Extraordinary Processes

This course investigates the processes through which the ordinary can be transformed into the extraordinary. Fall 2017 will focus on the strategic challenge of turning waste material into a viable consumer product. Working in teams, students will conceive, design, prototype, redesign, brand, package, and display a hanging light fixture for aesthetic enjoyment and domestic consumption. The object will be made entirely from ash wood due to the devastation of Agrilus planipennis, an invasive beetle that has destroyed 20 million+ ash trees in the United States. Readings, labs, and visiting artists will support in-class research and development.

Sample reading list:

Sol Lewitt, Paragraphs on Conceptual Art
Andres Lepik, Small Scale, Big Change
Emily Pilloton, Design Revolution

Reading/Writing assignments:
Bi-weekly readings and/or visiting experts to be discussed. Four studio assignments, three short (two weeks) and one long (six to twelve weeks) in duration, chosen by each student or team of students.

Prerequisites and Restrictions:
Any 200-level VIS studio course OR any 200-level CEE course, PLUS any 200-level ARC, EGR, or MAE course OR 300-level VIS studio course.

Faculty

Sections

U01

Tuesdays, 12:30 - 4:20 p.m.

Instructor(s)

Joe Scanlan