ART 5010 Graduate Studio (First Year)

Graduate Studio acts as a conduit between the forming of artistic intention and the work that is made; it is the when and the where of an artist's immersion in the process of research and making. Graduate Studio requires the very highest level of focus and productivity. The deeper the investigation of ideas and materials, the more productive the artistic outcome. Credit units in Graduate Studio form a core component of the MFA program in which students accomplish their creative work, guided by their faculty mentor and other faculty within the program and beyond, as well as by visiting artists and critics who conduct studio visits and individual critiques.

Credit 5 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 5014 Site as Origin: Sculpture and Expanded Media

Site-specific art leaves the studio to confront and explore site as context. This understanding of site includes built architecture, landscape, social order, public space, the exhibition space, our living space, the fictional space, even the digital space. At its core, site-work is the practice of deeply considering the intricacies of a place, then using this inquiry as a starting point to drive the work's creation. Moving from research to production, students will create a response to their chosen site that transforms, augments, or adapts a viewer's relationship to that space. A key challenge will be the choice of medium. The course will provide support for students to consider and practice a wide range of choices, from the traditional sculptural techniques of woodworking, metalworking, and moldmaking, to expanded media options that include sound and video installation, digital projects and augmented/virtual reality.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5015 Group Critique (First Year)

The foundation of the MFA-VA experience is the production of artwork in the context of dialogue and critique within a community of peers. Group Critique generates a dynamic forum for multiple voices to merge into conversation. This course develops a student's ability to assess, contextualize, and discuss artworks at a professional level. It provides a space for debate, questioning, agreement, disagreement, inspiration, and discovery. During class sessions, first- and second-year MFA-VA students participate in mixed groups, engaging in rigorous peer review of finished work. Group members are encouraged to develop philosophical or cultural positions as they consider their own work and that of their peers. Faculty support this effort by offering methods for catalyzing further discussions. Input in critiques may be augmented by visiting artists and curators, who, in concert with MFA-VA faculty, introduce an array of critique methodologies.

Credit 4 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 5020 Graduate Studio (First Year)

Graduate Studio acts as a conduit between the forming of artistic intention and the work that is made; it is the when and the where of an artist's immersion in the process of research and making. Graduate Studio requires the very highest level of focus and productivity. The deeper the investigation of ideas and materials, the more productive the artistic outcome. Credit hours in Graduate Studio form a core component of the MFA program in which students accomplish their creative work, guided by their Faculty Mentor and other faculty within the program and beyond, as well as by visiting artist and critics who conduct studio visits and individual critiques.

Credit 5 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 5025 Group Critique (First Year)

The foundation of the MFA-VA experience is the production of artwork in the context of dialogue and critique within a community of peers. Group Critique generates a dynamic forum for multiple voices to merge into conversation. This course develops a student's ability to assess, contextualize, and discuss artworks at a professional level. It provides a space for debate, questioning, agreement, disagreement, inspiration, and discovery. During class sessions, first and second-year MFA-VA students participate in mixed groups, engaging in rigorous peer review of finished work. Group members are encouraged to develop philosophical or cultural positions as they consider their own work and that of their peers. Faculty support this effort by offering methods for catalyzing further discussions. Input in critiques may be augmented by visiting artists and curators, who, in concert with MFA-VA faculty, introduce an array of critique methodologies.

Credit 4 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 5050 First-Year Colloquium

This seminar serves as a primer for graduate study in contemporary art. It introduces MFA in Visual Art students to one another; to the MFA-VA program, the Sam Fox School, the Kemper Art Museum, and the university; and to the city of St. Louis. Through weekly meetings that include guest lectures, readings, discussions, and short writing assignments, the course acts as a platform for critically engaging with a wide range of artistic practices and their role in contemporary culture. These activities support students in identifying their particular interests and evolving artistic positions in relation to their studio practice. The course includes field trips and introductions to local institutions, and it builds pathways for crossdisciplinary work. Each year, the current recipient of the Henry L. and Natalie E. Freund Teaching Fellowship teaches a portion of the seminar.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 5060 Professional Practice in Art

How do artists prepare for a meaningful and sustainable life in the arts, now and in the future? This seminar is a hands-on, comprehensive, and speculative approach to life as a professional artist. It challenges and questions the systems and codes of the art world and encourages entrepreneurial strategies that may lead to new and unrealized pathways for studio artists. Students will participate in guided, personalized research into career options while learning about the following topics: gallery representation, museum and non-profit exhibitions, teaching and academia, artist residencies, legal issues, curatorial practice, and community engagement. Students will develop applied skills in writing for exhibition proposals, cover letters, CVs and resumes, teaching and grant applications. The course will also engage with members of different parts of the art world, which may include guest artists, alumni, curators, dealers, collectors, and non-profit arts administrators. An optional field trip to a major art city with museum and exhibition tours, visits to artists' studios, and other behind-the-scenes activities is also part of this course. Course exercises support the planning and implementation of the 1st-year MFA exhibition.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 5080 Workshops

MFA in Visual Art students participate in a minimum of three workshops each semester for their first three semesters. Workshops are defined as one-day experiences that allow students to gain valuable skills in low-risk/high-commitment settings, including Fox Fridays in the Sam Fox School, the Skandalaris Center, and The Teaching Center -- all on the Washington University campus -- and also in settings around St. Louis. At the end of each semester, students prepare a written report summarizing the workshops attended and skills acquired. Participation in workshops is certified by the student's faculty mentor and evaluated on a pass/fail basis.

Credit 1 unit.

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 5090 Workshops

MFA in Visual Art students participate in a minimum of three workshops each semester for their first three semesters. Workshops are defined as one-day experiences that allow students to gain valuable skills in low risk/high commitment settings including Fox Fridays in the Sam Fox School, the Skandalaris Center, The Teaching Center--all on the Washington University campus--and also in settings around St. Louis. At the end of each semester, students prepare a written report summarizing workshops attended and skills acquired. Participation in Workshops is certified by the student's faculty mentor and evaluated on a pass/fail basis.

Credit 1 unit.

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 5105 Intro Printmaking: Contemporary Processes

This studio course is designed to give a broad introduction to contemporary processes and approaches in printmaking, including digital technology. Emphasis will be on image development through the manipulation and combination of techniques to create one of a kind prints and variable editions. Students are encouraged to work at a level suited to their individual technical skills and conceptual interests.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5151 Engaging Community: Understanding the Basics

What does it mean to engage in community as a creative practitioner? Community engagement must be grounded in authentic relationship building and an ability to understand and act within the historic context and systems that impact communities. We will practice the skills of listening, observation, reflection, and improvisation. We will cultivate mindsets that focus on community assets and self-determination. Workshops will teach facilitation and power analysis, with the intention of upending the power dynamics between community and creators. It may count toward the minor in Creative Practice for Social Change if bundled with You Are Here: St. Louis' Racial History Through Sites and Stories.

Credit 1.5 units. Art: CPSC

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5153 Freund Visiting Artist Laboratory

The studio/seminar will be taught by this year's visiting Freund Fellow who will be living in St Louis for the fall semester while preparing their solo exhibition at SLAM scheduled for next year. The class will be constructed and offered by the fellow with specific content details to be advertised later. The class will be a combination studio and seminar around a particular subject. Junior BFA, senior BFA and MFA students are eligible to enroll.

Credit 3 units.

ART 5154 Contemporary Discourses: Art + Feminism

This course investigates the impact of feminism on contemporary art, focusing on artwork produced between the 1960s and the present day. Through an examination of global practices in a wide range of media, including artworks in the university's Kemper Museum collection, students will delve into innovative aesthetic strategies that criticize assumptions of gender, race and social class and consider the intricate tie between the identity of the author and the content of the work. This course is taught by a practicing artist, who together with the students will uncover historical developments and epic omissions. This is a lecture course with a discussion component. Requirements include participation in weekly discussion sections, regular response papers, and a final written curatorial project.

