Courses

Color in Theory and Practice
In this studio course, we will explore the role of color in art through exercises in a range of media: from paint to digital graphics software. We will discuss principles of color interaction, the composition of different artistic media, and the ways that color functions perceptually and expressively in works of art. We will also investigate the historical relationship between color theories in art and developments in physics, optics, and philosophy; the symbolic dimension of color in different art traditions; and the ways that digital technology has transformed contemporary understandings of color. Students will develop skills and sensitivities around color that can be applied in a variety of artistic practices. No prior artmaking experience is required. (Student who have already completed FYSE 1125 are not eligible to take this course.)

Figuratively Distorted: Creating Characters for Cartoon, Caricature, and Animation
In this introductory class we will explore the human figure and its mannerisms through learning to draw using methods that invent expressive characters. We will learn foundational drawing principles depicting the figure from observation, studying its anatomy and how that manifests human expression. We will see, learn, and use the principles of drawing found in images of humans in the Lascaux Caves and Mayan Reliefs; to expressionists like Egon Schiele; and cartoons from Walt Disney to South Park. Students will develop their own individual cartoon characters and storyboard an archetypical narrative forming a collaborative class animation screened publicly in Twilight. No prior drawing experience is expected. It is a 100 level beginning level class open to and designed for students with no visual artmaking experience. This course will count as a prerequisite towards 300-level courses in the Studio Art Department. 6 hrs lct.

Studio Art I: Drawing
This course is a complete and thorough basic drawing course. Mediums used will be pencil, charcoal, and ink, among others. Work will be done from observation and invention. Line, perspective, value, and composition will be discussed. Assignments will involve students with the formal and technical aspects of drawing and with the idea of drawing as an individual means of expression. No prior drawing experience is assumed or expected. This course is required of all art majors and minors. 6 hrs. lect./lab

Visual Storytelling Through the Lens
This photo-based studio course examines the ways images work together in succession to build narratives. Students will study contemporary and historical approaches to the photo essay in addition to authoring their own stories with images they have taken or sourced by other means. While we will discuss the basics of image making, the class is focused on the sequencing of images. Students may use any type of camera for this class including cell phone cameras and no prior photographic knowledge is required. The class will culminate in a web-based slideshow and printed book projects for each individual student. 6 hrs. lect/dsc.

Topics in Contemporary Art
The term "contemporary art" names not only artworks made over the past half-century, but the art-historical discourse that attempts to explain them, the network of museums and exhibition spaces through which they reach the public, and the global industry in which they are bought and sold. In this course we will examine contemporary art’s relationship to the political, social, and technological developments of our era, attempting to answer the questions: How do we make sense of art produced in the present day? And: How does this art help us understand the world?

Spacing
In this course we will investigate physical structures encountered daily. Buildings, parks, and infrastructure constitute this built environment, reflecting their societies. But what could abolitionist architecture look like, or how might public space in the U.S. create new social relations? Through lenses of race, class, and gender we will build critical vocabularies around the practice of making space. We will focus on the historical and contemporary embodiment of power, race, and culture of the U.S. through the built environment. This studio class will then present a series of projects addressing basic three-dimensional construction and model making techniques. We will engage historical and contemporary artworks, urban planning, architecture, and poetry from perspectives of resistance to dominant modes of constructing space.

Notes from the Woodshed: Sculpture, Abstraction, and Improvisation
This class takes its title from a book of writing by the black American visual artist Jack Whitten (1939-2018). Whitten’s title itself borrows from a tradition in jazz music, ‘the woodshed’ was a metaphorical place to practice, experiment and develop new ideas before taking them public. We engage the classroom as our own ‘woodshed’, creating sculptural form through close looking, response, and improvisation. Students will develop the basic skills and visual language for creating sculpture using wood, foam, Magic-Sculpt, and found materials. We will read Whitten’s book ‘Notes from the Woodshed’, and other texts that contextualize the rich histories of abstract sculpture made by black Americans in the 20th century. No former experience with art is necessary to take this class.

Ruins and Rituals
In this course we will examine monuments, memorials, landscape, and cultural memory. The title comes from a 1979 sculptural work by the black feminist artist Beverly Buchanan. Buchanan has described her works as monuments made from earthen materials to remember acts of black resistance in the United States. We will also investigate recent actions to remove and destroy monuments to confederate soldiers and other figures related to colonial violence. This is a studio class incorporating material experimentation and research. Students will work at model scale using paper, wood, plaster, digital photography, and photoshop to propose (anti)monuments for our time.

