• Form and Process: Investigations in Painting

This course introduces a variety of materials, techniques and approaches to painting. Emphasis is placed on developing and understanding of color, form and space as well as individual research and conceptual concerns. The daily experience of seeing, along with the history of art, provides a base from which investigations are made. Formal, poetic and social implications within paintings both from class and from art history are examined and discussed. Students complete work weekly. There are regular group critiques, and individual reviews, reading assignments and lectures by visiting artists. A high degree of motivation is expected. Prerequisites: None. 

• Chromophilia: Explorations in Color

Chromophilia, a term coined by contemporary aesthetic philosopher David Batchelor, refers to intense passion and love for color. What is it about color that has the power to induce reverie, and conversely to manipulate, or disgust? How de we understand and respond to color from philosophical, phenomenological and cultural vantage points? How as artists can we become the master of our passionately-loved and yet ever-shifting chroma? In this class, we look carefully at and discuss the work of many artists and the implications of color in their images. Readings from Goethe, Wittgenstein, Baudelaire, Albers, Batchelor and others serve as a base for discussion and artistic response. Visual work using a variety of materials including cut paper, water-based paint and mixed-media will be the primary focus of the class. In addition, reading assignments as well as written responses will be assigned weekly. Class time is primarily used for discussion and critique, presentations and demonstration of materials. Although assignments are given, it is the objective of this class to provide the skills necessary for the student to confidently pursue self-designed projects. A high degree of motivation is expected. Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor prior to registration.

I had to get a solid grounding in painting first… an old love.  And now the next 3 in no particular order.

• Austen and the Brontes: From Sense to Sensibility

Jane Austen’s novels (Sense & Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Mansfield Park, Emma, and Persuasion) bridged the Augustan and the Romantic ages with a stern yet deeply affectionate view of young women on the perilous road to marriage. Only a few years later, sister novelists Charlotte and Emily Bronte, deeply immersed in Romanticism, wrote on much the same subject—minus Austen’s wit, perhaps, but with compensatory doses of terror. We will read Jane Eyre, Shirley, and Villette by Charlotte Bronte, and end the course with Emily Bronte’s endlessly puzzling, compelling, and horrifying Wuthering Heights. Students will be expected to research and present reports to the class on contextual material, and to write three critical papers. Prerequisites: None. 

• Orders of Magnitude

 We all have an intuitive sense of how large a number like 10 or 100 is. But is it possible to get some direct grasp on the world’s population, the national debt, the distance to the nearest galaxies, or the time that has passed since the formation of the earth? Mathematicians and scientists do have good ways of understanding very large numbers, which we’ll discuss in this class. Students will do many examples in class, and will write a test at the end with questions like “estimate the number of grains of sand on all the world’s beaches”, or “estimate how fast we’ll have to produce solar cells if we want to meet all new demands on power with solar energy”. Students are also expected to attend one lecture, performance, or event outside of regularly scheduled class time. Prerequisites: None. 

• Beginning Guitar

Introduces the fundamentals of acoustic guitar playing, including hand positions, tuning, reading music, major and pentatonic scales, major, minor, and seventh chords, chord progressions, blues progressions, and simple arrangements of songs. Some previous musical experience is required. Prerequisites: None. Corequisites: Must participate in Music Workshop (Tuesday, 6:30 - 8pm).