Credit 3 units. Art: CPSC, FAAM, VC EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5158 The Poetics of Image-Making: People, Place & Space

This painting elective course examines the poetics of image-making, with a focus on the representation of people, place, and space--both observed and invented. Students learn the practice of painting and develop works through fundamental exercises as well as the shared exploration of painting processes. Work outside of class for the beginner is project-based; advanced students produce an independent body of work. Critical assessment of work is complemented by faculty and peer discussions, readings, and field study. Required text: The Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5210 Painting: Art Practice (Special Topics: Narrative Systems: The Frame, the Grid, the Screen)

This studio course focuses on various narrative strategies in relation to painting's mythology and its function in contemporary culture. Topics to include narrativity, the politics of lens and screen, invented fictions, social vs. virtual spaces, and site specificity. Instruction will encompass technical, conceptual and creative skills for taking an individually conceived project from idea to fruition. Students will be encouraged to consider traditional and alternative forms of painting as well as digital imaging, installation, net art, etc. Lectures, critical essays, and analysis of historical precedents and contemporary practitioners will support students in their course work.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

ART 5211 Painting: Art Practice (Language of Abstraction)

This course examines strategies of abstraction and non-objective image-making that originate in the painting studio, including those that are driven by concept, material, space and/or process. Readings and discussion will examine the evolution and history of abstraction and its present applications within a contemporary studio practice. The course will engage students in both assigned and self-directed work that will enable them to experiment with a broad visual vocabulary while understanding the relationship between form and content.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5212 Anatomy Figure Structure

This rigorous drawing course explores traditional and new representations of the figure through the study of its structure and contemporary contexts. Research involves basic anatomy lectures and sketchbook activities that provide a vehicle for discovering the figure's architecture, mechanics and proportions. Art production is based on in-class and outside projects. Lectures, presentations, critical readings and the analysis of historical and contemporary figurative works support students in their investigations.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5213 Painting

This course is an introduction to oil painting with an emphasis on the principles of color, construction and paint handling. Students will explore the possiblities of representational painting as applied to still-life, interiors, landscape and the human figure. The course is designed especially for beginning painters, but can accommodate painters at all levels of proficiency.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

ART 5214 Painting: Art Practice (Expanded Painting)

This advanced studio course examines the expanded practice of painting in the contemporary studio. Students are required to produce a self-generated body of work, exploring painting via the incorporation of such things as new technologies, other visual disciplines, site-specificity, etc. Readings and discussion related to the course will examine the history and evolution of the painting practice and its present status and application within contemporary art production.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5215 Painting: Art Practice (Body Image)

This is a rigorous painting/drawing studio course investigating various methods of pictorial construction (historical, contemporary) and the role of figuration in contemporary art practice. Students will be required to produce an independent body of work based on a theme and generated from a variety of references (imagination, life, photography, painting, film, etc.) Discussions to include contemporary notions of identity structures, social and gender politics. Lectures, critical readings and the analysis of historical and contemporary modes of figural representation will support students in their investigations.

Credit 3 units.

ART 5216 Painting: Art Practice (Place and Space)

This course examines ideas of place and space-both observed and invented-established through the surface and materiality of paintings. Students develop a unique body of work through shared exploration of painting processes and materials, along with independent research. Critical assessment of work is complemented by faculty and peer discussions, readings, written critical analysis and field study.

Credit 3 units.

ART 5217 Painting: Art Practice (Figure Structure)

This rigorous painting/drawing course explores new representations of the figure through its structure and contemporary contexts. Initial research involves anatomy lectures and extensive sketchbook activities that provide a vehicle for discovering the figure's architecture, mechanics and proportions. Students develop an independent body of work accessing visual data from a variety of sources (paintings, photography, sculpture, memory, model sessions), with the goal of developing expressive qualities with image-making. Lectures, presentations, critical readings, and the analysis of historical and contemporary figurative works support students in their investigations.

Credit 3 units.

ART 5219 Intensive Intermediate Painting

Same as F20 6116. First-year MFAs (only) register for course F20 5116. In this course we will explore the genres of painting from the inside-out. We will focus on process and technical skill as well as the political and social underpinnings of several painting genres. As the course progresses, you will be much improved at oil painting, both in its traditional 20th century use as well as having some technical and conceptual experience with its contemporary manifestation. Our main focus will be on perceptual studies, although we will also work with notions of abstraction in painting. There will be weekly homework assignments, as well as a few reading assignments. This is a very structured course, designed to develop your strengths and abilities as a painter and to further your conceptual understanding of the medium. Prereq: First-Year MFA or Director's signature (Bixby 1)

Credit 6 units.

ART 5220 Painting: Art Practice (Speculative Propositions)

This studio course investigates the possibility of utilizing painting, in all its elements (traditional, expanded, and all things in-between), as a tool for explorative artmaking. Students investigate painting as a vehicle for experimentation, wherein they can cultivate methodologies that are both unique and, at times, parallel to other established research mediums. Class discussions, course readings, and critique sessions deepen student's methodological inquiries. Course sessions include off site visits to museums and experimental spaces. Students produce a self-generated body of work. Student work is evaluated through individual instruction and group critiques. Prerequisite: at least one Intro Painting course

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5222 Intro Painting: Strategies of Abstraction

This course explores various strategies for creating abstract paintings. Students will develop their own themes through diverse approaches including chance operation, diagrammatic, materials and process-based abstraction. Abstraction in the expanded field will be explored including hybrid digital techniques and non-traditional support structures. Readings and discussions in the theory and history of abstraction will complement these practical approaches by addressing topics including aesthetics, non-Western abstraction, the modernist abstract canon and historical exclusion of artists and approaches in the field of abstract art. Prerequisite: graduate standing

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5260 Drawing: Art Practice (Collage: History and Practice in Contemporary Art)

This course will examine the role of collage in contemporary studio practice. Students will be required to assemble an archive of images from various sources, found and self-generated, to produce a body of work based on a specific theme. Readings and discussion related to the course will examine the evolution of collage and its present status and application within contemporary studio practice.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM EN: H

ART 5261 Advanced Drawing: Affective Stills and the Moving Image

Marked is an open-ended advanced drawing course that will focus on expanded definitions and mark-making practices. This course will explore, contextualize and analyze a wide variety of drawing methods that relate to image-making, spatial and situated practices, and ephemeral, time-based media. Through projects, readings, lectures and individual research, students will gain a broader understanding of drawing and its various definitions and approaches in addition to its rich set of histories and contemporary applications. This course will be peppered with lively discussions, field trips, and lectures by artists, architects, and designers. Self-directed projects will be reviewed and discussed critically and aesthetically in relation to the intent of the artist. A highly experimental and even collaborative approach to drawing will be strongly encouraged.

Credit 3 units.

ART 5262 Drawing: Art Practice (Conceptual Methods in Drawing)

Drawing is a communicative device; it is a primary means of conceptual strategy leading to effective visual exploration and expression, from thought to form. This studio course looks at the practice of drawing in the context of language, scientific paradigms, complementary and alternative art forms, socio-political theory and history as they relate to visual culture and invention. Lectures, critical readings, and analysis of historical and contemporary modes of drawing support students in their course work. Projects in this course may consider mapping, language systems, formulaic constructions, material essentialism, physiologic/kinesthetic approaches, and performative aspects of drawing.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

ART 5263 Drawing: Idiosyncratic Systems

This studio course links the activity of drawing with conceptual inquiry. Projects will introduce an array of conceptual drawing methods including analog tracing, language systems, notational scores, recording and diagramming, and iterative systems of production that grow exponentially. Covering examples of technologies invented or operated in a drawn way - from the stylus to computers - the course will emphasize drawing as a tool for seeing and thinking. Course content will be delivered dynamically between ideation, production, lectures, group discussions, and topical readings. This course is open to students at all experience levels, including those with no experience in art and design. No prerequisite

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5264 Experimental Drawing

This class explores creative and non-traditional approaches to drawing. Through lectures, demonstrations, and course projects students will investigate a wide range of drawing techniques and media, including non-standard methods as well as the ways drawing intersects with other media such as installation, performance, and new technologies. Students will also consider ways drawing can be used as a tool to tell stories, map narratives, create worlds, and develop artistic thinking. All students will produce a personal body of work. Coursework will be evaluated through group critique and instructor feedback. Prerequisite: graduate standing

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5271 Intro Painting: Painting as Verb

This studio course engages painting's active, performative, and expressive potential. Students explore systematic and embodied modes of painting, prioritizing iterative processes. Assignments challenge students to work with abstraction, series, structures, arrangements, and other active approaches to constructing a painted image. Course content is delivered through assigned projects, readings, and group discussions that engage with historical precendents and contemporary examples of systems-based methods in painting. Coursework is evaluated through class critique and one-on-one reviews with the instructor.This introductory course can serve as a prerequisite to upper level classes in Painting. This class has no prerequisite courses and are open to students with sophomore standing and above.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5281 Intro Painting: Duration, Space, Time

