Graduate Courses

An introduction to sculptural, painterly, and functional approaches to ceramics. Explores techniques in wheel-throwing and construction for hand-building and examines the basic use of fire, glazes at low and high temperatures, and raku. No prerequisites. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Examine the material science and process of working in ceramics. Learn to use the Unity Molecular formula for experimentation with glaze formulas. Training for firing electric computer-controlled kilns. Investigate clay body modifications for studio work in relation to creating a body of work or technical research.

Credits: 4

This course deals with sculptural issues and techniques in ceramics and is open to anyone who is using clay as a component of their artistic process. Projects are open-ended and can include mixed-media sculptural work, installation, performance or related media. Previous experience in ceramics is encouraged but not required. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Individualized project-based course. Design projects, create proposals, assemble research, and present for group critique and discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Ceramics or equivalent.

Credits: 4

Hybrid studio / seminar course explores “the fake” as an artistic strategy and a cultural phenomenon. Learn 3D software (Cinema 4D, Photoshop) to create images and videos that appear convincingly photo-realistic, but have no correspondence to reality. Survey artists whose work involves forgery, false identity, sham narrative, artificial drama, pranks, white lies. Explore relationship between images and beliefs through seminar discussion of philosophical texts (Latour, Lacan, Flusser, Sontag). Consider “the fake” in both its negative dimensions (political manipulation) and positive (the generative power of imagination). Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Hybrid studio/seminar. Practice and theory of Virtual Reality as contemporary fine art form. Uses the software Unity3D to create immersive interactive audio-visual environments to be viewed with VR headsets, mobile phones, or as video art. Build custom VR projects. History of philosophical, aesthetic, and ethical dimensions of mimetic representation. Differentiates and expands on what makes a virtual reality experience a work of art, as opposed to a game or a tool. Appropriate for students who have some experience with video, and who are comfortable engaging with critical concepts. Contact the instructor with any questions.

Credits: 4

Beginning level course addresses foundational elements of 3D animation and modeling using Blender. Exercises introduce basic concepts in 3D animation and embrace new challenges within this ever-expanding field. Experimenting with classic concepts like rigging, texturing, and camera movement, while also dealing with new approaches that involve 3d scanning, simulations, motion capture, and hybrid methods in this developing area of digital animation.

Credits: 4

Use Blender, open-source 3D animation software, and various animation and sculpting tools, to explore the theme of monstrosity with special emphasis on the “American Bestiary”. Throughout history encounters with fictional beings have been described in terms of our fears and prejudices. Explore the abandoned narratives of these so-called monsters and recreate them using 3D Animation Software. In-class exercises use motion capture to create short films that reclaim the notion of monstrosity as a tool for understanding ourselves. No previous experience required. 

Credits: 4

Explores the employment of narrative in observational forms of drawing and painting. Topics and readings include historical and contemporary texts, graphic novels, zines, poetry, and artist’s writing. Examine the use of text, imagination, thematic or sequential work, symbolism, composition, and color as narrative tools in drawing and painting. A broad range of media and methods discussed and used. Regular critiques and discussions to help support student projects. One previous introductory painting or drawing course recommended. Designed for Intermediate level students.

Credits: 4

Emphasis on portraying the individual over the archetypal “nude” model. Focus on narrative and personal direction and how we communicate through body, clothing, posture, and environment. Wet and dry color media such as pastel, ink, and gouache. Readings focus on issues of representation and collective history. Viewing contemporary artworks will highlight the larger context and complexity of figuration today. Recommendations: introductory figure drawing or painting classes.

Credits: 4

For advanced students developing independent projects in a broad understanding of contemporary drawing. Relationships with content, strategies, contexts and concept explored and shared. Coursework includes group and individual critique, regular reading assignments with scheduled mini-seminars, lectures on pertinent artists, an all-term assignment for each student and continued progress on self-designed independent projects through the term. Mid-term and final critique. Advanced level course. At least one previous intermediate drawing course recommended. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Learn a different fiber-related technique each week, including: knitting, crocheting, dying, weaving, flexible structures, felting and sewing by hand and machine. Explore the history of these processes and their uses in contemporary art and gain a basic understanding of each technique by focusing on their sculptural capabilities. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Introduction to sculptural construction with fabric focused on its three-dimensional capabilities. Explores the potential of fabric to create sculpture through class demonstrations, exercises, and of individual projects. Techniques include fabric manipulation through machine and hand sewing, gluing, stiffening, stuffing, pattern drafting, and armature construction, in addition to researching fabric histories and contemporary meanings, as well as past and present artists working in this media.
Non-SMFA students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Transform castoffs and detritus into new forms. Recycle, upcycle, and reconfigure ordinary, non-art materials. Make something old new again; give it new life and meaning. Look at impulse to decorate and embellish across cultures; explore how the meaning of material changes depending upon context. Consider how, in the act of making, spaces can be created that cross social/cultural/racial/gender boundaries. Demonstrations, assigned and independent projects guide students as they develop their ideas. Presentations, readings, and visiting artists contextualize explorations of historical precedents, contemporary practice. Faculty draw on their expertise in papermaking, textile practice, sculpture and artists’ books/altered books. Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Explores weaving as process and idea through making, writing, record keeping, technology, and intervention. Considers the long history of woven objects alongside contemporary artists, designers and crafts people as makers and thinkers. Builds a virtual, collective, interactive weaving of information that brings together: histories, mythologies, economics, science, environmental impact, technology, and identity politics to help understand the complicated and intimate role cloth has and continues to play in human existence. Work on found looms, frame looms and backstrap looms and use traditional and non-traditional weaving materials and practices to develop a corporal knowledge of the techniques.

