ART 130 – Painting I @ Mercer County Community College
Kyle M. Stevenson, professor
Office: ET 124; email: stevensk@mccc.edu; or kylestevenson@yahoo.com
Blog: www.professorkylestevensonpaintingone.blogspot.com
Office
hours: TBA
Course goals and objectives:
The student will begin to formulate
his/her conceptual direction in painting by completing assigned projects and
imposed goals to the satisfaction of the professor. The student will begin to develop an
understanding of the working of paint to make surfaces and images, what to do
with those surfaces and images, and how those surfaces and images might fit
into the context of the artistic canon. There should be no particular interest in
developing a prescribed style of painting at this point. The student will also learn to work in a
community of “artists”, carrying an ongoing dialogue with the professor and
each other in the form of critiques and more informal discussions, and applying
those discussions to his/her own work.
Evaluation
Each student will complete a series of
assigned paintings and projects in order. Each project is designed to build upon the
last, so if a project is missed or for any reason incomplete, success in
subsequent projects is substantially lessened.
“Success” will be judged by the professor, according to how the project
meets the goals stated at the assignment of the project. The aim is for the
student to explore the stated goals above and to discover his/her own strengths
and weaknesses, using the former as a foundation and improving upon the latter.
Attention will be paid to making work with solid composition, quality paint
handling, and conceptual strength. The
class work should be considered more as projects or exercises than works of
art. With that in mind, the more open to
experimentation and risks the student can be, the greater the chance for
success and personal growth since a large part of the goals for each project is
based on content and is conceptual in nature.
Perhaps more than anything else, art making as a concept is a process of
inquiry, and not a series of hoops through which to jump. That having been said, there will still be
the necessary evil of having grades assigned to each project, though
improvement and personal discovery (a result of risk taking and
experimentation) will be factored in to grading.
Each project will receive a letter
grade and related rubric after the critique at which it is due. A final project will be due at the end of the
semester that will integrate many of the concepts covered throughout the class,
and will therefore act as a culmination project representing your entire body
of work for the course. This project
will necessarily be worth more than the rest of the projects in the semester. 50% of final grade will be calculated from
the average of the class projects, with the final project taking another
20%. Class participation in the form of
involvement in critique, class discussion, attitude, reception to criticism,
punctuality and preparedness, etc., is another 20%, and Artist Presentations
take up the last 10%. With all this in
mind, the grade chart is as follows:
Projects 50%
Final Project 20%
Participation 20%
Presentation 10%
Late Projects
My policy for late projects is as
follows: you are allowed to hand in two
projects after they are due without penalty.
After those two, any more late projects will simply not be
accepted. But, the time window to hand
in those two lates is not infinite. You
have two class periods from the date and time it is due to hand it in; after
that it will not be accepted.
Attendance
This class will meet 15 times
throughout the term. Attendance and the
constructive use of time, both in and out of class, are essential. Class is your time to work in an environment
where you have access to me and your classmates. Take advantage of this as it will greatly
inform the time spent painting outside of class. However, I do not have an absence policy to
speak of. You’re showing up to class
ready to work will be reflected in your project and participation grades. If you miss a lecture or lesson for some
reason, DO NOT expect me to give you a private tutoring session getting you up
to speed (get the info from a classmate instead). It is your responsibility to attend class,
and it’s presumptive of you to expect me to repeat myself when you’ve failed in
your responsibilities. There will be
several demonstrations and slide image lectures during the term. In order to benefit from the information and
as a courtesy to your peers and myself, please be in class and set up to work
at the beginning of class.
Finally, as we all come to this class with different
experience, ability, and confidence, it is essential that you treat me, each
other, this course and studio with respect.
Failing to do so will result in your dismissal from class.
Materials List
-tool box or case in which to keep your
supplies
-wooden or plastic palette (no glass)
-pencil and straight edge
-masking/painters tape
-metal palette knife, good quality with
a bent shank; trowel shaped
-Bounty or Viva brand paper towels as needed
-non-glass container with lid and a
label stating what’s in it, e.g. a medium sized coffee can is fine
-one shallow can, cat food or tuna fish
size that
fits inside the coffee can
-plastic or tin pan (contains spills
from above can)
-small bottle of Windsor & Newton
Liquin
-2 canvas boards, 18x24.
-4 canvas boards, 9x12.
-Paint—must have these specific
colors! Though you can certainly have
others as well. . .
·
alizarin crimson
·
cadmium red medium (or cadmium red hue)
·
cadmium yellow light (or cadmium yellow hue)
·
cadmium orange (or cadmium orange hue)
·
yellow ochre
·
cobalt blue (or cobalt blue hue)
·
cadmium green or permanent green light
·
dioxazine, quinacridone or manganese purple/violet
·
ivory black
·
titanium white—large
tube
*for all the colors except white
buy tubes that are at least 37ml. The
tube of white
should be 130ml to 200ml
-Brushes—you will need to buy bristle
brushes in a range of sizes and shapes:
Flats—small,
medium, large;
Filberts—small,
medium, large—at least one of each of these.
It’s
much more cost effective to buy good quality brushes! In this case you are only as good as your
equipment. I will speak more about
brushes and paint in class.
Additional
supplies for stretching canvas
It is certainly possible to paint for
an entire career without ever having stretched your own canvas. It is often possible to buy pre-stretched
canvases for very reasonable prices, making the time and effort used to stretch
a canvas unnecessary. However, when cash
is much scarcer than time or energy it is very important to have the tools and
knowledge to stretch a canvas well.
Therefore, this semester you will have to stretch and size a canvas or
prepare a panel for all of your paintings-- after I show you how to do it. This is what you will need when the time
comes:
-staple gun *
-a box of ¼” to 3/8” staples for the
above *
-stretcher bars of appropriate sizes
-cotton duck "canvas" 8 to 12
oz. (width and length as needed)
-1 quart of acrylic gesso
-2" decent quality house painting
brush
-canvas pliers are suggested, but not
mandatory (though your knuckles will thank you) *
-tape measure *
*I
have some available to borrow, but to avoid waiting you might do well to get
your own
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