In this studio course students explore the challenges of painting space and motion, relaying time, and portraying kinetic content. Expanded practices, such as temporal processes and research-based approaches are also discussed and investigated as possible vehicles for generating visual metaphors. Classes include off-site visits, discussion of past and present artists and art movements engaged in the problem of time and motion. Studio production is assignment based, evaluated through individual instruction and group critiques.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5310 Photography: Art Practice (Methods of Distribution)

Same as F20 617H - 1st-year MFAs (only) register for F20 517H. One of the most effective aspects of the photographic image today is its speed. The way that physical and virtual images are presented and distributed has changed significantly since the initial branding of photography as the medium of reproducibility. This class focuses on photography-based uses of the image through various distribution formats like the book, the poster, the newspaper, television, web, design, film, apparel, architecture, music, etc. The students make, read, look, listen, and experience 20th and 21st century photography practitioners who engage a range of disciplines and methods of distribution as they try to synthesize methods/models of their own. Rigorous student project critiques are complemented with discussions, writing assignments, and readings on media theory and contemporary uses of photography outside of the traditional exhibition-based contexts.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

ART 5311 Photography: Art Practice (Constellations, Sequences, Series)

Same as F20 617L - 1st-year MFAs (only) register for F20 517L. Series are the prevalent method for exhibiting photographic images. Through assignment-based and self-generated projects, students discover how photographic series are conceptualized, structured and sequenced. Special attention is given to the material meaning embedded in print size, order and spatial placement. The course provides in-depth coverage of image capture through medium-format analog and full-frame digital systems as well as intermediate digital editing and printing techniques. Students also explore various documentary and set-up strategies through narrative and non-narrative photographic approaches. Through a rigorous critique structure, course readings and critical writing, students engage the historical discourse surrounding the series as a tool for artistic expression.

Credit 3 units.

ART 5315 Photography: Art Practice (Art, Environment, Culture & Image)

The medium of photography offers multiple ways to engage with critical social, political and environmental issues. Throughout this course, a wide range of photographic tools and modes of production will be explored, including digital and film-based materials and a variety of printing techniques. The course will also consider the integration of alternative methods of lens-based communication and working to construct images within relevant contexts of meaning. Through presentations and readings, students will be introduced to a range of contemporary artists working with essential topics such as climate change, ecological sustainability, energy production and extraction, and the human body and technology. Students will work to build a final and self-directed project identified through their ongoing research and image production.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5318 History of Photography

Same as F20 627A - 1st-year MFAs (only) register for F20 527A. Survey of the history of photography and a look at the medium from the camera obscura to contemporary developments. Social and technological developments examined in terms of their influence on the medium.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

ART 5319 Experimental Photography: Cameraless to Polaroid, Form to Content

These days, everyone is a photographer, right? But how does that image snapped with your smartphone arrive on your screen? As technology marches forward, we have images literally at our fingertips, yet the actual process of producing the picture is, ironically, more elusive. In this course, we will dive into experimental processes and examine how physically making the picture can affect the content of that picture. As you craft images, ideas become tied to process and suggest new directions, strategies and subjects. We will begin with cameraless techniques, such as the photogram and cyanotype; we will investigate the principle of the camera obscura; we will test out rudimentary cameras such as the pinhole and disposable models; and we will experiment with printing techniques such as Polaroid and Xerox transfer, examining artists using these various techniques along the way. As we move through the semester, students will learn the various ways that light can create images, and they will begin to find their own particular voice within these mechanizations and create original work.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5320 Photography: Art Practice (Slow Image: Large Format Photography)

This course provides an in-depth study of the large format analog camera and its unique formal position. Using the 4x5 format, students examine this slow, high fidelity photographic medium both technically and conceptually. Students employ a comprehensive photographic process, including loading sheet film, applying the zone system, scanning large format film, editing digital images, and creating large format digital inkjet prints. Class activities include rigorous student project critiques, as well as reading and discussion elements focusing on the history of large format and its contemporary descendants in the Dusseldorf School, abstract photography and installation art contexts. Class participants investigate the role of high fidelity images. Assignments may address portraiture, still life, interior and exterior architecture, landscape, and abstract photography. Large format 4x5 cameras will be available for use.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5321 Intro Photo: Black-And-White Photography

This course provides an introduction to the fundamentals of black and white photography. There is emphasis on the control of film, paper, and black-and-white photographic processes in the classical fine arts tradition. Topics may include portrait, landscape, street photography, the figure, and contemporary issues in photography.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5323 Art Practice: Photography (Black and White Master Printing)

This course offers an introduction to black and white master printing techniques for analog and digital outputs. The first part of the course will focus on advanced darkroom printing techniques, as well as the use of developers, papers, and toners. The second part of the course will cover advanced digital b/w strategies, including quadtone RIPs, specialty papers, and Photoshop workflows. Course lectures will look at the role that master printers have played in the history of photography. Visits to the Kemper and Saint Louis Art Museum print rooms will complement lectures and activities. All students will develop a portfolio of personally driven work in black and white. Prerequisite: Photography: Material & Culture, Black and White Photography I, or Digital Photography

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5325 Intro Photo: Digital Photography

This introductory studio course will explore digital technology for capturing, enhancing and producing still lens-based images. The course will address basic digital camera operations, the visual language of camera-generated images, computer workflow and the connoisseurship of digital image output. The course assumes no prior knowledge or experience with digital imaging technologies or materials. Students must provide a digital camera.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5328 Contemporary Portraiture

Historically, portraits were painted of the royal or wealthy to document an accurate likeness and to display status and power. However, with the advent of photography, artists were freed to develop interpretations in style, process, and medium. With subjects such as family, friends, strangers, celebrities, and the self, the portrait has been used to reflect culture, identity, and the relationship between the artist and the sitter. Issues of race, sexuality, gender, vanity, and status continue to be relevant to contemporary practice. This is primarily a drawing class; students combine the study of contemporary portrait artists with a studio practice that encourages the development of a unique voice. Students consider how pose, gesture, lighting, and other factors work together to support their intentions. Initial assignment prompts progress to guided independent pursuits. Students will be encouraged to experiment with image, materials, and processes. Live models will be used as well as other source material.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5329 Photography: Studio Lighting

In this studio course, studio lighting for portraits and tabletop photography will be introduced through demonstration and hands-on practice. Strobe and continuous lighting systems and their accessories will be used. Both commercial and fine art applications will be discussed along with the principles of quantity, color temperature, and direction of light. Assignments will be produced as inkjet. Students must supply their own dSLR camera. Prerequisite: F20 1183 / F20 4183, Digital Photography

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5331 Photography: Art Practice (Picturing Place)

Working with photography and taking inspiration from geography, environmental studies, urban design, and cultural anthropology, this studio course explores how relationships to place are constructed. It considers how a sense of place has been understood over time and across cultures and how photography can help shape new narratives of belonging. The course builds knowledge through readings, discussion, guided assignments, and personal projects.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5410 Intro Printmaking

This studio course is a survey of printmaking that covers basic processes in intaglio, lithography, relief, and monotype. Emphasis is on mixed media and experimentation with a foundation in traditional, historical, and philosophical aspects of printmaking. Students are encouraged to work at a level suited to their individual technical skills and conceptual interests.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5411 Intro Printmaking: Themed and Boxed

Students will experiment with image making in thematically unified bodies of work in the form of a print portfolio. The history of the artform as well as the techniques used in its development will be covered in slide presentations as well as in demonstrations. The student will create a print portfolio based on a particular theme during the semester.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5412 Printmaking: Art Practice (Propaganda to Decoration)

This course uses the print multiple as a starting point to explore a continuum that runs from propaganda to decoration. The fundamental attributes of the multiple, including its accessibility and repeatability, arc from private to public and from political to aesthetic. Reproduction, distribution, urban communication, social space, intervention and site specificity are explored through course lectures, readings, and discussions. Collaboration, exchange, and relational practices provide frameworks for self-directed projects using traditional and alternative techniques in print media, including lithography, screen printing, stencils, and photocopy.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5413 Printmaking: Art Practice (Feedback Loop: Process and Print)

