Mural Project Summer Session
Course Overview
This course explores murals as public living spaces, visual geographical multi-layered zones for political activism, social/cultural awareness and aesthetic advancement. Starting with Mexican social realist painters from the early 1930’s to the present murals brought forth from the BLM movement, we will look at these installations as sources of meaning and forms of social justice activism. We ask, what is the role of mural art as it is displayed strategically in public spaces? Where does public space become available and to whom? Who claims public spaces and how? How do we define public space and who has the authority to have a voice and be heard in the public realm?
Students will be asked to choose a space to create a virtual mural design, make claims and defend them through writing exercises, research, and design. There may be opportunities for select and final mural designs to appear as an interactive addition to the college website.
We will dig into the issues of legality and illegality, and what to occupy intermediary spaces. Subject matter and content will guide course work and discussions including and exploration of composition and design elements as they relate to delivery. What political and social issues inform your voice? What message do you need to communicate?
To help you gain insight we will focus on some overarching ideas: What are your aesthetic choices as they relate to history and your own experiences? How does what you’ve learned about using art as a form of community voice and expression impact your perspective on the role of art?
Note: Due to COVID-19 and this course being limited to online, it does not have the same hands-on community engagement and school-based educational experience. We will mainly focus on learning about activist artists; investigate values, ethics and self- development concepts; and infuse all of these concepts to inform and push the boundaries of your own art practice.
Generative Questions
What is your political philosophy and how has it been informed?
How will you, the mural artist, represent your political philosophy as public art?
What is the role of mural art as it is displayed strategically in public spaces?
Where does public space become available and to which artists?
Who claims public spaces and how?
How do we define public space and who has the authority to have a voice and be heard in the public realm?
Course Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to frame a critical understanding and discourse by learning about and comparing specific contemporary and historical mural art.
Students will be able to define their role, subject matter and design a mural project within a chosen site.
Students will be able to integrate that design into a community ethos.
Course Materials
A design platform of the students choice
multimedia graphic materials of students choice
Course Readings
Siqueiros...
Curriculum Vocab
semiology
signification
aesthetics
context
content
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Description:
This Mural class approaches the college website as a virtual campus composed of virtual public walls and/or public sites, that the mural class will develop with a collaborative virtual mural.
As the college begins to reopen during the pandemic -- developing hybrid classes, opening student residencies, shops, etc., students, faculty, and staff take responsible daily actions on the campus like social distancing, regularly washing hands, and wearing masks. However, there are also individual behaviors that each person can take while off campus that can increase or decrease the risk to the on-campus community.
Students in the Mural Art class will analyze and weigh these concerns to visually express how individual choices impact others, especially those that form the CCA learning community, “our team of 2,200,”* to adapt Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s phrase when referring to New Zealand. The course would work with campus partners to support efforts already underway to build a healthy and proactive campus culture in response to the ongoing pandemic that could foster community norms, and also help orient prospective and incoming students, or anyone interested in the art school. Mural students would interview other students, faculty, administrators, staff, in order to design from a foundation that represents a good cross section of the college.
Course Overview
This course explores murals as public living spaces, visual geographical multi-layered zones for political activism, social/cultural awareness and aesthetic advancement. Starting with Mexican social realist painters from the early 1930’s to the present murals brought forth from the BLM movement, we will look at these installations as sources of meaning and forms of social justice activism. We ask, what is the role of mural art as it is displayed strategically in public spaces? Where does public space become available and to whom? Who claims public spaces and how? How do we define public space and who has the authority to have a voice and be heard in the public realm?
Students will be asked to choose a space to create a virtual mural design, make claims and defend them through writing exercises, research, and design. There may be opportunities for select and final mural designs to appear as an interactive addition to the college website.
We will dig into the issues of legality and illegality, and what to occupy intermediary spaces. Subject matter and content will guide course work and discussions including and exploration of composition and design elements as they relate to delivery. What political and social issues inform your voice? What message do you need to communicate?
To help you gain insight we will focus on some overarching ideas: What are your aesthetic choices as they relate to history and your own experiences? How does what you’ve learned about using art as a form of community voice and expression impact your perspective on the role of art?
Note: Due to COVID-19 and this course being limited to online, it does not have the same hands-on community engagement and school-based educational experience. We will mainly focus on learning about activist artists; investigate values, ethics and self- development concepts; and infuse all of these concepts to inform and push the boundaries of your own art practice.
Generative Questions
What is your political philosophy and how has it been informed?
How will you, the mural artist, represent your political philosophy as public art?
What is the role of mural art as it is displayed strategically in public spaces?
Where does public space become available and to which artists?
Who claims public spaces and how?
How do we define public space and who has the authority to have a voice and be heard in the public realm?
Course Learning Outcomes
Students will be able to frame a critical understanding and discourse by learning about and comparing specific contemporary and historical mural art.
Students will be able to define their role, subject matter and design a mural project within a chosen site.
Students will be able to integrate that design into a community ethos.
Course Materials
A design platform of the students choice
multimedia graphic materials of students choice
Course Readings
Siqueiros...
Curriculum Vocab
semiology
signification
aesthetics
context
content
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Description:
This Mural class approaches the college website as a virtual campus composed of virtual public walls and/or public sites, that the mural class will develop with a collaborative virtual mural.
As the college begins to reopen during the pandemic -- developing hybrid classes, opening student residencies, shops, etc., students, faculty, and staff take responsible daily actions on the campus like social distancing, regularly washing hands, and wearing masks. However, there are also individual behaviors that each person can take while off campus that can increase or decrease the risk to the on-campus community.
Students in the Mural Art class will analyze and weigh these concerns to visually express how individual choices impact others, especially those that form the CCA learning community, “our team of 2,200,”* to adapt Prime Minister Jacinda Arden’s phrase when referring to New Zealand. The course would work with campus partners to support efforts already underway to build a healthy and proactive campus culture in response to the ongoing pandemic that could foster community norms, and also help orient prospective and incoming students, or anyone interested in the art school. Mural students would interview other students, faculty, administrators, staff, in order to design from a foundation that represents a good cross section of the college.
- Instructor: Amana Harris
- Instructor: Jack Leamy
In this course we will explore the art of visual storytelling through comics while critically analyzing the approaches author/artists use towards representing people of color. Students also see how comic book artists creatively depict subject matter such as colonization, displacement, gentrification and colorism through the medium. The assigned reading material will cover different genres of comics while we examine some comics theory, process, and the power structures that are present within the comics industry.
- Instructor: Breena Nunez