Painting
An introduction to the materials and methods of painting. The areas to be covered are specifically color and its interaction, the use of form and scale, painting from a model, painting objects with a concern for their mass and its interaction with light.
VIS 212
Introductory Photography
An introduction to the processes of photography through a series of problems directed toward the handling of light-sensitive material, camera, and printing. Weekly laboratory sessions will explore the critical issues of the medium in relation to both student work and the work of guest photographers.
VIS 222
Introductory Sculpture
A studio introduction to sculpture, particularly the study of form, concept, fabrication and the influence of a wide variety of materials and processes on sculpture and its consequences. Students will develop an understanding of contemporary sculpture and basic facilities in woodworking, metalworking, carving and casting.
VIS 232
Ceramics
An introductory level course designed for students interested in learning the fundamentals of working with clay. A wide variety of hand building and wheel throwing techniques will be taught, enabling students to make utilitarian vessels as well as sculptural forms. Students will learn about glazing and colored engobe application methods and how to operate electric and gas kilns. Studio work will be complemented by readings, field trips and slide presentations.
VIS 262
Introduction to Video and Film Production
A film/video course introducing the techniques of shooting and editing digital video. Works of film/video art will be analyzed in class to explore the development of, and innovations in, cinematic language. Production will be oriented toward film/video as a visual art, including narrative, documentary, and experimental genres. Several short video projects will be produced during the semester.
VIS 304
Intermediate Painting
This course is designed to allow the student to explore more deeply the process and meaning of painting. Structured assignments will be given, and students are encouraged to develop an independent direction. Contemporary critical theory will be integrated into the course.
VIS 309
The Handprinted Image: Intaglio and Lithography
An introduction to fundamental techniques of copper plate etching, lithography, and relief printing. Assignments focus on applications of various printmaking techniques, while encouraging independent development of subject matter. Critiques will occur throughout the term. Students are encouraged to draw regularly outside of class to cultivate themes and content applicable to their prints. Field trips to the University’s museum and the library’s graphics collection will complement class work. Additional independant workshop hours required.
VIS 315
Digital Photography
An advanced seminar and lab which explores the aesthetic and theoretical implications of digital technology in relation to photography. The emphasis is on making the photographic print in the digital work space. Class will consist of both independent and collaborative projects.
VIS 316
Contemporary Practices in Photography
This is a project driven course for the intermediate or advanced studio student. This course explores the variety of ways contemporary artists have used photography since the 1950's, including but not limited to, documentary, conceptual, alternative processes and experimental methods, installation, narrative fiction or directional, collage and serial images, as well as traditional modernist methods. Each student will produce two independent projects that are intended to emulate the methodology and practice of a chosen contemporary artist.
VIS 342
The Cinema from World War II until the present
The history of sound and color film produced since World War II. Emphasis on Italian neorealism, French New Wave, American avant-garde, and the accomplishments of such major film makers as Bergman, Hitchcock, Bresson, and Antonioni. Modernism in film will be a central consideration.
VIS 362
Intermediate Video and Film Production
A second-level film/video workshop focusing on digital media production. Short works of film/video art will be analyzed in class as a guide to the issues of aesthetic choice, editing structure, and challenging one’s audience. Students complete two short videos and a longer final project, and view one film each week outside of class time.
VIS 373/THR 330
Special Topics in Performance Practice: Devised Theater
Devised Theater is a form of contemporary theater-making in which, more often than not, the final theatrical product originates not from a rehearsal process during which a director and a group of actors spend weeks interpreting an already-written script provided by a playwright, but instead from a collaborative, usually improvisatory, process involving a large collective of theater practitioners, not all of them performers. Among our subjects, largely American: The Civilians, who will be in residence doing a Princeton Atelier in conjunction with the Princeton Environmental Institute; the Pig Iron Theatre; the Tectonic Theatre Project.
VIS 404
Advanced Painting
A studio course focused on advanced problems in painting practice, including pictorial structure in abstraction and representation, color in relationship to space and light, working process, and materials. This course, although structured, encourages development of independent work. Group critiques will be conducted. Students gain awareness of historical models as well as contemporary art, as they build and analyze the relationship between student work and contemporary painting culture.
