M-W 3-5:50
Instructor: Bradlee Shanks
Office Hours: M-W 11-12
Room 145
E-mail: shanks@satie.arts.usf.edu
Voice mail: 974-9291
This course concentrates on the creation of visual images that use computer design and traditional printmaking. Concepts relevant to personal and social issues will be explored through studio technique and outside research. The combination of digital and graphic processes yields a unique art form that synthesizes mechanical and gestural approaches. Hybrid processes of this sort create new conceptual opportunities for exploiting the power of digital imaging and the nuance of hand-printed output.
The student is expected to exploit digital and print media for its effect on content and meaning. This includes references of our realities through pictorial analogies created in virtual space. The (re)presentation of this space through printmaking transforms the image into an alternate form of presentation including books, posters, and banners. Through this democratic form of display, the work should engender a public discourse beneficial to the student. Students are expected to show competent levels of computer and printmaking technique. Short presentations of reading and studio research will be given during works-in-progress discussions.
The following represents highest level of achievement:
*Imagery of contemporary significance
*Exploitation of digital and printmakerly processes in the service of content.
*Significant level of technical and formal competence.
*Significant level of research including the written and the visual.
*Appropriate level of participation including presentations and critiques.
*No violations of attendance policy.
Level of achievement: Excellent=A; Good=B; Average=C; Poor=D; Failure=F
Attendance Policy: 4 absences equals a one letter grade demotion. 5 absences equals a two letter grade demotion. 6 or more absences equals an automatic failure in the course. Two tardies equals one absence.
Conceptual Objectives: Creating a visual metaphor that alludes to our cultural past, present and future. Using a Photoshop layering strategy, the student is to assign visual information to three layers. Each layer will represent components of past, present and future. The challenge of this project is to coalesce these topics into a single image that embodies our changing human condition. A class artists book will be created to promote a sense of collective unconscious.
Technical Objectives: Learning Adobe Photoshop and the creation of a three-layer image for use in a mixed media print edition. Print media will include gum dichromate printing, monotype printmaking and photo-woodcut printmaking. The prints will be collated into the form of a collaborative artists book.
Works-in-progress discussion including a short presentation on research- Jan. 20
Final Critique Feb. 3
Conceptual Objectives: Create an image that graphically portrays an event, group or issue. The student will pick a topical subject, do research on the topic, produce a computer graphic poster and distribute the poster in appropriate locations. The student is expected to concentrate on the effectiveness of their imagery as an agent of social consciousness.
Technical Objectives: Learning Photoshop color separation techniques for use in a screenprinted poster. Students will learn how to convert images to posterized and process color separations. A large edition of prints will be produced for public display.
Works-in-progress discussion including a short presentation on research- Feb. 24
Final Critique Mar. 22
The Billboard/Banner Image: A Collaborative Installation
The students will incorporate their separate images into two large composites that will be hung as billboard banners in the art department courtyard. The students are to respond to the physical and cultural space of the courtyard and create images that alter the perception of the place. This alteration can be formal in terms of illusion and/or conceptual in terms of allusion.
Learning Photoshop techniques for creating a collaborative banner or billboard. Using a billboard inkjet printer, the class will create two large images for display in the art department courtyard.
Works-in-progress discussion including a short presentation on research- April 7
Final Critique April 21
Student responsible for items in bold
Mixed Media Print:
10 sheets Rives BFK 22x30
etching ink
Q-tips
gouache paint
2" Foam brush
mineral spirits
CDX Emulsion
CDX Remover
Sandblast grit
plexiglass 15x20
birch plywood 1/4" 18x24
ammonium dichromate solution
gum arabic
cotton rags
Inkjet film and spray
newsprint
Zip disk Mac formatted
Inkjet paper
Screenprint
25 sheets index or bristol paper 24x36
Screen print photo emulsion
inkjet film and spray
registration pins
paper punch
permanent acrylic screen printing ink of various colors
newsprint
bleach
masking tape
paper cups
spoons
ink retarder
blockout
Inkjet paper
Zip disk Mac formatted
Billboard
Inkjet paper
Zip disk Mac formatted
Books:
Benjamin, W., On Walter Benjamin, Critical Essays and Reflections E. Gary Smith
Lovejoy, M., Post Modern Currents
Bouton, G. & Bouton, B., Inside Adobe Photoshop
Cubit, S., Digital Aesthetics
Magazines:
Digital Fine Art
Wired
Printmaking Today