Course Description
Alternative photographic processes in printing and presentation. These include non-traditional cameras, historic printing processes such as cyanotype, salt prints, van dyke and platinum/palladium printing, as well as contemporary non-traditional presentation materials and methods.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
Graduate students will be required to engage research
components outside of the art making practice, presenting
written papers and/or oral presentations on historical
movements and contemporary practices. In addition, the studio
work of those enrolled at the graduate level will require more
extensive research and practice resulting in portfolios that
are larger, craft that is more refined, and concepts that are
more fully realized.
Athena Title
ALTERNATIVE PHOTO
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This course is designed for students to engage a wide range of non-traditional techniques in photographic printing and presentation. Classroom discussions, slide lectures, gallery visits, research projects and critiques will expose the students to the conceptual framework of historical and contemporary practices in the visual language of photographic techniques. Through technical presentations and studio assignments, students will learn a wide range of alternative techniques, including non-traditional cameras, historic printing processes such as cyanotype, salt prints, van dyke and platinum/palladium printing, as well as contemporary non-traditional presentation materials and methods. Graduate students will be required to conduct independent research on techniques and artists practicing these techniques to present in written papers as well as through oral lectures and lab presentations in class. Emphasis in the course will be on portfolio development through proposed project design and implementation. Students will be required to engage assignment topics and present their work in the context of historical and contemporary practices within the medium. In presenting his/her photographs, each student will be expected to assimilate and analyze the topic of the assignment and present the work orally as well as through various modes and media, including the use of appropriate technology. Students will be expected to engage other students' work with dialogue that is stylistically appropriate and mature. During critiques students will learn to communicate for academic and professional contexts, supporting a consistent purpose and point of view while considering and engaging opposing points of view. Students will be required to interpret inferences within each photograph being discussed, developing subtleties of symbolic and indirect discourse.
Topical Outline
This course will include an overview of historical and contemporary practices in photographic techniques. Studio practice and technical assignments in a wide range of techniques, possibly including salt prints, cyanotypes, van dyke prints, platinum/palladium prints, liquid emulsions, photographic printmaking techniques, and non-traditional digital materials and presentation. Personal portfolio development through project design and implementation practices. Regular critiques on developing work. Regular in- class assisted studio and lab work.