Amy Yoes

Siena is a hill town in Tuscany that was first settled by the Etruscans in 900 ¿ 400 BC. It reached its peak as a political, economic and artistic center in the Medieval period from 1150 ¿ 1350 AD. During those years it prospered, enjoying a ¿golden¿ era as an independent republic with a representative government, where enlightened trade and economic philosophies fostered modern banking practices and distinctive styles of painting, sculpture, and architecture developed in the service of aesthetic pleasure and civic pride. Today, Siena¿s historic center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the city¿s art, medieval architecture, museums, archives, university and cuisine are internationally renowned.
Living the Past in the Present will use the archival and cultural resources there to give young artists greater insight into how historical interests and study can serve as a catalyst for their own growth and work as contemporary artists and thinkers. We will be interacting with artists, historians, archivists, art and architecture conservators, scientists and ordinary Sienese to understand how the experience of growing up, living, working and creating in a place with hundreds of years of vibrant historical and cultural traditions affects contemporary identity and expression.
Our time on the study trip will primarily be used for visiting and learning about sites, collections, and the people who study and live amongst them. We will also be gathering reference information to document what we are looking at and learning about: sketches, drawings, lists, diagrams, photographs, research notes, and reflective writing. There will be two assignments (one studio, one academic) that we will work on in Siena.

This class will provide students with skills and knowledge to translate two dimensional printed cloth into three dimensional sculptural forms. Students will explore various strategies for creating three-dimensional works using screen printed fabrics, and they will also learn a range of screen printing techniques. Students will learn how to create a range of hanging and installation structures using wood, dowels, rope, string, found objects, and other materials. Tools like the plotter/cutter and heat press will also enable students to expand the scope of their 2D and 3D print explorations. The flexibility of fabric will be deployed in the creation and assembly of sculptural forms that can be portable and expandable. No prior print experience is required.

Works by artists including Lara Schnitger, Sam Gilliam, Alan Shields, Joe Overstreet, Al Loving, Judy Pfaaf, Phyllida Barlow, Ree Morton, Robert Rauschenberg, Lygia Pape, Jessica Jackson Hutchins, Dorothea Rockburne, Carla Accardi, Lucy Orta, Lina Bo Bardi, Michelle Segre, Brian Eno, Helio Oiticica, and Do So Huh will be presented. Technical demonstrations, visual presentations, and discussions, will be augmented by assigned readings and experimental texts exploring space, place, spatial composition and design, charts, and architecture by authors including E.H. Gombrich, William Davenport, Marina Warner, Bernard Rudofsky, and Miwon Kwon.

Students will complete three studio projects for critique organized around themes of spatial design, improvisation, and site-specificity. Other assignments can include reading responses, samples and in-class experiments, keeping a sketchbook / record of ideas, and/or material and technical research.

When we involve others in our art-making, unexpected and exciting ideas can arise. This class explores the way in which artists call on the skills and expertise of others in order to realize their work and collaborate. ¿Experts' can come from SAIC departments, fellow classmates, and outside fabricators. Need a biologist to get the information you need to carry out your idea? An engineer? Need funds? Trade labor. Trade art. Bring it to public attention? Enlist a curator. Students will document their experiences and the trajectory of the process. Each class will begin with student presentations on artists that Work Well With Others. Critiques, discussions, and individual meetings create a group dynamic that is rewarding and challenging.

This class enables students to develop personal conceptual concerns and expand their existing knowledge of a range of print processes within the expanded field of FMS. Independently guided projects will be based on students' proposals and the development of conceptual inquiries in conjunction with appropriate methods and material. Students will advance their printing techniques at it relates to their individual directions. Advanced techniques include; large scale, repeat structures, color layering, CMYK and experimental alternative processes. The relevance of screen-printing, what it offers the expanded field of contemporary art/design practice and issues of display and installation will be discussed and explored.

Students work within the communal studios that are FMS (print, dye, and sewing labs, and the Textile Resource Center) creating a foundational peer driven atmosphere. Writing will be practiced and discussed in relation to an artist statement and project proposals. Student driven research guides project development and is supported with critiques, readings and exhibition visits.

Students present finished and in-process work at several critiques over the course of the semester.