Introduction to contemporary perceptual painting, a synthesis
of global image culture. Emphasis is placed on historic
motivations, non-western influences, subject matter, and
composition by utilizing painting media and image
interpretation. Students learn painting techniques, respond to
issues through painting language, and articulate their analysis
through critiques and written responses.
Athena Title
Intro Painting and Visuality
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall, spring and summer
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
Students will be introduced to major social and historical contexts for painting through lectures, image presentations, readings, visiting artists, and museum visits.
Students will learn introductory skills and techniques through technical exercises that utilize various modalities of vision: direct observation, lens-based media, chromatic, and peripheral observation.
Students will be expected to assimilate and analyze the presented materials within the medium of painting.
Students will use the nomenclature that is stylistically appropriate and mature through response papers, presentations, and critiques.
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 develop and enhance skills in the techniques of painting and apply them in original and imaginative ways, taking appropriate risks to creatively solve problems, synthesize ideas, and develop imaginative and original responses in creative art practice.
Students will enhance skills in observation and attention to detail, interpreting visual information through abstract thinking, engaging various sources of inspiration, research and experiences, while resolving creative challenges through appropriate methodologies in experimentation and critical evaluation, synthesizing an iterative working process of production, self-evaluation, problem solving and refinement.
Students will engage in the oral critique of creative works, interpreting inferences in symbolic and indirect discourse, supporting one’s conclusions with sound reasoning and judgement, while considering, engaging, and analyzing opposing viewpoints.
Students will develop and effectively express ideas in written and oral form using language with clarity and precision, navigating interpersonal communication with respect and maturity, tailoring communication strategy and style appropriately for various contexts.
While engaging the work of others, students will develop an awareness, appreciation, and knowledge of varying perspectives from cultures and communities beyond one’s own.
Students will participate in a supportive arts community, developing self-discipline by initiating and sustaining a creative studio practice, while engaging and motivating others toward a shared vision of creative community through encouragement and trust.
Topical Outline
Students should gain a basic understanding of perceptual
painting idioms practiced by artists of various cultures.
Students will become familiar with the art historical contexts
and the impact of current events on the generation of that
artwork.
Students will demonstrate the use of various models of
convergent and divergent design thinking to prepare and research
and investigate visual problems.
Students will demonstrate the use of various visual
strategies, materials, and processes of modern and contemporary
painting practice.
Students will demonstrate an understanding and adequate
mastery of the material and tactile handling of the medium of
paint, pigments, and mediums derived primarily from direct
observation.
Students will develop a sensitivity to color through the
creative application of color theory, the perceptual translation
of color as it relates to the plastic world of space, light, and
form and to the sensual world of surface and texture using
various color palettes and painting surfaces
Students will build and prepare different painting supports
and surfaces.
Students will demonstrate an understanding of safe studio
practices and appropriate work habit
Students will learn to use critical language to succinctly
articulate their work and the work of others both orally and in
written form.
Students will demonstrate the ability to communicate their
personal thoughts and vantage points through the newly acquired
language of painting.
Students will also demonstrate critical understanding through
written assignments.
Unit 1: Seeing vs. Looking, Materials, Techniques, and Design
Introduction to the painting mediums and techniques from the
Western tradition of painting. Introduction to the substantive
effect that Japanese kilo-e woodblock prints had on European and
American artists at the end of the 19th and beginning of the
20th centuries, and the influence of “Japonisme” on composition
and design: figure/ground relationship, cropping, and pattern.
Students will complete various painted studies that demonstrate
awareness of these concepts.
• Development of Traditional and Contemporary Painting Materials
and Techniques
• Compositional Design
• Rendering Skills
• Light Logic
• Color Theory
• Written Assignment/Response Idea: Researching the Painting
Collection at the GMOA. (Topic to be determined.)
Unit 2: Still Life and Object Painting
Introduction to traditional still life painting before the 20th
century in contrast to object paintings from Impressionism, Post-
impressionism, Fauvism, Cubism, and countless other movements
from Modern to Contemporary.
Students will Appreciate the profound change in Western
aesthetics initiated by exposure to African sculpture and
textiles; as well as the prints, textiles, and architecture
from Asian and Islamic cultures. Students will complete at least
two paintings that demonstrate understanding of asymmetrical
balance, shallow space, repetition, and ornamentation.
• Painting and Design Strategies Composition, Picture Plane,
Positive/Negative Shapes, Texture, Pattern, Balance, Rhythm,
Unity, Emphasis, Movement, Convergent and Divergent Strategies,
Design Methodologies
• Written Response: Themes to be explored: objects identity and
power, consumerism, personal iconography and symbolism,
naturalism, realism, expressionism, and hyperrealism
Unit 3: Modalities of Spatial Perception
Introduction to the marked differences between Western and
Eastern philosophies and depictions of pictorial space and their
subsequent convergence in the Modern movement and onward.
Students will begin by covering the Western tradition of linear
perspective by incorporating the illusionary “window” and fixed
viewpoint. Students will then be introduced to Japanese,
Chinese, and Indo-Persian art that employs a parallel or
isometric perspective wherein objects and their surroundings
have been compressed within a shallow space behind the picture
plane with no vanishing point. And they will become familiar
with spatial ambiguity that primarily emphasizes the two-
dimensional surface of the painting as opposed to the
illusionary window.
Students will complete one painting that demonstrates
understanding of traditional linear perspective and a second
painting that demonstrates a synthesis of various spatial
perspectives.
• Picture plane as a window vs. a rectangular surface described
by ornamentation and pattern.
• Reintroduction of Ukiyo-e prints, “the floating world.”
Chinese screen painting and Mughal miniatures from India and
Persia.
• Written Response: Choose two or more artists who employ both
Western and Eastern spatial perspectives in their work and
compare and contrast them.
Unit 3: Modalities of Spatial Perception
Introduction to the marked differences between Western and
Eastern philosophies and depictions of pictorial space and their
subsequent convergence in the Modern movement and onward.
Students will begin by covering the Western tradition of linear
perspective by incorporating the illusionary “window” and fixed
viewpoint. Students will then be introduced to Japanese,
Chinese, and Indo-Persian art that employs a parallel or
isometric perspective wherein objects and their surroundings
have been compressed within a shallow space behind the picture
plane with no vanishing point. And they will become familiar
with spatial ambiguity that primarily emphasizes the two-
dimensional surface of the painting as opposed to the
illusionary window.
Students will complete one painting that demonstrates
understanding of traditional linear perspective and a second
painting that demonstrates a synthesis of various spatial
perspectives.
• Picture plane as a window vs. a rectangular surface described
by ornamentation and pattern.
• Reintroduction of Ukiyo-e prints, “the floating world.”
Chinese screen painting and Mughal miniatures from India and
Persia.
• Written Response: Choose two or more artists who employ both
Western and Eastern spatial perspectives in their work and
compare and contrast them.
General Education Core
CORE IV: Humanities and the Arts
Institutional Competencies
Creativity & Innovation
The capacity to combine or synthesize existing ideas, images, or expertise in original ways and the experience of thinking, reacting, and working in an imaginative way characterized by innovation, divergent thinking, and risk taking.
Critical Thinking
The ability to pursue and comprehensively evaluate information before accepting or establishing a conclusion, decision, or action.
