Josh Dihle

Painting Practice is an introductory painting course offering. The curriculum addresses basic skills as related to a painting studio practice. Topics and curricular goals include material, facility and technique, space and color, as well as concept. This course is a prerequisite for all Multi-level Painting, Figure Painting and Advanced Painting Studio classes.

This course investigates painting materials, application, color, form, and ideas through contemporary and traditional methodologies. Designed to accommodate many skill levels, students can explore various creative strategies through a skill-based curriculum as well as individual projects. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Painting Studio Multi-Level B classes.

In this materially-oriented multi-level studio course, students will expose the possibilities beneath, within, and above the painting surface. Students will learn both archival and experimental strategies for making work that upset distinctions between image and object. Through demonstrations and open-ended assignments, students will learn impasto painting techniques, adhesives, relief carving, embedding, shaped supports, and alternative materials. Deep Surface will give students the opportunity to explore juicy facture, heavy-duty mediums, extraction tools, image excavation, and extravagant adornment. Together, we will narrow the gap between painting and sculpture. In support of these efforts, course readings will include Freud, Krauss, Gottsegen, Kelley, and Gingeras. Readings and discussions will be accompanied by field trips and lectures. We will look at artwork hailing from a wide swath of histories and world cultures, including 20th Century African American folk art, ancient Greek and Mesopotamian relief carving, Medieval and early Renaissance painting, and a range of contemporary painting-sculpture hybrid practices.

This course investigates the properties and possibilities of traditional and modern media, grounds, supports, methods, adhesives, and pigments.

This course investigates the properties and possibilities of traditional and modern media, grounds, supports, methods, adhesives, and pigments.

This course is specifically designed for post-bacc painting students. This course is designed to present experienced students with an intensive survey of painting materials, methods, and processes. We will undertake a close examination of historical and contemporary painting techniques to harness the range of optical and material effects available within the medium. Students will learn by demonstration and direct exploration. We will seek control over pigments and binders as well as an understanding of the physical and chemical principles that underpin their archival use. Particular emphasis will be given to control in handling of color relationships, surface properties, and perceptual space. Mark David Gottsegen’s The Painter’s Handbook is the required course text. We will explore the production and handling of egg tempera, egg oil emulsion, casein, acrylic, and oil paints. In some cases, we will make our own paint. Students will learn various methods, including include surface preparation, underpainting, modeling form, glazing, and color mixing. We will contextualize these methods by looking at the work of historical and contemporary practitioners, from cave painting to Medieval altarpieces to today’s painting innovators. The first half of the class will focus on a range of paints and processes. The second half will balance open-ended assignments with independent work while utilizing the materials and methods we’ve learned. Students should expect to complete between 8 and 10 paintings over the course of the semester.