Courses
Painting and Drawing
An extensive study of a particular topic or technique in painting. Topics vary each semester.
Credits: 3
Observational drawing of the figure is a vehicle to comprehend drawing as visual language. Drawing fundamentals are employed as tools in intense observation of the human form. Such elements as gesture, contour, line, mass, and movement are introduced in critiques and slide presentations. Materials include pencil, charcoal, wash, and various wet and dry media.
Credits: 3
This course involves drawing the figure on a large scale from direct observation of the model and various sculptural, two-dimensional, or digitally based sources. Form, gesture, and composition are stressed in large-scale, fast-to-slow drawing. Assignments in anatomy, photography, narrative, memory, and art history are used to develop concepts for representation of the figure. Analysis, critique, and experimentation are components of the course.
Credits: 3
Students work independently, choosing their subjects and approach to painting under the guidance of a faculty member. Critical thinking is promoted in critiques and discussion of readings. Students’ work is considered in the context of contemporary painting as they attempt to define their individual sensibility and concerns in preparation for (or in complement to) the MFA graduate project.
Credits: 3
Students paint the human form from direct observation while examining conceptual frameworks surrounding the genre. Key topics are anatomy, process, palette, craft, observation and scale. As students build these foundational skills they also discover their own relationship to depicting the body. Exposure to relevant artistic influences will occur through presentations, readings, in person viewing, and independent research.
Credits: 3
Students work outside the studio from direct observation. Invention and unique responses are encouraged. Sites have included Grand Central Station, the Rockefeller Estate, the Westchester County Airport, and various locations on campus.
Credits: 3
By treating the sketchbook as a portable studio, students will develop an understanding of first-hand research, sequence, and methods for translating experiences into narrative artworks. Students will work in a variety of media from drawing, water-based painting, and basic digital processes, to experimental book forms.
Credits: 3
Contemporary and more traditional approaches to painting materials and techniques are examined. Topics include pigments, solvents, supports, media, and their technical applications.
Credits: 3
Photography
Students investigate the history and practical construction of the photo book. Numerous narrative strategies are explored as predominant vehicles for still photography and photo-related imagery. Students work toward self-publishing their own book over the semester. This course is best suited for students who have a body of images that they would like to explore in book form.
Credits: 3
This introduction to the basic techniques and concepts of analog black-and-white photography covers the mechanics of light and exposure, film development, silver printing, and critique.
Credits: 3
Nonsilver photo processes involve the use of alternatives to traditional photographic paper. Students work with collotype, a continuous-tone printing process that is one of the earliest photographic processes. Other nonsilver photographic processes (e.g., cyanotype, platinum/palladium printing, photogravure, Iris prints, Polaroid transfer) are also studied.
Credits: 3
In this visual and conceptual investigation of photographic imagery, visual narrative strategies and literary methods like memoir, diary, confession, and autobiography are used.
Credits: 3
A seminar and critique in which visual and conceptual notions of photographic imagery are filtered through philosophical, psychological, and cultural interpretations of dream and reality. The seminar includes readings, discussion, visual exercises, and group critique.
Credits: 3
The basic concepts and techniques concerning field and view cameras, including the use of swings, tilts, shifts, and rises, are covered. Assignments deal with portraits, still life, architecture, and landscapes and the particular problems and opportunities each presents.
Credits: 3
Photographs and the moving image have been deeply intertwined since the advent of the photography. To understand what photographs really are we must look at what they are not. With an emphasis on contemporary art practices students explore the space between the photograph and the moving image. Class will be a combination screenings, lectures and critiques looking at how the moving image changes our understanding of photography.
Credits: 3
An exploration of color and the digital photographic image. Students are introduced to digital RAW capture, color film scanning, and inkjet printing. Adobe software is used for image editing. Includes hands-on work, theory, and the history of both color photography and photo-image manipulation. Students must own a digital SLR camera; please contact the School of Art+Design for specifications.
