Curriculum

Introduction to Creative Process 

In this course, students are exposed to contemporary artists' studio practices and art in the larger world. Using these examples as possible creative road maps, students will explore various ways to bring their own unique ideas to life through the exploration of materials, processes, and ideas. Throughout the year, students will be engaged in challenges that will enable them to understand that there are a multitude of ways an artist can approach their creative work, and to successfully communicate an idea visually, one needs to generate questions, explore possibilities, and reflect on the creative choices made. We will emphasize skill building alongside the examination of meaning and intention in art-making. Ultimately, students will see that art is a means of exploring, discovering, and expressing one's unique and valuable vision of the world through creative work. The course ultimately seeks to cultivate the skills and thinking necessary to realize a project from start to finish in a deep and meaningful way.

See more here: https://avenuesart.wixsite.com/introcreativeprocess

Mixed Media

Discover how combining media in the studio encourages artists to push boundaries and create unique works of art.  With an emphasis on experimentation, play, and material research, students will be encouraged to investigate how juxtaposing and layering different mediums such as collage, printmaking, and digital components can both expand ideas of what art can be and create truly unique and meaningful artworks.

Digital Photography

Everyone can take a picture, so what makes a photograph truly special? In this course, students will explore the ways in which a photograph can be created and transformed. Beginning with the creative and technical practices of digital photography including camera use, image composition, and editing, we will investigate a variety of ways to approach how image-making can communicate ideas. Additionally, students will experiment with how the camera can become a tool in the studio, activating and altering a photograph through a mixed-media lens. These explorations will culminate in a self-designed project based on a chosen theme.

Drawing and Painting

In this course, students will practice the art of drawing and painting, developing the technical skills to bring their ideas to life. Using observation, imagination, and experimentation, students will explore a wide variety of drawing and painting materials, tools, and techniques. The first semester will focus on assignments to build art vocabulary and the second semester will invite students to pursue their individual passions. The class will examine the work made by artists throughout history as well as the work of contemporary visionaries.

Studio Practice

In this advanced art elective students will take their creativity and curiosity to the next level while also examining their own artistic practices. The variety of media explored will be determined by student interest and may include a combination of photography, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. While students are guided by initial assignments, emphasis is placed on student voice, and opportunities for students to follow unique interests will be supported. Additionally, students can expect to assemble art portfolios and exhibit their work. Visiting galleries and connecting with artists will be an intrinsic part of this class.

See more here: https://sites.google.com/avenues.org/thestudio2021/home

Image and Text

Explore the relationship between text and image through the art of the print. Through investigating the relationship between the written word and the visual image we will explore the importance that language can have in terms of shaping pictures and vice versa. Monoprints, drypoint, and linocut will be mixed with contemporary tools such as Photoshop, digital print methods, and the laser cutter. Traditional and non-traditional artists and ephemera are also explored and discussed.

Printmaking and Pop Culture

What does it mean to create and disseminate visual documents in our time? How do the media, advertising, and pop culture use prints, appropriation, and the multiple? How can printmaking interact with the public, living outside of the studio, gallery, or museum? Looking at print work from pop to the present we will explore how printmaking practices have shaped the way we engage with visual media and how it interacts with the public and saturates our daily lives, living outside of the gallery and museums. Students will create original artworks that live in the world at large and document the process of our images interacting with our community and our surroundings.

Art and Activism

In the context of art-making today, what does it mean to be an artist/activist? What are the possibilities and limitations of artworks that aim to generate social change? What is the artist’s role in society, and what is the future of that role? Students will explore the relationship between artistic practice and social change — and the issues arising at their intersection. Our goal is to question the nature of art, the role of the artist in society, and the ethics and tactics of persuasion. We will delve into artists’ work from the past and present and the social issues that they engage with pertaining to place and time. Experimenting with a variety of materials and processes such as copying, printing, and collage this research will culminate in a self-designed project, either public or private, that they will create and document.

The Sketchbook

Artists have always used some form of record-keeping for collecting ideas, following leads, and testing projects. During this elective, we will explore how contemporary artists generate and research ideas for the work that they make. Questions such as: How, where, and why do artists come up with ideas? How do they do research and collect information for their projects? As we work in our own sketchbooks, students will look at how they can use what they have collected to make a finished work. Through close observation of the creative process, students will discover ways in which they can become independent artists who bring their personal interests to the studio. 

Drawing Lab

This elective is dedicated to the practice of drawing.  Students will explore a variety of drawing materials while developing both technical and conceptual skills related to the medium. Using observation, experimentation, and imagination, students will explore questions such as: What is a drawing in the 21st Century? If we can access images of anything via the internet and snap photos with our phones then what does it mean to make a drawing now?  Looking at and discussing drawings made by artists throughout history, as well as analyzing the work of contemporary artists, will help students to recognize how and why artists have chosen to visually record their thinking.

Mash Up

As we wander the digital landscape, we are consuming amazing amounts of images and ideas at super-fast speeds. This tangled web of information often mixes and overlaps, becoming a random corrupted collage. This remix culture of gathering and sharing is redefining how we think, read, and create. Artists of all genres are creating work utilizing this unlimited treasure trove of source material in interesting ways. The ways in which we can combine, sample, and mash-up ideas and images in creative work are endless. Are these reinventions new messages or are they plagiarized works, or maybe both? Through an investigation into the ideas and works of various artists working in this genre, students will create works of their own in response to the discussions that come out of this exploration.