aCademiC Catalog 2013-2014 - Lorenzo de Medici

TUSCANIA
School of Creative Arts
Discover Painting: Tuscania through Color
and Space
PDM 187 T
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 90
How is space constructed through the use of color? What is
pictorial space? Why is color such an important element in
design? What does space do to the content of a painting? How
does color contribute to the expression of content? Why and
how did the painters of the early Christian era use mosaic? How
did they express abstract concepts through the design of space
and color? How can spiritual content be achieved through the
understanding of space, color, form and material? These are
some of the questions that will be addressed in this course,
and we will seek answers to them through actual painting
experience, using the extraordinarily beautiful setting of
Tuscania as a backdrop. Students will be guided and stimulated
to engage in visual research work that will give insight to their
personal pictorial language. The highlight of the course will
consist of a series of visits to early Christian churches in and
around Tuscania as sources of inspiration. As a general rule,
students will be taken once every other week to a historic
location to paint and then complete the project in the homebased
studio under the guidance of the instructor.
Discover Painting: Tuscania through Color
and Space (Summer only)
PDM 188 T
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 60
How is space constructed through the use of color? What is
pictorial space? Why is color such an important element in
design? What does space do to the content of a painting? How
does color contribute to the expression of content? Why and
how did the painters of the early Christian era use mosaic? How
did they express abstract concepts through the design of space
and color? How can spiritual content be achieved through the
understanding of space, color, form and material? These are
some of the questions that will be addressed in this course,
and we will seek answers to them through actual painting
experience, using the extraordinarily beautiful setting of
Tuscania as a backdrop. Students will be guided and stimulated
to engage in visual research work that will give insight to their
personal pictorial language. The highlight of the course will
consist of a series of visits to early Christian churches in and
around Tuscania as sources of inspiration. As a general rule,
students will be taken once every other week to a historic
location to paint and then complete the project in the homebased
studio under the guidance of the instructor.
Telling Stories in Pictures
PDM 192 T
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 90
This course is designed for students who want to increase
their practical knowledge of illustration and drawing, and for
those who would like to acquire a deeper knowledge of iconic
traditions of the popular and applied arts of Southern Italy,
particularly those of Sicily. We will start with an overview of
a communicative artefact, namely a traditional story board
made by a Sicilian storyteller. Students will learn how to set
the story in context. (What was the purpose, who created it,
and why.) The class will then examine the artefact as a whole
through de-contextualization and reuse of the story board
and image panels in a contemporary manner. Students will
have the opportunity to create their own visual tradition in a
contemporary illustrative format. These concepts will start with
the communicative visual traditions typical of Southern Italy –
that extends also to the Maremma and Tuscany and Latium.
Students will finally create a personal visual book which can be
used in different ways: as a poster for story telling, as an artistic
artefact, or as a story board for a video.
Telling Stories in Pictures (Summer Only)
PDM 193 T
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 60
This course is designed for students who want to increase
their practical knowledge of illustration and drawing, and for
those who would like to acquire a deeper knowledge of iconic
traditions of the popular and applied arts of Southern Italy,
particularly those of Sicily. We will start with an overview of a
communicative artefact, namely a traditional storyboard made
by a Sicilian storyteller. Students will learn how to set the story
in context. (What was the purpose, who created it, and why.)
The class will then examine the artefact as a whole through decontextualization
and reuse of the storyboard and image panels
in a contemporary manner. Students will have the opportunity
to create their own visual tradition in a contemporary illustrative
format. These concepts will start with the communicative visual
traditions typical of Southern Italy – that extends also to the
Maremma and Tuscany and Latium. Students will finally create
a personal visual book which can be used in different ways: as
a poster for story telling, as an artistic artefact, or as a story
board for a video.
Tuscania Oil Painting Workshop
PDM 207 T
Cr: 6; Contact hrs: 90
This special summer course takes place in Central Italy, in an
area that includes what was once the land of the ancient and
intriguing Etruscan civilization. The ancient cities and towns of
Tuscania, Tarquinia, Orvieto, Civita di Bagnoregio, Rome and
the Lake Bolsena will be the field locations visited during the
course. These visits will include open air painting sessions at
specific sights known for their suggestive aesthetic qualities,
as well as visits to three of the main Etruscan museums in Italy
that will enable students to observe Etruscan art first hand and
to sketch on site. The workshop focuses on observation of the
landscape as well as on the architectural and historical richness
offered by these locations. A great deal of attention will be
given to the creative interpretation of nature, architectural
details and historical sites. Color theory and line, form and
proportions will be studied, all based on observation. Particular
emphasis will be given to the interplay of light and color as key
elements in a painting’s mood. Students will be based at the
LdM School in Tuscania and, when not on site, classes will be
held here. Tuscania is an ancient Etruscan hilltown nearby the
seaside.
Tuscania Sketchbook
PDM 231 T
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 60
This course involves sketching in town and countryside sites
around Tuscania and then using these sketches to create
finished compositions in the studio. Eighteenth- and nineteenthcentury
landscape painters, for example Turner, Constable and
John Ruskin, would collect drawings and watercolor sketches
in their sketchbooks while on their travels, so as to have a
body of information which they would re-elaborate, often
adding or eliminating elements for effect, in their studios when
they returned home. Outings will be made to sketch in the
countryside around Tuscania, at archaeological sites, and in
the streets of the town. Students will be encouraged to gather
as much information as possible through quick pencil and
watercolor sketches, and written notes. In the studio students
will process the information that they have gathered, combined
with the knowledge that they will have gained through
observation of the effects of sunlight and weather conditions
and the way that scenery is put together, to create their own
finished compositions. The object of the course is to develop
the students’ observational abilities along with their creativity
and understanding of forms in a process that is an alternative
to the more direct but often constrictive methods of painting
from photography or direct from nature.
Prerequisites: PDM 130 Principles of Drawing and Composition
or equivalent
Intermediate Painting
PDM 270 T
Cr: 3; Contact hrs: 90
The course is structured for students who have already attended
the foundation-level course or have a similar background in
painting. It takes students into further studies in oil and will
introduce the technique and methods of acrylic painting.
Focus is on the nude as well as object painting using a number
of different approaches to life painting. Some of the most
essential techniques of oil and acrylic painting are covered to
provide students with a sound foundation preparing them for
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LdM Academic Catalog 2013-2014