Undergraduate Course: Materials and Techniques: Art History as Artistic Production (ARTX08081)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh College of Art |
College | College of Humanities and Social Science |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 8 (Year 2 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | The course offers students an introduction to Art History through materials, processes and techniques. The course will examine the relationship of a range of art practices and theories, in both delivery and content, as well as interdisciplinary links to Art History. Students will learn of the materiality of art, its physical qualities and the way artists have employed and developed methods and how these have helped define the histories of art practice.
The course will be delivered through practical workshops, studio crits and gallery visits focusing on particular techniques, processes, and materials. In this way the course will work to enhance both student's awareness of a range of art practices in the context of art history.
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| Course description |
The course considers the wide range of materials and techniques used in artistic practices. It invests this perspective of production as the basis for an introduction to Art History. Covering a wide time frame, from classical antiquity to the present day, and assuming a strongly cross-cultural approach, it shows students how the History of Art, and contemporary art practice, can be seen from the perspective of the materials and techniques that have constituted artistic production.
The course offers students a strong platform for intertwining theory and history with practice, and alongside lectures and seminars, there will be workshops, studio crits and gallery visits that focus on particular techniques, processes, and materials. In this way the course will work to enhance both student's awareness of art practice, in the context of art history, as well as awareness of the history of art through a perspective that continues to bear contemporary relevance.
Weekly classes will be structured around specific techniques and materials 'wood', 'etching', 'ink', 'chalk' and so on - rather than strict chronology or geographical framings. This will allow for a fluid academic experience, trans historical and cross-cultural - one that will appeal to students across the university as well as ensure a clear interface between the theoretical and the practical elements of the course.
Weekly breakdown (indicative).
The course will be delivered through a mix of lectures, seminars, gallery visits and practical workshops all led by a mix of staff from across different studio disciplines and History of Art.
1. Introductory lecture exploring the definitions and conceptual limits of the concept of 'materialism and the status of reflecting on material and technique in the context of contemporary art production.
2. Ink + workshop
3. Wax + workshop - in mold/cast room
4. Pigment + workshop - pigments/mixing pigments (painting)
5. Pastel/crayon/chalk + seminar/gallery visit
6. Formative assessment
7. Wood
8. Hand
9. Assemblage and found objects + experimental assemblage workshop
10. Performance and Sound + performance techniques
11. Some unorthodox materials in contemporary practice: milk, latex, plastic, cotton wool
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
| Additional Costs | Students should expect to purchase approximately £20.00 worth of basic art materials. |
Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | None |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2017/18, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 40 |
| Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 5,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 20,
External Visit Hours 2,
Formative Assessment Hours 4,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
153 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
1. Summative Assessment: Exhibition Proposal.
Produce a proposal for an exhibition that focuses on one of the materials or techniques considered during the course.
For example, you might want to explore the significance of Ultramarine pigment in the development of Western painting, or how the emergence of acrylic in the late 20th century changed painting's identity and its relation to arts such as print, or how a material such as bronze, with a ritual and cultic function in certain cultural traditions, assumes other artistic functions in the West.
The exhibition might involve a single practice, or a group of practices. It might span historical time periods, or be concentrated on the contemporary. It might involve a range of cultures and civilizations, beyond the West. If you have a studio practice, it might also involve your own studio work, and those of your peers.
The format and content of the exhibition is up to you, but all proposals should involve the following:
i. A clear selection of images indicating the content of the exhibition. Images of single works, as well as a sense of how they would be placed and ordered in a space.
ii. A statement to accompany the exhibition - 1200 words - outlining the curatorial concept of the exhibition, and justifying your selection of works.
All learning outcomes are equally weighted for both formative and summative assessments and applied to both submissions.
Relationship between Assessment and Learning Outcomes:
All learning outcomes are equally weighted for both formative and summative assessments and applied to both submissions.
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| Feedback |
1. Formative Assessment: Week 6; Short written piece (uploaded to Learn) Case study of a single artwork or exhibition with respect to a single, specific material of your choice. 500 words. Question: Assess the value of a particular material to the practice or exhibition that you've chosen. In what way does the formal and conceptual impact of the work depend on the material used? Students receive written Feedback within 15 working days.
2. Oral Presentation, Week 6, With reference to one historical (pre 20th century) example and one contemporary (post 1980) example, discuss how a single, specific material of your choice has been used in both cases. Your presentations should emphasize a comparative approach. In the case of students with studio practices, you are invited to speak about your own work here (as the contemporary case-study). Oral Feedback given on day of presentation.
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| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate ability to contextualize contemporary art practice with respect to history of materials and techniques.
- Demonstrate familiarity with history of art and its chronology in terms of changing materials, and techniques.
- Articulate a critical position relative to current debates in contemporary art practice.
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Reading List
Gerard Ward, Grove dictionary of materials and techniques in art, 2008
Nicholas Penny The Materials Of Sculpture, Yale, 1995
Meher McArthur Arts of Asia. Materials, techniques, styles, Thames and Hudson 2005
Henri Focillon The Life of Forms in Art Zone, 1989
Erma Hermans (ed) Looking through Paintings. Archetype Publications 1998
Charles Eastlake Methods and Materials of Painting.Dover Fine Art, March 2003
Rosalind Krauss A Voyage on the North Sea: Art in the Age of the Post-Medium Condition. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000
Glenn Adamson and Julia Bryan-Wilson Art in the making - artist and their materials Thames and Hudson 2016
Petra Lange-Berndt Materiality Whitechapel MIT 2015
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Research Skills, Organisational skills, Reflective and analytical skills, Knowledge of Art History and Production |
| Keywords | Art Materials,Artistic Production,Art History |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Kamini Vellodi
Tel: (0131 6)51 5800
Email: |
Course secretary | Miss Ellie Mccartney
Tel: (0131 6)51 5879
Email: |
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