Catalogue

Overview

In an era when much contemporary art cannot be contained within the traditional categories of painting and sculpture, and when technology is transforming the production of visual images, the Studio Arts Program at Bard has expanded the breadth of its offerings while retaining a strong core of courses that provide a firm grounding in basic techniques and principles. The Studio Arts Program is available to the student who wishes to major in the program and the student who wishes to experience the visual arts and apply that experience to other disciplines. 

Requirements

Students who wish to graduate with a degree in studio arts must complete the following: two art history and visual culture courses (one to be completed by the time of Moderation; it is also recommended that one be based in contemporary, post-1945 art, when offered); four studio courses from among Drawing I (required), II, III; Painting I, II, III; Printmaking I, II, III; Sculpture I, II, III; Digital I, II; Extended Media I, II; and Art 405-406, Senior Seminar.

At the end of their fourth semester, moderating students are asked to present a body of work to a group of three faculty members—determined by the program and including the student’s adviser—to assess the student’s work to date, clarify strengths and weaknesses, and discuss curricular and academic goals for the rest of the student’s Bard career. Moderated studio arts majors are eligible for the final curricular component of the Studio Arts Program, which consists of Level III studio classes in a variety of painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, extended media, digital, and printmaking options. The content of each studio class and the degree of structure are up to the individual instructor.

Recent Senior Projects in Studio Arts

• “Dying in the Closet (part 22 of 29)”
• “I Thank You and All the Buildings That Make Me Feel So Small”
• “Primary Colors (A Beacon of Light)”
• “The Seasons of Genji” 

Facilities

The exhibition space in the Fisher Studio Arts Building permits an ambitious schedule of exhibitions, which are an integral component of the program. In addition to open student exhibitions, Senior Project shows, and Moderation exhibitions, student work on particular themes is presented at student-curated and faculty-curated shows. Bard’s Center for Curatorial Studies is another on-campus site for exhibitions of contemporary art. The Bard College Exhibition Center in nearby Red Hook has approximately 16,000 square feet of gallery, studio, and class space. The Center gives seniors the opportunity to present their Senior Projects in a professional space dedicated solely to the exhibition of student work.

Courses

The descriptions below represent a sampling of courses from the past four years.

Digital I: Image Making
Art 100
An introduction to both the technical and conceptual aspects of developing a creative practice within a digital context. Students learn software skills, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign tools, and explore the creative possibilities within the digital platforms and spaces that foster contemporary communication. The course emphasizes building critical analysis and increased agency as creators within the complex networks of digital information and social media space.

Painting I
Art 101-102
Instruction emphasizes the acquisition of a basic visual vocabulary of painting while recognizing a range of individual interests and strengths. Assignments focus on issues such as value contrast, warm and cool contrast, creating tonality, understanding the expressive and structural possibilities of the materiality of paint, as well as how all of these elements factor in the composition of form and space. While much of the work is done from observation—still life, landscape (weather permitting), and models—assignments also incorporate abstraction.

Sculpture I
Art 105-106
Students work with a variety of materials and processes to investigate form, space, surface, location, and gesture. The course is structured around weekly and biweekly assignments that usually begin with an exercise (“make a sculpture that hangs in the balance”) and introduce a medium, technique, and set of ideas. Group critiques are supplemented by demonstrations in materials and techniques, and presentations of related modern and contemporary artwork.

Drawing I
Art 107-108
“To learn to draw,” said Leonardo da Vinci, “is to learn to see.” The course emphasizes the study of drawing as a tool for articulating what the eyes, hand, and mind discover and investigate when coordinated. Students primarily work from life, forms from nature, and the still life in order to develop essential drawing skills. Line, shape, value, gesture, volume, weight, composition, and space form the basis for translating 3D to 2D, and each is covered through weekly assignments. 

Printmaking I
Art 109-110
The goal of the course is to give students a solid foundation in the methods and terminology of intaglio (etching), from drypoint, etching, and aquatint, to wiping and printing. Original prints, as well as reproductions, provide a historic background to printmaking and show how artists have used these techniques throughout the centuries.

