A wide shot of a ceramics studio, featuring students working with pottery wheels and other tools.

Laura Davis

Professor, Adjunct

Bio

BFA, 1996, Cleveland Institute of Art; MFA, 2004, University of Chicago. Exhibitions: Chicago Cultural Center, The Luminary, St. Louis, Wright Museum of Art, Beloit College, WI, Elmhurst Art Museum, IL; Monique Meloche Gallery, Chicago; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; EXPO Chicago, Chicago Artists Coalition; threewalls, Chicago; Hyde Park Art Center, Chicago; Evanston Art Center, Evanston IL; Gallery 400, Chicago; Aron Packer Gallery, Chicago; SPACES, Cleveland, OH; The Dairy Center for the Arts, Boulder; Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, Grand Rapids, MI. Publications: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Rhizome.org, Artwrit. Awards: 2017 Ginsberg Family Artist-In-Residence, Beloit College, Artadia Award, 2015; 2013 Breakout Artist, New City.

Personal Statement

Laura Davis creates sculpture, drawing and installation in order to disrupt notions of value at the intersections of art, design and craft. Her interest lies in the endgame of material goods and how manipulating context can alter that narrative.

Courses

Title Department Catalog Term

Description

In this course we will focus on disciplinary and interdisciplinary art and design practices of contemporary art production. This team-taught, year-long class explores the materials and techniques of surface, space, and time (2D, 3D, and 4D), as well as the connections and interplay of these areas. Core Studio integrates the formal with the conceptual, traditional with the contemporary, and makes visible a variety of approaches in current cultural production in order to foster the development of students? emerging practices as makers and thinkers.

In this interdisciplinary studio course students will be authorized to use a variety of school shops, materials and equipment; including the woodshop, plaster studio, digital lab, sewing machine, hand tools, sound and video production, digital workflows and principles of visual fundamentals. This is a hands-on making class, faculty present artists and content related to a particular toolkit and, or project theme. Every section of Core Studio has shared learning outcomes which are uniquely realized by each Core faculty partnership.

Students should expect a fast-paced studio environment. In Core Studio students will complete short assignments as well as longer multi-week projects. Assignments are designed to help students develop their own ideas in relation to the materials, processes, and themes presented by faculty.

Class Number

1200

Credits

3

Description

Core Studio is a year-long course that introduces students to both disciplinary and interdisciplinary art practice. Students learn about the methods, materials, tools and concepts in the areas of Surface (2-dimensional), Space (3-dimensional), and Time (4-dimensional), both independently and in relationship to one another. Students develop their own ideas in relation to the materials and themes being presented by faculty. Core Studio integrates the formal with the conceptual, historical with the contemporary, and makes visible the possibilities and variety of approaches in contemporary cultural production.

Class Number

1270

Credits

3

Description

Core Studio is a year-long course that introduces students to both disciplinary and interdisciplinary art practice. Students learn about the methods, materials, tools and concepts in the areas of Surface (2-dimensional), Space (3-dimensional), and Time (4-dimensional), both independently and in relationship to one another. Students develop their own ideas in relation to the materials and themes being presented by faculty. Core Studio integrates the formal with the conceptual, historical with the contemporary, and makes visible the possibilities and variety of approaches in contemporary cultural production.

Class Number

1255

Credits

3

Description

The continuation of Core Studio Practice I.

Class Number

1256

Credits

3

Description

In this course, we will put our phones on airplane mode, leave laptops and tablets at home, and make a conscious decision to go offline. Research will be approached as a tactile, observational, and experiential process. We will touch books, explore archives, talk to people, visit places, and examine and manipulate things as primary tools of inquiry. This is not an anti-technology class but a class about being present during our time together. Sketchbooks and material archives will be emphasized. Together we will practice making, noticing, and questioning, finding meaning in attention, process, and connection¿offline.

Class Number

1205

Credits

3