Visual Arts Courses

Visual Arts

Introduction to Art Making

LCA 101 · Spring 2018

C01 · Mondays & Wednesdays, 11:00 am - 12:20 pm

Instructors: Aynsley Vandenbroucke · Boris Fishman · Daniel Heyman · Jane Cox · Ruth Ochs · Susan Wheeler

How do artists make art? How do we evaluate it? In this course, students of all levels get to experience firsthand the particular challenges and rewards of art making through practical engagement with five fields — creative writing, visual art, theater, dance, and music — under the guidance of professionals.

Drawing I

VIS 202 / ARC 202 · Spring 2018

Multiple sections offered

Instructors: Eve Aschheim · Kurt Kauper

This course approaches drawing as a way of thinking and seeing.

Analog Photography

VIS 211 · Spring 2018

C01 (Jeff Whetstone) · Tuesdays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Jeff Whetstone

An Introduction to the processes of analog photography through a series of problems directed toward the handling of film-based cameras, light-sensitive paper, darkroom chemistry, and printing. Weekly laboratory sessions will explore the critical issues of working with black and white imagery today, supported by slide lectures, readings, and discussions of photography as a documentary tool, a political device, an art form. Class critiques of student work are augmented by feedback from guest photographers.

Graphic Design: Typography

VIS 215 / CWR 215 · Spring 2018

U01 - David Reinfurt · Mondays 1:30 - 4:20 pm and 7:30 - 9:40 pm

Instructors: David Reinfurt

This studio course introduces students to graphic design with a particular emphasis on typography. Students learn typographic history through lectures that highlight major shifts in print technologies and through their engagement in studio design projects.

Introductory Sculpture

VIS 221 · Spring 2018

Multiple sections offered

Instructors: Amy Yao · Nathan Carter

A studio introduction to sculpture, particularly the study of form, space, and the influence of a wide variety of materials and processes on the visual properties of sculpture.

360 Degrees With 7 Storytellers

VIS 223 / CWR 223 · Spring 2018

Multiple sections offered

Instructors: Afia Serena Nathaniel

Through a series of screenings, we will analyze the narrative structure and grammar of films' visuals to spur on an in-depth understanding of story, character, style and theme.

How to Make a Film

VIS 262 · Spring 2018

C01 · Wednesdays, 7:30 - 9:40 pm & Thursdays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Moon Molson

Through hands-on studio work, screenings, critical readings and group critiques, this course teaches the basic tools and approaches for film production with digital media including writing, camerawork, sound, editing, and postproduction.

Documentary Filmmaking

VIS 263 · Spring 2018

S01 - Su Friedrich · Mondays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm & Tuesdays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Su Friedrich

This course introduces students to documentary film production using digital video, with an emphasis on the practical challenges of working in the real world. While students learn the traditional methods of production, they are also encouraged to range widely in their thinking about how to document daily life. Production of videos will be augmented by screenings and readings.

Introductory Printmaking

VIS 309 · Spring 2018

C01 · Mondays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm & 7:30 - 9:40 pm

Instructors: Daniel Heyman

This course introduces techniques of copper plate etching, and relief printing. Assignments focus on applications of various printmaking techniques, while encouraging independent development of subject matter.

The Photographic Apparatus

VIS 311 · Spring 2018

U01 · Tuesdays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Fia Backström

Since its inception, the technical development of photography has arisen out of specific historical and political circumstances that have “naturalized” its practice and ideologically coded its apparatus.

Lighting Design

THR 318 / VIS 318 · Spring 2018

C01 · Wednesdays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Jane Cox

An introduction to the art and craft of lighting design for the stage and an exploration of light as a medium for expression.

The Port of New Orleans: Culture and Climate Change

VIS 325 / ENV 315 / URB 325 · Spring 2018

C01 · Wednesdays, 12:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Jeff Whetstone

New Orleans is decades ahead of any other U.S. city with respect to climate change. The city's culture embodies exuberance and improvisation, and inspires confidence, openness, and collaboration.

Pathological Color

VIS 326 · Spring 2018

C01 · Wednesdays, 12:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: James Welling

This course will examine photography's ongoing negotiation of evolving color technologies.

Introduction to Screenwriting: Writing for a Global Audience

CWR 349 / VIS 349 · Spring 2018

C01 · Wednesdays, 1:30 - 3:50 pm

Instructors: Christina Lazaridi

How can screenwriters prepare for the evolving challenges of our global media world? What types of content, as well as form, will emerging technologies make possible? This class will use fairytales, films, games and new media to illustrate universal script principles while creating a rich interdisciplinary lens to explore the innovative intersection of narrative screenwriting, science and technology.

Painting II

VIS 404 · Spring 2018

U01 · Tuesdays, 12:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Pam Lins

This class will focus on how current painting considers the human figure.

Advanced Questions in Photography

VIS 411 · Spring 2018

C01 · Tuesdays, 12:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Deana Lawson

This class examines ways in which lens-based media can frame the figure within different social, cultural, and emotional landscapes.

Advanced Graphic Design

VIS 415 · Spring 2018

U01 · Mondays, 12:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: David Reinfurt

This studio course builds on the skills and concepts of the 200-level Graphic Design classes.

Advanced Graphic Design

VIS 415 · Spring 2018

U01 · Tuesdays, 12:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: David Reinfurt

This studio course builds on the skills and concepts of the 200-level Graphic Design classes.

Spring Film Seminar

VIS 419 · Spring 2018

S01 · Mondays, 7:30 - 9:40 pm

Instructors: Su Friedrich

This class concentrates on the editing process. Students will re-edit samples from narrative and documentary films and analyze the results. We will also critique ongoing edits of your own thesis films.

Advanced Sculpture

VIS 421 · Spring 2018

U01 · Tuesdays, 12:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Martha Friedman

This class will engage contemporary approaches to the figure and the various ways that artists contest, assimilate, and reckon with the human body in sculpture.

Grandma’s Russian Painting: A New Performative Installation

ATL 495 / VIS 495 / MTD 495 / THR 495 · Spring 2018

S01 · Tuesdays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Basil Twist · Ljova Zhurbin

This course is centered around the development of a new performative installation by puppeteer Basil Twist entitled ‘Grandma’s Russian Painting’ inspired by childhood memories of an elaborate painting Twist’s grandmother had near her swimming pool in the desert.

Rising Waters: A Climate Change Game

ATL 497 / VIS 497 · Spring 2018

S01 · Wednesdays, 1:30 - 4:20 pm

Instructors: Matt Parker

This course will focus on the development of a commercial game about climate change, giving students the opportunity to contribute to a piece with broad social impact.