Credits: 3
A practical investigation of narrative strategies as a predominant aspect of still photography and photo-related imagery. Sequence, series, the grid, linear and nonlinear approaches, and literary models are explored as the deep structure of subject. In addition to assigned readings and visual exercises, students complete a self-directed project in consultation with the instructor, resulting in a portfolio of images, a book, and/or a photographic installation.
Credits: 3
A practical investigation of narrative strategies as a predominant aspect of still photography and photo-related imagery. Sequence, series, the grid, linear and nonlinear approaches, and literary models are explored as the deep structure of subject. In addition to assigned readings and visual exercises, students complete a self-directed project in consultation with the instructor, resulting in a portfolio of images, a book, and/or a photographic installation.
Credits: 3
Extensive study of a particular topic or technique in photography; topics vary each semester. May be taken a second time for credit.
Credits: 3
Examine the multiple uses and histories of the photographic image across various geographies, focusing on its links to cultural life in the broad sense. Locate elements of photography’s art history within the socio-political context of its various uses. Consists of lectures, screenings and field trips. Students will be evaluated in discussion, as well as via essays and in an exam.
Credits: 2
Continuing from Social History of Photography I, students examine the multiple uses and histories of the photographic image across various geographies, focusing on its links to cultural life in the broad sense. Locate elements of photography’s art history within the socio-political context of its various uses. Consists of lectures, screenings and field trips. Students will be evaluated in discussion, as well as via essays and in an exam.
Credits: 2
An exploration of color and the digital photographic image. Students are introduced to digital RAW capture, color film scanning, and inkjet printing. Adobe software is used for image editing. Includes hands-on work, theory, and the history of both color photography and photo-image manipulation. Students must own a digital SLR camera; please contact the School of Art+Design for specifications.
Credits: 3
In this continuation of PHO5660, larger work as well as more complex editing and printing methods are explored. Techniques covered include advanced film scanning and sharpening, noise reduction, compositing, and masks. Students are challenged to find ways in which their technical decisions can clarify their artistic intentions. Includes hands-on work, theory, and the history of conceptual photography. Students must own a digital SLR camera; contact the School of Art+Design for specifications.
Credits: 3
Printmaking
Students explore ways in which print media can be integrated with time-based (4-D) media and animation. Using the cross-disciplinary potential of printmaking and its inclination toward variation, alteration, and seriality as a starting point, students learn methods of analog and digital animation to make works that move their ideas to the dynamic, temporal space that 4-D media occupies.
Credits: 3
An intensive, weeklong off-campus course that takes place on the occasion of a professional conference or residency offered at different national or international locales each year. With the goal of providing professional opportunities and meaningful connections to the broader printmaking/art community, students participate in the full scope of events available: demonstrations, lectures, panel discussions, portfolio exchanges, and exhibitions.
Credits: 1
The field of printmaking is an ongoing negotiation between artists and historic processes, commercial technologies, and social structures. Weekly topics—the multiple, the copy, aura, simulacra, repetition, mechanical reproduction, the human touch, technical or historical determinism, chance operations, process art, the image, appropriation, and sampling—are coupled with studio research to explore how concepts from contemporary art intersect with printmaking.
Credits: 3
Digital tools offer ways of making between image and object, lens and plate, screen and paper. Expanding their skills, students translate work into digital print forms. Technical skills include wide-format printing and hybrid printmaking techniques employing laser engraver, vinyl cutter, CNC router, and 3-D printers to produce works or matrices for traditional relief, intaglio, and screen printing.
Credits: 3
Lithography is the closest printmaking technique to direct drawing. Students are taught how to create images on lithographic stones, aluminum plates, and photolithography plates. The goal is for students to develop a series of personal images that emphasize the graphic potential inherent in lithography. Individual and group critiques challenge students’ methods and ideas while aiming to improve their skills.