This course focuses on variability, mutability, repeatability and play within the process of printmaking, using etching, collagraph, monotype and digital methods. The course explores practices and contexts in printmaking as a contemporary art form and promotes advanced conceptual and technical development through creative practice, readings, discussions and critiques. Projects are self-directed and based on course topics that engage different approaches to process-based work, ranging from the improvisational to the systematic. Emphasis is placed on the shift from object to process, from the single manifestation to the series, from fixed to flux and back again.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5415 Printmaking: Print Installation, Multiples, and Site Specificity

This course explores a range of basic techniques-silkscreen, block printing, and risograph, for example-to create immersive installations. Students will orient their site-sensitive investigations to place through history, context, and materials. Conventional and unconventional installation spaces will be used, both on campus and off, to experiment. The course will introduce planning techniques and approaches to site analysis. Students will be encouraged to incorporate other media within their installations, espe­cially as they relate to other coursework they are currently taking within or outside of studio art. Students are encouraged to work at a level suited to their individual technical skills and conceptual interests. This class counts toward the Minor in Art. No prerequisites

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5417 Guerilla Printmaking

This is a studio course in printmaking that explores the ideology of print as a cultural, social and political activity. Through our projects, we will embrace the value of the multiple in printmaking as a democratic medium. Our primary weapon will be in the domain of distribution. Strategies for projects done in this class may include site specific work, audience participation projects, performative work, ephemera produced around an event, time-based work, etc. Projects will be both collaborative and individual. Students will learn to write proposals and manifestos, document their work in situ and make digital presentations in support of the projects. Students may also learn and use print techniques such as woodcut, lithography, Pronto plates, Gocco printing and digital applications to accomplish goals. However, technique will be dictated by the idea for each project AND will not be limited to the traditional forms of printmaking. In other words, low-tech/low-cost alternatives and philosophically relevant approaches will be part of the mix.

Credit 6 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5418 Printmaking: Art Practice (Feedback Loop: Process and Print)

This course focuses on variability, mutability, repeatability and play within the process of printmaking, using etching, collagraph, monotype and digital methods. The course explores practices and contexts in printmaking as a contemporary art form and promotes advanced conceptual and technical development through creative practice, readings, discussions and critiques. Projects are self-directed and based on course topics that engage different approaches to process-based work, ranging from the improvisational to the systematic. Emphasis is placed on the shift from object to process, from the single manifestation to the series, from fixed to flux and back again. Required for a concentration in printmaking.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5419 Printmaking: Art Practice (The Printed Image)

This course explores the printed image as storyteller, educator, political tool, and narrative. Historical precedents and contemporary examples of political prints, graphic novels, posters, and narrative suites are examined as possible models for self-directed projects. Readings and discussions include strategies for drawing and appropriating imagery. Students will have the opportunity to produce a thematically unified body of work while gaining technical expertise in woodcut, etching, and lithography.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5512 Sculpture: Art Practice (Material as Metaphor)

All materials carry meaning. This course familiarizes students with the histories and fabrication processes intrinsic to sculpture. The course uses demonstrations and hands-on experiences -- primarily but not exclusively with metal and woodworking processes -- to show how such materials inform a studio practice. Lectures and techniques contextualize an understanding of preformed and found materials as formal and conceptual components that result in a final work of art. In a critical environment, students formulate their own material language and defend their art practice and creative decisions.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5515 Intro Sculpture

This studio course introduces the materials, processes, and concepts specific to sculpture. Students develop an understanding of, and dexterity with, multiple materials and modes of production such as additive, subtractive, assembled, molded and modeled. This course promotes independent working and problem solving in regard to content and intention. Students engage in discourse about their work through critical analysis and explorations of historical and cultural precedent. This course involves lectures, material and process demonstrations, and assigned readings along with creative and technical explorations.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5516 Sculpture: Foundry

Same as F20 613F - 1st-year MFAs (only) register for F20 513F. The focus of this course is to introduce students to the basic principles of bronze and aluminum casting according to the lost wax method. Students will learn mold making, direct organic burnout, ceramic shell investment, metal chasing, and patination in order to create finished sculpture. In addition to metal casting, students will use other material such as plaster, resin, steel, wood, rubber, plastic and foam to create a mixed media project that explores a specific idea or theme. Additional work outside the regularly scheduled class time is required.

Credit 6 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 5519 Compositions in Clay

In this course, students will broaden their understanding of clay as a viable medium of visual expression and three-dimensional exploration. Students will learn basic hand-building techniques to create sculptural constructions, discover the practical applications of wheel throwing through form and function, and explore ceramic tools and equipment to create installation projects. Each student's skill level will be considered, and projects will be adjusted accordingly.  Emphasis will be placed on critical assessment and articulation of material.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5527 Sculpture: Metal Fabrication

Same as F20 113I, F20 213I, and F20 413F; juniors (only) register for F20 313I. Metal is the backbone of our modern world, and it is a viable medium for self-expression. It can be employed as structure or as surface, it can be plastically deformed to create compound shapes, and it can be connected to most any other material. Students will explore the creative potential of this material in the fabrication of sculptural forms. Students learn to weld using both gas and electric arc machines as well as the safe operation of drilling, grinding, and finishing tools.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 5531 Structural Ceramics

This course is designed for advancing study in 3D practices within clay processes and in sculpture. Several techniques in clay will be explored, and hand-building will be emphasized. Methods of creating will include coiling, slab building, casting, and subtractive modeling. In this course, we will understand and research clay as a material that engages in structure and introduces new sculptural ideas that define scale, balance, form, and so on. Surface design with cold finishes and glazes, firing processes, and mold making will be explored as means of building and finishing content. Discussions and presentations will focus on the history and contemporary traditions of ceramic structures and sculptures. Emphasis will be placed on the critical assessment and articulation of material.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5532 Sculpture: Multiples as Transformation

This studio course will explore sculpture through the creation of multiples. We will think through sculpture as alchemy, considering how a shift in material changes an object's meaning. We will learn to adapt objects through both digital and physical processes, applying 3D printing and mold-making techniques. Our studio practice will be supported by a discussion of artists working in the field, with readings, guest lectures, and group discussions that situate our studio conversation in a contemporary art dialogue. Skills covered: metal casting, ceramic plaster molds, silicone rubber casting, 3D scanning and printing. Open to students with no experience in art and design. Prerequisite: sophomore standing or higher

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5533 Ceramics: Form, Material, Concept

Ceramics: Form, Material, Concept is an intermediate course designed for advancing study in ceramics. Sculptural processes and techniques are explored in concert with conceptual development using clay and glaze chemistry, and other materials. Research will cover hand-building, casting and modeling. Course content is delivered through lectures, demonstrations and exploration-based projects. Course work is evaluated through group and individual critiques.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5534 Public Art: Production and Installation

This studio course guides students through the production and installation of commissioned temporary site-specific public art projects that have been pre-approved for a designated location in the St. Louis area. Under faculty supervision, students will execute their projects to meet structural requirements and codes with strict attention to safety and site preparation. The course culminates with a public reception and community engagement event. Final projects are assessed in a critique based upon how well projects meet proposal intentions and respond to project site. Prerequisite: Permission of instructor

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM, FADM

ART 5610 Time-Based Media: Art Practice (Mediated Performance)

Same as F20 629C - 1st-year MFAs (only) register for F20 529C. This course explores the body as a time-based medium and a vehicle of expression that interacts with cinematic and sound technologies, undergoing gradual semantic, virtual and visceral transformations. Students create performance-based video and sound works that are mediated with electronic/digital technology and performed or screened in public. Collaborative, individual political and poetic actions and happenings are encouraged. Students focus on the production of conceptually rigorous and technically convincing work that embodies their performative, experimental and individually designed ideas.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

ART 5612 TBMA: Art Practice (Expanded Cinema)

By focusing on experimental approaches to digital filmmaking, this course offers opportunities for independent producers that arise from hybrid media interests. The course encourages and supports a variety of cinematic concepts, from non-narrative to documentary and activist approaches. Instruction will encompass technical, conceptual, and creative skills for taking an individually conceived project from idea to fruition. Prerequisite: Digital Studio and TBMA: Material Culture, or permission of instructor.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FAAM, FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5613 Time-Based Media: Art Practice (New Media in Art)

Same as F20 630I - 1st-year MFAs (only) register for F20 530I. Exploring the intersection of art and technology, the course focuses on the phenomenon of time as an artistic medium and as the subject of work. Through the production of time-based works in a virtual realm, students learn about compositional choices, narrative and non-narrative strategies, and ethical and political responsibilities that artists and artist collectives face in the 21th century. Students gain exposure to selected software as it pertains to their individually designed projects. Readings, writing assignments and an active participation in critiques of works by contemporary new media artists will be part of this seminar.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