Credits: 4

Studio/seminar looks at craft as a political and personal tool. Explore, through historical and contemporary research of community groups, artists, political movements, material studies, and students’ individual practice how fiber/textile practice acts as a form of resistance, protest, and self-empowerment. Offers an introduction to multiple fiber techniques and the space for other hands-on explorations to aid in the development of personal and collaborative projects.

Credits: 4

Interdisciplinary study of textiles and fiber arts within a contemporary art context. Explores the use of textiles across disciplines including sculpture, painting, performance, and design. Develop projects with the aid of individual instruction,
critique, readings, shared research, field trips, and visiting lecturers. Designed for students with a basic understanding of fiber-based techniques interested in developing their craft and research further. Prerequisite: Introduction to Fibers or equivalent. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Use your photos, drawings or creative writing to produce a semester long project that combines text and imagery in the form of a photobook, print-on-demand publication, one of a kind sculptural book, zine, comics, RISO or web narrative.  Studio/seminar course covers a wide spectrum of contemporary artists’s books starting from the 60s. Weekly discussions are organized by themes. Discussion based on readings will focus on developing a critical language about artist’s books. Students will collaboratively create a blog with their analysis of a chosen book. Intermediate/advanced levels. Counts also as a graduate level seminar.

Credits: 4

Explore alternative strategies using tools and skills of the graphic arts. Examine text and image relationships in linear and non-linear narratives and consider your work in a public setting. Exposure to various techniques from offset and RISO printing to making work for the web. Project assignments develop knowledge of essential design software on the Mac platform along with more traditional processes. Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Conduct experiments in craft through color production, typographic composition, and computation—leading to a creative apex of architecturally inspired fabrications. Grounded in practical skill building, functional ideation, and critical craft making. Push the limits of graphic design fabrication—breaking some established rules and leaving a trail of epistemological scaffolding for creative making. Introductory level.

Credits: 4

Explore different structures of sequential art and examine how to create a successful narrative. Spanning comic strip art, graphic novels, children's picture books and storyboarding for film, create engaging stories in a variety of formats and mediums, with an emphasis on the personal. Analyze and exercise ways to pull emotions from a set of images. In-class workshops develop drawing skills, problem solving, editing and revising. Computer tools such as page layout and panel design will be covered, but much of the work will begin with the most analog of materials: pencil and paper, scissors and tape. Introductory level.

Credits: 4

Environmental Graphic Design is a fundamental creative practice of placemaking. Often collaborative, this design field focuses on large-scale graphic programs that include murals on buildings, billboards in urban and rural settings, as well as exhibition environments that place art objects in context to construct immersive experiences in relation to the built environment. Enhance technical skills using Illustrator and Photoshop to create scaled drawings and photomontages to apply bold graphic ideas and carefully considered content to connect with the particulars of place. Intermediate to advanced level.

Credits: 4

Explore design as a catalyst for social change. Focus on marrying design to activism and examine established methodologies for developing and fostering a successful call to action. Create and disseminate engaging messages and materials in service of promoting an idea or product. Students will work individually or in groups to design and implement a campaign for a concept of their choosing; final deliverable forms will vary but may include posters, websites, or public art installations. Through lectures, in-class activities, and critiques, students will learn about the role design and designers play in social activism, as well as strategies for research, ideation, prototyping, and testing design solutions. Class demos will cover Photoshop and Illustrator. 

Credits: 4

Research, curate and design installations for exhibition proposals. Study historic and contemporary exhibition design practices pertaining to the display of cultural objects as well as contemporary art. With an emphasis on a globally inclusive voice, create informed and inventive environments for art objects, insert their own works and consider the audience in relation to the displays. Build skills using the Adobe CC suite to render exhibition design elevations and graphic layouts. Regular visits to museums will strengthen students’ critical thinking and visual perception of contemporary museum displays. Intermediate level. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

For artists from various disciplines who use text in their work and want to learn about typography as a mark making tool. Slide lectures and project assignments will ask students to work with self-generated expressive text. Project assignments will provide a structure for each student’s interest toward typography and text based artwork including narrative, architectural, performative and three-dimensional type. The computer will be our primary tool but not the only one. Bring your calligraphy, photography and drawing skills along. We will use Adobe CC as our main software applications. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Examine the productions of type[ography] + design and the near infinite abilities of the medium to render fluid motion through static production outputs. Creatively meander through the last century of type[opgraphic] history—research, iterate, and craft a collection of type[ographic] designs—filtering influences of cinema, biomimicry, and architectural [a]symmetry through computational praxis. Intermediate level.

Credits: 4

Examine graphic novels in light of the cultural impact of the form--from seminal texts like Art Spiegelman’s ‘Maus’ through a range of mainstream and contemporary independent examples of graphic texts, including manga and webcomics. Investigate graphic memoir forms, such as Alison Bechdel’s ‘Fun Home’, and journalistic examples, like Joe Sacco’s ‘Palestine.’ Look at abstract comics, and, in the case of Ta-Nehisi Coates's ‘Black Panther,’ the influence of comics on cinematic culture. Assignments will be based in writing and/or studio art. Assignments include weekly prompts, in-class critical discussions of readings, completion of two multi-panel comics, and short presentation. Intermediate level.

