art and the computer vsar 302 course objectives  syllabus

FALL 2011
Deborah Small Blog

VSAR 302 Tuesday 5-8:45 pm
ARTS 239
Office Hours: Tues 2:30-5:00, and by appointment
Telephone: 760-750-4151

Required texts:
Online subscription to www.lynda.com
$10/month for 3 months: total = @$30
access to 5 software programs for the class

The Big Five Tutorials:
Foundations of Photography: Exposure
Foundations of Photography: Lenses (after March 1)
Photoshop CS5 for Photographers
Photoshop CS5: Landscape Photography
Photoshop Lightroom 3 Essentials
Lynda.com as textbook

You will create a personal blogsite, your electronic portfolio for this class, for your writing and for uploading and reflecting upon your photos. The class will use wordpress.com.

Storage:
a) DVDs to burn your images and posters.
b) ALWAYS back-up your work. Systems crash when least expected. It's a good idea to make two backups on different media, as storage media are occasionally unstable. This is an important habit to develop when working with any digital media.
c) check out your own hard-drive from arts 239 check-out area: we will do this during the first class session, and we will talk about how to care for your hard-drive.

Expenses:
1) Printing 3 cards at snapfish.com cards
2) One panoramic print: @1' x 3' = @$8 printed using CSUSM large-format printer
3) Printing an 40-80-page softcover book of your images at blurb.com: you will use the 8 x 10 format in either landscape or portrait mode, or the 7 x 7 format. At least 3 double-page spreads are required in your books.

Equipment Check-out
Use your own hi-end digital cameras, which must be able to shoot in Camera Raw, or check out our terrific cameras from ARTS 239, as well as tripods, pano tripods, etc.

Still cameras can be checked out starting the second week of the semester. We will spend the second week working with the cameras to familiarize you with them, but you must also spend time with the manuals. We will go over check-out times and rules.

Lab Access
Arts 239 is open so you can do your homework assignments. Hours are posted on the door. I will also send everyone's name to public safety, and you can call using the phone outside the lab and they will come to let you in. Labs are open 24/7, except when a class is in session. Please never let anyone in if you don't recognize them. All software is also available on computers in the library on the 2nd floor.

Learning Outcomes
A. Learning digital languages:
Digital cameras: In this class, you will learn to use digital still cameras and traditional and panoramic-head tripods to create image series, panoramic images, close-ups. You will be introduced to the use of Camera Raw, a sophisticated image capturing capability of hi-end digital cameras.

Software: You will become sophisticated users of Adobe Lightroom 3 and Adobe Photoshop CS5 to edit and enhance your photographs, and you will learn the use of digital imaging tools including scanners and additional software including BookSmart, the book publishing software at blurb.com. Learning will take place via classroom lectures, demonstrations, online tutorials at lynda.com, and discussions and critiques of the projects that you will complete for the class.

Printing: You will learn to prepare your images for printing, and use CSUSM's hi-end HP printer on the 2nd floor of the Kellogg Library. You will also research and use the commerical printing capabilities of online stores.

Contemporary Artists: Through classroom lectures, discussion, screenings, and web research, you will explore contemporary digital artists and photographers, and their experimental uses of digital media. By viewing and discussing a broad range of artistic practices, you will learn how art making is a means to discover and develop your ideas about the world and to extend the power, clarity, and range of your voice and vision.

Contemporary Photographers: You will visit 3 photography galleries:

MOPA
Streetwise: Masters of 60's Photography
February 5, 2011 - May 15, 2011

Streetwise builds on Swiss photographer Robert Frank's snapshot aesthetic, which gained attention following the release of his groundbreaking book, The Americans in 1959. Frank's focus on a more personal documentary style influenced a new generation of photographers, including legendaries such as Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, Jerry Berndt, Ruth-Marion Baruch, Garry Winogrand, Bruce Davidson, Danny Lyon and Ernest Withers. Signed Streetwise exhibition catalogs are available for purchase at our Museum Store.


