Study Abroad at PCA Course Offerings

The course will teach the students through different workshops, how to define and understand the different steps to build a well-balanced collection with the right positioning: products, commercial, image, but also the management of a collection with an international business strategy that will lead to success. This course will highlight the making off of the collection: products lines and logistics, collection budget, sourcing and manufacturing, wholesale and retail pricing, commercial and image choices and tools.

This course teaches fashion hand drawing techniques mainly from live fashion models; first it will focus on body proportions, body details and body movement to later concentrate on the stylized fashion figure, allowing students to synthesize and create their own ideas.

Students will analyze the behavior of the fabric on the body, how different types of clothing hangs and reacts to movement. Volume and perspective will be a subject of study through lights-shadow and forth-shortening techniques, which help students to situate their fashion figures in the space and prepare them to design clothes as “soft sculptures”, a bridge from 2D to 3D.

Prerequisites: Foundation core studios – semester 1 is prerequisite for semester 2.

Students in this course are introduced to and develop skills for the application of current CAD/ CAM technologies for apparel production, including computer-aided design for apparel pattern making, pattern alterations and made-to-measure patterns. Performing a variety of functions in the organization, storage and retrieval of patterns within a CAD system. This 3D software will prepare students for the fashion industry where the 3D pattern development software is widely used. Digital pattern development is demonstrating to students the time efficient and sustainable practice.

Prerequisites: Sophomore core studios – Pattern Drafting 2

This course analyzes the qualities and characteristics of the fabrics to develop a garment in 3D by draping on the form. Students will analyze traditional garments and reproduce in 3D by learning the classic draping techniques and principles. This course introduces the practice of draping muslin on the mannequin, fabrics workshops and analysis students learn how 2D materials become 3D forms. Students will explore and focus on draping a garment in fabric by using style lines on the body, analyzing the creative use of volume. Students will produce multiple looks in 3D to prepare for the senior year.

Prerequisites: Sophomore core studios – Pattern Drafting 2

Knitwear is becoming an increasingly popular and innovative area of design due to modern developments in technology making it even more exciting and experimental. The course focus on learning the fundamentals about knit, the machines and the creative aspect being explored. The course allows students to develop a strong personal style and design signature through experimental projects, knitwear programming workshops and collaborations with the industry. This class will cover as well the fabrication of knit on the industrial knitting machines. Students will learn how to develop technical files to collaborate with an industry leading knitting company. The final piece in the course is a fully knitted personal garment. Either on fully fashion or cut and sewn.

This course provides an in-depth study of materiality, focusing on the exploration and manipulation of textiles to align with and enhance a designer’s unique vision. Students will investigate a wide range of material manipulation techniques, including experimental approaches to fabric construction, surface treatments, and innovative material combinations.

The course emphasizes the integration of individual design aesthetics into textile development, highlighting how personalized materials can contribute to the overall impact of a fashion collection. Students will learn to push the boundaries of traditional textile design, experimenting with textures, colors, and forms to create distinctive fabrics that express their personal style and creative concepts.

Key components of the course include hands-on workshops, material experimentation, and guided projects that challenge students to develop their own bespoke textiles. Students will have the opportunity to apply their newly acquired skills in the creation of custom materials for their senior collections, providing a tangible and practical outcome for their studies.

This course focuses on the fundamentals of design and its processes. Students use sketchbooks as documentary tools in order to developed design thinking and creative signature based on primary research. Students will acquire new approaches, observe material and specific characteristics, practice drawing in all its forms and play with a wide variety of techniques and media. Learning the construction of the garments by examining clothing and fashion in context are part of the fundamentals in design. Students will learn to observe representations of clothing and how they manipulate the meaning of the garment.

Prerequisites: Foundation core studios

Building upon the investigative approaches introduced in Studio Concepts I, this studio-based course advances students’ understanding of studio practices through a rhizomatic approach that addresses the complexity of contemporary artistic production. Students work practically, producing work through methodologies aligned with professional artistic practice while exploring different conceptual models of the studio itself. The course examines practices requiring minimal infrastructure alongside traditional studio formats and expanded “Hors le Mur” approaches, where ideas are sought through urban exploration, site visits, and engagement with contexts beyond the studio walls. Students study concrete examples of exhibition production, from initial conception and sketches through technical development, simulation, and final realization. The course continues to challenge students to explore creative processes across all media while deepening their ability to justify conceptual decisions and document developmental processes. Students refine their capacity to create individual and critical responses to ideas spanning all disciplines, strengthening the underlying connections between their investigations and their personal artistic practice through sustained engagement and reflection.

