Intro to Art

ART 100.01 INTRODUCTION TO ART

INSTRUCTOR:

Elroy Christenson
Telephone: 528-4535 (office or voice mail)
Office: IC2408A email: echriste@sccd.ctc.edu
home page: http://www.elroychristenson.com/

TEXT: (recommended) Gilbert, Rita. Living with Art, 3rd ed.McGraw Hill, Inc.1992
 

COURSE OBJECTIVE: This will be a class introducing you to the many aspects of the visual arts including its history, philosophies and techniques. This survey will show how the elements design that make up a painting, sculpture or architectural design are used by artists and craftsmen. The historical lectures will show how world events and technology have affected change in art and how art has affected the world.
More Specifically:
1. You will learn to recognize the flaws and possibilities of visual communications.
2. You will know the elements of design and how the manipulation of these elements may change the effects on the viewer.
3. You learn to recognize how personalities and symbolism interact in a work of art.
4. Your awareness to areas of intellectual and intuitive endeavor in the visual arts will be awakened with the hope that you may wish to develop this area further at another time.

PROCEDURE:
1. Lectures will be given in the Lecture Hall. The accent of the course will include the last 200 years of art. All lectures will incorporate slides or films. Notes must be taken during the lectures.
2. In the Design Studio we will meet to work on practical problems and projects related to the lectures. We will use a limited number of materials to gain a hands-on experience of artistic techniques and possibilities.
3. A term research paper will be required containing no more than four typed and double-spaced pages excluding the bibliography. It may be on practically any subject with the art field. More information will be given within the first two weeks.

Chemical warning: All artists material have some health risk and should be used with proper safety precautions. Since this room is also used for printmaking, some residual fumes are always present. People who have chemical sensitivity would be advised not to take this course. Other precautions can be gathered from data sheets of artists materials (MSDS forms) from the manufacturer.

Classroom decorum:
¥ Students are expected to attend class on time. Tardiness and absences will be noted and reported to the Dean of Students. You may be failed or be asked to leave for repeated absences or tardiness. Five absences lowers your grade by one full grade point. Tardiness is viewed as an absence.
Students will not eat in class, although you may drink without slurping.
¥ Students will not sleep in class. (Come prepared to work and pay attention or don't come to class. You will be asked to leave if you repeatedly sleep in class.)
¥ Students who have English as a second language would be advised to tape the lectures to get a more complete understanding.
¥ Study groups are advised. Sharing of the study slides is expected. You must not dominate the study of others. If someone else has checked out the slides prior to you, be respectful of their study needs. Politely ask to join them and respect their method of study. Do not remove any of the sheets or slides from the slide boxes. You may make copies of the sheets but don't sabatoge others work by taking the sheets. Do not wait until the last minute to study the slides and expect to find them available.

EXAMS: The exams will be testing on information that you have gathered, primarily, from the lectures . You will be expected to remember the names of artists and their styles, characteristics and influences. All exams have many questions keyed to slides that you have seen in the lectures. They will be mostly multiple choice questions and simple answer. Quizzes will be given regularly to keep you on task and allow you to understand what I would like for you to learn. The mid-term, final and some of the quizzes will have one or two essay questions that must be answered in complete sentences. I will not grade down for spelling or punctuation but I must be able to make sense of your answer. You must be able to write your answers clearly.

GRADING :

1. Grading of the lecture class will be based on a mid-term exam, the final exam and the research paper and quizzes.
2. Grading of the laboratory class will be based on a notebook of completed projects.) assigned during the studio days. Grading will be based on the number of completed projects(66%)and painting study(33% rather than only on the quality of the work.
3. The Final grade will be an average of the mid-term, the final, the research paper, laboratory projects and the quizzes.

MATERIALS:

11 x 14" spiral sketch book
"Sabeline" or synthetic red sable brush #7 or Larger(don't get the cheapest brush you can find, you should expect to pay $3-$4)
2 sheets ea. 8 1/2" x 11" of black and gray construction paper
4B pencil
Gum Eraser
Gluestick
ExActo knife and/or scissors
Small T-square, (Plastic/Cheap)
Set of Tempera paints, Gouche or Acrylics. with at least the six basic colors of red, yellow, blue, green, black and white. (If you intend to go on into Design 101 you could go ahead and get the more professional grade, and much more expensive acrylic pigments with the following palette: Cad. Yellow Med., Hansa Yellow Light, Cad. Red Light, Acra Violet, Ultramarine Blue, Phthalocyanine Blue, Titanium White, and Ivory Black.)
 

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