Oceanside Museum of Art
BOTANICALS: THE PHOTOGRAPHY OF IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM
704 Pier View Way
Oceanside CA 92054
(760) 435-3720Hours
Tues-Sat 10am-4pm
Sun 1pm-4pm
Closed Mondays and major holidays

A pioneer of 20th century photography, Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) played a pivotal role in the acceptance of the medium as an art form and the growth of modernism. She began pursuing photography in 1901 and throughout her long career, maintained an interest in portraiture and nature. Unlike other members of the Western School of Photography who also emphasized nature, such as Edward Weston (1886-1958) and Ansel Adams (1902-84), Cunningham created intimate compositions which call attention to the abstract qualities of nature. This exhibition will feature her black and white botanical photographs from the 1920s-1930s.


Ordover Gallery at the San Diego Natural History Museum
Color of Water February 5 - May 1, 2011
Reception on February 12, 2011, from 11 am to 1 pm

This show will feature works by Abe Ordover. Aaron Feinberg, Steven Friedman, and David Fokos will also have works in the show.

Blog: Throughout the semester you will keep a daily/weekly personal BLOG, electronic portfolio, of your ideas, drawings, photographs, dream fragments, etc. which will act a source for your creative process. You will write posts on all the presentations on your blog. I frequently will ask you to "freewrite" about the images and videos we are looking at in class, and then to share those thoughts with others after posting what you have written. In addition to the blog, you will learn how to upload your photos on a photo-sharing site such as Flickr, and link your blog to Flickr.

B. Producing artwork
Projects: You will produce five art projects over the semester.

1) Cards:
Create three cards of your images and print them online. They must be folding CARDS, not prints or postcards. You will print them at snapfish.com.

2) Photographic Series Book: Combine your personal interior and exterior landscapes, your journeys, your passions as a deeply layered series of photographs and texts using some of the following:
1. journal entries, dream fragments, drawings: interior as dreamscapes
2. to photograph yourself, use reflections: use mirror, window, pond, pools, shadow, silhouette
3. texts, handwriting, ticket stubs, etc.
4. natural and constructed objects, images that represent you;
5. use of photoshop tools to give meaning: e.g. pos/neg.
6. scans of old photos, scans of hands, feet, eyes, lips
as well as including your
7. your edited and enhanced photographs

You will publish your 40-pagework in book form at Blurb.com. This is your major work for the semester, and you will show the work-in-progress twice during the semester.

3) Wetlands, Wildlands, Wastelands: Panoramic Poster Project: In this project, you will explore your relationship to the environment, to the cultural, social, and/or the biological landscapes. You will produce a panoramic print using a minimum of 5 images. Your print will be approximately 40 inches wide. This panorama will include text, so your print will actually be a poster. (See Chris Orwig at lynda.com)
Print your panorama at the CSUSM Library using our hi-end printer.

4) Tryptychs

5) Blog You will create a personal blog at wordpress.com for your art, writing, journaling, reflections and photographs. Each class, we will look at a few students' blog sites and discuss the writing and images.

Assessment:
Attendance
This course is conducted as a workshop: all students must participate actively and consistently. Much of the class will be devoted to the work of other artists and to the development and discussion of your projects. Part of your final evaluation will focus on your ability to respond thoughtfully to other students' artwork and your ability to work collaboratively with each other. For this reason, it is essential that you attend class regularly. I will take attendance at the beginning and at the end of each class. Class attendance and participation is mandatory!!! Two unexcused absences will result in lowering your final grade. Classroom Participation in discussions and helpful collaboration with your peers will account for 15% of your final grade.

Blogsite/Writing
The course includes the Visual and Performing Arts Department's Arts Events Attendance Requirement. You are required to ATTEND the 3 exhibitions. On your blogsite, you will write an approximately one-page (250 words) narrative reflection about the work of one photographer/artist from each exhibition.

You also will write about 2 online artist/photographers whose work inspires you. All of your writing should be in the form of a 1st person narrative about your reaction and relationship to the work. Again, each entry should be @ 250 words, or a page in Word.

Throughout the semester, you will use your blog site to reflect upon and write about the artists we view in class and your ideas for your art projects, and your art process, etc. I am interested in the quality of YOUR think and reflections, your ability to make comparisons among the various artists we view.

Projects
I am interested in the quality of your images; that is, your ability to perform key image enhancements that we will cover. You will also be evaluated on the content of your images, the coherence and originality of your idea.

10% Cards
15% Panorama
15% Tryptych
30% Blog / writings / Flickr site / slideshows
30% Book Project