Program in Visual Arts

Faculty

Director

  • Jeffrey Whetstone

Associate Director

  • Pamela E. Lins

Executive Committee

  • Elena Araoz, Theater, LCA
  • Michael W. Cadden, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Tina M. Campt, Art and Archaeology
  • Jane F. Cox, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Martha Friedman, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Su Friedrich, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Aleksandar Hemon, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Brian E. Herrera, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Rebecca J. Lazier, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Yiyun Li, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Pamela E. Lins, Visual Arts, LCA
  • Susan S. Marshall, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Moon Molson, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Paul B. Muldoon, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Kirstin Valdez Quade, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Joe Scanlan, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Susan Wheeler, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Jeffrey Whetstone, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Rhaisa Williams, Lewis Center for the Arts
  • Stacy E. Wolf, Lewis Center for the Arts

Associated Faculty

  • Tiona Nekkia McClodden, Lewis Center for the Arts

Sits with Committee

  • Colleen Asper
  • David W. Reinfurt

Professor

  • Su Friedrich
  • Deana Lawson
  • Joe Scanlan
  • Jeffrey Whetstone

Assistant Professor

  • Moon Molson

Lecturer with Rank of Professor

  • James Welling

Senior Lecturer

  • Martha Friedman
  • Pamela E. Lins

Lecturer

  • Colleen Asper
  • Lex Brown
  • Laura Coombs
  • Anne M. Eder
  • Ji-eun Lee
  • Troy G. Michie
  • Bent-Jorgen Perlmutt
  • David W. Reinfurt
  • Tim Szetela
For a full list of faculty members and fellows please visit the department or program website.

Program Information

The Program in Visual Arts, part of the Lewis Center for the Arts, allows undergraduates to explore visual art and media while developing their creative skills under the aegis of a liberal arts education. Courses are offered in drawing, filmmaking, graphic design, media, painting, photography, and sculpture. Studio courses emphasize direct, hands-on art making under the guidance of practicing visual arts professionals.

Most courses in the program are open to all students at Princeton. A few courses are by application only, and a few are reserved for Certificate and Practice of Art students only. Most courses are letter graded (not Pass/D/Fail) and may be taken in fulfillment of the distribution requirement in literature and arts. Summer courses and study abroad are accepted for Practice of Art students, Certificate students, and students who have previously completed at least one VIS course. AP credit is not accepted.

For students interested in pursuing a thesis in studio arts or film production, there are two pathways. The first is Practice of Art, a concentration offered by the Department of Art and Archaeology and administered by the Program in Visual Arts. The second option is a Visual Arts Certificate earned in addition to a student's departmental concentration.

Admission to the Program

Admission to both Practice of Art in Art and Archaeology and the Visual Arts Certificate program is selective. During the first week following spring break, sophomores submit an application and a portfolio of creative work to the Lewis Center for the Arts administrative office. By early April, the admissions committee will notify those students accepted into the program. For specific prerequisites, please see the individual areas below.

Program of Study

Practice of Art: Visual Arts

Practice of Art is an intensive studio concentration in the visual arts that culminates in a creative senior thesis. For program requirements, see the Practice of Art description under the Department of Art and Archaeology.

The Visual Arts Certificate

A Certificate in Visual Arts will be awarded to students who successfully complete a substantial program of studio work in art or film production and a minimal supplement of seminars and art history courses, while concentrating in another academic department. Students interested in a Certificate in Visual Arts should submit a portfolio in the spring term of sophomore year. Students must have completed at least one visual arts studio or film production course before being admitted to the program. One course in art and archaeology is also highly recommended.

Course Requirements. A total of seven courses, including two required seminars, from the Program in Visual Arts and the Department of Art and Archaeology, as follows:

1. Three visual arts studio courses or film production courses, in at least two different media, and at least one 300- or 400-level course. For film students, screenwriting courses are accepted as a different media from film production courses.

2. VIS 392 Artist and Studio is a fall seminar required for all junior year Practice of Art and Certificate students. Concentrating on the traditions, challenges, and rewards of studio practice through readings, discussions, studio critiques, and a culminating exhibition of artist's books, VIS 392 provides students with historical context as well as contemporary theory of how best to engage in a meaningful studio practice. In conjunction with the seminar, each junior receives their own art studio. Please note that film students are required to take VIS 419 (The Film Seminar) in the spring of their junior year as one of the two required film seminars. They may take VIS 392 as their second required seminar or find another film-related seminar on campus that qualifies, with prior approval from film faculty.

