syllabus

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Integrating Text (all media encouraged)

Art and language are inextricably linked. As artists we create the language that surrounds our work in the form of artists statements and the verbal dialog we construct in critiques and studio visits. We put text into visual art. We read, and sometimes write, art criticism. Captions, curatorial statements, press releases, reviews all accompany our exhibitions. This seminar will look at the ways in which language accompany visual images. We will experiment with diverse and experimental approaches to writing about our work and the work of others: artist statements, manifestos, creative fictions,
critical responses. We will consider many different works of art from throughout the past century that incorporate language in all media. We will move beyond these descriptive forms to look at other forms of nonfiction, scripts, texts in performance, written vs. verbal texts, narrativity, and editing. Our goal is to find ways to make our experience with language one that is informed and experimental, so that the texts that enter and accompany our works are simply another part of our creative voices.
Students can use any media to create projects that develop their own work. There will be some assignments (including a daily journal to implement a practice of writing as an every day event), but the most significant portion of the class work will be to apply the ideas shared in class to your own ongoing work. We will read and discuss writers’ and artists’ texts, mining them for inspiration, education, and growth. We will look at visual work in all dimensions that incorporates text, sharing with each other cool work we have seen. Guest lecturers will come to class to share their perspectives on aspects of art and language, such as spoken word artists, photographers, painters, etc…
All readings will be either available online or will be handed out in Xerox form in class. The readings, slide lectures, and screenings will serve as a jumping off point for a great deal of in class writing, editing, and discussion.

Class Requirements:
1. attendance: you are required to notify instructor by email before class if you will be missing class. you are allowed 2 explained absences during the semester. this is a class that builds on trust and exchange. if you don’t come, we can’t build it. plus, you really won’t want to miss the movies. If you have to miss class (it happens) then please email me within 48 hours to find out what happened and what to do next.
2. free writes: many classes will with a free write assignment for 15 minutes. sometimes we will read them out loud. sometimes we will exchange work in pairs and discuss. Bring your journal for this.
3. daily journal writing is required to implement a practice of writing as an every day event. this journal can have private passages which are clipped shut, but the journal is a required assignment and will therefore be shown to the instructor on occasion. while the content is about text, be it creative, research, or diaristic, illustration, photography, collage and other media are entirely acceptable and encouraged in the journal.
4. artist biography and statement: we will begin the class with a short artist’s bio and statement and then re/vision/fashion/write them again at the end of the semester.
5. readings: each class there will be at least one handout. you will be required to read these, perhaps commenting on the readings in your journal, perhaps not. but there will be class discussion on the readings. come prepared with a set of questions. there is no list right now, as i plan to tailor the list to you all personally.
6. by the end of the semester, either one piece that has been continually evolving over the semester will be completed, or a series of work generated for this class will have been presented in ongoing fashion. if work occurs outside of the class, documentation will be required. if the class is to go to a critique that must occur in a site specific location, the class requires one week’s time email notification.
7. ongoing work presentation and critique. making work in this class is imperative and equally, so is the study of your classmates’ creative output. we will continually show and critique work in class. discussion will be demanding and respectful. disrespect of work will not be tolerated. at all. the main crux of work will be textual, and as such, we will all be editing each other’s work. this serve’s to heighten our perception of language, and also to better understand how we might better edit ourselves.
8. artist presentation: each student will work outside of class on a ten minute presentation of an artist who works with text. this presentation can incorporate video, slides and lecture. the artist can work in any media.
9. artist statement: at the end of the semester, you will be required to write an artist statement covering the work completed this fall.