Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

The course includes demonstrations, slides, lectures, videos/films and field trips.This is the first course in a three course sequence A minimum of 3 hours of homework per week inthe form of private exploration of the concepts and processes introduced in class will be required.College level reading comprehension is necessary.Art 181A fulfills Arts and Letters requirements for Gen. Ed., block transfer and PCC graduation

Through study of the painting discipline students will: 1. Find and develop creative ways to solve problems using a variety of strategies for expressing visual ideas through the painting medium. 2. Create personal works of art, which demonstrate an introductory level of understanding of the painting discipline, and the processes, materials, and techniques associated with creating 2-dimensional imagery with paint. 3. Ask meaningful questions, identify ideas and issues, and develop a basic vocabulary to be able to actively participate in a critical dialogue about the painting discipline with others. 4. Understand, interpret, and enjoy painting of the past and the present from different cultures to initiate a life-long process of expanding knowledge on the diversity of perspectives of the human experience. 5. Develop a heightened awareness of the physical world, the nature of the relationship of human beings to it, and our impact on it via the experience of painting. 6. Establish self-critiquing skills to develop autonomous expression through painting while recognizing the standards and definitions already established by both contemporary and historical works of art from different cultures.

Students will:•Discover various processes by which the artist sees nature, conceives ideas and executes a painting.•Examine aspects of the conceptual process; experiencing, visualizing, symbolizing, playing, imagining, etc.•Bring all human senses to the experience of painting.•Participate in studio work sessions, class discussions, and critiques.

•Discuss the interaction of color in terms of hue, value, and intensity and its effect on the visual statement and its relation to painting.•Study and learn the basic elements of art such as; color, line, value, texture, shape, volume and mass, composition, and spatial illusion.•Learn to use acrylic and/or oil paint for translation of ideas.•Experience various painting surfaces; stretched canvas (prepared in class), canvas board, masonite, paper, etc.•Begin to develop means of solving visual problems in a painting through critical and analytical methods, such as; examining compositional devices, observing interaction between positive and negative space/shape, demonstrating the difference between pictorial space and actual space, and becoming familiar with historical styles by comparing paintings.Assessment: Assessment is based on conceptual understanding, quality of work, participation in critiques, progress, effort, and attendance. A written examination, quizzes, written assignments and a journal may be required.