Section A04: Cross Training: Building the Buff Brain Through Drawing and Design
Note: To take this course, you must also enroll in English 101 Section A04.
Drawing is a human activity that can serve many purposes--recording observations, objects or events; sketching ideas; expressing feelings, dreams, or perceptions. It is a powerful tool that can increase our awareness, of both our inner and outer world. Through drawing, we make visible our thoughts. Design is the creative process of organizing visual information, whether objective or subjective, in such a way that reinforces meaning and enhances expression. The synthesis of drawing and design is a fundamental foundation for any of the visual arts.
In this studio art seminar, we will experiment with creative exercises designed to unleash what Carl Jung calls the "play instinct," to cultivate our perception and imagination, and to develop problem-solving skills via the design process. This course is about paying attention, making connections, finding meaning--in the irrelevant and the mundane, the idiosyncratic and the ironic, the particular and the paradoxical. Through drawing we learn to see; through design we learn to make connections between disparate parts and organize them into visually aesthetic messages--to reveal our individual voices and deepen our understanding of the world; in short, to become innovative thinkers and more creative human beings.