VIS 411
Advanced Problems in Photography
Student-initiated problems in photography will be explored in close working relationship with the instructor. Emphasis will be on integrating practice and critical thought.
VIS 448/CWR 448/THR 448
Screenwriting II: Creating Visual and Emotional Unity
An advanced-level course in screenwriting. This class will build upon the techniques introduced in Screenwriting I – familiarizing students with the complex use of metaphorical, emotional and visual threads in screenplay writing. Analyzing examples of international, independent and classical structures, students will be exposed to the rhythms and demands of the process of conceiving and writing a long form narrative film.
VIS 462
Advanced Video and Film Production
There's making a conventional documentary, and then there's going out and filming the world to see what you see and to find what interests you. The weekly screenings will include some traditional documentaries, but will concentrate more on recent iconoclastic versions of the genre. The production side of the course will be open to both ways of working so that you can learn more about where your interests lie and how to express those concerns through image, sound and text. After a few preliminary assignments, you will be free to choose whether to do one long piece or several short ones during the semester.
VIS 472
Special Topics in Visual Arts: Advanced Studio: Collaboration
This course provides an opportunity for students of all disciplines to experience the gains and compromises of making art in groups. Art made collaboratively has had a dynamic effect on visual art, from questioning the myth of the solitary genius to expanding the forms art might take. Students will not be allowed to work alone; rather, collaborative effort will be the basis for all studio projects, and discussions. The Guerilla Girls, Group Material, General Idea, Fischli and Weiss, Allora and Calzadilla, and Artur Zmijewski (among others) will serve as inspiration and points of departure.
VIS 201
Introductory Drawing
Eve Aschheim, John O'Connor
This course approaches drawing as a way of thinking and seeing. Students will be introduced to a range of drawing issues, as well as a variety of media, including charcoal, graphite, ink and oil stick. Subject matter includes still life, the figure, landscape and architecture. Representation, abstraction and working from imagination will be explored. A structured independent project will be given at the end of the semester.
VIS 203
Introductory Painting
Brian Jermusyk
An introduction to the materials and methods of painting. The areas to be covered are specifically color and its interaction, the use of form and scale, painting from a model, painting objects with a concern for their mass and its interaction with light.
VIS 211
Introductory Photography
Emmet Gowin, Allan Macintyre, Andrew Moore
An introduction to the processes of photography through a series of problems directed toward the handling of light-sensitive material, camera, and printing. Weekly laboratory sessions will explore the critical issues of the medium in relation to both student work and the work of guest photographers. One three-hour class and approximately three hours of independent laboratory.
VIS 221
Introductory Sculpture
A studio introduction to sculpture, particularly the study of form, space, and the influence of a wide variety of materials and processes on the visual properties of sculpture leading to the development of an understanding of contemporary sculpture and a basic technical facility in a variety of materials and processes.
VIS 231
Ceramics
Ann Agee
An introductory level course designed for students interested in learning the fundamentals of working with clay. A wide variety of hand building and wheel throwing techniques will be taught, enabling students to make utilitarian vessels as well as sculptural forms. Students will learn about glazing and colored engobe application methods and how to operate electric and gas kilns. Studio work will be complemented by readings, field trips and slide presentations.
VIS 242
Film Genres: The First five Decades of Cinema
P. Adams Sitney
A historical examination of film genre - e.g., silent slapstick comedy, sound screwball comedy, detective film, horror film, historical epic, avant-garde cinema and political propaganda film. The object of the course will be an understanding of the evolution of the fundamental types of cinema as exemplified by a series of masterpieces from 1895 to 1945.
VIS 261
Introductory Video and Film Production
Keith Sanborn
A film/video course introducing the techniques of shooting and editing digital video. Works of film/video art will be analyzed in class to explore the development of, and innovations in, cinematic language. Production will be oriented toward film/video as a visual art, including narrative, documentary, and experimental genres. Several short video projects will be produced during the semester.