Credits: 4

Survey internet art culture, while learning skills to create your own visual stores and experimental web-based art. Study web design practices and tools, explore the relationship between UX (user experience) and storytelling. Combine vector forms, typography, animation, and simple interactions to create browser-based artworks for desktop and mobile screens, with the power to engage, inspire, entertain, subvert, and inform. Projects are inspired by Net Art, Post-Internet Art, and Interactive Documentary. This course will utilize the web builder platform Cargo, Visual Studio Code and some coding, though no prior experience is necessary. A basic understanding of Adobe CC is helpful.

Credits: 4

Writing course for visual artists, which intends to make textuality a vital part of a visual arts practice and to create confidence and enthusiasm for hybridizing. The theory of the class is that expressive excitement in one medium can readily be transmitted to another. We will use contact with writing by visual artists (Frida Kahlo, John Cage, Yoko Ono, Lorraine O’Grady, LaToya Ruby Frazier, etc.) to create prompts that require both text and image (and other media such as video and sound), in pursuit of hybrid work that helps animate an existing visual arts practice. Open to all levels.

Graphic Print Futures + Radical Research is a physical computing and poster design course—fostering exploration and experimentation in designing with computational error using robotics. The course will lead designers through the construction and use of simple machines that have pre-programed 555 timer logic chips—working our way to building programmable drawing devices using the Arduino platform. We will review the works and writings of artists, designers, and creative tinkerers from around the globe. The course is designed to collect and redistribute unconventional insights as we introduce our own computational disruptions to the study of graphic + print design.

Credits: 4

Mixed media class explores handmade artists’ books as visual poetry, narrative, document, conceptual space, memoir and museum. Binding and image-making demonstrations, workshops and assigned problems expand students’ awareness of artists’ books as contemporary vehicles for content and hands-on innovation. Explores the history/culture of artists’ books (ancient codex, medieval illuminated manuscripts, chap books, altered books); draws upon global traditions (Asian, Middle Eastern, Western). Hands-on technical instruction, presentations, visiting artists, readings and critiques. Open to all levels. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Focuses on writings about bodies and the media. Sampling broadly from diverse disciplines, the goal of the course is to introduce students to a breadth of ideas addressing race, gender, sexuality and their intersection with global politics, culture and the media. This is a hybrid seminar and studio course and students will generate creative work.

Credits: 4

Expand on skills acquired in previous video and media arts classes. Based on the needs of self-directed projects for single screen, multi-channel, video installation, or sound. Organizing and producing more complicated video and sync sound shoots, image and sound post-production, staging, and presentation of video work for gallery or site-specific settings. Assist peers on projects, participate in group critiques, and receive individual feedback from faculty, and present their work at least once. Assumes knowledge of video and sound production. Recommendations: Minimum of one introductory level sound or video class, or permission of the instructor. Non-SMFA students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Studio/seminar course. Produce video content based on individual interests, concerns, passions. Design ways to display artworks that communicate ideas and aesthetics with power and strength. Instruction in camera composition, video editing and compositing using Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects, lighting design, video mapping software, and sound scores, recording, editing and mixing. Incorporate diverse media in installations, i.e., painting, sculpture, found objects, texts, performance, digital technologies, the internet, music and sound. Seminar traces an array of international video artists from the 1960s while concentrating on contemporary video installation. Visiting artists present projects and critique students’ work. Open to all levels. 
Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Intersection of narrative and video art. Structuring time-based work for both single and multiple screens, editing and sound design. Using HD cameras, including DSLR/hybrids, Adobe Premiere and other video and audio software tools.  Video as a plastic medium with a direct relationship to sound, fine art mediums, and graphic arts. Readings and discussions may explore the power of the image, the dialectic between music/sound and video, vernacular video (social media), and fine art. For experienced video students.  Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

This beginner level studio class will introduce students to the conceptual and practical aspects of the medium of moving image. We will explore the medium through screenings, readings, discussions, practice and critique of student’s works. The course will cover basic production skills such as camera operation and composition, editing in Adobe Premiere Pro and special effects (green screen, compositing etc.) in Adobe After Effects. Students will be assigned weekly projects in moving image and will have the opportunity to experiment and develop a body of work in this medium.

Credits: 4

The practice of combining and integrating video, sound and digital media with live performance is central to the history of time-based art production. Through screenings and attending real-world examples of performance that incorporates media, students will be exposed to this intriguing history as well as a range of contemporary practices. Imagine, design and produce an actual project that combines media with the live-act. Research, invent and rehearse meaningful media designs that contribute to the project's content. Students are expected to learn and experiment with a wide range of software, hardware and exhibition environments. All levels.

Credits: 4

This course will focus on puppet and object animation, including both old- and new-world styles. Through film screenings and course exercises combined with in-class workshops, you will learn to design and build puppets for purpose and function as well as to animate them. We also will examine how to build sets and light them to scale, and explore the techniques of character directing. A required final project will be the focus of the last weeks of the semester. The instructor provides some supplies. A materials list will be given out and discussed during the first day of class. Animation skills are recommended but not required.

Credits: 4

Through in-class exercises, demos, screenings, and visiting artists, you will learn various techniques of animating, and how to record and mix a soundtrack for animation. The three techniques we cover are Drawn, Cut-Out, and Stop-Motion Animation. This class is also designed to give you a deeper understanding of Animation as an art form of personal expression, and the various ways Animation is both viewed and used throughout the world; traditional narratives to poetic/abstract non-narratives to interaction to installation. Most assignments will be worked on in class using both film and computer-video equipment. No previous experience required, just an open mind.