Prerequisites: Sophomore Core Studios/Studio Concepts 1

In order to evolve and discover new pictorial horizons painting today must remain open to the possibility of a dialogue with the wide range of multidisciplinary influences that are available. Where once the field of exploration was defined by the rigueur and strict dictates of a formal training,
the strength of painting today lies in its flexibility to use such a training and adapt to the influences of other 2D and 3D disciplines and the pictorial possibilities that they offer as art experience. The possibility to create an art experience through research, experimentation and interaction are the key
components in the junior year in painting. With this as a core component the dynamics of painting are explored through a variety of set projects designed to stimulate the individual imagination.

Prerequisites: Sophomore year painting/Painting Interactions 1

The Creative and Experimental Drawing studio-based course focuses on drawing as a process of investigation and experimental practice, encouraging students to discover new forms of expression, possibilities for mixing media, and ways to appropriate the act of drawing. Through workshops and assignments, students explore drawing beyond conventional approaches, engaging with perception, materiality, and process in unexpected ways. The course draws inspiration from diverse models, including surprising examples from nature and science, to encourage students to dismiss purely rational thinking and locate artistic activity at the intersection of sensory experience and material exploration. Students investigate different senses, attentiveness to unexpected effects, and the impact of evaluation during the creative process. The first half of the course introduces experimental methods and enriches students’ toolboxes for working with materials, situations, processes, and contexts. In the second half, students develop individual experimental projects, consolidating methods for sustaining experimental workflows in their broader artistic practice. The course includes collaborative exercises, events both inside and outside the school, generating new ways of thinking about drawing’s expanded possibilities.

Prerequisites: Sophomore year drawing, advanced drawing skills

Paris Inside/Out is a one-credit course consisting of visits to art & design exhibits, as well as meetings with artists, artisans and designers in Paris. The course will use a wide approach by including a variety of artistic fields, thus allowing students to draw inspiration from any discipline. The course will be held every week in a different location in Paris. Students are free to participate in as many visits as they wish, however a minimum of 5 visits are required to pass the course. For each visit, students will create a personal work within a given set of constraints. At the end of the semester, students will be asked to present to the class a personal work inspired by one of the visits during the semester.

Go to the Liberal Studies department page for more information.

“French for Paris” is a course open to beginners who would like to expand their knowledge of French culture and develop their listening & speaking skills. The course will cover specific themes relating to everyday life in Paris, its history, its culture, and the arts. Emphasis will be placed on phonetics (rhythm, intonation, liaisons, silent letters & some specific French sounds) as well as everyday vocabulary and exchanges. Different subjects will be developed over the semester: cultural life in Paris, French cinema, French and Francophone cuisine, as well as music. Students will be able to engage in short conversations and will practice describing themselves and their environment along with their studies and artistic practice. Visits in French will be organized. Conscientious completion of homework and class participation is emphasized; a website has been specially designed to accompany students throughout the semester (readings, targeted grammatical exercises, podcasts, phonetics, etc.) The class will be conducted in French.

These first project courses (P.F. 1&2) aim to establish the inherent principles that structure space from a sensorial and a practical point of view. The course will provide students with the cultural and technical tools needed to understand inhabited spaces. Exemplary projects drawn from housing, workplace, leisure and retail environments are investigated, while addressing building codes and conventions. Students will learn how to elaborate and develop clear ideas and conceptual principles, while considering urban context, space organization, negative and positive spaces, lighting and furniture functions. The ability to generate design solutions, select materials, color and finishes are emphasized.

The course aims at introducing students to the world of materials’ sensorial qualities, requirements, and performances. Students explore the relationships between colors, light and four specific materials (glass, wood, metal and plastics) from a sensorial point of view. Through a theoretical and practical approach of materials and tool technologies, students discover possibilities and ways to apply, combine and assemble materials within interior environments. The course will also encourage critical thinking with regard to an understanding and application of the life cycle analysis, as well as introducing organizations dedicated to sustainability and the rating systems they use. Visits to materials workshops and suppliers showrooms will complement this course.

The course aims at helping students to become aware that light is, first of all, a material, a tool to shape spaces, and thus handled and processed as such. Space lighting will be approached from the creative point of view – without it being limited to technological aspects. Students will understand the physiological and psychological aspects of lighting in interior design and will learn to define lighting project intentions in different types of spaces such as an apparel store, an art exhibition space or a restaurant.

