Molly Colleen O'Connell

This course emphasizes the development of observational drawing skills and hand-eye coordination. The learning sequence progresses from simple forms and skill levels toward more complex compositions. Basic drawing elements such as line, proportion, perspective, composition, texture, and the study of light and shade are investigated through various perceptual and conceptual approaches. Open to beginning students and those who want to refresh their skills before moving on to more advanced studio courses.

This course introduces students to a diverse range of textile materials, processes, histories, politics, traditions, and cultures of fiber and their relationships to contemporary art practice. Historical and contemporary approaches to process and materials are explored as students are introduced to a variety of fiber techniques in construction and surface application. Taught technique can include printing, tapestry weaving, immersion and resist dyeing, knitting, crochet, felting, coiling, hand embroidery, machine sewing, piecework, and embellishment. Textiles have rich and complex histories in all cultures. Examples from across time and place will be explored and discussed through visual presentations, assigned readings, in-class discussions, visiting artist lectures, and field trips.

By the end of this course, students will become familiar with the formal, conceptual, expressive, and political potential of fiber as an expressive medium with limitless possibilities.

Course work will vary but typically includes the creation of technical samples, critique projects, and reading responses.

Humorous pictures since their inception have been imperative for artists to critique authority, to encourage empathy, and to process grief and grievances. Comics burlesque reality to emphasize the absurdity and flaws found in culture. Like all comedic tools, they have also been used to express prejudice or bias lurking in 'polite society'. We will closely read and discuss the works of artists such as Rodolphe Töpffer, Marie Duval, Nicole Hollander, Basil Wolverton, Charles Johnson, Ernie Bushmiller, Shary Flenniken, Julie Doucet, Lisa Hanawalt, Ben Passmore, Walter Scott, Aisha Franz, and Jessica Campbell among others. We will begin with analogue tools and sharpened wits to create single panel gags and strips, working up to short form narratives.

A membrane is a thin, typically planar structure or material that separates two environments, be those physical, molecular, or cultural. This class investigates this transitional space, and the potential for movement and transgression through it. Membrane structures are developed as surfaces, forms, and spatial relationships through techniques like chenille quilting, free motion sewing with a soluble membrane, nuno felting, papermaking in 2D and 3D, resist wax dyeing (batik), dip and wick dyeing, fabric burnout (devore) through silkscreening, protein/cellulose combination dyeing, and jacquard crocheting.

Readings on conceptual permeability will include Jean Baudrillard?s ?Simulacra and Simulations?, Andrew Ballantyne?s ?Remaking the Self in Heterotopia?, Homi K. Bhabha?s ?On `hybridity? and `moving beyond??, and Roger Cardinal?s ?Secrecy?.

Techniques will be divided into three major projects with written statements. This course also requires artist and reading presentations.