Yoonshin Park

This studio course focuses on themes, practices, contexts, and questions undertaken by contemporary artists and designers. Research Studio I is a course that asks students to begin to develop and connect their own work and ideas with a diverse range of artists, designers, and communities. This course engages with cultural institutions including: museums, galleries, libraries and archives as resources of critical engagement.

Students will undertake various types of research activities: a) collecting and classification, b) mapping and diagramming, c) systems of measurement, d) social interaction, e) information search systems, f) recording and representation, and g) drawing and other notational systems.


Assignments in this course are faculty directed, open-media, interdisciplinary and idea based. The projects are designed to help students recognize their work habits, biases, strengths, and weaknesses. Students will experience a wide range of research methods and making strategies. Critique as an evaluative process used in art and design schools, is a focus in this course. Various methods and models of critique are used in order to give students the tools to discuss their own work and the work of others.

This interdisciplinary course examines the book as a form, structurally and conceptually through material exploration. With a focus on how techniques and material exploration influence form and meaning, experimentation and concept development will be prioritized. Students will be introduced to a variety of printmaking and surface treatments on fabric and alternative materials while learning to structure their book forms. The course encourages critical thinking as to how image and text can exist within a tactile, sequential, or sculptural narrative. The course will feature readings, and visits to the Textile Resource Center and Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection.
Class readings will include: ¿Books Beyond Boundaries: The Book as Art¿ -Karen L. Estlund and Michael D. Reynolds that showcases contemporary artists¿ innovative approaches to the experimental book form. We will explore the works of : Fluxus Art, Candace Hicks, Louise Bourgeois,Jessica Tang, Victoria Villasana, Faith Ringlold, Lesley Dill, Lenore Tawney, Kiki Smith, and many more. The class will also visit the Joan Flasch Artist Book Collection +Archives and Textile resource Center.
Assignments will include creating experimental book forms using non-traditional materials, integrating text and imagery culminating in a final edition of three artist books.