Paris Inside/Out is a one-credit course consisting of visits to art & design exhibits, as well as meetings with artists, artisans and designers in Paris. The course will use a wide approach by including a variety of artistic fields, thus allowing students to draw inspiration from any discipline. The course will be held every week in a different location in Paris. Students are free to participate in as many visits as they wish, however a minimum of 5 visits are required to pass the course. For each visit, students will create a personal work within a given set of constraints. At the end of the semester, students will be asked to present to the class a personal work inspired by one of the visits during the semester.

This course is a beginner-level French conversation course open to students with no previous exposure to instruction in French. Emphasis will be placed on phonetics (Rhythm, intonation, liaisons, silent letters & some specific French sounds), as well as everyday life vocabulary and exchanges. Different themes will be covered over the semester: Life in Paris, French cinema, French and Francophone cuisine, as well as music. Students will be able to engage in short conversations and will practice describing themselves and their environment, their friends and family members, as well as their studies, hobbies, and artistic practice. Visits and meetings with French students will be organized. Students will be evaluated during 5 oral presentations. Conscientious completion of homework and class participation is emphasized; a website has been specially designed to accompany students throughout the semester (Targeted grammatical exercises, podcasts, phonetics etc.) A guided tour in French will beo organized (Musée Pompidou, Musée d’Orsay.) Class will be conducted in French.

In this class, students perfect resources for the visualization and the communication of interior design projects, both orally and visually. Students develop and explore new concepts, alternative methods and ideas to visually illustrate and present the various phases of the design process: from concept boards, fast scale models and graphics to rendering techniques and digital fabrication tools.

The medium of photography is largely defined by its history of black and white pictures. The course will cover camera operation, principles of exposure and photographic composition concepts. The goal of this class is to provide a solid foundation of photographic black and white photography skills and techniques. It provides an overview of classic black and white photography while discussing camera techniques that apply to both traditional film and digital cameras. Students will learn how to effectively use their cameras in manual mode and make good quality negatives. The class includes camera and exposure meter instruction, technical lectures, effective scanning methods and instruction on film/digital crossover techniques.

This is the first part of a yearlong course of learning and mastering the fundamental techniques of studio lighting. The students become familiar with how to create traditional, practical lighting scenarios in a studio environment. Electronic flashes and tungsten lights will be used to achieve control of color, contrast, and reflection. Lighting techniques are demonstrated and applied in class to various assignments of tabletop still lifes and portraiture. Emphasis is placed on understanding light and of mastering the technical aspects of the lighting equipment. Assignments will be theme based: headshots, full portraits, and several still lifes.

Prerequisite: Black & White Photography or Introduction to Digital Photography or equivalent.

This is a year-long course which addresses the creative process as well as technique and critique. Through select readings, field trips to galleries and museum exhibitions, screenings of film clips and viewing of historical and contemporary artists’ work, students will have the opportunity to develop their artistic reference points as they delve into the production of their own personal projects. Students will be expected to engage in class discussions and group critiques, and will be encouraged to experiment outside their comfort zones as they begin to think along conceptual as well aesthetic and formal frameworks, examining problems and trying different approaches to refine their practice and production.

This course introduces students to the creative and technical possibilities of digital photography. Through demonstrations and hands-on sessions, students learn the fundamentals of Adobe Photoshop to produce effective digital photographs. Students are taken through all the basic processes encountered in digital workflow, from basic scanning and retouching, image enhancement, and printing fundamentals, to RAW file processing and photographic post-production methods.

Prerequisite(s): Black & White Photography, Introduction to Digital Photography, Digital Skills & Composition or equivalent.

Paris Inside/Out is a one-credit course consisting of visits to art & design exhibits, as well as meetings with artists, artisans and designers in Paris. The course will use a wide approach by including a variety of artistic fields, thus allowing students to draw inspiration from any discipline. The course will be held every week in a different location in Paris. Students are free to participate in as many visits as they wish, however a minimum of 5 visits are required to pass the course. For each visit, students will create a personal work within a given set of constraints. At the end of the semester, students will be asked to present to the class a personal work inspired by one of the visits during the semester.

