Caroline Marie Bellios

In this studio symposium we will explore how we gain knowledge, what we do with it, how we communicate it, and the motivation to gain further knowledge. We will ground our understanding of this cycle in the works of Émilie du Châtelet in the 1700s and Mary Somerville in the 1800s. Both women’s contributions to the physical sciences, in original works and in gathering, processing, and communicating the revolutionary ideas of their time, were crucial and indispensable. Complementing their extraordinary work in science, they contributed to a wide range of human endeavors, from theater and poetry to philosophy and mathematics, all of which had to be balanced by expected societal performances. Their complex lives, built in realms that the majority of their contemporaries could not imagine intersecting, serve as an invitation for you, as an artist, to make and communicate the science of our time as a part of your interdisciplinary practice. Readings will include excerpts of works by Émilie du Châtelet, Mary Somerville, and their biographers. They will also include modern texts about climate change and the communication of climate science. Course work will include labs and activities investigating topics of 18th and 19th century experiments and scientific practices, creative responses to these ideas, weekly assignments to assess factual understanding or synthesis of ideas, and acts of doing that would have been performed by women of those times. In a final project students will translate, transmit, or communicate the modern scientific issues important to them through their own art practice.

In this studio symposium we will explore how we gain knowledge, what we do with it, how we communicate it, and the motivation to gain further knowledge. We will ground our understanding of this cycle in the works of Émilie du Châtelet in the 1700s and Mary Somerville in the 1800s. Both women’s contributions to the physical sciences, in original works and in gathering, processing, and communicating the revolutionary ideas of their time, were crucial and indispensable. Complementing their extraordinary work in science, they contributed to a wide range of human endeavors, from theater and poetry to philosophy and mathematics, all of which had to be balanced by expected societal performances. Their complex lives, built in realms that the majority of their contemporaries could not imagine intersecting, serve as an invitation for you, as an artist, to make and communicate the science of our time as a part of your interdisciplinary practice. Readings will include excerpts of works by Émilie du Châtelet, Mary Somerville, and their biographers. They will also include modern texts about climate change and the communication of climate science. Course work will include labs and activities investigating topics of 18th and 19th century experiments and scientific practices, creative responses to these ideas, weekly assignments to assess factual understanding or synthesis of ideas, and acts of doing that would have been performed by women of those times. In a final project students will translate, transmit, or communicate the modern scientific issues important to them through their own art practice.

If you could only be seen in one outfit for the rest of your life ? what would it be? How would you represent who you are through your choice of silhouette, color, pattern, and texture? In this course we will take a look at art?s ability to freeze moments, and garments, in time. What did the sitter (or the artist) chose to clothe the body? How did fashion and its power of communication function within the time the art work was made? What choices did the artist make to idealize or change their representation of the garments? In statues from Ancient Greece fabrics flow around bodies like liquids, 18th century subjects were often painted in swathes of fabric meant to suggest ancient ideals through similar (impossible) textiles, and today Kara Walker uses those same floating fabrics on bodies to critique less than ideal idealists. To 19th century Impressionists the urgency of Modernity could only be represented by using contemporary garments, today Kehinde Wiley dresses a man on a horse in a hoodie. What clues tell us a figure is a warrior or a captive in work of the Nazca from ancient Peru? How can we read hairstyles in Ukiyo-e paintings from 17th century Japan? What do Jeffery Gibson and Nick Cave want us to see when they create coverings for bodies? And what was Amy Sherald trying to tell us about Michelle Obama? We will utilize the collections of the Art Institute, The Field Museum, and others around the city to look closely, sketch, and research. Students will read, lead discussions, write daily reflections, explore through making, and develop skills in critical looking leading to two short research papers examining works of their choice. In statues from Ancient Greece fabrics flow around bodies like liquids, 18th century subjects were often painted in swathes of fabric meant to suggest ancient ideals through similar (impossible) textiles, and today Kara Walker uses those same floating fabrics on bodies to critique less than ideal idealists. To 19th century Impressionists the urgency of Modernity could only be represented by using contemporary garments, today Kehinde Wiley dresses a man on a horse in a hoodie. What clues tell us a figure is a king in Incan pottery? How can we read hairstyles in Ukiyo-e paintings from Japan? What do Jeffery Gibson and Nick Cave want us to see when they create coverings for bodies? And what was Amy Sherald trying to tell us about Michelle Obama? We will visit the collections of the Art Institute, The Field Museum, and other collections around the city to look closely, sketch, and research. Students will read, lead discussions, write daily reflections, and develop skills in critical looking leading to two short research papers examining works of their choice.

