Summer Visual Arts

Joseph Tilford, Dean, School of Design & Production

Will Taylor, Director of Visual Arts Summer Session

Curriculum
Faculty
Credit
Requirements
Apply

Are you a high school or entering college student with a desire to unlock your artistic talent? The North Carolina School of the Arts Summer Session in Visual Arts could be your key.

The Visual Arts Summer Session provides promising students the opportunity to use the skills and tools of the visual arts through a variety of methods. Studio classes will explore the mechanical, philosophical and intellectual aspects of the art experience. This will include instruction and practice in drawing, design, and sculpture.

Constructive criticism is given by the faculty to help each young artist more fully realize his or her creative potential. Discussions of all aspects of creating art – from idea generation to the decision-making process that will lead to a work’s realization – will take place throughout the Visual Arts Summer Session.

In addition, introduction to art historical concepts and practices, as well as contemporary imagery, will be integrated in the form of slide shows, lectures, and library assignments. The Summer Session will include a field trip to a local museum to heighten each student’s awareness and appreciation of contemporary arts and crafts.

Several informal student art exhibitions take place in the gallery during the five-week session, allowing students and faculty the chance to react to the work outside a classroom context. Culminating in a final exhibition and reception at the end of the session, we bring together students, faculty, parents and friends to celebrate and support the young artists’ efforts.

Drawing and Design

A variety of drawing challenges are explored in Summer Session. Both realistic and non-objective themes are used to develop deliberate drawing skills. Studies of value relationships, line quality and perspective are employed to facilitate artistic interpretation. A series of projects are assigned during the session to help build a firm foundation in compositional control. Work from numerous class drawing drills are adapted into more experimental, completed projects to expand the students' perception of the aesthetic boundaries of drawing.

Design is an overview of the mechanical and creative guidelines that assist in the construction of two-dimensional designs. A series of projects focus on the fundamental elements of visual space, color theory, movement, and proportion as a means of making a cohesive artistic statement. Control and critical recognition of these elements is explored through a variety of visual exercises, from which more complex pieces can be developed. Emphasis is on organizing graphic forms as a means to personal expression and extending the perception of aesthetic possibilities.


Sculpture

This course will provide students with the opportunity to plan and articulate three-dimensional space utilizing a variety of concepts, media, and techniques. In addition to hands-on interaction, emphasis will also be placed on students’ sketchbooks, journals, and their development of a vocabulary to aid in the understanding and analysis their work as well as that of other artists. Students will also be asked to investigate current and historical trends, styles and genres of sculpture through lectures, discussions and research assignments. Projects will range from small-scale maquettes in plaster to larger works that combine various media. After an introductory series of formal design problems, projects will gravitate toward the development of personal expression in form.

*Will Taylor, Director, Summer Session 2008, Drawing Instructor
BFA, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
MFA, Pratt Institute

*Pam Griffin, Color and Design Instructor
BFA, Syracuse University
MFA, Temple University —Tyler School of Art

Mary Ann Zotto, Sculpture Instructor
MFA, East Carolina University
MA, Eastern Michigan University
BA, North Texas State University  

*NCSA faculty
Faculty is subject to change.

All students classified in grades 12 or below are eligible to earn high school credit; college students may earn college semester hours.

High School: one credit
College: three semester hours