3. VIS 416 Exhibition Issues and Methods is a fall seminar required for all senior year Practice of Art and Certificate students. This course provides a formal structure for students to study, present, and discuss various issues and strategies for exhibiting art as they prepare for their Spring Thesis Exhibition. Throughout the course there will be presentations from visiting artists as well as field trips to professional artists’ studios, galleries, and museums. Please note that film students are not required to take VIS 416.

4. One art and archaeology course in the modern period (19th century to the present). Please note that film students can substitute a film history/analysis course offered on campus, with prior approval from a film faculty member in consultation with the visual arts director’s office.

5. As one of the seven required courses, a student can matriculate either an additional VIS studio course or any ART course. Please note that film students can substitute a film production course, film history course, or relevant global seminar.

Junior Independent Work

Fall: Students will be assigned one adviser in the fall and a different adviser for the spring, both chosen from the Program in Visual Arts faculty. During their junior year, each student is assigned a studio work space in the Room 401 loft of 185 Nassau. In lieu of writing a fall paper, students will conceive and produce a 32-page artist's book for their fall independent work. The independent work is done in consultation with each student's adviser.

Spring: Students prepare independent work in their studios, in consultation with their spring semester adviser, culminating in an exhibition as part of the Spring Junior Group Thesis Show.

Please note that film students work with one adviser throughout their junior year to create a junior film.

Senior Independent Work

Students are assigned a primary and secondary adviser from the visual arts faculty that they will work with for the entire year. Students are assigned semiprivate studios on the second floor of 185 Nassau. Each student’s independent study culminates with a thesis show that is exhibited at one of the Lewis Center galleries.

Please note that film students also have two advisers with whom they work throughout the fall and spring to produce a senior thesis film.

Certificate of Proficiency

Students who fulfill the requirements of the program receive a certificate of proficiency in visual arts upon graduation.

 

Courses

VIS 201 Drawing I (also
ARC 201
) Fall LA

This course approaches drawing as a way of thinking and seeing. Students will be introduced to a range of drawing issues, as well as a variety of media, including charcoal, graphite, ink, and oil stick. Subject matter includes still life, the figure, landscape, and architecture. Representation, abstraction, and working from imagination will be explored. A structured independent project will be completed at the end of the term. Two studio classes, five hours total per week. Instructed by: E. Aschheim

VIS 202 Drawing I (also
ARC 202
) Spring LA

This course approaches drawing as a way of thinking and seeing. Students will be introduced to a range of drawing issues, as well as a variety of media, including charcoal, graphite, ink, and oil stick. Subject matter includes still life, the figure, landscape, and architecture. Representation, abstraction, and working from imagination will be explored. A structured independent project will be completed at the end of the term. Two studio classes, five hours total per week. Instructed by: N. Carter, K. Kauper

VIS 203 Painting I (also
ARC 327
) Fall LA

An introduction to the materials and methods of painting. The areas to be covered are color and its interaction, the use of form and scale, painting from a model, painting objects with a concern for their mass, and interaction with light. Two three-hour studio classes, five hours a week. Instructed by: E. Aschheim, C. Asper, P. Lins

VIS 204 Painting I (also
ARC 328
) Spring LA

An introduction to the materials and methods of painting. The areas to be covered are color and its interaction, the use of form and scale, painting from a model, painting objects with a concern for their mass, and interaction with light. Two studio classes, five hours total per week. Instructed by: E. Aschheim, C. Asper, P. Lins

VIS 205 Futures for All: Reimagining Social Equality through Art and Technology Fall LA

How can art become a form of activism? This course investigates how technological media shape culture and society, and how we can actively reshape these dynamics through art and design. We will engage in the practice of "speculative", and "tactical" design using various digital tools to envision different futures, reflecting on social, political, and ethical implications of various technologies. Traversing digital and physical realities, students will develop skills in the Adobe suite, 3d modeling, rendering, AR/VR. The final project will be a technology-based artwork that actively engages with critical social discourse and activism. Instructed by: A. Liu

VIS 206 Feminist Technoscience: Art, Technology, & Gender Spring LA

How does scientific research produce and reinforce concepts of gender? How is sexism propagated through technological media? This course investigates how scientific and technological media shape culture and society, particularly through the lens of gender and sexuality. Through interdisciplinary art making, students will use various technological media to reflect on the social, political, and ethical aspects of technoscientific feminism. Students will develop skills in 3d modeling, rendering, augmented reality, Illustrator, and Photoshop, creating art works in critical social discourse and gender theory. Instructed by: A. Liu