Credits: 3
Woodcutting is the oldest printmaking technique and considered the most direct of the printmaking processes. Using wood and linoleum, students learn the varied techniques of relief printmaking. They explore a variety of carving methods, print by hand and on press, and register multiple-layer prints. Reduction, multiblock techniques, color, and digital techniques are covered. Experimentation and combining approaches are encouraged.
Credits: 3
Screen printing, also known as serigraphy, is valued for its versatility, ease of working on a large scale, quality of color, and ability to integrate hand-drawn, photographic, and digital imagery. In this course, students learn a variety of techniques for creating layered images on paper, fabric, and other surfaces. They are challenged to create expressive works in new ways, bringing complexity, depth, and refinement to their imagery.
Credits: 3
Papermaking is a particularly flexible and adaptable medium that blends aspects of printmaking, painting, and sculpture. In this course, paper is explored in both its flat, two-dimensional aspect and as a three-dimensional sculptural object. Students learn how paper is made by viewing demonstrations of pulping, dying, pressing, pouring, casting, and spraying paper pulp
Credits: 3
Explores the use of printmaking and drawing techniques to create unique works while allowing experimentation and a more open adaptation of printmaking. Students are introduced to such techniques as monotype, stencil, photo transfer, collage, collograph, chine collé, and embossing. Assignments help students develop the ability to use drawing and printmaking as tools for inquiry and studio experimentation.
Credits: 3
From Rembrandt to Kiki Smith, artists have used intaglio processes to generate marks ranging from the precise and detailed to the physical and expressive. Students explore such techniques as engraving, etching, aquatint, drypoint, and photo transfer. Independent projects, demonstrations, and critiques guide students toward creating a body of prints that deploy these various media to shape their creative ideas.
Credits: 3
In preparation for the professional world, students are exposed to contemporary practices in printmaking and to the New York art world through visits to museum study rooms, artists’ studios, print workshops, publishers, artists’ collectives, and other venues. Topics include portfolio development, résumé writing, artists’ statements, applying for grants, project proposals, and looking at ways that one’s work overlaps and intersects with the larger context of printmaking and contemporary art. Student-funded travel required.
Credits: 3
Students are challenged to contextualize their printmaking skills within contemporary conceptual practices. A series of weekly critical theory readings, seminars, and slide lectures introduces how printmaking today functions as an artistic strategy beyond the traditional boundaries of the medium. Studio assignments requiring advanced research follow in tandem with the critical issues explored.
Credits: 3
Explores large-scale and monumental works that expand the definition of printmaking. Such projects as installations, interventions, and site-specific works are made within the framework of print-based concepts and methods. Students are introduced to oversize printing techniques, repeat imagery for large-scale works, and unconventional printing surfaces.
Credits: 3
Covers the traditional methods of Japanese water-based woodblock prints, known for their subtle tonal variations, blending of colors, and color intensity. All aspects of the process are covered, including proper care and use of the carving tools, preparing and carving wood blocks, hand-printing using the baren, Japanese papers, water-based pigments, and the kento registration system.
Credits: 3
In this survey of the historical significance of printmaking, the focus is on understanding the history of print media and its influence on culture in Europe, Asia, and the New World. Students explore both the history of printmaking and its intertwined relationship to the history of art. Of prime concern are the unique and distinct characteristics of each printmaking process.
Credits: 3
Monotype is a bridge between painting and printmaking. Students use brushes, paints, inks, rollers, and drawing implements to create unique prints from a Plexiglas or metal plate. The nature of the process allows students the freedom to work in a direct, spontaneous manner leading to gestural images and textured surfaces.
Credits: 3
All aspects of the limited-edition artist’s book are explored. Students are taught that, by the act of turning pages, they can express the continuity of an idea flowing through a near-cinematic continuum. Students realize the potential of narrative, sequence, and pacing, together with the importance of combining word and image. Discussions include letterpress, binding, other bookmaking techniques, and printmaking media.
Credits: 3
Focuses on the development of the student’s narrative voice through word and image. Students learn basic bookbinding with an emphasis on development of subject matter and ways of storytelling. Rhythm and timing are examined as components of narrative structure. Unique works, small editions, and collaborative projects are made, using media chosen by each student.