Credits: 4

Animation 2 offers a more in-depth study into animation techniques, principles of animation, ways of generating ideas, and directing for animation.  These skills are strengthened through in-class exercises, screenings, visiting artists, and discussions.  In addition, each student will design, animate, and provide a soundtrack for their own independent project.  Most of this work will be done outside of class, with a weekly one-on-one meeting with the instructor and teaching assistant.  Students in this class are also eligible to attend the Ottawa International Animation Festival in the Fall Semester, and a field trip to a local studio in the Spring Semester.  Prerequisite: Animation 1 FLM 0036

Credits: 4

Animation course focusing on character design, development and the key techniques and choices artists make to bring a character to life. Visualizing a character from narrative prompt to illustrated reality in both hand-drawn and digital environments. Beginning with the foundations of simple movements, gestures and expressions, and building to complex scenes with characters engaging with the space around them. Students progress through a series of exercises and assignments in weight, timing, believability, expression of personality and emotion, culminating in one short final project by the end of the semester. Basic animation knowledge expected. For intermediate level students. Develop unique software tools for creating real time interactive 3D scenes, generative 2D images, and audio reactive systems. Recommendations: Some experience with Photoshop, Premier, After Effects or equivalent image manipulation software is expected. Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Optical Digital Effects, (a.k.a Special Effects) is the hybrid meeting of Live-Action and Animation to create unusual visuals effects. From the simplest double exposures through digital compositing, this course covers a range of digital and traditional analog tools. In addition to technique and skill building, this course will help students' achieve individual goals as artists, by examining when and why visual effects are used and exploring the relationship between visual effects and core concepts of a moving image work.

Topics include: lighting and shooting against a green screen, compositing footage in After Effects, manipulating footage frame-by-frame using the Optical Printer and Photoshop, in-camera effects and Projecting and Re-Recording Projections to create trick-film scenarios and environments. Hand-on weekly assignments will develop your technical skills, culminating in a final project of your choosing. This class is ideal for those students who want to creatively integrate their Film, Digital and Animation work, advanced students who want to incorporate special effects into a current Film or Animation project, or any student curious to experiment with media in a new way. Prerequisite: Animation 1, Film 1, Video 1

Credits: 4

Focuses on learning After Effects and the Duik plugin for character animation. Explore Adobe After Effects and different techniques of 2D character animation. From walk cycles and lip syncing in DUIK, to facial expressions that create a beautiful 3D feel with Joystick. Design characters and environments almost entirely in After Effects. Prior experience in Animation, Photoshop, and some familiarity with After Effects prepares you to dive deeper into these plugins and experiment freely. Experience with After Effects and Photoshop recommended. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Studio-seminar explores Audio Storytelling: an interdisciplinary field between podcasting, radio, literature, music, theater, poetry, journalism, activism, politics, cinema, and contemporary art. Learn to tell stories through sound and words. Focus on narrative structures, audio recording and editing techniques, sound design, collective listening sessions, seminar discussions. Map the different histories and genres of narrative sound formats, including works by pioneering figures and contemporary practitioners. The wave of interest in podcasts has revived storytelling forms. Explore this as-yet undefined hybrid territory in all its possibilities. No experience in sound necessary. Introductory course open to all levels. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade. 

Credits: 4

Learn the basic vocabulary of wearable art and sculptural expression in non-ferrous metals in this beginning metalworking class. Explores hand tools, silver-soldering, cold-joining techniques, textures, forging, and finishing. Through lectures, studio work, critique and collaboration, discuss contemporary and historical significance of metal, jewelry and sculpture. Non-SMFA students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Brass, bronze, copper and silver and gold are materials that have great expressive potential due to their aesthetic properties, malleability and durability. Those essential characteristics of non-ferrous metals are studied through a range of technical demonstrations, hands-on exercises and individual projects. In this introductory course we will explore historical practices in metals to understand the potential for contemporary applications in body adornment and the decorative arts. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Within an artistic practice, the multiple allows you to reproduce specific objects or designs that are available to a wider audience and more affordable than a one-of-a-kind piece. Examines the historical and applied context of examples of multiples and small series edition in all kinds of materials and types of production. Prerequisites: MTL 0135 or equivalent. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Explore the technical, aesthetic, and conceptual aspects of contemporary art jewelry and metalsmithing. Working properties of ferrous and non-ferrous metals will be covered to facilitate an understanding of material and approach for creating sculpture for the body and sculpture as object. Suitable for all levels, though students should have previously taken any class in the Metals studio before enrolling in this course. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Introduction to the process of casting and mold making. All aspects of this process, from creating small sculptural forms and personal ornament by modeling and carving wax, to simple molding techniques and centrifugal casting will be taught. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Color is a powerful means of expression for artists. This course, designed for beginning as well as advanced students, is an in-depth exploration of innovative options for the use of color within jewelry and metal working. Demonstrations will cover traditional surface treatments such as patinas, painting, enameling, stone setting and etching as well as the application of resins, rubber, acrylic and casting plastic. Basic metalworking techniques to accompany those methods will be instructed such as cutting, hydraulic forming and cold connecting. Class assignments encourage the development of a personal palette and its application to individual projects. Emphasis will be equally placed on technical proficiency and on individual experimentation. Upon completing this course, students will be able to create finished pieces of jewelry and objects that exhibit an understanding of materials and color and their application.

