12/27/2024 4:15:35 AM	ART 14A Course Outline as of Fall 2008	Changed Course
CATALOG INFORMATION
Discipline and Nbr:  ART 14A	Title:  BEGINNING PAINTING
Full Title:  Beginning Painting
Last Reviewed:1/9/2024

Units		Course Hours per Week			Nbr of Weeks	Course Hours Total
Maximum	3.00	Lecture Scheduled	2.00		17.5 max.	Lecture Scheduled	35.00
Minimum	3.00	Lab Scheduled	4.00		3 min.	Lab Scheduled	70.00
		Contact DHR	0			Contact DHR	0
		Contact Total	6.00			Contact Total	105.00
		Non-contact DHR	0			Non-contact DHR Total	0

Total Out of Class Hours:  70.00

Total Student Learning Hours: 175.00

Title 5 Category:  AA Degree Applicable
Grading:  Grade or P/NP
Repeatability:  22 - 4 Times in any Comb of Levels
Also Listed As: 
Formerly: 

Catalog Description:

An introductory course in painting involving the basic elements and dynamics of art such as value, color, texture and space, as well as compositional factors and an introduction to the various problems and potentials of painting. (Acrylics or oil paints).  

Prerequisites/Corequisites:

Recommended Preparation:
Course Completion of ART 7A

Limits on Enrollment:

Schedule of Classes Information
Description:

An introductory course in painting involving the basic elements & dynamics of art such as value, color, texture & space, as well as compositional factors & an introduction to the various problems & potentials of painting. (Acrylics or oil paints).  

(Grade or P/NP)
Prerequisites:
Recommended:Course Completion of ART 7A
Limits on Enrollment:
Transfer Credit:CSU;UC.
Repeatability:22 - 4 Times in any Comb of Levels

ARTICULATION, MAJOR, and CERTIFICATION INFORMATION

Associate Degree:		Effective:		Inactive:
Area:
CSU GE:	Transfer Area			Effective:	Inactive:
IGETC:	Transfer Area			Effective:	Inactive:
CSU Transfer:	Transferable	Effective:	Fall 1981	Inactive:
UC Transfer:	Transferable	Effective:	Fall 1981	Inactive:
C-ID:
CID Descriptor: ARTS 210	Introduction to Painting	SRJC Equivalent Course(s): ART14A

Certificate/Major Applicable: Both Certificate and Major Applicable

COURSE CONTENT

Outcomes and Objectives:
At the conclusion of this course, the student should be able to:

1.  Sharpen and stimulate visual perception.

2.  Engage visual thinking.

3.  Create awareness of the pictorial elements:  Shape, volume, value

and color contrast, light, space, etc.

4.  Become familiar with and able to describe and analyze paintings

both verbally and in writing using vocabulary of terms pertaining

specifically to painting.

5.  Practice and develop hand skills necessary for basic mastery of the

control of acrylics and/or oil paint and tools such as brushes and

palette knives.

6.  Exercise ability to make critical aesthetic judgments through class

critiques.

7.  Foster good habits of "pacing" a painting by building it up progres-

sively.

8.  Develop compositional skills.

9.  Become exposed to the creative process, its potentials and pitfalls,

the development of discipline, experiencing the role of risk-taking and

experimentation.

10. Cultivate and understanding of the creative process which includes

both the development of disciplined work habits and the practice of

hand sillks, as well as risk-taking and experimentation.

11. Develop an ear for the dialogue that occurs between the painting and

the painter.

12. Cultivate an open receptivity to the many possible resources for

ideas, information and inspiration.

13. Learn the basics of color dynamics, color mixing, and paint

characteristics.

14. Exercise the essential craft of using the tools and materials of

painting and the preparation of supports and grounds.

15. Relate pictorial problems to good examples of painting of the past

and the present (Western, Asian, Primitive, Outsider art, etc.).

16. Define health and safety issues that can arise from the use of paints

and mediums and solvents.  Train students to clean palettes and brushes

and dispose of waste safely.  

Topics and Scope

The primary intent of Art 14A is visual literacy and performance using

specific media in a studio setting. This includes:

1.  The ability to understand the basic pictorial elements of painting:

the picture plane, two and three-dimensional movement in space, pro-

portion, scale, orchestration of darks and lights, negative space,

figure/ground relationships including reversals and ambiguities.

2.  The ability to make aesthetic decisions and judgments about these

elements in painting.

3.  The ability to perform specific techniques to demonstrate these

elements using "short" and "long" paint, staining, glazing, scumbling,

dry brush, palette knife, various mediums, brushes and other implements.

4.  The ability to intelligently use and care for the tools of Art 14A:

brushes, palette knives, rags, solvents, mediums, palettes, etc.

5.  The ability to distinguish basic and subtle color differences, work

with their contrasts and learn about color mixing and the character-

istics of oil and/or acrylic paint.

6.  The ability to work with a variety of sources:  drawings, color

sketches, photographs, media images, memory, etc.

7.  The ability to work from a variety of subjects: still life,

landscape, the figure, invented shapes, gesture, etc.

8.  The ability to use a variety of supports for painting, to become

familiar with the proper grounds for priming thees supports, the ability

to apply these primers.

9.  The ability to assemble stretchers, become familiar with the tools

involved in the process, and learn the technique of stretching canvas.

