Course Description

This course addresses aesthetic, historical, and technical issues related to the creation and production of large-scale imagery using today’s digital technology.  For the purposes of this course, "large-scale" here means larger than approximately 6 square meters (approximately 7 square yards) -- which is to say, significantly larger than an adult human. The course builds on an historical perspective.  At the same time that students are creating their own large-scale works, they study and research a variety of historical examples of large-scale imaging at various periods and over a variety of cultures.  Students may work either as teams or individually to design, fabricate and install one or more large-scale compositions.  Questions of content, public vs. private art, composition, and the effect of scale are considered.  Technical issues addressed include resolution, viewing distance, re-sampling of digital imagery, fabrication and printing techniques, tiling, media, and file management. At least one field trip to view large-scale imagery in situ is included. Students have access to the DDA Printing Studio on the fifth floor of Myrtle Hall.

Entry Requirements

Students should already have a good familiarity with the basic principles and practice of two-dimensional digital imaging techniques and practices.

Goals of the Course

The goal of the course is to become capable, both artistically and technically, of producing high-quality large-scale imagery with digital technologies.

Course Requirements

Attendance/Participation

The classes will involve lectures, discussions and critiques. It is extremely important that you attend and fully participate in the weekly classes. Please note that it is Pratt Institute policy that three unexcused absences constitute grounds for an automatic F for the course, and that two latenesses are considered the equivalent of one absence. Arriving more than 15 minutes after the scheduled start of class will be considered late. Arriving more than half-way through the class time will be considered absent. Students are 100% responsible for their own attendance and must allow for delays due to subways, traffic, etc. If you miss class because of illness, you should bring in a note from your physician to avoid your absence being listed as "unexcused". (Pratt Student Health services can be of help to you here.)

The Project

Each student will conceive, design, produce, and exhibit a single large-scale image. See project description. The production of this piece will take place over the course of the entire semester and will be divided into three 5-week stages. At the conclusion of each stage, students will present and hand in their work-to-date for graded evaluation. At the conclusion of the semester, each student will install and exhibit their project.

All projects must be approved in advance by the instructor. This will include consideration of the practicality of being able to produce and exhibit the proposed project.

Students are encouraged to incorporate the full range of their skills into this project. This means incorporating any drawing, photographic, traditional printmaking, digital printmaking, art historical, and other skills you may have at your disposal, into the project.

Research Presentations/Papers

Each student will research at least one art-historical example of large-scale imaging. Based on this research they will make a short presentation to the class and write a short paper.

Students will also write a short paper of their thoughts in reaction to each field trip.

Blogs

Students will be expected to work regularly. As part of this, each student will create a blog page specifically for this course and will keep their blog page up to date with samples of their research, thoughts, tests, notes, and work in progress. This Blog page is important, as it will serve as a record of your day-to-day and week-to-week progress.

Field Trips

There will be at least one field trip to view large-scale work in New York. For each field trip, students will write notes, make sketches, take photos and post all to their blog pages. Students will also write a short paper focusing on one artwork viewd during the field trip.

File Storage

As with all DDA courses, each student is 100% responsible for storing all of his or her files on their own removable storage media. You must make permanent backups of your files on regular basis onto your own storage media (Flash, CD, DVD, external HD, etc.). When you do so, please remember to make two backups -- the first is your "original", and the second is your "backup".

Each student may, upon request, receive storage space on the DDA server. Ask Lab Management about this if you are interested.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

	Week 1	Overview of course structure Review of work from previous Large-scale classes View & discuss students' prior work Making a 2d scale mockup Shoot photo of human person for scale Homework: * Rothko reading + your research and reactions to your blog * Sketches and verbal notes re project ideas * 2d scale mockup of project sketch
	Week 2	Field trip : 53rd & Lexington; + Museum of Modern Art Why large-scale image? Homework: * Cf. Field trip description: reactions to field trip artwork, post to blog * Refine/modify/develop project ideas
	Week 3	Discussion of Week1 field trip Review & discuss students' project ideas Overview of fabrication techniques Historical precedents Composition in the Big Picture Reading: Chuck Close interview
	Week 4	Review of work in progress Introduction to instructor's large-scale imaging work Fabrication, installation issues and possibilities Stage 1 due next week
	Week 5	Assignment1/Stage1 due; critiques Reading: Metropolitan Museum on Chinese Handscrolls
	Week 6	Field Trip: Metropolitan Museum of Art
	Week 7	Discussion: Metropolitan Museum on ChineseHandscrolls Discussion: Metropolitan Museum visit Review of work in progress Reading, due in two weeks: Hilda Hein (in Journal of Aesthetics...): "What is Public Art? Time, Place, and Meaning
	Week 8	Student Research Presentations Review of work in progress
	Week 9	Discussion of Hilda Hein: "What is Public Art? Time, Place, and Meaning" Student Research Presentations Review of work in progress Scout installation site possibilities
	Week 10	Assignment2/Stage2 due; critiques Re-visit installation sites
	Week 11	Student research presentation Review of Viewing Distance, Resolution, PPI, DPI Work on individual projects Historical study: Sistine Chapel frescoes Reading for next week: Arnheim: Introduction from The Power of the Center
	Week 12	Student Research Presentations Review of work in progress Reading for next week: Greenberg: The Crisis of the Easel Picture
	Week 13	Student Research Presentations Review of work in progress
	Week 14	Begin installations of projects
	Week 15	Final Critique of finished and installed projects Assignment3/Final due

Methods of Assessment & Grading

The project will be divided into three stages and will count for a total of 75% of each student's final grade. Each stage will have the following weighting: stage1 = 10%; stage2 = 20%; stage 3 and installation = 45%. For group projects, individual students will be graded based on the quality of the work produced by the team as a whole plus the quality of their specific contributions to that work. Students working as part of a team will self-evaluate each team member.