Colorama
Art 112
Color influences all aspects of our experience—perceptual, emotional, psychological, physiological, even spiritual. The goal is to develop a working knowledge of color as it may be applied to any visual medium. Assignments range from vigorous color studies that train the eye to forms of expression more personal in nature.

The Creative Self and the No Self of the Zen Arts
Art 113
The Zen arts are also called the “artless arts.” Whereas in the contemporary Western art world the cultivation of an individual, unique self seems to be crucial, in the traditional Asian arts one trains by copying the masters and following established means of depiction. The urge for expressing oneself is discouraged as it would hinder a liberated view on how things really are. This interdisciplinary course explores the question of the creative self through hands-on exercises, text study (Buddhist psychology, Western artists influenced by Zen), and individual art projects.

Of Paper
Art 125
From the use of papyrus in 2700 BC up to the present, paper has been an integral component in the creation and distribution of art and information. Yet it is often overlooked as an artistic medium. This course explores the vast technical and conceptual possibilities of this ephemeral material, pushing paper “craft” into a series of thoughtful and challenging artworks in two and three dimensions. Techniques include large-scale collage and assemblage, weaving, papermaking, hand and laser papercutting, embossing, and pulp drawing and casting.

Mapping: You Are Here
Art 126
DESIGNATED: ELAS COURSE
Maps have been dynamic visual and conceptual inspiration for many artists. Students work with drawing and sculptural installation to investigate the translation of scale and data to abstraction, inherent in the art of mapping. They also study a range of contemporary artists for whom maps are central to their practice as well as historical maps from Polynesian navigation charts to the soundless silk maps of World War II. The 1,000-acre Bard campus serves as a laboratory for research and for generating visual projects.

Art and Climate Change
Art 132
DESIGNATED: ELAS COURSE
Does art have a role to play in altering the course of climate change? Through focused case studies, students learn basic sculptural techniques that use social and civic engagement as part of their structure, and digital tools in the Adobe Creative Suite for making books and graphic projects to increase visual understanding of climate change. They also take field trips with local nonprofits such as Riverkeeper to understand efforts to address the impacts of climate change on the Hudson Valley.

Extended Media I
Art 150
The expansion of art’s definition means that the terms used to categorize works of art are often technically incorrect—e.g., film used to categorize films not shot on the medium of film. Through readings, critiques, and assignments the class explores artistic practices that have stretched previous categories while creating new categories. Emphasis is placed on the development of ideas and strengthening the ability to critique not only the work of art but the tools and techniques used to make it.

Digital II: Zines! Zines! Zines!
Art 200
The course addresses the rich history of artist-run publications and zines as an alternative and interdisciplinary space for art, activism, experimentation, and dialogue. Through collaboration with the Hessel Museum and Stevenson Library, the class explores the history of artists’ publications through the lens of their collections. Projects include individual and collective works in the format of physical and digital zines, collective editions, and small books 

Painting II
Art 201-202
Painters have a way of seeing and processing the world that gives rise to imagery unique to them. In this course, students are asked to clearly define a point of inspiration and create a body of work that is informed both conceptually and formally by such inspiration. The goal is to identify the “vivid” impulses particular to the individual and give them a channel for manifestation through the most appropriate materials, skills, tools, processes, concepts, and formal elements. 

Sculpture II: Ceramics
Art 205-206
For serious art students who want to explore clay as a material in their practice. The course focuses on hand-building and basic aspects of casting, and investigates different clay bodies and glazes as well as firing temperatures and tools. Students build ceramic objects and use clay with other materials and time-based disciplines such as performance and video. Prerequisite: Art 105-106.

Drawing II: The Figure
Art 207-208
Students are asked to put aside all preconceived ideas about drawing and to discard any technical solutions that they’ve acquired in the past. They work from perception and looking hard to try to uncover the structural bones of the subject matter; explore ways to build spatial relationships, light and air, weight, gravity, speed and tensions while addressing problems of scale; and use different materials (charcoal, pencils, cut paper, black and white acrylic paint) to create harmony that resonates throughout the composition.