10. The ability to analyze reproductions and/or slides of master

paintings,past and contemporary, for value contrasts, spatial solutions,

color dynamics, compositionl elements, figure/ground relations, paint

handling, expressive means, emotional and conceptual content.

The scope and sequence of the course will be presented as follows:

1.  Through lectures concerning the concepts, elements and art historical

precedents of painting.

2.  Through lecture/demonstrations of the proper use of materials and

techniques.

3.  Through student practice and demonstration of compositional,

expressive and technical concepts.

4.  Through evaluative one-on-one discussions with individual students.

5.  Through group critique discussions and presentations of in-class

and homework sketches and paintings.

Specific areas of study within Art 14A include:

1.  Shape: recognizing the essential shape of forms first before

focusing on surface detail, using positive and negative shape rela-

tionships to strengthen compositional drama or unity.

2.  Value: employing tonal contrasts and gradients to develop volume,

depth, drama and movement.

3.  Color: distinguishing basic and subtle differentiations of color and

understanding the basics of the color wheel.

4.  Line: using line to define contour as an expressive element in

itself.

5.  Proportion: analyzing the proportions of a single object and

analyzing the proportional relationships between objects.

6.  Scale: considering how size, scale and shape of format influence

a painting.  Considering how the size and scale of what is painting

influences the impact of a composition on the viewer.

7.  Texture: using textural contrasts and pattern to describe surfaces

and to enrich or give visual weight to painting.

8.  Edge: the edge as a different way to achieve contrast than line.

Varying soft and hard edges to ceate differing contrasts between figure

and ground.

9.  Abstraction: introduce the concept of abstraction through various

means: extreme simplification of the elements of painting, (form, value,

and color), alteration, and/or distortion.  Show examples of 20th c.

painting to demonstrate various expressions in this mode.

10. The Non-Objective: using the grid, gesture, accident, or other means

to initiate painting that revolves around formal considerations and does

not originate from a correlation to perceived or preconceived subject

matter.

11. Content: recognize other-than aesthetic aspects of painting, such

as metaphor, symbol, narrative, etc.

12. Process: introduce elements of improvization, spontaneity, chance,

and the mixing of media, drawing upon 20th c. precedents for inspiration.  

Assignments:

1. Still life set-ups for study of composition.

2. Still life set-ups for study of color relations: a) Achromatic

tonal studies using only black and white and variusly mixed grays.

b) Tonal studies using one primary color plus black and white. c) Anal-

agous schemes involving one color mixed variously with its neighbor on

the color wheel.  d) Complementary contrasts stressing warm/cool

interaction. e) Complementary contrasts using two pairs of complements.

f) Painting limited to browns mixed from primaries plus black and white.

g) Study using only white with subtle hints towards the primaries.

h) Intense color contrasts without use of white or black in mixtures.

3.  Look at objects and their surroundings to create effects of volume,

space and light: a) cast shadow, b) highlight, c) reflected light and

color, d) warm/cool contrast, e) varying saturation, f) value contrast,

g) blending and modulation, h) avoiding use of black and white, i) con-

sideration of different treatment of contour edges and the use of

outline.

4.  Exercise and expand upon the basic concepts above in subjects such as

a) the urban or suburban scene, b) the self-portrait, c) the draped or

undraped model, d) food as a theme, e) objects enlarged and/or isolated

to give significance to their objectness and/or metaphorical meanings.

5.  Abstract a subject by simplifying, altering, distorting, etc.

6.  Exercise one's memory by painting a still ife set-up which is viewed

intermittently, rather than continuously.

7.  Experiment with some of the dynamic interactions of formal compos-

itional elements and surface tretment in a painting without objective

subject matter.

8.  Experiement with some of the dynamic interactions of formal compos-

itional elements and surface tretment in a painting without objective

subject matter.

9.  Interpret an old or contemporary master painting to analyze its

structure, value contrasts, color relations, paint handling.  

Methods of Evaluation/Basis of Grade.

Writing: Assessment tools that demonstrate writing skill and/or require students to select, organize and explain ideas in writing.		Writing 0 - 0%
None
This is a degree applicable course but assessment tools based on writing are not included because problem solving assessments and skill demonstrations are more appropriate for this course.
Problem solving: Assessment tools, other than exams, that demonstrate competence in computational or non-computational problem solving skills.		Problem Solving 40 - 60%
Homework problems
Skill Demonstrations: All skill-based and physical demonstrations used for assessment purposes including skill performance exams.		Skill Demonstrations 10 - 30%
Class performances, PAINTINGS & SKETCHBOOKS
Exams: All forms of formal testing, other than skill performance exams.		Exams 0 - 0%
None
Other: Includes any assessment tools that do not logically fit into the above categories.		Other Category 10 - 30%
A BODY OF WORK INVOLVING PAINTINGS & SKETCHES WILL BE THE MAJOR BASIS OF COURSE GRADE. OTHER FACTORS: ATTENDANCE, EFFORT, GROWTH, PARTICIPATION

Representative Textbooks and Materials:

Hawthorne on Painting, Hawthorne, Dover, New York, 1960

Art and Fear, Bayles and Orland, Capra Press, Santa Barbara, 1993   `

An Artist's Notebook, Chaet, Holt, Rinehard and Winston, 1979

Theories of Modern Art, Chipp, University of California Press, Berkeley,

Los Angeles and London, 1968

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