Credits: 4

Studio/seminar course offers students access to metals and jewelry area tools and workspace for developing self-directed projects. Students are guided through the history and theory of jewelry making and design via lectures, hands-on research with collections, and advanced demonstrations. Regular critiques of developing work, field trips, group discussions, and in-class student presentations will reinforce the craft and conceptual dimensions of ongoing work. Designed for intermediate to advanced students. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

(Cross-listed w/ GRA 121) An exploration of flora and fauna as broad themes in contemporary and historical art. Potential crossover into other subjects such as climate change, biology, gender, environmental conservation, etc. Topics such as naturalist field notes include the history and context of different taxonomies resulting in opportunities for individual research and pursuits. A broad range of media and methods discussed and used. Regular critiques and discussions help to support student’s projects. Designed for Intermediate level students. One previous introductory painting or drawing course recommended.

Credits: 4 

Continue to  develop studio practice while exploring and discussing topics in contemporary art. Projects, assignments, and discussions directly tied to topics in contemporary painting, filtered through a global lens of gender, class, and race. Exploration of multimedia in painting. Class time will include discussion, image presentations, individual and group critiques, and in-class studio time. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Got Color?  This course offers a three-pronged approach to the study of color.
1.  We will concentrate on fundamental properties of color and the dynamics of color interaction on two-dimensional surfaces.
2.  Through  projects/readings/slide talks, we  will trace the roots of color use and color theories through the history of artistic practices.
3.  We will explore the phenomenology of color as evidenced by its pivotal role in the evolution of biology, language, and culture.
Attendance is mandatory.

Credits: 4

Intermediate course exploring the body in paint. The figure or body as a source. Independent work. From the model, exploration of content relating to figurative painting, portraiture, narrative or thematic work, research-based practice, or abstraction. Investigation primarily through paint but may include other media such as installation, or performance. Designed for students with some figurative painting experience. Non-SMFA students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Developing  a personally meaningful approach to abstraction in painting. Work in several modes: abstraction as a translation of what is seen, abstraction as evidence of the unseen, and abstraction as a language. Contemporary and historical works will serve as a springboard to help students formulate their own abstract painting vocabulary. Material demonstrations, slide lectures, readings and critiques to supplement working-in-class time.   Recommended:  An introductory level painting course, beginning oil painting, or the equivalent.

Credits: 4

Investigate the role that the object plays in performance. From prop to stage to costume to relic, sculpture and performance are closely linked disciplines where body and object inform one another to create meaning. Explore various manifestations and hybrid forms through self-directed projects, critiques, readings, discussions, field trips and introduction to the work of contemporary working artists in the field.

Credits: 4

Assess how contemporary women’s and queer movements affect the ‘post-feminist’ world. Examine major themes of feminist art and their intersection with ethics, politics and strategies of artmaking. Address how art history, critique, and philosophical aesthetics inform the creation, interpretation and appreciation of feminist art. Explore issues of race, gender and sexuality, class, ableism, religion, privilege, and oppression. Studio assignments, presentations and discussions examine connections among feminist philosophy, art activism and feminist art. Mobilize feminist cultural production to create change via street intervention, billboards, printed matter, public projection, cyberfeminism and poster-making. Designed for intermediate and advanced students.

Credits: 4

Introductory course for artists who want to use their imagination in the interest of social justice. Explores the prolific and exciting overlap between socially engaged art and cultural practices generated by recent social movements locally and globally. Provides knowledge about the history of this practice, technical support; assists with research; reviews artist projects; addresses recent strategies and examines the shift of socially engaged artists from studio to situation or participant.  Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

In this course, students will have the opportunity to develop and work collaboratively or individually on a Socially Engaged Art project. Students will be provided with technical support and assistance with research, visit local SEA artist projects, and address recent strategies. Through collaboration, students will learn how to develop and implement a SEA project that engages with communities around social or political issues. Students are encouraged to take Socially Engaged Art: Intro before taking this course. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

An understanding of how mass media functions is necessary to enact meaningful social change. The media representation of  drowned refugees; the Black Lives Matter activists; The US military recruiting from gaming industries for Gulf Wars; The US presidential elections; reality TV, etc. These images shape both our public policy and private lives. Through lectures, readings, and assignments we will challenge commercial methods of cultural production, produce work about our vernacular culture, question how these forms of cultural production and mass media have come to be a powerful means of expressing culture, which ‘frames’ our everyday lives. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Invites students to self-initiate projects in the field of socially engaged art, which emphasizes participation, dialogue, and action as a form of art making. Utilizes field visits, artist dialogues, class discussion, and interventions to gain a better understanding of artists as members of society who participate, investigate, and disrupt complex social sites of power. Individual and collaborative studio projects will be supplemented with individualized readings, research prompts, and media that speak to each student’s interests and project goals. Intended for intermediate/advanced students.

Credits: 4

This is a tutorial course for people who are interested in developing a photographic book.  Relationships among pictures and the relationship between picture and text will be central concerns.  Admission is based on portfolio and interview.  Applicants should have an existing body of work that they wish to sequence in book form. Means of publication will be up to the student; and we will study several publishing options.

