Course Syllabus
Course Description
This course will underscore the importance of objective assessment and place emphasis on cross-disciplinary thinking and individual studio practice. It will focus on historical and contemporary contexts. It will ask students to be thoughtful, thorough critics of their work and that of others and through such a direct dialogue, enable them to continue to realize their work. The course will require each student to be visually and verbally articulate.
Course Objectives
- An ability to solve open-ended problems/challenges of artistic expression.
- An ability to analyze the working methods of artists and the results of their efforts in a diverse and disciplined way.
- An ability to communicate effectively through their artistic practice. Students should be aware of and engaged in a thorough way with art history, critical theory and visual culture in a way that considers a broad cultural awareness considering both local and/or global issues in order to make critical judgments about contemporary art while gaining a deeper under standing of their own personal values.
- An in-depth understanding of the visual arts, art history, critical theory and visual culture, sufficient to prepare them to move into a professional career in the arts, including essential concepts and theories of studio production in a variety of disciplines, with a sophistication and refinement especially in a major field
- An ability to take risks in experimentation. This could mean breaking from usual habits. Trying new materials and methodologies in confirming the direction of their work.
- A clear and thorough understanding of their personal practice. Each candidate should be able to demonstrate a strong commitment investing time and resources to generating contin ual development and inquiry. This includes both working in the studio and researching artists and theory of art-making.
- Communicate effectively in both written and oral form.
The learning objectives/goals will be attained through group critiques. Students will set aside subjective assessments in order to provide concrete, supportable observations, responses, reactions, analyses, evaluations and suggestions. This objectivity should open critical discussions regarding the successes and failures found in each work. Students will avoid subjective responses. For example, a comment such as “I like this piece because I like red” is not useful, because it has no context beyond the personal. Instead, students will place criticism into larger contexts that include technical, practi-cal, theoretical, historical, contemporary or cultural references. Participation in this critical process for both the presenter and audience is to be thoughtful and challenging.
Wayne Thiebaud (b. 1920) Sunglasses
We all need critical confrontation of the fullest and the most extreme kind that we can get. You can unnecessarily limit yourself by choosing your criticism. I mean, who I’d like to believe is my Aunt Edna, who kept telling me what a terrific artist I was. Thank you, Aunt Edna, say it again. But how would I feel if Matisse or Morandi or Richard Diebenkorn walked into my studio? That’s quite a differ- ent audience. Dick Diebenkorn was a very good critic, a very tough critic, tough on himself, tough on others. He expected the finest. That’s the kind of person you need and who you look for if you’re serious about being [an artist].
-Wayne Thiebaud
PechaKucha
There will be two pechakucha presentations by each graduate student. These will occur on August 27th and December 17 via zoom. PechaKucha is a presentation style where speakers showcase 20 images, each displayed for 20 seconds, resulting in a concise and dynamic presentation lasting 6 minutes and 40 seconds. PechaKuchas's should contain works that you have made or are working on making, examples of research and influences you are investigating in relationship to the work and projections of where you would like to take the work next. These should be extemporaneous and unscripted. There will be a 3 minute period for questions and feedback from the audience.
Group Critiques
There will be three group critiques. Faculty will rotate in participation of group critiques and will change from each critique date whenever possible. Each group critique for a single student will have at least three phases. In the first phase, the class will be asked to respond and react to the presented work without a provided context. Students will be required to rely on what is seen in the work, and as the semester progresses, what a presenter has previously shown. In doing so, an array of simple questions may be answered in their first section of the critique: What is the image/ concept/context/media? How is it made or presented? Does how it is made or presented relate to what is said? With rare exceptions, questions of the presenter are not allowed at this point.
The second phase will permit the presenter to discuss his/her work/thought process and intent. The third phase of the critique will include a second round of responses and reactions based on the intentions expressed in the previous phase. Questions may be posed during this portion of the critique.
Strategies
Because students will be working with a variety of media and approaches, they will be asked to sustain a dialogue across a range of technical, visual, and conceptual issues. Students will consider common aspects of these elements as well as those that are unique. Within this forum you will need to show conversation reflect-ing on strategies you have researched.