Active participation in the classes and discussions will count for 10% of the final grade.

The research presentation will count for 5% and the site-visit papers will count for 5% of the final grade.

Please understand that grades are earned by a combination of effort + quality. It is assumed that all students will work hard. That is where we start. Thus, a grade of A means that you have worked hard and you have done excellent work. A grade of B means you have worked hard and done reasonably good work. A grade below C means your work is not up to the standards of this Department.

All projects and assignments must be handed in on the due date. Please note that technical problems, lab problems, or being "really busy" do not constitute an excuse for unfinished work. Such issues are part of life and life with computers, and you should assume they will occur. It is your responsibility to schedule your time and your work to allow for this sort of problem and still get your work done well and on time.

Readings/Bibliography

Required Materials

There will be selected readings from the following publications. As many of these as possible will be put on reserve at the Pratt Library. You do not need to purchase these books, but you will need to do the readings.

Arnheim, Rudolf: The Power of the Center , Univ of Calif Press, 1982
Hein, Hilde, "What is Public Art? Time, Place, and Meaning", The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. Blackwell Publishing, Vol. 54, No. 1., 1996
Greenberg, Clement: Art and Culture. Beacon Press, 1982
Manovich, Lev: The Language of New Media, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2001

Suggested Materials

The following are some additional suggested resources.

Adams, Henry: Mont Saint Michel and Chartres, G.P.Putnam, 1980. (Originally published 1904)
Drescher, Timothy: San Francisco Bay Area Murals.
Goldstein, Barbara: Public Art by the Book, Univ. of Washington Press, 2005
Hein, Hilde: Public Art: Thinking Museums Differently, Altamira Press, 2006

www.myrtleavenue.org/projects_PublicArt.cfm
www.metmuseum.org/toah
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/ (Lascaux cave paintings)
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/06/23/080623fa_fact_thurman (Lascaux)

Suggested Research Topics

The following are samples of large-scale imaging students may want to research.

· Prehistoric cave paintings of southern France and the Pyranees (Lascaux, Altimira, Font de Gaume, etc.)
· Roman fescoes of Pompeii and Herculaneum
· Mosaics of the Byzantine Empire
· The Unicorn tapestries
· Stained glass windows of the French Gothic (Chartres, La Sainte Chapelle, Notre Dame de Paris, etc.)
· Wall and ceiling frescoes of the Italian Renaissance
· The Sistine Chapel frescoes
·Folding-screen paintings of the Japanese Kano periods
· Petroglyphs of the American Indians
· Low-relief temple sculptures of the Mayan civilization
· Water lily paintings of Claude Monet
· American billboard signage of the 1950s
· Contemporary electronic billboard signage
· Times Square, NYC
· The Berlin Wall
· The Menil Chapel paintings of Mark Rothko
· Large-scale imagery of any of the following modern and contemporary artists: Cy Twombly, Jackson Pollack, Robert Rauchenberg, Jasper Johns, Frank Stella, Jeff Wall, Anselm Keifer, Mariko Mori, Andreas Gursky, Pipilotti Rist, Dan Flavin, Jenny Holzer,...




Academic Integrity

(The following is copied from the Pratt Institute website.)

Pratt Institute considers Academic Integrity highly important. Instances of cheating, plagiarism, and wrongful use of intellectual property will not be tolerated.

• Faculty members will report each incident to the registrar for inclusion in studentsí files.
• More than one report to the registrar during a studentís program of study at Pratt will result in a hearing before the Academic Integrity Board, at which time appropriate sanctions will be decided. These may include dismissal from the Institute.
• The nature and severity of the infraction will be determined by faculty members who can: ask students to repeat an assignment, fail students on the assignment, fail students in the course and/or refer the incident to the Academic Integrity Board.

For more details about these procedures please see the Pratt Student Handbook, the Pratt Bulletins, and the pamphlet entitled Judicial Procedures at Pratt.

CHEATING

If students use dishonest methods to fulfill course requirements, they are cheating. Examples of this include, but are not limited to:

• Obtaining or offering copies of exams or information about the content of exams in advance.
• Bringing notes in any form to a closed book exam.
• Looking at another student's paper during an exam.
• Receiving or communicating any information from or to another student during an exam.

PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is a bit more complicated, but the rules of documentation and citation are very specific and are tailored to different academic disciplines. Types of plagiarism include:

• Including any material from any source other than you in a paper or project without proper attribution. This includes material from the Internet, books, papers, or projects by other students, and from any other source.
• Using your own work to fulfill requirements for more than one course
• The extensive use of the ideas of others in your work without proper attribution.
• Turning in work done by another person or a fellow student as one's own.

Please remember that all work must be the student's own. If it is not, the source should be cited and documented appropriately.

If there are aspects of this statement that are not understood, ask faculty members for help.