VIS 208 Graphic Design: Link Spring LA

In this introductory studio course, participants explore the world wide web as an opportunity for self-publishing. We'll understand the web's history and original design as a decentralized system for publishing on one's own terms. But it's easy to forget this, as today the corporate and platformed web captures and sells our data and attention. Through hands-on exercises and projects, this course aims to demystify the web, removing barriers to basic web coding and publishing by focusing on the foundational skills in making websites with HTML and CSS. We'll remember what makes a web a web: links made by humans. Instructed by: L. Schwulst

VIS 209 Reality R&D: Designing Speculative Futures (also
ANT 281
/
ARC 215
/
STC 207
) Fall LA

Operating at the intersection of art, science and technology, this course investigates how scientific theories shape aspects of culture and society. We will engage in the practice of "speculative design", creating sculptures, wearables, and objects that envision different futures, while reflecting on social, political, and ethical implications of various technologies. Students will develop skills in industrial design, physical computing, and fabrication, as well as sensing and responsive technologies (including hardware/software integration, sensors, micro-projection, biometric sensing, etc), while applying them to critical social discourse. Instructed by: A. Liu

VIS 210 Introduction to Set and Costume Design (See THR 213)

VIS 211 Analog Photography Fall LA

An introduction to the processes of photography through a series of problems directed toward the handling of light-sensitive material, camera, and printing. Weekly laboratory sessions will explore the critical issues of the medium in relation to both student work and the work of guest photographers. One three-hour class and two hours of independent laboratory. Prerequisite: instructor's permission. Instructed by: D. Lawson, J. Whetstone

VIS 212 Analog Photography Spring LA

An introduction to the processes of photography through a series of problems directed toward the handling of light-sensitive material, camera, and printing. Weekly laboratory sessions will explore the critical issues of the medium in relation to both student work and the work of guest photographers. One three-hour class and three hours of independent laboratory. Prerequisite: instructor's permission. Instructed by: D. Lawson, J. Whetstone

VIS 213 Digital Photography Fall/Spring LA

An advanced seminar and lab that explores the aesthetic and theoretical implications of digital technology in relation to photography. The emphasis is on making the photographic print in the digital work space. Class will consist of both independent and collaborative projects. One two-hour class, one three-hour laboratory. Prerequisites: 211 or 212, or instructor's permission. Instructed by: J. Whetstone

VIS 214 Graphic Design (also
ARC 214
/
CWR 214
) Fall/Spring LA

This studio course will introduce students to the essential aspects and skills of graphic design, and will analyze and discuss the increasingly vital role that non-verbal, graphic information plays in all areas of professional life, from fine art and book design to social networking and the Internet. Students in the course will explore visual organization through a series of focused, interrelated assignments dealing with composition, page layout, type design, and image. Hands on production will include an array of do-it-yourself printing and distribution technologies, from letterpress and mimeograph to photocopying and websites. Instructed by: D. Reinfurt

VIS 215 Graphic Design: Typography (also
CWR 215
) Fall/Spring LA

This studio course introduces students to graphic design with a particular emphasis on typography. Students learn typographic history through lectures that highlight major shifts in print technologies and through their engagement in studio design projects. Class readings provide the raw material for hot metal typesetting in the letterpress print shop, photo-typesetting in the mechanical paste-up studio, and state of the art typesetting and design software in the digital computer lab. Overall, the workshop synthesizes hands-on graphic design skills with aesthetic awareness and a critical vocabulary. Instructed by: D. Reinfurt

VIS 216 Graphic Design: Visual Form Fall LA

This course introduces students to techniques for decoding and creating graphic messages in a variety of media, and delves into issues related to visual literacy through the hands-on making and analysis of graphic form. Graphic design relies on mastering the subtle manipulation of abstract shapes and developing sensitivity to the relationships between them. Students are exposed to graphics from the late 19th-century to the present in slide lectures. Studio assignments and group critique will foster an individual ability to realize sophisticated forms and motivate these towards carrying specific meanings. Instructed by: D. Reinfurt

VIS 217 Graphic Design: Circulation Fall LA

The practice of graphic design relies on the existence of networks for distributing multiple copies of identical things. Students in this course will consider the ways in which a graphic design object's characteristics are affected by its ability to be copied and shared, and by the environment in which it is intended to circulate. Through hands-on design projects, readings, and discussions, students will delve into different material forms of distribution - the public newspaper, the community newsletter, the course packet, the PDF - and investigate the particular attributes of each. Instructed by: D. Reinfurt

VIS 218 Graphic Design: Image Fall LA

This course engages students in the decoding of and formal experimentation with the image as a two-dimensional surface. Students take a hands on approach to formal experimentation through an array of modes and technologies including the photocopier, the computer, the camera, letterpress and silkscreen printing to address the most basic principles of design, such as visual metaphor, composition, hierarchy, and scale. Studio assignments and group critique will foster an individual ability to realize sophisticated images and motivate these towards carrying specific meanings. Instructed by: F. Grassi