Credits: 4

Examination of how Photography has been used to observe, describe, and distort subject matter over the course of its history. Participation in slide talks, discussions, readings, and production of photographs required. Presents students with various motivations to pick up a camera and interact with the world. Basic understanding of camera controls, digital imaging, and digital printing required, or permission of the instructor. Open to intermediate and advanced students.

Credits: 4

Introduces technique and theory of digital image making. Introduces students to digital cameras and flatbed scanners for image capture, computer programs such as Lightroom and Photoshop for image flow and processing, and archival digital printers for print output. Assignments, lectures, readings and demonstrations create a forum to discuss picture making, and its role in personal and cultural terms, in an age where the photograph has become ubiquitous. Engagement with histories of art and photography provides a platform to consider how photographs are produced, circulated, duplicated and situated in social, political, cultural and economic contexts of the moment. How do we produce unique images, influenced by our own investigations within todays context? Level: Beginning level. 

Credits: 4

Hands-on advanced studio class. Learn to see what a traditional fine black and white print can be, and gain confidence with the materials. After becoming adept at the traditional techniques, students are encouraged to expand and break the rules in a manner that is appropriate, or inappropriate to the nature of light, film, paper, chemistry. Individual conversations will take place as students work in the dark room and the instructor oversees their techniques and monitors their progress. As the term progresses, students will each make a mural print of 40” x 50=/- “ Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Topic-based lectures and photography assignments. Course divided into lecture, critique, discussion of readings, technical instruction to further advance your photography in concept and skill. Covers a range of photographic solutions, from observational photography to computer-generated works. Students expected to put additional hours every week into assignments and reading. Intro to Digital Photography or permission of instructor required.

Credits: 4

Overview of the process of large format photography: operating the camera, developing film, and printing photographs in the darkroom and digitally, and basic lighting skills. Technical exploration of the medium supplemented with in-class discussions about the work of artists who have used large format cameras throughout history and its relevance to, and effect upon, the fine art world today. Reserved access to 4x5" large format cameras and the opportunity to work on 8x10" film. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade. Prerequisite: PHT-0111 or higher. 

Credits: 4

Engages in ways of seeing, exploring, and expressing with photographic images our ideas about place and time. Through readings, observations, and looking at other photographer’s work we will form the basis of creating our own images of a place. The landscape, light, significant details, poetics, narrative, and design will be studied in depth. Develop a portfolio of photographs that explore the qualities of a particular place, sequenced as a narrative. Each student selects a site for the focus of their work in the course. The place may be anywhere in the Boston region, urban, suburban, or rural; it may be an interior or outdoor place. Work is in film or digital format.  

Credits: 4

Produce highly accomplished prints and explore the language of color photography. Techniques include scanning digital and analog negatives, software corrections tools, Photoshop for advanced color correction and outsourcing, and archival inkjet printing with Epson printers, including large-format printers. Examines the historical background of color photography and the social and political implications embedded in the medium’s development through class readings and discussions. Advanced students develop a professional workflow for their studio practice. Regular in-class critiques of student work and exercises.  Previous experience with digital printing recommended. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade. Pre-requisite: PHT 0111 

Credits: 4

This one period course is for students interested in refining their lighting skills in partnership with conceptualizing their ideas. We will refine exposure in relation to multiple flash situations, use the ring light and Pro-Foto kits and use a variety of our continuous light sources. Refining one’s ideas in relation to lighting will be discussed in weekly critiques and demonstrations. There will be a professional photographer visit and demos on the Capture One Pro System. There will be weekly analysis of internet photographs in order to understand the lighting sources used in their creation. Students should bring a portfolio of their photographs to the first class. 

Credits: 4

Explores a range of approaches to hand papermaking. Focus on methods of transforming cellulose fiber into 2D, 3D, and multi-media projects to explore concept, materials and process. Offers historical, traditional, and scientific context for hand papermaking. Demonstrations, presentations, readings. Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Foundational understanding of major printmaking processes with an emphasis on practical technical skills that can be applied to a variety of conceptual interests. Weekly demonstrations expose students to a broad range of traditional and experimental printmaking techniques and studio assignments to facilitate an investigation of their usage. Readings and lectures supplement studio work to provide historical context and contemporary critical perspectives. Consider print as a rich and porous discipline to explore the ways in which multiplicity and reproducibility might inform broader art practices.

Credits: 4

Explore the use of game structures as strategies for artistic production. Introduction to the history of game-play in modern and contemporary art as well as studio methodologies based on chance, improvisation, simulation, and play. Collaborative exercises create the foundation for self-directed projects; students set their own parameters and consider the expanded studio as a field of play. Demonstrations of DIY printing, casting, and construction methods supports production of artist multiples in the form of toys, kits, board games, and booklets. Demonstrations, reading discussions, visiting artist lectures, individual meetings, and critique. Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Explore the multitude of ways printed ephemera can be used to disseminate ideas and offer inter-play with the public as an inexpensive/efficient method of reproducing imagery and text. Focus on projects that utilize print media as a means for creating installations, posters, publications, performance, video, props, and clothing introduced through presentations and readings. Writing a project proposal, researching methods of production and materials, as well as locating an exhibition venue/location are requirements of the course. Individual and group meetings to develop projects. Prior print experience and self-motivation required. Most appropriate for intermediate/advanced students working with print media.

