Jasper Goodrich

How is print fundamental to artistic practice? Students will have two seven-week sections learning fundamentals, exploring ways in which artists utilize processes to facilitate print media based projects. Projects will encourage students to critically examine how print services concept and context both historically and within the contemporary. Each thematic section is anchored in a specific print process aimed to establish skill acquisition and experimentation. Sections in Room 221 and 222 will concentrate on experimental and innovative processes in Screenprinting and Lithography; the section meeting in Room 223 will explore contemporary practices using Relief, etching, monotypes, stencils, and collagraphs.

Faculty will conduct process demonstrations, introduce students to a history of practitioners in the graphic arts, and provide supporting readings. Print processes covered may include screen printing, relief, monotypes, photo plate lithography, book arts. Topics will vary but may include the multiple, seriality, editions, public address, progression of collage, and self-publishing. Learning will be aided with visits to the AIC Department of Prints and Drawings and the Joan Flasch Artists Books Collection

For the beginning student this course offers a concentrated introduction to the entire stencil making and printing process. The advanced student may explore the more sophisticated techniques of digital and photographic stencil-making, photo-mechanical darkroom and printing work.

In this studio course, students will explore relief printmaking techniques using woodblocks, linoleum, found-objects, foam, monoprints and digital processes. Students will learn how to properly carve, ink, and print blocks in order to create editions as well as experiment with non-traditional formats. Students will be exposed to the rich history of relief printmaking through traditional and contemporary examples, specifically works from AIC and SAIC collections. Returning students will expand upon previous projects and develop new approaches to exploring content and understanding relief techniques.

Students will be exposed to a wide variety of artists from the long and rich history of relief printmaking. We will examine artists who work traditionally within the medium, as well as artists who depend upon contemporary technology to create prints. Some of the artists we will explore in this course include Durer, Hokusai, Masereel, Mendez, Zarina and Baumgartner.

Over the course of the semester, students will create 10-20 prints that show an understanding of the various relief techniques demonstrated by the instructor. Students will also participate in a print exchange folio at the end of the course. Projects will be critiqued throughout the semester.

What are the concerns that drive one's creative practice? How does one set the terms for its future development? Sophomore Seminar offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. Students will examine historical and contemporary influences and contextualize their work in relation to the diverse art-worlds of the 21st Century. Readings, screenings, and field trips will vary each semester. Presentations by visiting artists and guest speakers will provide the opportunity for students to hear unique perspectives on sustaining a creative practice. One-on-one meetings with faculty will provide students with individualized mentorship throughout the semester. During interdisciplinary critiques, students will explore a variety of formats and tools to analyze work and provide peer feedback. The class mid-term project asks students to imagine a plan for their creative life and devise a self-directed course of study for their time at school. The course concludes with an assignment asking students to develop and document a project or body of work demonstrating how the interplay of ideas, technical skills, and formal concerns evolve through iteration, experimentation and revision.

Prerequisite: Must be a sophomore to enroll.