Nelly Agassi

In this dynamic course, you'll explore drawing as a powerful way to express your thoughts, feelings, and unique ideas. Whether new to the medium or looking to sharpen your skills, you'll investigate contemporary themes and subjects while developing essential techniques like line, perspective, tone, proportion, composition, value, gesture, and contour. Get hands-on with various traditional and modern drawing materials, experimenting with everything from charcoal and graphite to ink and vibrant water-based paints. You'll also visit the Art Institute of Chicago, interact with professional artists, and take virtual tours of museums when available¿all designed to inspire your artistic journey. This course emphasizes personal expression and creative exploration, making it the perfect space for beginners and experienced artists to discover their artistic voice. Note: Figure Drawing and Figure Painting use nude models hired by the School. Other painting and drawing classes may use them to a lesser degree.

This course introduces students to traditional and nontraditional materials and techniques used in water-based painting. Projects involve painting from observation and imagination, drawing inspiration from contemporary artists and historical masters. Explore a variety of subjects using materials like ink, acrylic, watercolor, and mixed media. You'll enhance your understanding of color, tone, volume, contrast, and temperature as you bring your ideas to life. Additionally, visits to the Art Institute of Chicago will provide further inspiration. Students should have previous drawing experience, but no painting experience is necessary. Note: Figure Drawing and Figure Painting use nude models hired by the School. Other painting and drawing classes may use them to a lesser degree.

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.

Throughout the course students will focus on the idea of softness and develop projects framed with readings on affect, intimacy, ?radical softness?, touch, and ?soft? identities so as to tease out ideas on what it means to be soft. Students will be introduced and encouraged to experiment from texture to form with hand manipulated and machine techniques like reverse needle felting, latch hooking, tucking, stabilizing, boning, armature building, fabric heat manipulating, natural dyeing, flocking, and fringe crocheting.

Readings will include Sara Ahmed?s ?Happy Objects?, Alexander Thereoux?s ?Soft Balm, Soft Menace?, and Sianne Ngai?s ?The Cuteness of the Avant-Garde?.

Two experimentation samples will be required in order to manifest these conceptual underpinnings through a variety of techniques. These samples act as playful guides that leads to two major projects with written statements. This course also require artist and reading presentations.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.

Taken every semester, the Graduate Projects courses allow students to focus in private sessions on the development of their work. Students register for 6 hours of Graduate Project credit in each semester of study.