VIS 219 Art for Everyone Fall/Spring LA

This studio class will address the increasing social pressure on art to become more widely distributed, immediately accessible, and democratically produced. For the past fifty years, expanding definitions of what art might be fueled by a greater emphasis on active audience participation have encouraged an atmosphere in which anyone can claim to be an artist. Through studio work in a wide range of graphic and digital media, supported by readings and discussions, this class will take a hands-on approach to the question of whether art by everyone for everyone constitutes a dreamed-of utopia, a universal banality, or a cultural nightmare. Instructed by: F. Backström

VIS 220 Digital Animation Fall LA

This studio production class will engage in a variety of timed-based collage, composition, visualization, and storytelling techniques. Enrolled students will be taught the fundamental techniques of 2D animation production, acquire a working knowledge of digital animation software, utilize the basic technologies of audiovisual recording, editing, and composition, and explore the connective space between sound, image, and motion possible in animated film. In-class critiques, workshops, screenings, and discussions will relate student work to the history and practice of animation and to other media, art, and design forms. Instructed by: T. Szetela

VIS 221 Sculpture I Fall LA

A studio introduction to sculpture, particularly the study of form, space, and the influence of a wide variety of materials and processes on the visual properties of sculpture. Students will develop an understanding of contemporary sculpture and a basic technical facility in a variety of materials and processes. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Instructed by: J. Scanlan

VIS 222 Sculpture I Spring LA

A studio introduction to sculpture, particularly the study of form, space, and the influence of a wide variety of materials and processes on the visual properties of sculpture. Students will develop an understanding of contemporary sculpture and a basic technical facility in a variety of materials and processes. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Instructed by: M. Friedman, A. Yao

VIS 223 360 Degrees With 7 Storytellers (also
CWR 223
) Spring LA

Through a series of screenings, we will analyze the narrative structure and grammar of films' visuals to spur on an in-depth understanding of story, character, style and theme. The study of the language of cinema will be contextualized in the work of seven visionary storytellers: Akira Kurosawa, Stanley Kubrick, Jane Campion, Ana Lily Amirpour, Satyajit Ray, Andrei Tarkovsky and Krzysztof Kielslowski Instructed by: A. Nathaniel

VIS 225 Sound Art (also
MUS 271
/
THR 225
) Fall LA

In this course, you will be asked to develop your own voice in sound as an art material. Through the making of physical objects and use of audio technologies, we will think about sound expansively, as physical material, personal experience, and as concept. Along the way we will explore the extensive works of pioneers in sound art and contemporary music, learn new skills, and investigate ideas about sound which can inspire your own creative explorations. Building on diverse practices from Experimental Music to the Fine Arts, this will be a creative, open - and fun - journey into sound as art material. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 226 Sound/Material/Mind (also
MUS 228
) Fall LA

Sound is at once ephemeral in air, concrete in material, and conceptualized in the mind. This unique transformation makes sound ideal for examining the relationship of our internal experience to physicality. In this course, students will reconsider sound as material through studio projects exploring physical technologies of sound-making along with listening and viewings of related arts and artists, readings and writings in theories of sound, new media, perception and phenomenology. This class offers a hybrid experience - both studio and seminar reconsidering our relationship to the body, physical material, and sound embodied in the world. Instructed by: J. Rowland

VIS 227 Everyday Clay Fall LA

This online course focuses on the technical, cultural, geological, and everyday characteristics of raw clay and fired ceramic objects. Students develop an understanding of and vocabulary for the physical properties of clay in all its states. Students will learn about clay harvesting, processing, making, drying, firing, and the local histories of ceramic production. Along with demonstrations, artist visits, lectures, and readings, students will develop a research interest and apply their ideas to a final project that adds to their own observations on clay. The Visual Arts Program will provide all materials needed. Instructed by: A. Welch

VIS 231 Methods of Color Photography Fall/Spring LA

This introductory course focuses on the technical, historical, cultural, and artistic aspects of color photography. Students will experiment with form and content, using the medium to convey observations and ideas. Students will work in an analog color darkroom and use hybrid methods of analog and digital photography in order to understand how color is translated by photographic material. The course will introduce possibilities of color in photographs and expand students' ability to interpret color for their own formal and conceptual ends. The class will include weekly laboratory sessions, assignments for critique, readings, and a field trip. Instructed by: D. Lawson, J. Welling

VIS 232 Collage: Diversions, Contradictions, and Anomalies Spring LA

This course is an introduction to the fascinating history of collage. Students study techniques employed in the iconography of China and Medieval Europe, and expand to its historical resurgence in the form of keepsakes and scrapbooks. Students evaluate the relationship of collage to historical advancements in photography, assemblage, and décollage. Students discover collage's relationship and technical developments to the radical histories of trauma, disruption, and desire by studying contemporary artists. Projects are structured around mixed media drawing, printmaking, painting, along with found object sculpture. Instructed by: T. Michie Jr.