Students will also be required to expand independent work strategies. In addition to the development of objective judgement, they will reinvestigate issues such as motivation, research, and daily studio routines. Taken together, these issues will form the core of studio practice beyond WSU.
Success is the realization of the work. Success is just getting what you need to continue working." -Matthew Richie
Matthew Richie An Omnivorus Visualization System,
photo credit Spike Magazine
Research
What constitutes research? How is it central to the work? Students will be encouraged to utilize numerous research sources within the field and beyond. These may be visual, aural, or textual libraries, archives, or collections that re private or public. Research may be defined as significant activities that help generate ideas and images. This may include a close engagement with a particular artist or a more general body of work in any media. It may take the form of attendance at numerous artist/scholar/critic lectures; readings pertaining to your interests’ or something as simple as a daily dedication to a sketch book. Eve Andrée Laramée points out the significance of one such source:
This component is an integral part of the studio work and it is separated in grade computation to underscore its importance. In concert with this portion of the course, graduate students are to begin compiling an annotated bibliography in anticipation of the written thesis/extended artist statement, which will be discussed throughout the semester. You will also need to transcribe Sister Corita Kent's rules prior to your first critique. Please forward them to Squeak and Krista via email.
- write down every artist mentioned in
- look them figure out why you need to know about them. (you always need to know
about them.)
Eve Andrée Laramée, Leaf Equation, pierced leaf, courtesy the artist’s website.
I spent a lot of time in the library and I think that that was a really important part of my art education. I grew up across the street from a library in Los Angeles, which was sort of my safe haven. I would go there after school, then I’d go home for dinner, then go back to the library and stay there until it closed at night. And I continued with that pattern of being a library kid throughout my schooling. I think that having access to resources, to literary sources, to art historical sources and theory and visual sources was really an important thing for me. It helped develop cross-disciplinary thinking.
-Eve Andrée Laramée
Grades
Grades are determined through three components: the quality and quantity of studio work (60%), research (20%), and participation in group critiques (20%).
A (A 93.0%-100.0%, A- 90.0%-92.9%)
B (B+ 87.0%-89.9%, B 83.0%-86.9%, B- 80.0%-82.9%)
C (C+ 77.0%-79.9%, C 73.0%-76.9%, C 70.0%-72.9%)
Note: in graduate coursework receiving a C- will require retaking coursework.
D (D+ 67.0%-69.9%, D 63.0%-66.9%, D- 60.0%-62.9%)
F (F 59.0% and below)
Standard rules of rounding will be used in calculating percentages.
Jeff Koons,Three Ball 50-50 Tank (Spalding Dr. JK Silver Series), 1985, Telegraph
Students will be graded on how well they improve “by learning to work and by learning from their work.” Studio work is graded on both quality and quantity. In the book Art and Fear, David Bayles and Ted Orland touch on the relationship between these two elements:
The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the “quantity” group: fifty pounds of pots rated an “A”, forty pounds a “B” and so on. Those being grade on “quality”, however, needed to produce only one pot—albeit a perfect one—to get an “A”. Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the “quantity” group was busily churning out piles of work—and learning from their mistakes—the “quality” group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Ai Weiwei - Dropping a Han Dynasty Urn, 1995, Second panel of the triptych
Students must participate in each critique. Waiting until there is nothing left to say before piping up with “I have nothing more to add,” does not constitute participation. nor does” I agree with everything that’ been said.” From time to time, the class may be prompted to respond as a group or individually. If, at this point, contributions to the conversation are still sluggish, lower grades will be assigned as a result. If you miss one of your classmates’ critiques it is your responsibility to contact that individual and schedule a time that you may offer feedback on their work. If you miss another event in the context of the course, please check with me to determine what you may have missed and how you can make it up.