Printmaking II: Textile Surface
Art 209-210
DESIGNATED: ELAS COURSE
This course focuses on screen print and stencil print, primarily on fabric. Students explore stencil- printed dye resists, chemical and natural dyes, cliché verre and cyanotype, silkscreen watercolor monotypes, and repetitive pattern printing onto fabrics with water-based, fabric-safe silkscreen ink. Cutting, sewing, folding, and assembling techniques are also covered. The class also engages in two community projects during the semester: a pop-up printing and sewing event for the campus community and a collaboration/exchange with a group of local elementary school children.

The Painterly Print
Art 219 
A monotype (a.k.a. the painterly print) is essentially a printed painting. Although it is technically the simplest form of printmaking, it strives to honor the individuality of the hand’s painterly impulse. For this reason, monotypes are a wonderful tool for a painter to quickly develop ideas of color, light, shape, and composition. This class explores the monotype process in relation to painting, using traditional techniques and experimental ones that evolve in response to the pursuit of the student’s individual ideas.

Paper II: Expanded Field
Art 225
The course considers the ubiquitous material of paper and how it can be used to engage with the physical world both inside and out of the studio. Through a series of ambitious projects, students experiment with hand and laser cutting, papier mâché, weaving, pulp printing, casting, folding, light, and installation. The works are later situated outside the studio.

Extended Media II: Public Private Address
Art 250
Students explore forms of statement making within the visual fields, with an emphasis on defining the maker’s relationship to an audience or public. Attention is placed on forms of presentation that are derived from critical issues within the current political and social climate. Projects may take many forms—clothing, banners, video projections, digital signage—and incorporate text, print, audio, and video. Group critiques help students find their voice and make forms that communicate deeply and aesthetically.

Digital III
Art 300
Graphic novels, large-scale sculpture, and urban painting are addressed as examples of artworks that exist as virtual presentations of potentially physical objects. Class assignments also explore projects that require no foundation in physical manifestation, such as game or social media manipulation, and concept-driven imagery based on data mining and mapping. Basic skills in video editing and website management are recommended; Photoshop skills are required.

Painting III
Art 301
Students focus on enhancing technical and critical skills through the development of individual themes and an independent studio practice. Studio work is complemented by discussion of pertinent topics in historical and contemporary painting.

Sculpture III: Installation
Art 305
The defining characteristic of this advanced course is the freedom and space that each student is given to explore their ideas and go beyond personal limits and preconceptions. All media and methods are welcome as long as they are accompanied by a consideration of the specific spaces of Bard’s UBS Gallery. Students are treated as working artists and are expected to install three site-specific projects of their own inspiration. 

Drawing III
Art 307-308
Students draw from life, focusing on the figure and working with different materials, including charcoal, pencil, acrylic, and mixed media. They work on different kinds and sizes of paper so that they experience the intimacy of making small pencil drawings on heavy watercolor paper and large-scale drawings on paper that they can erase often and beat up. The goal is to make drawings of the figure that are as alive and relevant today as they have been throughout the history of art.

Printmaking III: Etching Workshop
Art 310
Students refresh and hone their skills and deepen their knowledge of intaglio plate making and printing. From there, the course explores advanced techniques such as the introduction of color methods (e.g., viscosity printing, chine collé, and multiplate color printing) and printing in combination with other printing methods. The use of nontraditional materials and methods are also examined. Prerequisite: Art 109-110 or permission of the instructor.

The Fold
Art 326
Designed to let studio artists indulge in research of the subjects that inform their artwork. The class reads Gilles Deleuze’s seminal book The Fold and explores the practice of contemporary research to better understand how artists engage with subjects and concepts that are often outside of the recognized art world. Students research their own subjects and delve into what is deep beneath the surface of their materials and subjects, aesthetics, and referenced histories.

Senior Seminar
Art 405-406
All studio arts majors engaged in Senior Projects meet for a weekly seminar/critique/discussion. The aim is to create a forum where students can exchange views and ideas. The seminar’s form and subject change from week to week but include writing assignments, group critiques, discussions of exhibitions on campus, and conversations with guest speakers.