VIS 239 Sound and Place (See MUS 239)

VIS 242 Film Genres: The First Five Decades of Cinema Not offered this year LA

A historical examination of a film genre--e.g., comedy, documentary, detective film (also called film noir). The object of the course will be the understanding of the uniquely cinematic aspects of each genre, studied against the backdrop of parallel literary genres (e.g., comedy from Aristophanes to Beckett; documentary fiction and essays; 19th- and 20th-century detective fiction). One genre will be the topic of the course each year. Two 90-minute classes, one film screening. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 261 How to Make a Film Fall LA

A film/video course introducing the techniques of shooting and editing digital video. Works of film/video art are analyzed in order to explore the development of, and innovations in, cinematic language. Production is oriented toward film/video as a visual art, including narrative, documentary, and experimental genres. Several short video projects produced during the semester. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Prerequisite: instructor's permission. Instructed by: K. Sanborn

VIS 262 How to Make a Film Spring LA

A film/video course introducing the techniques of shooting and editing digital video. Works of film/video art are analyzed in order to explore the development of, and innovations in, cinematic language. Production is oriented toward film/video as a visual art, including narrative, documentary, and experimental genres. Several short video projects produced during the semester. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Prerequisite: instructor's permission. Instructed by: K. Sanborn

VIS 263 Documentary Filmmaking I Fall/Spring LA

This course will give students an introduction to documentary film and video production, with a special emphasis on the practical challenges of producing films in the real world. Students will learn fundamental filmmaking techniques from a professor with thirteen years experience running her own film production company, as well as a handful of guest professionals in the fields of cinematography, casting, and editing. Production and critique of student work will be augmented by film screenings, readings, and discussion of the effects that practical realities can have on the creative process. Instructed by: S. Friedrich

VIS 264 Narrative Filmmaking LA

This studio course will be equal parts directing and screenwriting, with a special emphasis on social issue-driven material. Students will learn how to bring a script to life in collaboration with actors, production crews, and their fellow students. The course will also critically examine a selection of powerful narrative films and analyze their different approaches to visual storytelling. Specific topics covered will be: the basic tenets of film direction, writing for the screen, effective ways to work with actors, the post-production process, and how journalistic research methods can inform the early stages of the filmmaking process. Instructed by: S. Friedrich

VIS 265 Narrative Filmmaking I Fall LA

An introduction to narrative and avant-garde narrative film production through the creation of hands-on digital video exercises, short film screenings, critical readings, and group critiques. This course teaches the basic tools and techniques for storytelling with digital media by providing technical instruction in camera operation, nonlinear editing, and sound design paired with the conceptual frameworks of shot design, visual composition, film grammar and cinema syntax. Instructed by: M. Molson

VIS 300 Body and Object: Making Art that is both Sculpture and Dance (also
DAN 301
) Fall LA

Students in VIS 300 will create sculptures that relate directly to the body and compel performance, interaction, and movement. Students in the associated DAN 300 will create dances that are informed by garments, portable objects and props. The two classes will come together periodically to compare notes and consider how context informs perceptions of sculpture as performance and the body as object. A lecture series of prominent choreographers and artists will accompany the courses. One two-hour class and one three-hour class per week; course is open enrollment. Instructed by: M. Friedman

VIS 303 Intermediate Painting Not offered this year LA

This course is designed to allow students to explore more deeply the process and meaning of painting. Students will complete a set of structured assignments and are encouraged to develop an independent direction. Contemporary critical theory is integrated into the course. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Prerequisite: 203, 204 and instructor's permission. Instructed by: E. Aschheim

VIS 304 Intermediate Painting Not offered this year LA

This course is designed to allow students to explore more deeply the process and meaning of painting. Students will complete a set of structured assignments and are encouraged to develop an independent direction. Contemporary critical theory is integrated into the course. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Prerequisite: 203, 204 and instructor's permission. Instructed by: E. Aschheim

VIS 309 Printmaking I Spring LA

An introduction to fundamental techniques of copper plate etching, and relief printing. Assignments focus on applications of various printmaking techniques, while encouraging independent development of subject matter. Critiques will occur throughout the term. Students are encouraged to draw regularly outside of class to cultivate themes and content applicable to their prints. Field trips to the University's museum and the library's graphics collection will complement class work. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Instructed by: D. Heyman