ART 5617 Intro Time-Based: Working With Time

This studio class supports the production of time-based media artworks and provides an overview of the last fifty years of the history of contemporary art practices that are time-based and use a variety of analog and digital tools including video art, sound art, performance art and media art. Students in this class create several projects in video, sound, performance and other media of choice. Technical and conceptual instruction accompanies this production intensive studio course. Visiting artists, lectures, class critiques, interdisciplinary collaborations, and select short readings accompany the course.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5621 Time-Based: Performing Solitude

In this performance studio, students work with their own bodies as their tool of expression, focusing on states of solitude in the context of global histories. Students create interdisciplinary artworks that merge performance art with other forms of art making, including visual, digital, musical, choreographed, textual, and/or cinematic. Students create hybrid, performance-based works assessed through critique. Readings and short lectures accompany this studio.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5623 Intro Time-Based: Kinetic Image/Digital Video

This course addresses the use of digital technology and software for capturing, editing, and producing moving images. The course examines the visual language and poetics of moving images while providing students with foundation knowledge of camera operations, production storyboarding, software tools and presentation strategies. The course assumes no prior knowledge or experience with kinetic imaging technologies or software.

Credit 3 units. EN: H

ART 5626 Beyond Words, Beyond Images: Representation After History

Focusing on art in the public domain, this seminar examines contemporary practices that engage collective memory and the city, inviting students to consider their own studio practice in the context of public space. Students investigate examples of public projects contributing to global discourse. Weekly lectures, readings, screenings, discussions, and individual research inform the final paper. Studio consultations culminate in an individually conceived final project in a medium of choice.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM, VC

ART 5629 Artificial Intelligence and Art

This studio course serves as an introduction through various projects to the transformative role of AI in digital media art. Projects will include creative coding, development of a fine-tuned language model, image generation, and sound classification. The course will equip students with basic skills to innovate at the intersection of art and AI, emphasizing the significance of engaging conceptual concerns. Additional topics will provide an overview of the field's current challenges and opportunities including; ethical considerations, historical context, and AI in the art institution. Coursework will be evaluated through instructor feedback and group critique.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5630 Time-Based: Art Practice (Phantom Bodies and Moving Pictures)

Phantom Bodies and Moving Pictures is a studio course that begins with a survey of media art from the '60s to the present. While Media Art histories developed alongside Art History, they remained distinct despite sharing common ground. In this course, students will produce time-based works using the software and technologies of their choice. Projects will reflect a consideration of the major concepts that define image and sound-based work. This course will also look at the ways in which time-based work is intertwined with the field of media archeology and various cultural practices from which evolving technologies emerged. Key theorists and media art historians will also be discussed.

Credit 3 units. Art: FAAM

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 5750 Study Abroad - Berlin Sommerakademie

This seminar explores the international contemporary art center, Berlin, through artist studio and museum visits and discussions with curators and scholars. This course offers a unique context to explore various modes of cultural production in relation to the material, social and political conditions of the city. Berlin's memorial sites that bore witness to the city's traumatic past during the Third Reich and Cold War division as well as its global presence further provide the opportunity to examine context-driven work. The seminar meets seven or eight times prior to departure and over the course of approximately one month in Berlin and Venice, where the program culminates at the Biennale

Credit 3 units. EN: H

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 5850 Freund Fellow Seminar

The visiting Freund Teaching Fellow, who will be living in St. Louis for the semester, will teach this seminar. This is a rotating special topics course which supports the visiting Freund Teaching Fellowship.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 5851 Museum & Gallery Operations

This is a practicum for students to learn museum and gallery operations, including exhibition design and installation. Through workshops, field trips, and readings, this course addresses the logistics of running a museum or gallery. At the conclusion of the semester, students co-organize an exhibition at the Des Lee Gallery and give a presentation reflecting on their experience. Class sessions are supplemented with visits to local arts organizations with arts professionals. Students author weekly written responses to class topics and field trips and are assessed on their overall engagement in the course, skill acquisition, attendance, and writing.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

ART 6010 Graduate Studio

Graduate Studio acts as a conduit between the forming of artistic intention and the work that is made; it is the when and the where of an artist's immersion in the process of research and making. Graduate Studio requires the very highest level of focus and productivity. The deeper the investigation of ideas and materials, the more productive the artistic outcome. Credit units in Graduate Studio form a core component of the MFA program in which students accomplish their creative work, guided by their faculty mentor and other faculty within the program and beyond, as well as by visiting artists and critics who conduct studio visits and individual critiques.

Credit 4 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 6015 Group Critique (Second Year)

The foundation of the MFA-VA experience is the production of artwork in the context of dialogue and critique within a community of peers. Group Critique generates a dynamic forum for multiple voices to merge into conversation. This course develops a student's ability to assess, contextualize, and discuss artworks at a professional level. It provides a space for debate, questioning, agreement, disagreement, inspiration, and discovery. During class sessions, first- and second-year MFA-VA students participate in mixed groups, engaging in rigorous peer review of finished work. Group members are encouraged to develop philosophical or cultural positions as they consider their own work and that of their peers. Faculty support this effort by offering methods for catalyzing further discussions. Input in critiques may be augmented by visiting artists and curators, who, in concert with MFA-VA faculty, introduce an array of critique methodologies.

Credit 4 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 6020 Graduate Studio (Second Year)

Graduate Studio acts as a conduit between the forming of artistic intention and the work that is made; it is the when and the where of an artist's immersion in the process of research and making. Graduate Studio requires the very highest level of focus and productivity. The deeper the investigation of ideas and materials, the more productive the artistic outcome. Credit hours in Graduate Studio form a core component of the MFA program in which students accomplish their creative work, guided by their Faculty Mentor and other faculty within the program and beyond, as well as by visiting artist and critics who conduct studio visits and individual critiques.

Credit 4 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 6025 Group Critique (Second Year)

The foundation of the MFA-VA experience is the production of artwork in the context of dialogue and critique within a community of peers. Group Critique generates a dynamic forum for multiple voices to merge into conversation. This course develops a student's ability to assess, contextualize, and discuss artworks at a professional level. It provides a space for debate, questioning, agreement, disagreement, inspiration, and discovery. During class sessions, first and second-year MFA-VA students participate in mixed groups, engaging in rigorous peer review of finished work. Group members are encouraged to develop philosophical or cultural positions as they consider their own work and that of their peers. Faculty support this effort by offering methods for catalyzing further discussions. Input in critiques may be augmented by visiting artists and curators, who, in concert with MFA-VA faculty, introduce an array of critique methodologies.

Credit 4 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 6050 Research for Practice

What does it mean to conduct research in the often-indescribable process of art making? This seminar examines the question in three key ways. First, through presentations, discussions, case studies, and readings, it explores a diverse array of artistic strategies and methodologies artists use to engage with content, including collaborative practices, archival research, working with data, and processes influenced by non-art fields. Students will consider ways in which their artistic practices constitute and create research and how these processes condition and inform their artistic voice. Second, this seminar builds tools for presenting a distinct voice on behalf of one's work. Specifically, the student is introduced to the way other contemporary practitioners write and talk about their own work -- through published books, chapters, interviews, online materials, and more -- and how this writing differs from both criticism and art historical writing. Each candidate creates their own personal research archive and explores how writing can expand and advance their practice. Third, this seminar prepares students to develop their thesis plan, a map of their final MFA-VA creative work, and their thesis text.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

ART 6060 Thesis and Exhibition Preparation

This seminar supports second-year MFA-VA candidates in the process of completing their MFA thesis. The seminar functions as both a practical and professionalizing experience. It provides tools for negotiating conceptual and practical matters related to the thesis exhibition, facilitates the process of writing the thesis text, and prepares candidates for their thesis artist talks. Weekly sessions focus on developing the means for MFA-VA candidates to successfully find a visual and writing voice that best represents their art practice. Students learn to navigate aspects of professional art exhibitions by working with institutions such as the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. Visits from Kemper Museum curators introduce students to key issues in preparing for museum exhibitions, including studio visits, selecting works, developing wall text, and installation logistics.

