Drawing

The aim of this course is to incite a radical re-thinking of established methods and approaches to drawing. The pace and content of this class is based on the individual needs and the group dynamic. New experiences are proposed and collaborative exercises are designed in response to areas of drawing practice that are identified as blocked, uninspired, and tired. Students will engage in a rigorous exploration of materials and supports, for example: exploiting their limits, inviting accident, testing both traditional and unorthodox material combinations and working methods. Students are expected to acquire a certain expertise in their chosen tools. The course will alternate between group exercises, field trips, guest lectures and workshops that encourage students to test the unknown with the aim to create unforeseen perspectives on previous work.

The Masterclass series are courses taught by guest artists and designed to offer another exploration/experience of drawing-based studio practice, in response to the semester’s theme and specific research field. Students will be able to develop their skills within these workshops offered over 7 to 8 sessions each semester. The masterclasses echo the theme “Space, Body and its Senses” developed in Studio 1. The first sessions are dedicated to Anatomy, with the goal to improve the student’s capacities of observation of the human body’s underlying structures and to delineate strategies for representing those forms two-dimensionally. The second part is dedicated to the investigation of processes using physical actions to generate drawings – Drawing and Actions. Using all sensory experiences and physical mechanisms to create a personal dialogue between gesture and mark making.

You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair, such as:

• Designer’s Ethical and Social Responsibility
• Digital Fabrication Design
• Design Thinking
• Project Management*
• French
• Drawing Technology and Perception
• Advanced Printmaking*
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Concept Development Storytelling
• Photography as Installation*
• Photography in the Expanded Field*
• History of New Media*
• Educational Principles
• Alternative Processes Image-Making*
• The Art of Code I & II
• 4D Studio I & II*
• The Fashion Editorial
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Project Management*
• Set Design*
• Environmental Graphics*
• Furniture & Display Design*

* Undergraduate level courses

Students are offered the opportunity to work with practitioners from other fields as a way to discover new directions and possibilities for their drawing practice. The course begins as a series of practical and theoretical workshops where drawing and other practices are combined (for example: science, music, choreographic notation, writing). Students become familiar with ways in which drawing as a tool for collaboration has been explored. Once a personal area for collaborative work is identified, students are guided in the writing of a proposal for an ‘Artist who Draws in Residence’ at an institution or location in Paris relevant to their concerns as an artist.

Students will focus on the technical exploration of the language and theory of Photography and Image-making to develop their final degree project. Emphasis will be on students executing, understanding, and discussing quality work, successful composition, productive conceptualization, and creative problem-solving. We will work towards your degree project, finalizing the concept and shaping the work’s presentation form (exhibition, print, virtual). We will build a better understanding of the environment in which the works produced operate, specifically in the context of the contemporary art world and image-making markets.

This course introduces and outlines the role, purpose, and perception of “art” and “design” in various marketplaces and contexts for the emerging arts entrepreneur. Topics include issues in marketing aesthetic products; case studies on art fairs, art institutions, and cultural events; models of consumer behavior, art, and technology; macro-economic issues that affect the arts industries, arts policy, and access; art-as-business; design in the international context; merchandising; difficulties and the impact of the various business environments on art and design disciplines.

You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair, such as:

• Designer’s Ethical and Social Responsibility
• Digital Fabrication Design
• Design Thinking
• Project Management*
• French
• Drawing Technology and Perception
• Advanced Printmaking*
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Concept Development Storytelling
• Photography as Installation*
• Photography in the Expanded Field*
• History of New Media*
• Educational Principles
• Alternative Processes Image-Making*
• The Art of Code I & II
• 4D Studio I & II*
• The Fashion Editorial
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Project Management*
• Set Design*
• Environmental Graphics*
• Furniture & Display Design*

* Undergraduate level courses

The aim of this course is to incite a radical re-thinking of established methods and approaches to drawing. The pace and content of this class is based on the individual needs and the group dynamic. New experiences are proposed and collaborative exercises are designed in response to areas of drawing practice that are identified as blocked, uninspired, and tired. Students will engage in a rigorous exploration of materials and supports, for example: exploiting their limits, inviting accident, testing both traditional and unorthodox material combinations and working methods. Students are expected to acquire a certain expertise in their chosen tools. The course will alternate between group exercises, field trips, guest lectures and workshops that encourage students to test the unknown with the aim to create unforeseen perspectives on previous work.

The Masterclass series are courses taught by guest artists and designed to offer another exploration/experience of drawing-based studio practice, in response to the semester’s theme and specific research field. Students will be able to develop their skills within these workshops offered over 7 to 8 sessions each semester. The masterclasses echo the theme “Space, Body and its Senses” developed in Studio 1. The first sessions are dedicated to Anatomy, with the goal to improve the student’s capacities of observation of the human body’s underlying structures and to delineate strategies for representing those forms two-dimensionally. The second part is dedicated to the investigation of processes using physical actions to generate drawings – Drawing and Actions. Using all sensory experiences and physical mechanisms to create a personal dialogue between gesture and mark making.

The course provides introductory-to-advanced-level instruction on research methods. It focuses on various methods currently used to inform the research process in the fields of fine arts, photography, and new media. The course will guide students in formulating, developing, and refining a research problem based on their area of interest, and in formulating and supporting claims, arguments, and hypotheses through data (source material).

