Kaylee Rae Wyant

In this course, students will focus their interests and refine their skills to create strong, portfolio-quality work. This advanced course is intended for students with previous drawing and/or painting experience who are ready to experiment, take risks, and push their skills to the next level. The organization of ideas and development of self-directed work is emphasized with instructor guidance and peer support. Students explore contemporary artistic practices through interdisciplinary approaches that cultivate material exploration, image-making strategies, and traditional and non-traditional drawing and painting techniques. Led by their individual projects and goals, students may work in various media, such as water-based paint, oil paint, ink, pencil, charcoal, collage, or a combination of media. Trips to the Art Institute of Chicago, contemporary artist presentations, group critiques, daily writing exercises, and class discussions supplement the studio experience.

NOTE: Painting and/or drawing experience and ability to work independently required. Students are encouraged to bring a digital camera, tablet, and/or laptop for homework/research and after-studio hours projects.

This course introduces students to materials, methods, and tools used in oil painting while helping them develop observational skills. Demonstrations will cover stretching canvas, setting up a palette, applying different painting techniques, and mixing colors. These sessions provide a solid foundation in the fundamentals of oil painting, preparing students for future projects.

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.

Students draw from the model as a means of understanding form, shape, and line using a variety of media. The course emphasizes shorter poses as training in immediate response to gesture and form. This course serves as a requirement and preparation for topic-based Figure Drawing B classes.

This course invites students to become collectors. Looking at the personal collections of artists like Georgia O¿Keeffe, Ray Yoshida, Christina Ramberg, and Roger Brown, students will learn how to use the act of collecting as a tool for invention in their studio practices. With class excursions to flea markets, museums, and nature trails, students will have multiple opportunities to gather and document a range of visual ephemera. Course activities will center on the development of visual archives, including developing strategies for collecting, documenting, organizing, and displaying material. Students will keep a sketchbook/journal with writings and drawings of collected material. Weekly drawing exercises will help synthesize their observations to develop a unique visual vocabulary. By asking students to, as Barbara Rossi put it, ¿notice themselves noticing the world,¿ collecting becomes a strategy for self-reflection as well as a means for developing thoughtful connections to the material world around them.

What are the concerns that drive one's creative practice? How does one set the terms for its future development? Sophomore Seminar offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. Students will examine historical and contemporary influences and contextualize their work in relation to the diverse art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary each semester. Presentations by visiting artists and guest speakers will provide the opportunity for students to hear unique perspectives on sustaining a creative practice. One-on-one meetings with faculty will provide students with individualized mentorship throughout the semester. During interdisciplinary critiques, students will explore a variety of formats and tools to analyze work and provide peer feedback. The class mid-term project asks students to imagine a plan for their creative life and devise a self-directed course of study for their time at school. The course concludes with an assignment asking students to develop and document a project or body of work demonstrating how the interplay of ideas, technical skills, and formal concerns evolve through iteration, experimentation and revision.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.