Meeting Times, Location, & Course Delivery Details
Painting offers the contemporary artist a myriad of possibilities for formal, personal, social, and philosophical inquiry. This class will be an introduction to certain primary concepts and techniques of painting. Observational study of still-life, architectural interior, landscape, and the self-portrait will serve as a platform for the exploration of color, the representation of space, abstraction, and the various material qualities of painting.
It is essential to be open-minded and engaged with exploring new ideas during the next sixteen weeks, curiosity is key and students should think of the class as a laboratory. You will be given assignments with specific challenges and limitations built in, and your job will be to respond through making paintings.
We will then look at the paintings as a class to reflect upon what has been discovered, what has been done well, and what may need improvement. One aim of this class is to make the mechanics and concepts of painting approachable and in that spirit, this is a class that asks “what is painting?” as much as a class that tells you “how to paint”.
Contact Information
Upon successful completion of this course...
- The student will be able to develop personal ideas, resolve issues and explore themes in creating original artwork.
- The student will be able to examine actual work and learn of its history and to study painters through research and art museum exploration.
- The student will be able to apply painting medium, to understand the tools, tricks and processes involved in acrylic painting.
- The student will be able to evaluate one's own work as well as others and to learn to give and accept constructive criticism.
The majority of supplies for this class will be provided by the college and your payment of the course fee. Any additional supplies I advise students to purchase from Blick to guarantee quality. Painting supplies from neighborhood stores (Walmart, Michaels, Hobby Lobby) etc can sometimes be poor and not fit for purpose.
Typical materials used in this class are:
A variety of paintbrushes
Acrylic paint
A mixing palette (this can be an old dinner plate)
A good palette knife
A mixed media pad with pages no smaller than 8.5”x11”
A jar for water (old pickle jar etc)
Old rags and/or paper towels
Pre-stretched canvases
Painting boards
Textbooks
There are no assigned textbooks for this course. Any and all readings will be provided by the instructor as PDF digital documents and uploaded to the courses Blackboard.:
This course is designed to provide students with a solid foundation in acrylic painting. Through a combination of lectures, assigned projects, class exercises, and video screenings, students will develop their understanding of colour, mark, composition, perspective, and lighting. Students in this class will discuss ideas, processes, history, and ways of seeing, enabling them to grow technically and conceptually in their understanding of painting practice.
Oral communication skill development
Painting students will need to defend aesthetic decisions made in the completion of their projects through a critique process. Critiques will allow the student artist to verbalize thoughts and ideas that they used in the creation of their drawings, while group discussion will develop a student's vocabulary to analyse the work of their peers. Students will also be questioned on their aesthetic results. Talking about one’s own work helps the artist justify decisions and pinpoint areas needing improvement.
Critical thinking skill development
Critical thinking in the studio arts involves decision making. The use of aesthetics, technical and presentational skills will be used to complete each assignment. This course is developed to inspire
creativity, learn painting techniques, and discuss aesthetic decisions. Activities that teach these skills include demonstrations, lectures, projects, testing, and critique. Painting will teach critical thinking through observation, preparation, and completion. Guidelines for painting will be discussed and evaluated throughout the semester to assess the students’ developing knowledge of creative problem solving.
Semester schedule (subject to change)
Week 1 - Syllabus, studio policy, and introduction to acrylic painting
Week 2 - Material acquisition and homework assignments
Week 3 - No class Mon 7th September (Labor Day). Colour theory lecture and mixing, in class exercises.
Week 4 - Introduction to Project 1: constructed still lifes
Week 5 - Project 1 work days.
Week 6 - Project 1 hand-in and critiques. Lecture, a brief history of painting and key developments
Week 7 - Perspective, plein air exercises, assignment of artists for presentations. (Westheimer Peace Symposium, Tues 6th & Wed 7th October)
Week 8 - Giorgio de Chirico, introduction to Project 2 (Two landscapes), in class work days
Week 9 - No class Monday 19th October (Fall Break). Studio work day/artist presentations.
Week 10 - Work day and Project 2 critiques,
Week 11 - Introduction to Project 3 - portraiture. Work days.
Week 12 - Studio work days, one on one in-progress meetings.
Week 13 - Project 3 hand-in and critique, in class exercises
Week 14 - Introduction to Project 4 genre. No Class Wednesday 25th November (Thanksgiving break)
Week 15 - Work days
Week 16 - Work days. Final regular class: Wednesday December 9th.