Rimma Gerlovina and Valeriy Gerlovin Tic-tac-toe, 1990,
Satchi Gallery
Attendance
As stated above attendance and participation are critical to passing this course. If you cannot make your critique it is your responsibility to make an arrangement with a colleague for a trade and or to make up the missing time with the faculty conducting the course. In order to receive a passing grade. C or higher. Attendance is mandatory. Because of the collaborative nature of this course, only consistent attendance will ensure that you are able to make use of feedback from your instructors and peers. In this course attendance and participation is the primary mecha- nism through which learning takes place; there are very few lectures, quizzes, etc. that you may review or study for. Your participation—and the participation of your peers—makes this course work. Please note that attendance is grade neutral—you will receive zero points simply for showing up. You must participate.
Missing more than three classes results in the reduction of your final grade by one letter grade. Your grade will continue to fall by one letter with each subsequent absence. After five absences, you will automatically fail the course and take an extra semester to graduate.
AI Statement
AI is a tool. You should be transparent about your uses of it so that conversation and criticality around it may be considered in how it may be shaping your creative decision making, artwork, writing and research. Not being transparent will be considered a breach of academic integrity.
Oral Presentation
Each student will be expected to give three small presentations on their work through the semester articulating the juncture between their art-making and the research that informs it.
Expectations
On days that critiques are scheduled you will be expected to have work on display for the group to critique.
Critiques will last 30 minutes. Your attendance at your assigned cohorts critique is required. Please notify Squeak a day prior to critique of where you will be located.
WSU Reasonable Accommodation Statement
“Students with Disabilities: Reasonable accommodations are available for students with a documented disabil- ity. If you have a disability and need accommodations to fully participate in this class, please either visit or call the Access Center at [address on your campus] to schedule an appointment with an Access Advisor. All accommodations MUST be approved through the Access Center. For more information contact a Disability Specialist on your home campus.”
Graduate students with identified disabilities should contact the Access Center before the semester that they plan to attend to initiate the accommodations process. Accommodations are unique for each individual and some require a significant amount of time to prepare for, so it is essential that students notify the Access Center as far in advance as possible. Students with a disability that is identified during the semester should contact the Access Center as soon as possible to arrange for an appointment and a review of their documenta- tion by an Access advisor. All accommodations must be approved through the Access Center located on each campus. Contact information for the Access Center at each campus can be found at the following websites:
Pullman: http://accesscenter.wsu.edu/
“Academic integrity is the cornerstone of higher education. As such, all members of the university community share responsibility for maintaining and promoting the principles of integrity in all activities, including academ- ic integrity and honest scholarship. Academic integrity will be strongly enforced in this course. Students who violate WSU’s Academic Integrity Policy (identified in Washington Administrative Code (WAC) 504-26-010(3) and -404) will receive a failing grade in the course and, will not have the option to withdraw from the course pending an appeal, and will be reported to the Office of Student Conduct.
Cheating includes, but is not limited to, plagiarism and unauthorized collaboration as defined in the Standards of Conduct for Students, WAC 504-26-010(3). You need to read and understand all of the definitions of cheating:
Course Schedule
| Dates | Topic | Participants | Assignments |
|---|---|---|---|
| August 15 |
Academic Orientation 1-2:30 |
|
|
| August 27 |
PechaKucha's 4:10-5:40 (zoom)
|
|
|
| Sept 17 | In person critiques 4:10-6:10 |
1-2 Faculty: Baatz, Uhm, Landeen, Hurlbut 1-2 Faculty: Comer, Miller, Walker
|
|
| Oct 15 | In person critiques 4:10-6:10 |
1-2 Faculty: Miller, Comer, Hurlbut, Baatz 1-2 Faculty: Uhm, Walker, Landeen |
|
| Nov 12 |
In person critiques 4:10-6:10 |
1-2 Faculty: Landeen, Baatz, Hurlbut 1-2 Faculty: Comer, Uhm, Walker, Miller |
|
| Dec 10 | PechaKucha's 4:10-5:40 (zoom) |
|
|
WSU MFA Student Learning Outcomes
Students graduating with the MFA in Fine Arts will have developed:
- An ability to solve open-ended problems/challenges of artistic
- An ability to analyze the working methods of artists and the results of their efforts in a diverse and disciplined way.
