First Super-Awkward YouTube Video

Hi Y'all,

Here's a link to a youtube greeting. I did it in one take, and I decided to just let it roll. Sorry about the mic problem in the first seconds. I now know not to touch my computer while it's recording video.

OK, I uploaded the wrong youtube vid. But, you should check it out anyway... from one of my favorite former students.  Licui, "Million Bucks" 

This is the right video (I think):
Casey Says Hi

Send me a message, give me a call, take care of yourself... get creative.

Zines Zines Zines

I bet some DCAD students have made their own zines in the past. They're fun, virtually free, and are often traded or given away. They represent a zone of artistic and literary freedom that has no gatekeeper (no curators, editors, etc.). There are literally no rules to making a zine. However, there are techniques that you can use that will improve the quality of your zine.

This project is tentatively due on Thursday, March 26.
We will hold a workshop on Tuesday, March 24
Bring a draft of your zine with you to class that day.

Your zine will abide by the following guidelines or rules:

1) The zine must feature your original writing. You might write poems or lyrics, thoughts or sayings, brief stories,  etc. Think broadly. I highly recommend the cut-n-paste method of using typography rather than hand-drawn lettering. Proofread carefully!

2) The zine must also feature your original artwork. This might be photography, collage, drawing, etc.

3) The zine must be reproducible on a photocopier. Beware of bleed-through with markers. Also beware of "crowding" the page. These are the two most common technical problems that people have when making zines.

In class today, I'm going to model two of the most popular methods for making a zine out of a single piece of standard copier paper. You can choose either of these methods.  

Here is a link to a great article with tons of hyperlinks:
How to Make a Zine.

And here is a link to article that sketches the brief history of the genre: Chapbooks to Zines.

Lastly, here's a link to Eleven Cool Artist's Zines. 

If you're still curious, explore the depths of the internet. There is a seemingly limitless number of examples, tutorials, showcases, galleries, etc.

Important Advice

Watching this video will help your performance in any of life's endeavors. Trust me, it works. It's kind of like when a college brings in puppies or dogs to relieve student stress. 

Catalog Entry Revision/Editing Workshop

Revision & Editing Workshop

One easy way to remember the difference is that revision often entails including new material that you didn't realize you needed or getting rid of material that doesn't fit, and editing is "fixing" existing text: grammar, spelling, punctuation, vocabulary, etc. Revision always precedes editing. Another word for editing is "proof-reading".

Today in class you'll be working in a randomly-drawn team of four. Each member of your team will have a different colored pencil to make marks on each of the four texts. Your job is to provide ideas for improvement in both revision and editing for your classmate's catalog entry. You'll also be working on your own text in the final rotation. 

Use this marked-up draft as a tool for your final catalog entry submission, due this Thursday, March 12, at the start of class.

Remember to upload it to Populi; no need to print it out. 
Questions: csmith@dcad.edu.

PS: I'll be the Writers Studio tutor on Wednesday from 9-3 and also on Thursday from 9-1. 

Great Website on Writing about Art

Here's a chapter about writing a formal analysis.

Check out the rest of the links.

John Yau Writing about Peter Williams

A recent review in the online magazine Hyperallergic  demonstrates perfectly the marriage of the three components necessary for a successful catalogue entry: biography, formal analysis, and interpretation.  Sometimes they overlap slightly in Yau's writing about Williams's paintings, but for the most part they don't. You can clearly see what's going on when you take the time and patience to dissect the different "moves" that Yau makes as an art reviewer and critic. 

After spring break, you'll be writing a review of an actual exhibition, not a single work from the internet as is the case for this catalogue entry assignment. 

Catalogue Entry Assignment

FY Portfolio 2020: Catalogue Entry

Consult Chapter 6 of Sylvan Barnet's A Short Guide to Writing About Art (146-153). 

Choose one work from one contemporary artist/designer (see the link and lists below).

A) Research about the biography of your chosen artist. Write one short introductory paragraph (7-9 sentences is a good guideline).

B) Write a formal analysis of your chosen work in a single developed paragraph.

C) What are some of the underlying ideas at work in this piece of art? What is the cultural context? What kinds of values do you see in the work? Why? This will be the final paragraph. Again, probably 7-9 sentences will ensure that your ideas are developed and not merely suggested. 

This Thursday. March 5, bring with you to class your selected artist and artwork.

Finished draft due next Tuesday, March 10. Print out two copies.

Final version due Thursday, March 12, at the start of class. Upload it to Populi. No need to print it out. 

Questions: csmith@dcad.edu

Students are free to choose any artist on this list, not just ones representing their major. Many of these names are new and unfamiliar. Spend some time exploring and learning before choosing your artist and one particular work.

Fine Artists & Photographers

A very long list of contemporary artists, some of whom are animators, illustrators, and designers, is available at www.art21.org. Click on the “artists” tab. Use the search function to look for particular kinds of work.

Animators

Hayao Miyazaki

Craig McCracken

Rebecca Sugar

Pendelton Ward

Bill Plympton

Norman McLaren

Nick Park

Don Herzfeldt

Jan Švankmajer

Caroline Leaf

Nina Paley

Domee Shi

Tabaimo

William Kentridge

Adam Pescapane (PES)

Jesper Just

Catherine Sullivan

Stephen Hillenburg

Norman McLaren

Lotte Reineger

Satoshi Kon

Graphic Designers

·         Marian Bantjes; lettering artist, Vancouver

·         Erik Spiekermann; partner, Font Shop & Meta Design, Berlin

·         Emil Ruder; design educator, typographer and graphic designer, Basel

·         Cipe Pineles; publication designer, NYC

·         Paula Scher; partner, Pentagram, NYC

·         Milton Glaser; founding partner, Push Pin Studios, NYC

·         Jan Tschichold; Die neue Typographie, typographer

·         Wim Crouwel; Mr. Gridnick, Amsterdam

·         Jessica Hische; typographic designer, San Francisco

·         Seymour Chwast; founding partner, Push Pin Studios, NYC

·         Mary Wells Lawrence; founding partner, Wells Rich Green, NYC

·         Zuzana Licko; type designer & co-founder, Emigre, San Francisco

Illustrators

Lynd Ward
Howard Pyle
Jesse Wilcox-Smith
Andrew Wyeth
N.C. Wyeth
Maurice Sendek
Ralph McQuarrie
Pauline Baynes
Art Spiegelman
Neil Gaiman
Margane Satrapi
Alan Moore
Loryn Brantz
Isabelle Arsenault