Credit 4 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

ART 6080 Workshops

MFA in Visual Art students participate in a minimum of three workshops each semester for their first three semesters. Workshops are defined as one-day experiences that allow students to gain valuable skills in low-risk/high-commitment settings, including Fox Fridays in the Sam Fox School, the Skandalaris Center, and The Teaching Center -- all on the Washington University campus -- and also in settings around St. Louis. At the end of each semester, students prepare a written report summarizing the workshops attended and skills acquired. Participation in workshops is certified by the student's faculty mentor and evaluated on a pass/fail basis.

Credit 1 unit.

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 5010 Illustration Studio 1: Drawing and Voice

This course provides a thorough exploration of drawing for communicative purposes, stretching from ideation to storytelling to authorship of text and image. Students will create single images and sequences, explore reproduction and multiplicity, and develop a sketchbook practice. In the process, students will develop a set of visual questions and thematic concerns. Working through projects designed for print and screen, illustrators will begin to define a distinctive voice to express their chosen content, to include words, images, audio, and typography or lettering.

Credit 6 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 5020 Illustration Studio II: Artist, Author, Audience

This course explores the format of the self-generated publication: zines, mini-comics and short visual essays. Expanding upon the content discovered in the first semester studio, illustrators will create a variety of short works to be mass produced for public readership for both the screen and in print. Projects may range from animated sketches to formal visual essays. Research on audience and viewer experience will be a critical focus.

Credit 6 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

DESIGN 5110 Research Methods (Image and Story)

This is a course in image-making for functional contexts. Students develop projects that isolate issues of approach, production, distribution and market in the landscape of illustration and cartooning today. Targeted research questions are posed in response to individual student work. Successful completion of the course requires the development of and commitment to an aesthetic and creative position within the fields of illustration and cartooning. Readings address the history and culture of illustration, comics and animation.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 5120 Special Collections: Practice & Purpose

An introduction to the theoretical foundations, practice, and profession of special collections and archives, with a focus on the diverse holdings of WU Libraries' Special Collections, including the D.B. Dowd Modern Graphic History Library. Course topics will include the core concepts and values related to the access, design, curation, preservation, and stewardship of visual materials. Through discussions and hands-on activities, students will explore visual materials processing, cataloging, and digitization, offering an opportunity to put theory into practice in special collections and archives.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 5130 Comics and Cartooning: A Critical Survey

This survey course addresses the language and history of comics, beginning with the tradition of charicature in Europe and America; the emergence of proto-comics in the mid-19th century; early Sunday comic supplements beginning in the 1890s and the explosion of the comic strip as a popular form between 1900 and 1935; the advent of the comic book as an advertising premium and its development through the imposition of the comics code in 1954; and the development of underground comix and the emergence of the graphic novel.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

DESIGN 5140 Special Collections: Exhibition & Engagement

This course focuses on the development, planning and mounting of exhibitions, which serve as a critical form of scholarly engagement and a vehicle for collection engagement in special collections practice. Students will learn underlying theories that guide exhibition creation, and they will have the opportunity to apply those theories through the curation and design of an exhibition of materials from the D.B. Dowd Modern Graphic History Library. The course will also explore additional WashU Libraries' Special Collections visual holdings, such as the moving image and numismatics, through guest lectures and workshops.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

DESIGN 5145 Visual Stories

Students will spend the semester creating a long form visual story. The source material for this story should be an existing story, song, legend, myth, historical event, book or other documented text. Using both nonfiction and fiction source materials, students will produce a single narrative in the form of an illustrated book, graphic novel/mini-comic or digital experience. The project will be expansive and cover a large range of professional practices, from visual conceptual development to final execution.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5160 Reading Pictures: Illustration History

This course will explore illustration as a cultural practice interwoven with writing, printing, publishing, and design in North America, Europe, and East Asia from the early modern period with emphasis on the 19th and 20th centuries. Topics will include vernacular languages and the rise of reading, verbal and pictorial competition and complementarity, industrial image production and associated labor systems, the interdependence of illustration and photography, and illustration as a participant in the histories of race and gender as well as a marker of cultural memory. Course work includes lectures, discussions, and hands on work with Rare Books and DIRA materials in the department of Special Collections.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 5201 Typography I

This course introduces the language and standards of typography. Through a series of exercises and projects, students explore type as a vehicle for conveying information and as an expressive and interpretive tool. This course introduces the language and standards of typography. Through a series of exercises and projects, students explore type as a vehicle for conveying information and as an expressive and interpretive tool.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5202 Communication Design: Typography II

This course builds on the typographic principles introduced in Typography I (F10 238C). Students generate typographic systems and expressions relevant to professional practice.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 5204 Experimental Typography

In this studio course, students will learn to challenge typography's role as a tool for communication through alternative methods in mark-making and redefining what or how it is communicated. The course will introduce material exploration, emerging software/technology, and sensory/spatial considerations while challenging the purpose of type. It will be organized into multiple units, each with a different opportunity for the student to explore new methods. Students will apply their own areas of disciplinary expertise to the final project. Students will need a laptop and may need to acquire inexpensive or free software.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5211 Type as Image: Experiments On Press

Working in the Kranzberg Studio for the Illustrated Book, students will use printing to explore the expressive possibilities of typography both as language and as image/illustration. Graphic shape, line, tone, color and type can all be used as raw materials in the construction of messages, stories and ideas. In this course, students will respond to prompts and create self-generated expressive and experimental projects that explore the language of design in a tactile form. Students will be introduced to both basic and advanced typographic knowledge as they ground thier work in the visual expression of language. Prerequisite: Communication Design: Word & Image II.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FADM

DESIGN 5212 Multilingual Type

In an interwoven world, engaging multiple languages in shared surfaces and spaces is essential to communication. How do we design for audiences with varied backgrounds and fluencies? How can designers navigate visual and conceptual balance? This studio course engages type-driven, multilingual projects, inviting the opportunities, questions, negotiations and challenges that arise. Studio projects are grounded in conversations about visual hierarchy, density, and texture, reading direction, sequence, identity as it relates to language, and designing for a multilingual audience. Learning is bolstered by lectures, readings, and writing exercises. Students do not need to know a second language.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FADM

Typical periods offered: Spring

DESIGN 5216 Communication Design I

An introduction to the field of communication design, combining principles from the fields of graphic design, advertising and illustration/image construction. Through studio exercises and lectures, students will be exposed to the broad range of conceptual, aesthetic and strategic issues inherent to the field. Additionally, the similarities, differences and points of overlap within the three areas will be discussed. An excellent introduction to the subject as a tool for business and marketing.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM EN: H

DESIGN 5218 Illustrated Typography

In this studio course, students learn to create drawn letterforms using various methods. Projects challenge students to build on prior experience with digital type to create illustrated lettering for editorial, persuasive, and narrative contexts. Students will explore the anatomy of letterforms, contemporary and historical practices for drawing typography, and diverse media (digital and analog). Students will be evaluated on formal and conceptual clarity, depth of investment, and participation in critique.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

DESIGN 5219 Communication Design: Visual Voice

Design is a powerful tool that creates meaningful dialogue between the work and its intended audience. This exchange can profoundly impact our culture and society. This course explores the methods used by designers to create visual messages that inspire ideas, elicit emotions and encourage actions. Through class discussion and course readings we will examine the role and responsibility of the designer within our society. Students will create work that integrates their individual perspective and personal experiences supported by research, writing and design applications.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 5222 Typography and Letterform: The Design of Language

This course presents an investigation of the formal qualities of familiar objects: in this case, letters. This is an introductory course in design methodologies using letterforms as our area of exploration. Students explore the design strategies required to make individual forms into a family of types through exercises in tracing, drawing, letterpress printing, and collage. Particular emphasis will be devoted to the concept of modularity, including an assignment to design and print a modular typeface.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5258 Interaction Design: Understanding Health and Well-Being

Through a blend of presentations from practitioners, classroom lectures, readings, discussions, and hands-on exercises, this course will engage principles and methods of interaction design within the context of health challenges. Broadly defined, interaction design is the practice of designing products, environments, systems, and services with a focus on behavior and user experience. We will take on an in-depth challenge in the area of health and well-being and work in cross-disciplinary design teams with an external partner organization. Students will gain experience in planning and executing a human-centered design process that features research, ideation, synthesis, concept development, prototypes, and a final presentation, which may include visual design, animation, and sound. Students will work in teams to develop several intermediate project deliverables, such as prototypes and sketches. No prior course work is necessary, although experience with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign is helpful.