Credits: 3
With the dual goal of developing content while pushing to the boundary of the medium, students learn to use experimental structures and a variety of media in the making of their own artist’s book. Experience is gained in book forms ranging in scale from intimate to grand, and with making sculptural books and books as installation.
Credits: 3
The artist’s book is a time-based medium that occupies three-dimensional space. In this course, students learn how to approach the structured use of time in the book form and incorporate book structures and image-making techniques in their own content for artists’ books. Bookbinding demonstrations, critiques, readings, and field trips are important components of the course.
Credits: 3
Covers practical knowledge to prepare students for a professional career in printmaking and the fine arts. Different aspects of a studio career are covered, including résumés, artists’ statements, documenting work, grants, residencies, artists’ taxes, exhibition planning, graduate school applications, and creating a Web presence. Students create a professional file, apply for grants and/or residencies, and conduct research on artistic opportunities.
Credits: 3
Sculpture
Students produce forms in clay or wax and cast them in bronze. The traditional methods of lost-wax casting are explored, and students participate in all aspects of bronze foundry work.
Credits: 3
Instruction in acetylene gas welding and all the tools required for direct metal fabrication of sculpture. The focus varies each semester (within the parameters of contemporary, nonfigurative sculpture) and includes the refining of technical form-making and welding skills.
Credits: 3
The specific visual and structural properties of wood are discussed with application to both functional and nonfunctional sculpture. Basic construction and forming techniques are introduced.
Credits: 3
An introduction to performance art as a creative, visual, experiential, and time-based medium. Through structured projects, students learn ways to create and document performance pieces. Projects may include live performances, video and photo documentation of private actions, interactive pieces, and sculpture/installation works. Through presentation and lectures, students are introduced to significant historical and contemporary works. All mediums and backgrounds welcome.
Credits: 3
Focuses on clay as a sculptural medium with emphasis on process and the development of sculptural ideas. Various techniques are taught, including slab building, modeling, and some mold making for clay.
Credits: 3
Takes advanced students through the process leading to the fabrication and installation of a public art commission. Students answer a call for proposals; create a professional-level response, including a written statement, model, drawings, budget, and fabrication schedule; and present to a committee of experts for appraisal. This course is especially recommended to any student considering making a public art proposal for the Purchase College campus.
Credits: 3
Various methods used to make sculptural multiples are explored. Mold-making techniques are taught in clay, glass, paper, and mixed media. Assignments focus on achieving technical expertise and understanding the use of the multiple in contemporary sculpture.
Credits: 3
An introduction to and overview of the fundamentals of animation as a conceptual and technical medium. Students learn the historical and conceptual background of animation and create a series of works within the medium. In addition to digital video and still camera skills, the class explores stop motion, 2-D, and 3-D animation in combination with traditional practices, including painting, drawing, sculpture, and printmaking.
Credits: 3
This intensive exploration of installation art consists of a series of temporary projects that explore site-specific work, which may include a variety of media. Taking into account the range of sensory experience, space and time take on a greater importance than in object-based art works.
Credits: 3
Sound is explored as material in the context of the visual arts, using DAT recorders, sampling, synthesis, processing, computers, sensor control, and MIDI systems. Projects may include making sonic instruments, sounding objects, and experimental video; ambient, interactive, performative, and multimedia installations; and surround-sound DVDs. Advanced technological means enable uncharted explorations in the time-based arts.
Credits: 3
Students explore and create sound events and installations from a sculptural and an architectural perspective. This includes listening, recording, playing back, and simulating sound in space. Tools include multichannel systems, the KDFX processor, Ableton Live, Max, MIDI, Open Sound Control (OSC), and handmade instruments/circuits. Collaborations and workshops enable advanced students to plan, construct, budget, and document sonic events in public spaces. Students should have some experience with sound mixing and recording.