Making Art in the 21st Century
What is it to be an artist in the 21st century? How can seeing and making art help us understand our own time and place? In this course, we will examine some of the many permutations of visual artistic practice in our era, trace the art-historical roots of these contemporary forms, and analyze art’s relationship to political, social, and technological developments across the globe. We will focus on the role of context of works of art, comparing works from different cultures and asking how art is shaped by, and responds to, social and historical forces. Students will explore these topics through writing and by creating their own artworks in response to studio- based assignments, employing both traditional and digital art media. No prior art-making experience is required.

Advanced Drawing: Making Your Mark
In this course students will refine their drawing skills, emphasizing personal growth and a deeper exploration of drawing techniques. An understanding of formal pictorial language and how to effectively communicate through visual means will be stressed. Students will draw from observation employing imagination, abstraction, and unconventional approaches. Exposure to the importance and relevance of both contemporary and historical art will occur through image lectures with an emphasis on critical thinking. Exploration of materials will also be discussed. (ART 0155, 0156, 0157, ART 0159, ART 0185, ART 0200 or by approval) ) 6 hrs. lect.

The Art of Pastel Painting
In this class we will study and apply principles of making images using the medium of dry pastels. Pastel-painting involves sticks of dry pigment bound with gum-arabic and applied by the artist’s hand to paper. Used skillfully it is intense, direct, and expressive. Using pastels we will learn color theory and how to control value and perspective by creating images of still-life, interiors, and the human figure. This studio course will also include image-lectures on the history of pastel in art history. (ART 0156, ART 0157 or ART 0159 or ART 0185 or ART 1128 or ART 1129 or THEA 0101).

Hybrid Printmaking
In this course we will examine a range of hybrid printmaking techniques. We will work from observation and imagination. We will explore monoprint, relief, and hand-cut/ digital stencil-making applications. Emphasis on non-traditional approaches will be studied through experimentation and collaboration. Students’ voices will be developed through guided exploration of thematic projects. Texture, value, surface, colors, marks, and pattern will be discussed. Students will be exposed to the importance and relevance of both contemporary art and historical art through image-lectures with an emphasis on critical thinking. Prior drawing experience expected. (Open to students who have taken ART0155, ART0156, ART 0157, ART 0159, ART0185, or ART0200) 6 hrs lab/lct.

Scratching the Surface
In this course we will explore studio instruction in traditional and contemporary methods of intaglio printmaking with a critical emphasis on different methods of working directly on the plate. The general term intaglio (from the Italian intagliare, which means to engrave, carve, or cut) covers a multitude of processes. The incised line in the plate holds the ink while the surface is wiped clean. Only the line prints when paper is placed on the plate and both are run through the etching press. The course is augmented by slide lectures to provide the students with a thorough background in the intaglio medium as well as other drawing based mediums. Depending on resources, students may have the opportunity to be a part of an intensive, collaborative print project to produce an edition of prints with a professional artist. (ART 0157, ART 0158, ART 0159 or by approval) 6 hrs. lect./lab

Silkscreen Printmaking
In this course students will explore the silkscreen medium with guided studio instruction. This will include paper stencil method, film stencil method, photographic stencil method, and multicolor printing. Concentration will be on drawing. Towards the end of the semester, students will learn to use basic computer-aided imagery. Students will explore the roll of silkscreen printing in contemporary art as well as its use in popular culture. Depending on resources, students may have the opportunity to be part of an intensive collaborative print project to produce an edition of prints with a professional artist. (ART 0157, ART 0158, ART 0159 or by approval) 6 hrs. lect./lab

Watercolor Painting
In this studio course we will explore the techniques and principles of watercolor painting through guided exercises and individual projects. Students will work from observation and invention to develop a familiarity with this versatile medium, paying special attention to color mixing and color theory. We will also examine historical and contemporary examples of watercolor painting from around the world. (Any 100-level Studio Art course).

Monoprint Printing
Printmaking is ever present in our society tracing back to impressions of prehistoric hands on cave walls all the way to printed signs used at protests. In this course students will explore direct and immediate approaches to printmaking, which include collographs, collage, rubbings, layering, pochoir (also known as stenciling), and hand painted applications. The possibilities of creating complex prints are infinite and often painterly. Using “ghost prints” and found material as a way to generate materials for making edition variables, students will have the opportunity to create unique impressions from both observation and invention.(Prerequisite any 100 level drawing class or by approval) 6 hrs. lect./lab

Oil Painting Outdoors - Visually Interpreting The Landscape Around Us
In this outdoor lab we will create paintings directly from the fall landscape of Middlebury. Using oil paint we will learn how to set up a palette, deploy color theory in picture-making, and apply spatial principles in composing our paintings. Oil on canvas will be our gateway to understanding the natural world, our built environment, and transitory phenomena of weather and light. A portion of the class will address how to incorporate humans and animals into our images. Lecture and readings will address historical and philosophical ideas of landscape in culture. (one intro drawing course). 6 hrs. lect.

