Benjamin Larose

In this course we will focus on disciplinary and interdisciplinary art and design practices of contemporary art production. This team-taught, year-long class explores the materials and techniques of surface, space, and time (2D, 3D, and 4D), as well as the connections and interplay of these areas. Core Studio integrates the formal with the conceptual, traditional with the contemporary, and makes visible a variety of approaches in current cultural production in order to foster the development of students? emerging practices as makers and thinkers. In this interdisciplinary studio course students will be authorized to use a variety of school shops, materials and equipment; including the woodshop, plaster studio, digital lab, sewing machine, hand tools, sound and video production, digital workflows and principles of visual fundamentals. This is a hands-on making class, faculty present artists and content related to a particular toolkit and, or project theme. Every section of Core Studio has shared learning outcomes which are uniquely realized by each Core faculty partnership. Students should expect a fast-paced studio environment. In Core Studio students will complete short assignments as well as longer multi-week projects. Assignments are designed to help students develop their own ideas in relation to the materials, processes, and themes presented by faculty.

Explorations in the design of 'experimental' garments using the basic elements of mass, volume, form and motion. Rather than concerning themselves with current design trends or regular fashion problems, students emphasize bodies as forms in motion or as moving sculpture.

This course cultivates a conceptual and interdisciplinary approach to fashion. Through experimentations in object-making, students will engage with traditional and non-traditional materials and processes to question how objects can engage the body. Emphasis will be placed on function through the exploration of constructive processes and placement to body and space. The course is divided in four topical sections: technique meets body, power in wearability, conceptual artifacts and material matters. Students will be introduced to artists who's work is generally associated with other disciplines but engages fashion, body and garment. For example, artists such as Leigh Bowery, Rebecca Belmore, Brian Jungen, Isa Genzken, and the readings/screenings will vary but may include Susan Sontag's Notes on Camp, Malcolm Gladwell's The Cool Hunt or Robert Friedel's Zipper: An Exploration in Novelty. Course work involves four major projects, one for each topical section, as well as in-class discussions, reading responses and presentations. The occasional field trip and follow up in-class discussion can also be included.

This advanced level course examines the transformation of form and identity with the body. Particular emphasis will be placed on challenging the literal definition of garment through various processes such as draping, deconstruction and reuse. Students will explore scale and materials from hard to soft, flexible and rigid. Projects using found objects and alternative resources will also be introduced. Through various assignments, students will be encouraged to expand outside the common solution, using unfamiliar territories, placing them in new context. Several projects are assigned involving individual and group critiques with development of personal direction related to contemporary issues. Parallel development in sculptural practices and design will also be examined to see the emerging context of garment as art.