Week 17 - Painting final “exam” / Project 4 Critique on Friday December 11th 1:00pm-3:00pm
Grading scale
A 90-100% Completion of all assignments at a consistent superior quality, technically and conceptually proficient. Strong participation in class.
B 80-89% Completion of all assignments, above average work, solid participation in class.
C 70-79% Completion of all assignments, mandatory participation.
D 60-69% Not all assignments completed properly, indifferent, with no noticeable improvement.
F 0-59% Failure of all the above.
The four main projects of the class this semester will be graded taking into consideration: the students’ technical proficiency, apparent effort, conceptual underpinning, and fulfilment of the projects’ individual goals and challenges.
The final class grade will be a result of a combined grade from submitted main projects and participation in project critiques (80%) and the participation in studio class exercises and completion of the assigned artist presentation to the class (20%). Project grading and feedback can generally be expected around 1 week after hand-in.
Late work is not accepted.
Instructor Course Policies
Attendance records will be kept by means of a sign-in sheet for every class meeting. It is the student’s responsibility to sign in at the beginning of each class. Up to three absences will not affect the course grade, four absences will result in a course grade reduction of one full letter grade. The course grade will drop by one letter for every absence after three. In the event of an absence students are responsible for all missed information and class work and for coming prepared to the next class.
See the current student handbook for the college’s attendance policy especially as it pertains to excused absences. Two tardies are considered one unexcused absence. Tardy is defined as in excess of 5 minutes. You will be considered absent if you arrive more than 15 minutes after class start time or if you leave early without making arrangements to do so.
During lectures, group exercises, and critiques: no cell phones, laptops, tablets or personal audio equipment are to be used by students.
On designated ‘studio work days’, where students work on individual projects, the instructor will inform students that they are permitted to use personal audio equipment with headphones. ‘Studio work days’ are set aside for students to work on their projects in class - Participation is mandatory and you will be required to show up on time and stay throughout the entire class unless excused by the instructor.
Civility and academic honesty
Everyone should be referred to by their chosen name, the correct pronunciation of their
name, and their chosen pronoun. Students are expected to assist in maintaining a classroom environment which is conducive to learning. Respect the space, respect the tools, respect each other. In order to assure that all students have an equal opportunity to gain from time spent in class, unless otherwise approved by the instructor, students are prohibited from using cell phones, reading non-class material, sleeping, or engaging in any other form of distraction or disruption.
Students are to be aware of their responsibility as makers and for what they put out into the world, work that is dangerous to themselves, to others, or derogatory to their peers will not be tolerated.
Class AI policy
The use of AI is not permitted in any form in this class and is considered a form of academic dishonesty. This includes but is not limited to: using AI in the generation of final artworks, the generation of preliminary works, designs, or idea creation, and the generation of writing or presentations. Any use of AI will result in the student receiving a failing grade (e.g. 0/20) for the project.
See the current Student Handbook for the college's Academic Integrity policies as they pertain to examinations, plagiarism, classroom behavior, and the process for handling academic misconduct charges.
Food and drink
Food is not permitted in the classroom, but during designated studio work days students may take a snack break in the hallway or the designated breakroom. Drinks - water, tea, coffee etc are permitted in designated areas of classrooms provided they have a lid.
Tobacco products, alcohol, and other substances are not permitted in the classroom.
Other studio policies
Please clean up after yourself. This is a shared space, never leave wet paint on your stool/painting table. Make sure all dirty rags/used paper towels go in the trash at the end of class. Do not leave your work unattended, make sure it is taken away at the end of class or stored correctly in the designated space.
Institutional and Program-Level Policies
All exams will follow the Final Exam Schedule. Students scheduled to take three or more final examinations on one day may request to arrange their examination schedule, so no more than two exams occur on one day.
Requests for early or late exams are considered only under extreme circumstances. Prior to the exam period, the student must file a written request on the Early/Late Exam Form available in the Student One Stop Center, Academic Records, and on the WC portal. The form must be signed by the Instructor and the Academic Dean, approving the alternate exam time. This process must be completed prior to the scheduled exam period.
Undergraduate: FA26 Final Exam Schedule
Out-of-class Work Expectation A minimum of 2 hours of out-of-class student work is expected for each hour of in-class time for traditional face-to-face courses. For online and hybrid courses, the combination of face-to-face time and out-of-class work should be equal to 3 hours per credit hour per week. |
Instructional Course Delivery Definition of Courses |
Academic Integrity Policy The use of generative AI is prohibited except where expressly allowed in assignment instructions. Academic Integrity Policy |
Class Attendance Policy Institutional Class Attendance Policy |