Credits: 4

Explores multiples as performance, props, and printed ephemera through projects involving screen printing, relief printing, Riso printing, and photocopying. Examining interdisciplinary approaches to the multiple, course emphasizes skill-building, experimentation, and individual voice through hands-on technical instruction, presentations, discussions, readings, group critiques, and individual meetings. Historical and contemporary examples of printed matter, distributed manifestos, pamphlets, zines, and flyers, and how multiples enter into and interactsect with the digital realm. Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Learn a wide range of screenprinting approaches using hand-drawn, photographic, and digital stencil techniques. Emphasis on the use of the computer as a means to filter and manipulate images in order to create color separations for screenprinting. Through the discussion of the history of print media, production and popular culture, conceptual exploration of  a variety of approaches and formats for translating our ideas through screenprinting while thinking about the role of "multiples". Experimentation and an interdisciplinary approach to artmaking are encouraged.  Level: Open to all levels, no experience necessary.  Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Color can be descriptive, emotional and graphic—signifying a range of interpretations and meanings. Learn color mixing, layering, and registration to vary hue and transparency in creating serial images that are developed through step and repeat print processes. Through projects, presentations, demonstrations, study room visits, and visiting artist lectures, explore how color can be used to further conceptual ideas through a series of progressive and variable printed proofs. Students encouraged to work across print media using processes of their own choosing. Non-SMFA students and MAT students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Risograph is a stencil duplicator that combines the aesthetic and process of screenprinting with the ease and convenience of a high-speed digital copier. Risograph is a popular reprographic tool among independent publishers and artists. Learn the basics of Risograph, including how to manipulate drawings, paintings, and photographic images using Adobe Photoshop and/or Illustrator, color separation, and layering. Open to all levels. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Introduces students to advanced papermaking methods while focusing on independent work strategies. Develop serial, cumulative, and large-scale projects, explore material specificity, play as research, ambitious goals, and professional presentation. Emphasis on innovative and intentional approaches to working with pulp and paper; broaden range of source materials, generate new production methods, and expand knowledge of historical and contemporary paper applications. Demonstrations of advanced layering and pulp painting techniques, methods for reproducing and scaling up 2D and 3D pieces. Development and production of projects through individual meetings and group critique. For intermediate/advanced students with prior experience in the papermaking studio.

Credits: 4

Intaglio printing means printing ink from the incised marks in a plate or matrix. Etching means that acid is used to corrode these marks into the plate.  Exposure to intaglio printmaking, both etched and not, along with opportunities to explore the medium in greater depth. In addition to etching basics (hard ground, soft ground, and aquatint), special attention will be paid to a broad array of intaglio applications: found objects, collagraph approaches, alternative plates (non-etched), collage, and monoprint techniques.  Level: Open to all levels, no previous experience in print required.  Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

Introduction to relief printmaking processes. Traditional woodcut methods such as single-color, reductive, and multi-block printing provide a foundation for experimental approaches. Demonstrations involve laser-engraved matrices, pressure monotype, chine collé, blind embossing, and the modular matrix. Students are encouraged to work at a large scale and to explore both traditional and non-traditional substrates. Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Comprehensive introduction to photolithography and its various print media applications. Gain digital and hands-on experience designing film positives, exposing and developing plates, and printing on direct presses. Learn prepress strategies for commercial offset printing such as registration, color separations, spot color, and halftone. Produce traditional editioned prints on press as well as large print-runs in the form of posters, mailers, newspapers, and magazines. Work on individual projects and collaborate on a class project in the form of an offset printed newspaper or magazine. Classes involve presentations, technical demonstrations, individual meetings, and studio work time equally. Open to all levels. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

This course is designed to allow an in depth study of the varied methods and techniques of fine-art lithography. This course covers fundamental concepts and techniques of black and white lithography from stone and aluminum plates.  While the demonstrations focus on traditional techniques, color printing, photo manipulation, and transfer methods will be discussed. Each class includes demonstrations, hands-on instruction, and lectures on historical and contemporary artists using lithography.  Students are encouraged to experiment and incorporate other mediums as they create and develop their work.  Advanced as well as beginning students are welcome.

Credits: 4

Introduces students to contemporary concepts, theories, materials and methodologies for making sculpture. Non-SMFA students and MAT Art Education students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

(Cross-listed w/DRW 107) Examines the basic elements that make up our three-dimensional world. Using simple materials such as string, wire, paper, and cardboard, explore the infinite possibilities of line, plane, and volume. Technical workshops facilitate understanding of basic additive and reductive techniques, and expand the capacity to define complex forms. Explore two-dimensional drawings for three-dimensional thinking. Learn to create technical drawings and make the described object to scale. Open to all levels.

Credits: 4

Introduction to a wide range of digital fabrication toolsets, basic software, and hardware and learn to use digital fabrication in projects. Study of the foundational tools of digital fabrication that include 3D printing, laser cutting, and 3D scanning, and learn how to select the appropriate tools to meet 3D design challenges. Focus on critical inquiry and case studies regarding the developing field of digital fabrication in the arts. Instructional workshops will cover the use of CAD and vector-based software such as Rhino 3D, Adobe Illustrator and relevant plug-ins and software add-ons for mission-specific projects.

Credits: 4

Intermediate sculpture studio course involving cross-media projects in woodworking, welded steel sculpture and casting, and mixed media. Focus on the development of technical and analytical skills as related to the interplay of form, content, materials, and space. A series of projects that investigate formal and conceptual practices to develop visual fluency, elevated skill-sets, the successful expression of ideas, and the ability to sustain a studio practice.
Non-SMFA students will receive a letter grade.