Le cours de « français 3 » a pour objectif d’approfondir les connaissances linguistiques des étudiants. Ceux-ci apprendront ce semestre à exprimer leurs sentiments et à justifier leurs choix, à raconter une expérience, à mener un entretien en s’adaptant à l’interlocuteur et à parler de manièere preécise de leurs études et de leur pratique artistique. Il s’agit également de familiariser les étudiants avec des romans ed des auteurs francophones du XXème et du XXIème siècle. Nous travaillersons pour cela, tout au long du semestre, sur un projet de création de vidéos <<Booktube>>. Les étudiants vont apprendre à analyser, à commenter et à situer les romans qu’ils auront choisis dans leur contexte socio-historique. Une partie du cours sera consacrée à des révisions de grammaire et des exercices de composition. Ces objectifs seront mis en œuvre de manière vivante, grâce à l’utilisation de documents authentiques (Reportages vidéo, articles, musique, films) et à l’organisation de rencontres et de sorties (Musée du Louvre, sortie au théâtre.) Le cours est dispensé en français.

Social documentary photography is a narrative genre of photography emphasizing information over impression. This course, which uses both traditional 35mm and digital photo materials, introduces students to the history and practice of social documentary photography, its tools and techniques. The first part of the course will provide a brief historical overview and then focus on issues of content, editorial processes, sequencing, production and presentation. The second part of the course will engage students in critical discussions surrounding photography and objectivity but also address political, social and ethical implications such as voyeurism, victimization, exploitation, etc. Students are expected to create photographic narratives, that reflect a critical awareness and an understanding of contemporary approaches and strategies.

This course will examine how artists from the mid-19th to the early 21st Centuries conceive of and talk about their own artistic practice. While artists’ works are frequently viewed through the lens of art history or criticism, students will consider how artists present, engage with and develop further levels of inquiry into their work. Topics covered will include artists’ published writings, their notebooks, the artist’s statement versus the manifesto, and their teachings. The course will also offer the opportunity to explore the relationships between artistic identity and art work, ranging from analysis of self-portraits to their performance on screen. Students will discover the extent to which artists’ practice depends upon a critical awareness of the cultural, theoretical, and historical matrix in which they operate. Assignments will include research projects on artists and the preparation of a statement that defines the students’ own self-conception of their studio practice or area of study.

This interdisciplinary course explores the rise of visual media, communication and information, within the context of a broad cultural shift away from the verbal and textual toward the visual, which has taken place since the advent of photography and cinema in the late 19th century, through the birth of television, to the present proliferation of digital media worldwide. We will consider the critical practices of looking, historicizing and interpreting that have accompanied this ‘visual turn’. Our readings will primarily address the theoretical foundations of the study of visual culture, which is understood to incorporate a variety of visual media and visual technologies: painting and sculpture, scientific imagery, material culture, the internet. If everything can be visual culture, what remains of traditional notions of medium specificity? What critical tools must be invented to analyze visual events from a visual cultural perspective? The relationship between the visual arts and visual media, especially with respect to the ‘global’ contemporary visual landscape, will be a focus of this course.

The diversity of the urban environment has historically fostered a fertile ground for the birth of subcultures. Claude Fischer, an American sociologist, suggested nearly twenty years ago, that the size, population, and heterogeneity of cities strengthen social groups thereby encouraging the establishment of subcultures. This course intends to explore the emergence and evolution of modern and contemporary urban subcultures, including beatniks, punk, hip-hop, rap, grunge, and even the more recent hipster. We will study each phenomenon, from not only a socio-historical perspective, but through their impact on the broader visual landscape. The history and progress of these initially marginal movements provide a singular opportunity to examine the endless cross-fertilization occurring between artistic disciplines and the ever-changing contours of mainstream culture.

This course is a beginner-level French conversation course open to students with no previous exposure to instruction in French. Emphasis will be placed on phonetics (Rhythm, intonation, liaisons, silent letters & some specific French sounds), as well as everyday life vocabulary and exchanges. Different themes will be covered over the semester: Life in Paris, French cinema, French and Francophone cuisine, as well as music. Students will be able to engage in short conversations and will practice describing themselves and their environment, their friends and family members, as well as their studies, hobbies, and artistic practice. Visits and meetings with French students will be organized. Students will be evaluated during 5 oral presentations. Conscientious completion of homework and class participation is emphasized; a website has been specially designed to accompany students throughout the semester (Targeted grammatical exercises, podcasts, phonetics etc.) A guided tour in French will beo organized (Musée Pompidou, Musée d’Orsay.) Class will be conducted in French.