Students will be introduced to the basic tenets of research and will be taught how to support their reasoning throughout the research and writing process. After conducting preliminary research and formulating a research problem, students will engage in data collection and analysis. They will learn to differentiate between primary, secondary, and tertiary sources and how to carry out both quantitative and qualitative research. Finally, they will learn how to properly cite their sources, format their thesis writing according to a chosen citation style, and meet PCA’s standards and requirements.

The course will also introduce students to written research methodologies, stakeholder-centered design methods, ethnographic fieldwork, applied research methods, data gathering and analysis, accurate referencing, and academic integrity. They will develop active listening skills and learn to analyze, critique, and evaluate the writing and speaking of others, notably through peer review.

Weekly sessions throughout the semester, dedicated to group and individual tutorials, will be complemented by workshops led by renowned researchers and specialists. These workshops will focus on key aspects of arts-based research methodologies, ranging from conducting research to communicating findings, including honing presentation skills.

By the end of the course, students will have mastered a range of research methods from which to choose for their subsequent research and methodology courses. They will have identified their research question for the thesis and either selected or been recommended a thesis advisor.

This seminar is offered in parallel to the studio course devoted to education. Students will be given an overview of historical and current pedagogical theory that is specific to the teaching or art and design. They will be asked to consider the role of diversity and culture on learning, as well the role of the teacher as a decision maker and facilitator. Additionally, this course will introduce alternative approaches to building a learning environment, drawing upon recent experiments in art education that challenge the traditional structure of a ‘school’. Students will study: how to generate motivation, involvement, and integration in respect to learner’s development and experience; the planning and design of learning activities for different levels of experience; how to write assessment procedures and appropriate feedback on performance, competence, and knowledge.

Students are offered the opportunity to work with practitioners from other fields as a way to discover new directions and possibilities for their drawing practice. The course begins as a series of practical and theoretical workshops where drawing and other practices are combined (for example: science, music, choreographic notation, writing). Students become familiar with ways in which drawing as a tool for collaboration has been explored. Once a personal area for collaborative work is identified, students are guided in the writing of a proposal for an ‘Artist who Draws in Residence’ at an institution or location in Paris relevant to their concerns as an artist.

The Masterclass series are courses taught by guest artists and designed to offer another exploration and experience of drawing-based studio practice in response to the student’s specific research fields. This third semester supports and develops each thesis and future degree project. The guest artist’s role is to engage with the work, expand the research and experimentation, and challenge the students’ proposals’ choices, and ideas.

This seminar provides the theoretical and methodological foundation to conduct research and writing in the departments of Photography, Transdisciplinary New Media, and Fine Arts. The seminar consists of a series of workshops which provide hands-on, practical research and writing exercises–all of which have the potential to be integrated into the student’s graduate thesis in Photography and Image-Making, Transdisciplinary New Media, or Drawing. The exercises’ content will lead to regular in-class oral presentations of the student’s research. In this manner, the course builds on knowledge and skills acquired in the first semester’s introductory research course, and provides a dynamic continuity of the student’s research and writing throughout this second semester of the MFA program. The work conducted here in the Intermediate Research course will serve to build toward the culmination of the student’s thesis; the writing of which will begin in the latter portion of the semester for all formats.

The course focuses on various methodological exercises that propose critical approaches which can be used to investigate creative practice and theory alike. Knowledge of materials, techniques, processes and theoretical methods in relation to past and present contexts play a key role. In-class writing workshops serve as practical spaces for the student to research, write and revise writings to be reviewed, through peer review and individual tutorials. Throughout the semester, the course offers an array of opportunities requiring the student to present their research based on their written submissions. Each session includes interactive work sessions with students reporting on progress and problem-solving, and receiving feedback from faculty and peers. The seminar involves extensive student participation in the form of discussion, debate, and dialogue. Because it is a forum for the exchange of work in progress, the seminar allows students to share their ideas and receive feedback on the development of their research.

In sum, this course seeks to provide the necessary theoretical, methodological and practical basis to enable a student to conduct efficient arts-based research and writing. It also offers the student multiple opportunities to orally–and visually (through projections of work and/or installations in situ)–present their research within the confines of the three-hour weekly seminar. The student’s work on all three facets–research, writing, and presentation–are viewed as being crucial to the successful development of their Master’s research project.

Finally, in proposing a well-rounded approach to arts-based research–one which accentuates the proposed writing and presentation exercises–the class seeks not only to serve as a successful transition to the final phase of the MFA written thesis and oral defense (during the third for the Academic or Monograph formats; or the fourth semester for the Workbook format), but also successfully prepares the student for the eventual future transition to professional roles and/or advanced research studies within the creative sector and/or academic community.

You may select an elective from the many course offerings in your department or in other departments with the approval of your department chair, such as:

• Designer’s Ethical and Social Responsibility
• Digital Fabrication Design
• Design Thinking
• Project Management*
• French
• Drawing Technology and Perception
• Advanced Printmaking*
• Intellectual Property Rights
• Concept Development Storytelling
• Photography as Installation*
• Photography in the Expanded Field*
• History of New Media*
• Educational Principles
• Alternative Processes Image-Making*
• The Art of Code I & II
• 4D Studio I & II*
• The Fashion Editorial
• Social Entrepreneurship
• Project Management*
• Set Design*
• Environmental Graphics*
• Furniture & Display Design*

* Undergraduate level courses