VIS 310 Documentary Filmmaking in Kenya (See GLS 312)

VIS 311 The Photographic Apparatus Spring LA

Since its inception, the technical development of photography has arisen out of specific historical and political circumstances that have "naturalized" its practice and ideologically coded its apparatus. Through critical discussions, material examinations, and studio projects, this seminar will take a reflexive approach to photographic technology past, present, and future. What can earlier periods of photography reveal about our current condition? How do lens-based technologies relate to determinations of race, class, and gender? What does it mean to be a photographer, to take photographs, and to agree or disagree with its apparatus? Instructed by: F. Backström

VIS 312 Difficult Pictures Fall LA

This studio class engages with photographs that have been deemed difficult, wrong, shocking, inappropriate, and/or subversive. Does photography have unique moral obligations that are distinct from other mediums? What are the moral and ethical responsibilities of photographers today? Discussion is foundational to this course, with the goal of having open, generous, and generative conversations. Students will develop a semester long individual project that culminates in a final portfolio of photographs. Students will engage with multiple case studies of photographs and photographers whose work has drawn controversy drawing from global examples. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 313 Intermediate Photography Fall LA

A continuation of 211 or 212, this course focuses on photo chemistry, printmaking methods, and the view camera. The connections between traditions of art, philosophy, science, and photography will continue to be important. One three-hour class and three hours of independent laboratory. Prerequisites: 211, 212, or equivalent experience and instructor's permission. Instructed by: J. Welling

VIS 314 Inventing Photography: History, Alchemy, and Practice Fall LA

This course is a history of photography tied to practice and designed to provide a deeper understanding of the medium's historic timeline through engagement with physical processes. Students will be introduced to the practices involving chemistry and optics that drove the development of multiple types of imagery retrospectively known as "photography." The emphasis will be on materiality and photographs as socially salient objects. Students will create their own visual statements and may mix hand-made processes with modern intermediaries such as digital negatives for hand-applied emulsions or scanning negatives and printing digitally. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 315 Photographic Portraiture: The Practice of Representation Fall LA

This course will examine the practical and theoretical issues of photographic portraiture. Photography's pervasiveness has described and defined notions of identity, race, and gender. We will explore the history of the photographic portraiture as well as work of contemporary artists working in a post-modern age where representation and identity are deconstructed. Students will learn technical skills such as large format camera use, studio lighting, and printing. Assignments will explore conceptual strategies, and students will exhibit their work for periodic critique. Instructed by: J. Whetstone

VIS 318 Lighting Design (See THR 318)

VIS 320 Special Topics in Contemporary Practice (See DAN 304)

VIS 322 Art As Research: Artifactual Fictions Fall LA

Over the past fifty years, many visual artists have taken up the process and methods of academic research as an impetus for works of art. Through readings, discussions, case studies, and studio projects, students in this class will engage the immediate context of the University as source material for their artworks, and as a means of exploring the effect that research and knowledge production might have on contemporary artistic practice. How does art produce knowledge? How does the knowledge it produces differ from that of other disciplines? In what ways do artists and researchers use similar source material to different ends? Instructed by: F. Backström

VIS 323 Writing Near Art/Art Near Writing (also
CWR 323
/
ENG 232
/
JRN 323
) Spring LA

What we'll be writing together won't quite be art criticism and it won't quite be traditional historical writing either, what we'll be writing together is something more akin to poetry, fiction, art criticism and theory fused into a multivalent mass. Keeping in mind that language can hold many things inside of itself, we'll use somatic and idiosyncratic techniques as a lens, reading a range of poets, theorists, critics, writers and artists who are all thinking with art while writing about bodies, subjectivity, landscape, and the inminiable forms that emerge from the studio. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 324 The Visible Wild (also
ENV 312
) Spring LA

Students will learn techniques of wildlife surveillance photography using remote cameras to photograph animal populations on and around Princeton's campus. The photographs and apparatus will be considered as both ecological research and works of art. As such, the methods and results will be critically examined for population index studies as well as philosophical ramifications. A final exhibition of the images will highlight the secret wilderness of the area while posing questions about our relationship to non-human animals and the narrative ramifications of the gaze of surveillance photography. Instructed by: J. Whetstone

VIS 325 The Port of New Orleans: Culture and Climate Change (also
ENV 315
/
URB 325
) Spring LA

New Orleans is decades ahead of any other U.S. city with respect to climate change. The city's culture embodies exuberance and improvisation, and inspires confidence, openness, and collaboration. These qualities, married with scientific inquiry, may be a strategy for the city's survival. Visiting scholars and artists show how cooperation between cultural and scientific communities can provide valuable, sustainable strategies. The class will spend Spring Break in New Orleans visiting sites of artistic and scientific intervention. Students will create models, media, and other creative works in response to research data. Instructed by: J. Whetstone

