ART 1013 - Creative Thinking and Practice

Description
Students in this course will develop strategies for idea generation, creative project planning, as well as skills in communicating ideas in both written and oral forms, while being introduced to the tools and methods of critique in contemporary art.

Pre-Requisite
Note: Recommend completion of or in process of completing ENGL 1013.

Co-Requisite
Note: Recommend completion of or in process of completing ENGL 1013.

3 credit hours Credit Hour(s)

Contact Hours
30 lecture contact hours; 60 lab contact hours

3 load hours Faculty Load Hour(s)

Semesters Offered
Fall & Spring

ACTS Equivalent
N/A

Grade Mode
A-F

Learning Outcomes
Students completing this course will:

Develop the skills needed for creative and productive idea generation.
Effectively conduct and critically assess art related research.
Develop an understanding of postmodern art approaches and classifications of Contemporary art theory.
Hone skills in critical analysis of challenging and/or unconventional artworks.
Develop multiple methods of documenting and communicating ideas.
Cultivate new habits outside one’s creative comfort zone.
Learn basics of the written and oral critique process.

General Education Outcomes Supported

Students develop higher order thinking skills.
Students gain greater awareness of cultural awareness.
Students can write clear, coherent, well-organized documents, which are substantially free of errors.
Students can read selections at the college level.
Students can develop effective oral communication skills.
Students can employ a variety of sources to locate, evaluate, and use information.

Standard Practices
Topics List

Topics include but are not limited to the following:

The elements of the creative process
Classifications of Contemporary Art including: Realism, Expressionism/Cognitivism, Formalism, & postmodern pluralism
Concepts in Synectics: Analogy, Imaging and Transforming, Signals/Signs/Symbols, Myth & Mythmaking, Ritual/Game/Performance, and Paradox
Criticism in Contemporary Art
The discipline of keeping a sketchbook
Outsider art
Approaches to postmodern art-making including but not limited to: Escaping the confines of museums, collapsing boundaries between “high” and “low” art, rejecting ”originality,” working collaboratively, appropriating, simulating, hybridizing, mixing media, layering, mixing codes, recontextualizing, confronting the gaze, facing the abject, constructing identities, using narratives, and creating metaphors

Learning Activities

Discussions
Lectures
Creative Projects
Sketchbook work
Critique

Assessments

Creative Projects graded by individual grade or portfolio. Sketchbook practice is developed as an adjunct to creative projects. Sketchbooks may be analog or digital.
Critiques with grading based on best practices of critiques as outlined in course.
At least one semester paper.

Grading guidelines

At least 60 - 75% of this course’s grade should be creative projects, with sketchbook work, and critiques.