Credit 3 units. Art: CPSC, FADM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5265 Design Principles for Interaction I

The demand for graphic literacy in contemporary culture is only increasing, redefining our need to understand how design functions and why. How can products and communication be crafted with the user in mind? How can design facilitate seamless, intuitive digital experiences? This studio course will address considerations for web, mobile, and other screen-based applications, addressing hierarchy, typography, iconography, layout, color, and image. This course is ideal for students seeking to learn fundamental graphic design and messaging principles, and produce robust, researched digital prototypes. Studio work will be supplemented by supporting lectures and readings.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Summer

DESIGN 5270 Design Principles for Interaction 2

This course explores user-centered interface design for screen-based, interactive experiences. Applying information design principles and programming design strategies, students will create advanced functional prototypes while practicing the UX/UI process, including research, content architecture, wireframing, usability testing, visual design and iterative development. Students will deliver responsive websites and mobile applications, investigate the unique possibilities of mobile devices, and consider alternate digital canvases. The course will emphasize clear organization and communication, typographic refinement and visual execution. Studio work will be supported by lectures and readings.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5303 Content to Cover: The Design of Books

This studio course considers the design and poetics of books in their totality. Projects engage in depth with book pacing and sequence, page composition, typographic detail, images, and construction. Assignments invite students to interrogate the book form and explore its materiality and object quality. Coursework addresses print production, binding methods in industry, and bookbinding techniques. Visits to two campus library special collections, a research assignment, relevant readings and discussion will guide students in building a critical book design vocabulary. Work will be evaluated based on participation, process, conceptual thinking, visual application to form, and craft.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5307 Graphic Design History

This course introduces students to the histories of graphic design from the development of ancient writing systems to the advent of digital graphics software. In lectures and discussion, students will ask how graphic design as a profession has been shaped by political, social, and technological change. Grounding our sweeping survey will be close analyses of graphical artifacts in archives, museums, and everyday objects. Students will learn methods of archival research through hands-on examination of a wide range of graphic artifacts (from papyrus to phone screens) and hone their skills as design critics through regular writing exercises.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM, VC

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5308 African American Design History

This course surveys African American contributions to the design arts and professions from 1619 to now, from media of print and textiles to ceramics and architecture, from the scale of community crafts and protest to corporate business enterprise and mass social movements, from the diaspora to outer space. African American history not only offers a critical perspective on design history but also challenges us to reconsider what design is and what it can do as a medium of cultural expression, social transformation, and political change. While learning this history via lectures, readings, and hands-on archival research, students will develop their own artifact-based public history project. No prerequisite

Credit 3 units. Art: VC

DESIGN 5309 Race and Design

This seminar introduces students to the relationship between race and design in history, theory, and practice. How have racial ideologies shaped the formation of design? How has design mediated the reproduction of racial ideologies across time, space, and social forms? While tracing the tangled history of race and design, we will engage current critical writing and design practices. Topics include: material cultures of slavery and racial capitalism; racism in the design industry; racial politics of modernism; architectures of incarceration and surveillance; and antiracist practices. Students will develop their own perspective on these issues through site visits and a final research project.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5310 Readings in Design: Work and Industry

What is a designer? An artist, or an entrepreneur? A professional, or a worker? A maker of things, or an administrator of systems? A community leader, or agent of capitalism? In this seminar, we will explore recent writing by design scholars and design practitioners who are, in different ways, asking about the role of designers in society. While learning the histories and theories guiding current debates, the course offers a space for students to reflect critically on the present and future of the design professions in discussion, weekly writing exercises, and a semester-long research project.

Credit 3 units. Art: VC

DESIGN 5401 Literatures of Drawing

This theoretically oriented seminar course covers drawing, printing, and cultural form, focusing on ideologies of illustration and cartooning as well as problems of visual representation, broadly speaking. Complementary focus will be placed on the portrayals of illustrators and cartoonists in literature and film to explore the complicated cultural status of the people who produce such work. Students will produce critical and argumentative writing and conduct research in the D.B. Dowd Modern Graphic History Library collections.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Spring

DESIGN 5403 Visual Journalism and Reportage Drawing

This course combines studio practice, work in the field, subject reporting and nonfiction writing to explore a rich tradition that dates to the mid-19th century. The special artists who reported on the American Civil War, the urban observers of the Ashcan School and the New Journalism illustrators of the 1950s, 60s and 70s brought vision and force to their work as reporters. Today, the reportage tradition is being re-invigorated in online outlets and periodicals. Students will produce a series of works documenting observations of contemporary people, sites and events, culminating in a zine designed for print and/or a digital slideshow with supporting text. This course will provide plentiful drawing experience. Supplemented by historical material in the collections of the Modern Graphic History Library. This course is appropriate for juniors in the Communication Design major. (Students with an interest in visual journalism grounded in street photography and visually engaged writers may be admitted to the course by permission of instructor.)

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FADM

DESIGN 5406 Illustration for Games

How must a drawing be constructed, both formally and narratively, to function inside of a game? This course, which is intended for image-makers, will concentrate on the assets and aesthetics of game design. Students will engage the subjects of character development, 8-bit graphics, user interface, simple animations, and background design. Beginning with foundational questions of how and why we play games, students will create their own images, which will be built upon exploratory research into existing games and frameworks.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES, FADM

Typical periods offered: Spring

DESIGN 5409 The Illustrator's Sketchbook

The sketchbook has long been seen as the artist's personal playground. In this course, students will be making images that explore concepts and visual narratives--but the raw materials for these illustrations will come from exploration inside the pages of their sketchbook. This course will develop a discipline of daily drawing. In addition to sketchbook work, project assignments will include both conceptual and applied projects like illustrated book jackets and short stories. Significant time will be spent in media exploration, development of technique and professional practices.

Credit 3 units. Art: CDES

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5410 Applied Illustration

This course will explore drawing and conceptual development in the landscape of professional picture-making and illustration. Using the lens of an applied professional process, students will make work that explores and establishes an artistic viewpoint. Focused research, idea development, formal experimentation, and class critique are vital to these goals. Using this contextual practice, students will advance toward the development of an individual voice. This course is applicable to anticipated career directions in image making, illustration, comics, picture books and visual storytelling.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 5413 Analog Media for Illustration

This studio course explores analog (non-digital) mixed-media and its usage in contemporary illustration practice. Students will explore a variety of hands-on media such as pen and ink, brush and ink, watercolor, gouache, acrylic, monotype printmaking, cut paper, collage, and an assortment of drawing materials. Demonstrations will be given for each media assigned, including lectures on artists and illustrators pertaining to each new material. Students will be assessed on their comprehension of media through the execution of individual assignments. At the conclusion of the semester, students will be well-versed in analog media and equipped to navigate their own artistic development.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5414 Visualizing Literature: Texture/Structure

This course examines the intersection of literary writing and the visualization of language. It challenges students to function as reader-designers, to develop new relationships between the written word and the seen word. Drawing on reading literary works, students complete 4-5 studio and writing projects in which they employ typographic methods to amplify the power of words, express personal stories through writing, and visualize narrative structures in fiction and non-fiction. All projects are assessed through critique.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5418 Making Comics

From hieroglyphics to newspapers, drawn pictures in sequence have told stories for thousands of years. This course is an introduction to writing and drawing short form comics. In readings and discussion, students will explore a wide variety of genres and visual approaches to comics. Through exercises and assignments students will learn how to make clear and evocative comics. All skill levels of drawing experience are acceptable.

Credit 3 units.

DESIGN 5420 Narrative Art of the Picturebook

For over 300 years, picture books have depicted everything from morals to dreams. This wide variety in content has yielded diverse graphic approaches with a common commitment to narrative pictures. This studio course will interrogate the picture book as the confluence of writing, image-making, and design. Students will explore the mechanics of a picture book, with a particular focus on word-image relationships and page design. Critical readings and a visit to the Dowd Illustration Research Archive will provide a contextual framework. Students will complete several short studio projects and creative writing assignments as well as execute a picture book pitch over the course of the semester.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5421 Illustration Entrepreneur

In this course, students will create images appropriate for surface design application to products. Students will work toward developing icons and motifs using shape-based illustration, design, composition, hierarchy and thoughtfully considered color. Exploration will include visual content, artists, audiences, and trends in a fluid marketplace. Projects for this course will be in the applied context of gift and home decor markets, fabric design, stationery products, and toys. All skill levels of drawing and digital proficiency are welcome. This course is appropriate for art students whose work focuses on images/packages, design minors, and non-Sam Fox students interested in developing visual products.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5422 The Illustrated Book: Design and Production

An investigation of text, image, design, and production within the broad realm of illustrated books. A series of exploratory exercises in the beginning of the semester will yield to a single sustained project to be proposed and developed by the student. Project emphases may include visual narrative, textual interpretation, creative writing, typography, structure & sequencing, and material investigation. Production methods may include relief & letterpress, engraving & intaglio, offset lithography, and digital, virtual media. Certain projects may require a second semester of study to complete.