VIS 326 Pathological Color Spring LA

This course will examine photography's ongoing negotiation of evolving color technologies. Students will use film and digital cameras to explore color as a physiological phenomenon and a technology of image reproduction as well as a virtual construct to be created at will. The analog darkroom and the digital lab will be used to make prints for periodic critiques. A range of new tools will be introduced, including sheet film development, less used Photoshop tools, and analogue color pigment printing. This course will require independent and collaborative assignments, augmented by field trips, readings and discussion. Instructed by: J. Welling

VIS 329 Art Archives in Latin America (See LAS 339)

VIS 331 Ceramic Sculpture Fall LA

This course is designed for students who are interested in learning the fundamentals of working with clay. A wide variety of hand-building techniques will be taught, enabling students to make utilitarian vessels as well as sculptural forms. Students will learn about glazing and colored engobe application methods and how to operate electric and gas kilns. Studio work will be complemented by readings, field trips, and slide presentations.Two studio classes, five hours per week. Prerequisites: VIS 201/202, or VIS 203/204, or VIS 211/212, or VIS 215/216, or VIS 221/222, or VIS 261/VIS 262. Instructed by: A. Welch

VIS 332 Ceramic Sculpture Not offered this year LA

This course is designed for students who are interested in learning the fundamentals of working with clay. A wide variety of hand-building techniques will be taught, enabling students to make utilitarian vessels as well as sculptural forms. Students will learn about glazing and colored engobe application methods and how to operate electric and gas kilns. Studio work will be complemented by readings, field trips, and slide presentations. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Prerequisites: VIS 201/202, or VIS 203/204, or VIS 211/212, or VIS 215/216, or VIS 221/222, or VIS 261/VIS 262. Instructed by: A. Welch

VIS 338 Photography of Violence and the Violence of Photography (See ART 338)

VIS 339 What is Vernacular Filmmaking? - Rhetoric for Cinema Studies (See COM 341)

VIS 340 Screenwriting I: Short Screenwriting for Filmmakers (See CWR 347)

VIS 341 Women and Film (See GSS 306)

VIS 342 The Cinema from World War II until the Present (also
COM 361
) Not offered this year LA

The history of sound and color film produced since World War II. Emphasis on Italian neorealism, French New Wave, American avant-garde, and the accomplishments of such major filmmakers as Bergman, Hitchcock, Bresson, and Antonioni. Modernism in film will be a central consideration. One three-hour class, weekly film screenings. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 343 Major Filmmakers Not offered this year LA

This seminar will treat in depth the work of two or three filmmakers of major importance. Specific subjects will vary. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 344 Special Topics in Film History Not offered this year LA

This seminar will deal in some detail with an aspect of film history, focusing on an important movement or exploring a significant issue. Specific topics and prerequisities will vary. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 345 The Artist at Work (See ART 349)

VIS 346 Brazilian Cinema (See POR 319)

VIS 347 Topics in French Cinema (See FRE 391)

VIS 348 Introduction to Screenwriting: Writing the Short Film (See CWR 348)

VIS 349 Introduction to Screenwriting: Writing for a Global Audience (See CWR 349)

VIS 352 Russian Cinema (See SLA 240)

VIS 353 Ethical Dimensions of Contemporary Russian Cinema (See SLA 316)

VIS 354 Performance as Art (also
DAN 354
/
THR 354
) Spring LA

This studio class will explore a broad range of approaches to art-based performance: from instruction pieces and happenings/events, the body as language and gestures, to various forms of lecture performance. Through this lens, students will investigate techniques of narrative, site, the role of the audience, duration, voice, choreography and movement, props/installation, and documentation. Through readings and critiques, students will engage a new vocabulary in assessing the area of performance art. The class aims at giving the student a foundation of techniques, language, and range of positions for developing art-based performance work. Instructed by: F. Backström

VIS 356 Contemporary Latin America in Literature and Visual Arts (See COM 353)

VIS 361 Intermediate Video and Film Production Not offered this year LA

A second-level film/video workshop focusing on digital media production. Short works of film/video art will be analyzed in class as a guide to the issues of aesthetic choice, editing structure, and challenging one's audience. Students complete two short videos and a longer final project, and view one film each week outside of class time. Prerequisites: 261 or 262 and instructor's permission. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: M. Molson