- An ability to communicate effectively through their artistic Students will be aware of and engaged in a thorough way with art history, critical theory and visual culture in a way that considers a broad cultural awareness considering both local and/or global issues in order to make critical judgments about contemporary are while gaining a deeper understanding of their own personal values.
- An in-depth understanding of the visual arts, art history, critical theory and visual culture, sufficient to prepare them to move into a professional career in the arts, including essential concepts and theories of studio production in a variety of disciplines, with a sophistication and refinement especially in a major field.
- An ability to take risks in This will mean breaking from usual habits. Trying new materials and methodologies in confirming the direction of their work.
- A clear and thorough understanding of their personal practice. Each candidate will be able to demonstrate a strong commitment investing time and resources to generating continual development and inquiry. This includes both working in the studio and researching artists and theory of art-making.
- Students will Communicate effectively in both written and oral Students will be able to:
- demonstrate awareness of context, audience, purpose, and the presented
- use appropriate and relevant content to develop and present ideas
- demonstrate consistent use of credible, relevant sources to support ideas
- demonstrate delivery techniques (posture, gesture, eye contact, and vocal expressiveness) make the presentation interesting, and speaker appears comfortable
On Quality
(An excerpt from Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, by Robert Persig)
"Well," I say, "we can stop here, or we can go ahead, or we can go back. Which do you want to do?" "I don't care," he says, "I don't want to ... "
"You don't want to what?" "I don't care!"he says, angrily.
"Then since you don't care, we'll keep on going," I say, trapping him.
"I don't like this trip," he says. "It isn't any fun. I thought it was going to be fun."
Some anger catches me off guard too. "That may be true," I reply, "but it's a hell of a thing to say." I see a sudden flick of fear in his eyes as he gets up.
We go on.
The sky over the other wall of the canyon has become overcast, and the wind in the pines around us has become cool and ominous.
At least the coolness makes it easier hiking.. , .
I was talking about the first wave of crystallization outside of rhetoric that resulted from Phaedrus' refusal to define Quality. He had to answer the question, If you can't define it, what makes you think it exists?
His answer was an old one belonging to a philosophic school that called itself no, /ism. "A thing exists," he said, "if a world without it can't function normally. If we can show that a world without Quality functions abnormally, then we have shown that Quality exists, whether it's defined or not." He thereupon proceeded to subtract Quality from a description of the world as we know it.
The first casualty from such a subtraction, he said, would be the fine arts. If you can't distinguish between good and bad in the arts they disappear. There's no point in hanging a painting on the wall when the bare wall looks just as good. There's no point to symphonies and scratches from the record or hum from the record player sound as good.
Poetry would disappear, since it seldom makes sense and has no practical value. And interestingly, comedy would vanish too. No one would understand the jokes, since the difference between humor and no humor is pure Quality.
Next he made sports disappear. Football, baseball, games of every sort would vanish. The scores would no longer be a measurement of anything meaningful, but simply empty statistics, like the number of stones in a pile of gravel. Who would attend them? Who would pay?
Next he subtracted Quality from the marketplace and predicted the changes that would take place. Since quality of flavor would be meaningless, supermarkets would carry only basic grains such as rice, cornmeal, soybeans and flour; possibly also some ungraded meat, milk for weaning infants and vitamin and mineral supplements to make up deficiencies. Alcoholic beverages, tea, coffee and tobacco would vanish. So would movies, dances, plays and parties. We would all use public transportation. We would all wear G.l. shoes.
A huge proportion of us would be out of work, but this would probably be temporary until we relocated in essential non-Quality work. Applied science and technology would be drastically changed, but pure science, mathematics, philosophy and particularly logic would be unchanged.
Phaedrus found this last to be extremely interesting. The purely intellectual pursuits were the least affected by the subtraction of Quality. If Quality were dropped, only rationality would remain unchanged. That was odd. Why would that be?
He didn't know, but he did know that by subtracting Quality from a picture of the world as we know it, he'd revealed a magnitude of importance of this term he hadn't known was there. The world can function without it, but life would be so dull as to be hardly worth living. In fact it wouldn't be worth living. The term worth is a Quality term. Life would just be living without any values or purpose at all.