Sculpture I
In this sculpture class we will foreground “process” in the creation of form. We will address a variety of traditional tool and material relationships as well as inventing new and unusual processes with unconventional materials and tools. Parallel to studio-based experimentation we will engage in a weekly practice of critique learning how to process the visual with language. The class will be organized around a series of existing artworks, texts and films that will serve as models to help guide our collective inquiry. (At least one 100 level drawing or digital studio course) 6 hrs. lect/lab

A New World
In this class, students will learn foundational drawing techniques while drawing from observation. Using simple materials like cardboard, 2x4s, burlap, and paper, we will turn the whole classroom into a New World. We will study, shape and determine what kind of new world emerges. Over the course of four weeks, students will produce short animations within this setting of "A New World" using Green Screen technology to combine drawing- and stop-motion animations with 3D Backgrounds. At the conclusion of the month, we will leave this world taking our sketchbooks, drawings and animations (2d and 3d stop motion) as a record of our shared experience. One all-s recording. An all-seeing eye (a wide-angle camera) will capture the rise and fall of this New World in time-lapse. This class counts toward the major as a prerequisite for all 300 level courses. No prior drawing experience is expected. Not open to students who have taken ART0155, ART0156, ART 0157, ART 0159) 9 hrs lab/lct.
Heimo Wallner is a visual artists in whose work animation plays an important role.

The Art of Science: Drawing Nature's Forms
In this studio course we will draw from life. Before the advent of photography, natural history art, in addition to celebrating nature’s beauty, served as an important translator of scientific knowledge. The College’s rich natural history collections (mounted specimens, preserved specimens, eggs, study skins, skeletons, herbaria, live specimens in the greenhouse, etc.) will become both our laboratory and studio where we will investigate, inspect, and record nature, and gain inspiration from it. We will acquire knowledge of natural forms through sustained direct observation and drawing. Artistic media will include graphite, charcoal, gouache, watercolor, ink, and tempera. We will examine examples of natural history art from cultures around the world, from its beginnings to today’s digital scientific illustration. No prerequisites.

Kate Gridley is an award-winning artist whose works are in museums and private collections in the U.S. and abroad. Her work includes portraiture, landscapes, still-lives and botanical illustration in an array of media, including oil paint, graphite, pastel, watercolor, gouache, and egg tempera. Website: kategridley.com

Painting in Oil
A comprehensive beginning oil painting class exploring multiple subjects beginning with a refresh of applied color theory and principles of design. Over four weeks we will work in class from the live model with outside assignments of self-portraiture, interior spaces, and still life subjects. Studio work will be accompanied by weekly image lectures on historical movements from 20th-century modernism to contemporary painting. One previous studio course.

Brian Cirmo is an internationally exhibiting artist and a 2023 recipient of the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant for American painters from the Provincetown Art Association and Museum. Solo exhibitions include Where Teardrops Fall, 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, New York, NY and Projektraum FN, All the Feels, Friedrichshafen, Germany. Artist residencies include the Saltonstall Foundation, the Lake Constance Cultural Department, Salem, Germany, The Vermont Studio Center, and the Elizabeth Murray Artist Residency.

Touching the Surface: Drawing in Latin America
This course is designed to get students acquainted with foundational drawing techniques while also exploring different artists and artistic movements in Latin America who have redefined the medium through their own contexts and approaches to experimentation. We will study artists such as Lygia Clark, Belkis Ayón, Carmen Herrera, Beatriz González, Marisol, María Izquierdo, Felipe Baez, and Teresita Fernandez and unpack artistic movements that shape Latin American art as we know it today which span from around the 14th century to art being made today. Throughout the course, we will question what is considered Latin American and expand our geographical delineations that include Latinx American artists who bring their ancestral histories with them beyond borders and tongues. Dry and wet media will be used as well as some basic sculptural techniques to get a better understanding on the volumetric qualities of depicting space and figures. Students will learn foundational drawing skills such as composition, scale, negative/positive space, contour lines, tonal values, line quality, and personal style. There will be regular class critiques.

Estefania Puerta Grisales is a recent recipient of the 2024 Rome Prize in Visual Arts and has exhibited internationally. She graduated from Yale School of Art in 2018 and currently lives and works in Burlington, Vermont.