Credits: 4

This advanced course is for students who are already engaged in issues of space. We will be studying space, measuring and creating scale drawings and models, building real scale prototypes, sourcing materials, and studying the use of sound and light. We will be visiting installations on view in the city and where possible be able to see the installations in process, talk with the artist and see the work completed. Each student will make a visual presentation of an installation artist's work.

Credits: 4

Advanced-level studio course develops and expands students’ fabrication skills based on the needs of self-directed projects. Involves work in the various shops and studios, assisting peers on projects, participating in group critiques, and receiving individual feedback sessions with faculty. Faculty work with students as needed on techniques and processes relevant to the ongoing development of work.

Credits: 4

The Seminar is a mandatory core component of the curriculum for post-baccalaureate students, who take it both fall and spring semesters. Content is determined by the needs of the class and changes from fall to spring. The seminar includes professional presentations, student presentations, directed group discussions and writing projects, critiques of work, and visits to museums, galleries, collections, and other sites. We discuss the work and ideas of class members in the context of broad issues such as the role and purpose of art making, the practice of art as a career, and the perspectives currently under discussion in art criticism and theory. Emphasis is on group collaboration and peer support for individual artistic development. To keep discussion groups small, faculty lead separate seminar sections. (These groups occasionally hold meetings together.) Be ready to talk at the first class about your ideas and needs in your artwork, school, and prospective career, so that we can plan the semester's content.

Credits: 2

Individual critique sessions promote and foster abundant work and rapid progress by helping you deepen an understanding of your art, creative process, and work methods through focused critical feedback at regular intervals. Students meet individually with the instructor several times during the semester for critiques, to present works in progress, and to discuss emerging issues of individual interest. These consultations support and complement the work in the Post-Baccalaureate Seminar. Post-baccalaureate students are expected to actively seek individual critiques and consultation from their assigned faculty advisors and from faculty members teaching studio courses in which they are working.

Credits: 2

One-on-one meetings with faculty and group meetings over the course of the semester to critique work, assess progress, and develop mentorship. Critique sessions promote and foster abundant work and rapid progress, deepening understanding of the creative process and work methods. Prior to 1st meeting, student must present a statement of intent, quantifying expected output, topics of interest and goals. At the end of the semester students summarize their work via an all class critique that includes a developed artists statement. Upper classmen and advanced students (MFA, Post-Baccalaureate, Diploma or Third and Fourth year BFA Students). Faculty permission required.

Credits: 4

This course is designed to build and develop the verbal and written articulation critique skills among the first and second year graduate students in a group setting facilitated by a faculty member. Critique is an essential skill for students to develop. Graduate Group Critique is a forum in which the capability of each student to identify and articulate the concerns, issues and motivations that form the basis of their research and practice expands. Through focusing on the ability to articulate the concerns investigated and addressed through each individual student’s art work, in whichever form that may take, this course assists students in both preparing for their review boards and preparing for the defense of their thesis. All first and second year Master of Fine Arts students are required to take this course each semester.

Credits: 3

Internships for Studio Credit are an important part of SMFA at Tufts University’s studio arts curriculum and a great complement to your studio training. Whether your internship is with a commercial design firm, an education program, a community garden, a new media facility, a non-profit arts organization, a gallery venue, or a professional artist's studio, you will acquire valuable skills and develop new insights into your chosen creative path. Tufts Career Center staff offer extensive support and guidance along the way. Interns also participate in a two-part evaluation process, documenting rigorous self-reflection that advances professional goals and maximizes learning outcomes. This credit-bearing option is available to students in the Studio Diploma, BFA, and Dual Degree BFA + BA/BS programs. Students enrolled in the Post-Baccalaureate or MFA program are eligible with permission from the Program Directors. For detailed descriptions of internship opportunities and one-on-one advising, come visit us in the Tufts Career Center. All students seeking internships are required to receive written approval from the Internship Director at registration. Prerequisite: one year of study and no fewer than two remaining review boards prior to graduation. Transfer students must consult with Academic Affairs to determine eligibility.

Credits: 2-5

MFA Mentorship and Advising creates time and space for MFA students to engage in deeper mentorship with their primary advisor through one on one studio visits, as well as regular cohort meetings. Students will also participate in group critique and thesis show planning as well as independent meetings with visiting artists, curators, and writers.

Credits: 4

This course considers human development from early childhood through adolescence and its relevance in creating a cohesive, culturally responsive, and appropriate art curriculum in PK-12 schools. Through seminar discussions and assignments focused on the role of art in human development and learning, students will learn how to cultivate a classroom culture centered on cultural diversity, inquiry driven learning, and empathy. Special attention is paid to how art educators engage youth in studying, critiquing, and creating visual art while considering multicultural education theory and the role that art plays in learning. This course will meet in person at the SMFA, several classes will meet at the MFA and some classes will meet synchronously on Zoom.

Credits: 4

Art Education with Special Populations considers the role of the art educator with regard to visual culture and art making with special populations. Attention focuses on learners with special needs.  Exceptionalities in learning and expressing are explored through current research in psychology, sociology and anthropology. Field observations to art education sites that care for and educate special populations will inform reflective discussion and curriculum development. Solving issues of lesson adaptations to make art available to all will be explored. A broad view of ability/disability will inform the art educator’s role in asking questions such as: What counts as art? Who counts as artist? and What counts as knowledge?

Open to all BFA students with priority registration given to BFA students who intend to apply to the MAT program.