As a project-based course, Fashion Design III teaches primary and secondary topical research, and in the context of a historical and cultural framework, students establish their personal point-of-view in fashion. Students will create in-depth research journals and develop a personal visualization style. Students will learn expansive fabric manipulations that lead to distinct styling and collection development to support capsule collection (three looks) development in intermediate studio. Particular attention is given to the use of color, texture, patterns, and design refinement. Pre req: Student must have completed FASH 2900 or receive instructor permission. Instructor permission will be granted with the completion of any 2 of the following Fashion Design classes: FASH 2002, 2005, 2006, 2010, 2016, 2018, 2023, 3005, 3016, 3033. For Summer 2024, this includes a portfolio review as well.

Intermediate Fashion studio is a co-taught immersive class that furthers the creative and technical development of the ‘thinking and making’ involved in designing tomorrow's fashion. Students build a three look capsule collection based on their personal research, brought alive in shape and material development through garments. In-depth research and personal conviction infuse the conceptual stage, while translating this sensibility into garment concepts requires heightened attention to detail and execution. Students review and develop approaches to express and communicate design concepts, as well as their realization into fashion garments and collections. Throughout, garments and looks are fitted on models in both muslin and fabric.

This class plots domestic histories of design in pursuit of inclusive design and community. Readings, writings, and collective experiments in sewing, cooking, organizing, and caregiving explore the pleasures and constraints of domestic life; adaptation of commercial designs and DIY kits; and plotting design justice futures. Making and writing options are introduced throughout the course and are flexible to students of all skill levels. This course combines making with research to shape our field of study. Historical materials include sewing patterns, feminist housekeeping critiques, and Flaxman Librarys extensive collection of cookbooks. Making projects (no skills/experience required) focus on DIY learning, learning through verbal and visual cues rather than written ones, and collective stitch-n-bitch models. Readings include theories of the family and queer domesticity; disability and illness as a part of home design and adaptation; and feminist and anti-racist critiques of household labor and proposals for liberatory alternatives. All students in this class will make things, engage with a variety of writing modes, and combine traditional research methods with the knowledge gained through making. Reading responses and papers will accompany their practice-based material culture study. Final projects will include a choice of formats incorporating historical research.

This class plots domestic histories of design in pursuit of inclusive design and community. Readings, writings, and collective experiments in sewing, cooking, organizing, and caregiving explore the pleasures and constraints of domestic life; adaptation of commercial designs and DIY kits; and plotting design justice futures. Making and writing options are introduced throughout the course and are flexible to students of all skill levels. This course combines making with research to shape our field of study. Historical materials include sewing patterns, feminist housekeeping critiques, and Flaxman Library’s extensive collection of cookbooks. Making projects (no skills/experience required) focus on DIY learning, learning through verbal and visual cues rather than written ones, and collective “stitch-n-bitch” models. Readings include theories of the family and queer domesticity; disability and illness as a part of home design and adaptation; and feminist and anti-racist critiques of household labor and proposals for liberatory alternatives. All students in this class will make things, engage with a variety of writing modes, and combine traditional research methods with the knowledge gained through making. Reading responses and papers will accompany their practice-based material culture study. Final projects will include a choice of formats incorporating historical research.