Credits: 3
Investigates fabrication techniques for building complex structures with the use of computer-aided-manufacturing machines, such as laser cutters, CNC routers, 3-D printers, and vacuum forming. Focusing on such concepts as “design for the other 90 percent,” modular architecture, scalability, material translations, and simple kinetic components, students are asked to reflect on their manufactured environment and respond to it.
Credits: 3
General Visual Arts
Students meet weekly with a writing professional to develop their graduate theses, developing working bibliographies and submitting regular assignments and drafts of the final project.
Credits: 3
Students use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the art-making process, exploring different methods for collaboration with AI's. Students explore how the AI's were taught, their defaults or biases, what they reveal about our world and themselves, ethical questions and future implications. The course is centered on hands-on learning through direct experience and reflection, augmented with readings, lectures, and discussion.
Credits: 1
Explore the sociopolitical dimensions of the arts across diverse creative outlets. Students examine and make art in relation to the politics of power in society, and engage the activist dynamics of artistic expression with regards to persistent forms of inequality and oppression.
Credits: 6
Provides pedagogical methods for the graduate teaching assistantship experience. Students examine different approaches to the teaching of art through readings, discussions, and research. Topics and activities include syllabi formatting, common teaching problems, role-playing classroom situations, and course development.
Credits: 3
Faculty members bring students to the studios of artists in New York City in order to gain an understanding of varieties of individual creative practices. Addressing their background and training, artists demonstrate ways of surviving in today’s challenging art world. Readings and writing complement the visits, helping students to assimilate and process their experience in the field.
Credits: 3
Students visit a variety of professionals—dealers, curators, editors, grant-writing specialists, et al.—at their home bases in galleries, museums, nonprofits, publications, foundations, and other institutions to learn about how the art world functions. Readings and writing complement the visits, helping students to assimilate and process their experience in the field.
Credits: 3
Students engage in intensive weekly group critiques with a full-time faculty member. Critiques are based on students’ evolving practices and are intended to hone both their artistic development and ability to articulate and communicate their observations on their own and their classmates’ endeavors. Throughout the semester, visiting artists, critics, and curators provide additional individual critiques.
Credits: 3
An extensive study of a particular topic or technique in the studio arts. Topics vary each semester.
Credits: 3
A reading and writing seminar designed to complement and enrich studio practice and group critiques. Students are expected to fully participate in classroom discussions based on critical and theoretical reading on topics determined by the instructor.
Credits: 3
Each MFA student meets regularly with a studio sponsor. All MFA students work independently in semiprivate studio spaces and have access to the majority of the school’s facilities. During the academic year, graduate students have 24-hour access to their studios. Successful completion of each graduate studio is a prerequisite for the following semester’s graduate studio.
Credits: 3
Each MFA student meets regularly with a studio sponsor. All MFA students work independently in semiprivate studio spaces and have access to the majority of the school’s facilities. During the academic year, graduate students have 24-hour access to their studios. Successful completion of each graduate studio is a prerequisite for the following semester’s graduate studio.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: VIS5801
Each MFA student meets regularly with a studio sponsor. All MFA students work independently in semiprivate studio spaces and have access to the majority of the school’s facilities. During the academic year, graduate students have 24-hour access to their studios. Successful completion of each graduate studio is a prerequisite for the following semester’s graduate studio.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: VIS5802
Each MFA student meets regularly with a studio sponsor. All MFA students work independently in semiprivate studio spaces and have access to the majority of the school’s facilities. During the academic year, graduate students have 24-hour access to their studios. Successful completion of each graduate studio is a prerequisite for the following semester’s graduate studio.
Credits: 3
PREREQ: VIS5803
Students assist faculty members with the delivery of an undergraduate studio course. Duties include grading, critiques, lecture/demonstrations, and other tasks assigned by the faculty sponsor. Graduate students interested in teaching must participate as a teaching assistant and take VIS 5150 at least once before being allowed to independently teach a course.
Credits: 2
PREREQ: VIS5150