Credit 3 units.

DESIGN 5425 Image Making for Graphic Design

This course explores the use of photographic imagery in contemporary design practice through a range of analog and digital experimentation.Using a variety of methods, students will complete a series of image making investigations. The study of both hand and computer based approaches provides an opportunity to work beyond the constraints of the screen and build an understanding of how imagery can be used to enhance visuals, communicate ideas and convey meaning. This course also explores the use of digital imaging applications. Topics such as image correction and manipulation, resolution and color and production practices will be covered. Students will become familiar with the tools and creative capabilities of the software. This class will utilize lecture, demonstration, discussion, and hands-on learning assignments.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5428 Illustration Concepts & Media

Advanced projects in applied illustration and the first step in development of a professional portfolio. The class will explore creating images with smart and concise ideas across a spectrum of media. Students will be instructed on a range of illustration media to create visual solutions under rigorous deadlines. The projects will cover the range of editorial and conceptual image making in the professional world today including portraiture, multiple images, responding to text and specific time and media restrictions.

Credit 3 units.

DESIGN 5501 Motion Graphics for Designers

This course offers a route to learning theories, techniques and principles of motion graphics that builds on the fundamentals of graphic design. Areas of focus will include careful deployment and control of image, color, text, tone, pacing and editing. Students will capture, generate and manipulate audiovisual material. Various tools and methodologies for making time-based media will be introduced, such as animation, creative coding, filmmaking and sound editing. Experimentation is encouraged.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5503 Animated Worlds

This course explores traditional and experimental 3D animation in a short film format. Beginning students will learn polygon and NURBS modeling, texturing, lighting, rigging props, and characters in Maya. A storyboard, animatic and final rendered short will be developed for two major projects. Advanced skill sets include development, character design, 3D modeling, rigging, visual effects, sound, and rendering. No prerequisites or previous experience required. This course can be taken multiple times at either the beginner or advanced level, and it is open to students of all levels across the university. Graduate and advanced students can build independent projects with permission of the instructor.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5506 Digital Game Design

Designing a digital game that is both entertaining and usable requires understanding principles of user interface, game theory, and visual design. In this course, students will be introduced to basic game design strategy and practice in the development of their own game projects. Using both paper and the digital screen as canvases for design, students will explore gameplay iterations and create visual components. No prior experience in visual design, coding, or digital games is necessary.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5507 Animating Illustration

Adding motion to an illustration both complicates and expands its potential for storytelling. This studio course develops creative methods for animation-based illustration and explores contemporary techniques in the field of motion design. We will cover the fundamentals of animation production, working both independently and collaboratively on animation. Skills we will explore include expressive character animation and design, storyboarding, keyframing, and file setup. Contemporary and traditional techniques will be covered. We watch animation, talk to working animators, and discuss relevant topics in animation theory.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5508 Game Design Principles & Practice

In this studio course, students are introduced to basic principles, practices, and strategies for developing non-digital games with a focus on prototyping game design concepts around familiar materials such as cards, dice, and game tokens. Students explore narrative and visual design in this process and consider how playtesting and player feedback informs their work. This practice-based approach is supplemented with lectures, readings, and discussions about fundamental theories. Students complete the course having created a series of small scale prototypes. Evaluation is based on their ability to successfully apply course concepts to projects and class participation.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5550 Branding & Identity

Students will learn about brands as 1) identity; a shorthand for a company or product, 2) as an image; where an individual perceives a brand as representing a particular reality, and 3) as a relationship; where an individual reflects an experience through a product or service. To learn from their research, students will concept, design, and implement a brand, challenging them to realize the full breadth of a brand's reach.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5601 The Book as Lens: Photography and Books

This course will examine the function of the photograph in the sequential book format, with an emphasis on narrative development. The semester work will include researching historical photo books; experimentation with found photography; making an original photo series; alternative book structures; designing pages with photos and text; and alternative printmaking techniques on a wide variety of materials. This course is for designers, photographers, and anyone interested in the way photo books function.

Credit 3 units.

DESIGN 5602 Introduction to Book Binding

This course will serve as an introduction to the book as an artifact of material culture. A variety of traditional and non-traditional book structures will be explored. Students will learn from historical approaches to constructing the codex form, including the single-signature pamphlet, the multi-signature case binding, the coptic, and the medieval long stitch. Students will learn Japanese binding and its many variations. Several contemporary variations will be introduced, including the tunnel, the flag book, the accordion, and the carousel. Students will explore the visual book using found imagery and photocopy transfers, and they will produce a variety of decorated papers to be used in their bindings.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5603 Introduction to Letterpress Printing

This class will serve as an introduction to printing with the Vandercook handpress. Through a series of assignments students will learn a systematic approach to planning, arranging and printing type on a page. The students will receive a basic introduction to typography, history of letterforms, and history of the book. The mechanics of relief printing with the cylinder proof press, ink composition, and resolution of the typographic image will also be explored. As an exploration of the publishing process students will produce a chapbook of a short literary work. The class will primarily focus on typographic composition, but one assignment will employ a combination of word and image.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM EN: H

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5604 Designing Creative Non-Fiction

This writing and studio course explores the creation of non-fiction stories and essays through the integration of words and visual material. Students will write several pieces, and create typographic, information design, and other visual responses to their words. Projects will take the form of digital and printed books, posters, and animatics, and will be evaluated for writing and voice, visual material, and design. This course is ideal for students who have experience or interest in non-fiction storytelling and journalism through writing, typography, data visualization, graphic design, photography, or illustration.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 5605 Zines as Critical Practice

In this studio, students develop zines as a vehicle for creative research. Zines (short for 'fanzines') are short, experimental DIY publications made in small editions. Project-based assignments introduce students to the history and political practice of zine-making while exploring a number of visual themes, editorial approaches, and studio processes that may include risograph printing and other hands-on methods for reproduction. Students will engage with WashU special collections, such as the Dowd Illustration Research Archive and TL;DR Zine Archive.

Credit 3 units. Art: FADM

Typical periods offered: Spring

DESIGN 6010 Illustration & Visual Culture Thesis Studio I

This advanced course focuses on defining a professional orientation in the practice, criticism, and curation of illustration and cartooning today, focusing on the studio and the archive as zones of investigation and achievement. The course work isolates issues of creative approach, production, distribution, and market position to define and test a major project concept. Projects may include picture books, zines, games, animated projects, comics, and other forms of published matter. Students will define research questions and establish an editorial orientation for critical engagement with visual culture. Project definition and early work will carry forward into the work of Illustration & Visual Culture Thesis Studio II.

Credit 9 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

DESIGN 6020 Illustration & Visual Culture Thesis Studio II

Students will build on the project definition established in Thesis Studio I to take the project to completion. Projects will be shaped and critiqued through meetings with faculty advisors and dialogue with peers. This course culminates in the public presentation of student projects.

Credit 9 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

DESIGN 6150 Readings in Visual and Material Culture

No ideas but in things. Taking as a point of departure this famous line from a William Carlos Williams poem, which is often said to express the poet's commitment to a creative practice rooted in tangible things (as opposed to abstractions, formalism, a given subject matter or politics, and so on), this course explores the idea-thing relationship as it has come to be understood during the past century. Studying influential theories of visual and material culture, this course will engage historical, theoretical, and creative texts by Marx, Baudrillard, Bourdieu, Sontag, and others alongside concrete visual and material objects. Students will produce responsive writing and conduct individual research.

Credit 3 units.

Typical periods offered: Fall

FASHION 5910 Special Topics in Fashion Design

Special Topics in Fashion Design

Credit 1 unit.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring

FASHION 6910 Special Topics in Fashion Design

Special Topics in Fashion Design

Credit 1 unit.

Typical periods offered: Fall, Spring