VIS 303
Intermediate Painting
Eve Aschheim
This course is designed to allow the student to explore more deeply the process and meaning of painting. Structured assignments will be given, and students are encouraged to develop an independent direction. Contemporary critical theory will be integrated into the course.
VIS 312
Introduction to Color Photography
Jocelyn Lee
An introduction to the theory, processes, and applications of color photography as an artistic medium, exploring camera technique, color film, and darkroom printing methods. A series of directed assignments introduces students to the formal issues presented by color as an element of the medium, as well as continuing students' progress toward analyzing visual content in the broader project of the photographic image-making. Weekly laboratory-seminars, slide lectures, readings, and discussion elaborate critical issues and historical precedents informing students' work.
VIS 313
Intermediate Photography
Emmet Gowin
Serving as a continuation of VIS 211 or 212, this course seeks to increase the usefulness of the photographic process to the student through a careful examination of photo chemistry, print-making methods, and most likely an introduction to the view camera. In seminar, the connections between traditions of art, philosophy, science and photography will continue to be important. Appropriate technical texts are selected to fit the class project.
VIS 315
Digital Photography
Allan Macintyre
An advanced seminar and lab which explores the aesthetic and theoretical implications of digital technology in relation to photography. The emphasis is on making the photographic print in the digital work space. Class will consist of both independent and collaborative projects.
VIS 348/CWR 348/THR 348
Screenwriting as a Visual Medium
Christina Lazaridi
The course will introduce students to basic screenwriting techniques and principles, using cross-cultural film examples of European/Asian and U.S. classics. Course will examine the visual power of story movement in film and the use of visual moments/behavior in creating memorable characters. Students will be asked to write one short silent film and two narrative films using cross-cultural examples of European, Middle Eastern and U.S. Cinema.
VIS 361
Intermediate Video and Film Production
Keith Sanborn
A second level film/video workshop focusing on digital media production. Short works of film/video art will be analyzed in class as a guide to the issues of aesthetic choice, editing structure, and challenging one's audience. Students will complete two short videos and a longer final project. Students must view one film each week outside of class time.
VIS 372 / THR 317
Theatrical Design
Riccardo Hernandez
An exploration of the various aspects of theatrical design: lighting, set design, costuming. Emphasis will depend to some degree on instructor's area of interest and/or student interest. Studio projects will be designed to coincide with other theater and dance courses and currently scheduled productions. Critical discussion will explore the relationship between dramatic texts and design ideas. The Fall 2009 class will focus on set design.
VIS 392
Issues in Contemporary Art
A required seminar for Art and Archaeology Program 2 majors and Program in Visual Arts certificate students emphasizing contemporary art practices and ideas. The course addresses current issues in painting, drawing, sculpture, film, video, photography, and ceramics. It includes a visiting artist lecture series, critiques of students' work, and excursions to galleries, museums and artists' studios.
VIS 401
Advanced Drawing
John O'Connor
Students will be encouraged to develop an independent direction while being challenged with projects on issues such as: narrative, abstraction, conceptual strategies, collage, computer-aided drawing, and drawing-based installation. Sources will include photography, drawing from life, and utilizing one's own imagination. Study of developments in contemporary drawing will parallel the course projects.
VIS 444
Cinema and the Related Arts
P.Adams Sitney
A seminar on the interrelationship between poetry and cinema since 1920 with emphasis on the Orphic tradition in modernism. Films by Cocteau, Chaplin, Bunuel, Tarkovsky, Godard, Deren and Brakhage will be seen and discussed.
VIS 472
Special Topics in Visual Arts: Advanced Studio
A multi-media course for advanced students ready to pursue an individual direction in their work. Students will complete a range of assigned projects throughout the semester, designed to address specific issues in art. Students may work in an individual medium (painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, installation, photography, and ceramics), or in a variety of media. Students will also be encouraged to experiment across different media and should be prepared to work independently, with guidance from the instructor, including researching and developing material that corresponds to their individual ideas and process.
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