VIS 362 Intermediate Video and Film Production Not offered this year LA

A second-level film/video workshop focusing on digital media production. Short works of film/video art will be analyzed in class as a guide to the issues of aesthetic choice, editing structure, and challenging one's audience. Students complete two short videos and a longer final project, and view one film each week outside of class time. Prerequisites: 261 or 262 and instructor's permission. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: S. Friedrich

VIS 363 Documentary Filmmaking II Spring LA

There are unlimited ways in which to record and portray the world around us. In this class, we will analyze classic and contemporary strategies for making a documentary film, and see if we can invent some new ones of our own. The emphasis is on making. A wide range of films will be screened, but the course is mainly dedicated to having each student shoot and edit a medium length (20-30 minute) documentary. It's important to know what came before, and as important to learn about the present by being a part of creating it. Instructed by: S. Friedrich

VIS 365 Narrative Filmmaking II Fall LA

An intermediate exploration of narrative and avant-garde narrative film production through the creation of hands-on digital video exercises, short film screenings, critical readings, and group critiques. Instructed by: M. Molson

VIS 372 Costume Design (See THR 317)

VIS 373 Curating Within Obscurity: Research as Exhibition Structure and Form (also
AAS 398
/
ART 372
/
GSS 440
) Spring LA

How can posthumous research on a curatorial subject influence the structure and form of an exhibition or a new conceptual artwork? This course retraces the steps taken to produce McClodden's 2015-2019 artistic and curatorial work centering the lives of three Black gay men - poet Essex Hemphill, writer/poet Brad Johnson, and composer Julius Eastman - in order to examine key concepts central to research-based practice. Students will be expected to produce a research/exhibition study of an artist whom they feel has been obscured posthumously. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 378 Collage Making in Architecture (See ARC 378)

VIS 385 The Hidden History of Hollywood - Research Film Studio (See CHV 385)

VIS 391 Films about the Theater (See THR 391)

VIS 392 Artist and Studio (also
ART 392
) Fall LA

A required seminar for art and archaeology Program 2 majors and visual arts certificate students emphasizing contemporary art practices and ideas. The course addresses current issues in painting, drawing, sculpture, film, video, and photography, with an emphasis on developing a studio practice. Critiques of students' work, and excursions to artists' studio round out the course. One three-hour seminar. Instructed by: M. Friedman

VIS 400 Theatrical Design Studio (See THR 400)

VIS 403 Painting II Not offered this year LA

A studio course focused on advanced problems in painting practice, including pictorial structure in abstraction and representation, color in relationship to space and light, working process, and materials. This course, although structured, encourages development of independent work. Group critiques will be conducted. Students gain awareness of historical models as well as contemporary art, as they build and analyze the relationship between student work and contemporary painting culture. Two studio sessions-five hours a week. Prerequisites: 303 or 304 and instructor's permission. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 404 Painting II Spring LA

A studio course focused on advanced problems in painting practice, including pictorial structure in abstraction and representation, color in relationship to space and light, working process, and materials. This course, although structured, encourages development of independent work. Group critiques will be conducted. Students gain awareness of historical models as well as contemporary art, as they build and analyze the relationship between student work and contemporary painting culture. One four-hour studio class. Prerequisites: 303 or 304 and instructor's permission. Instructed by: P. Lins

VIS 405 Advanced Screenwriting: Writing for Television (See CWR 405)

VIS 406 Special Topics in Screenwriting (See CWR 403)

VIS 407 Drawing II Fall LA

Drawing is a distinct process; it can also serve as a mode of documentation or as a preparatory step in many other processes. This allows drawing to point to a past event, create a primary experience in the present, and/or to serve as a model or plan for what is to come. We will explore these multiple uses of drawing and their accompanying temporalities through approaches that emphasis a wide range of formal effects - illusionistic form, space, flatness, mark-making, opacity, transparency - while simultaneously exploring how artists have turned to drawing to record, index, propose, invent, and fantasize. One four-hour studio class. Instructed by: C. Asper

VIS 411 Advanced Questions in Photography LA

Student-initiated problems in photography will be explored in close working relationship with the instructor. Emphasis will be on integrating practice and critical thought. One three-hour class, three hours of independent laboratory. Prerequisites: VIS 211 or VIS 212; and VIS 313 or VIS 315; or permission of instructor. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 415 Advanced Graphic Design Spring LA

This studio course builds on the skills and concepts of VIS 215 Graphic Design. Advanced Graphic Design is structured around three studio assignments that connect graphic design to other bodies of scientific knowledge, aesthetic experience, and scholarship. Studio work is supplemented by critiques, readings and lectures. Motivated students will refine their approaches to information design and visual problem solving, as well as develop the critical acumen for decoding and producing graphic design in a variety of traditional and electronic media. Instructed by: D. Reinfurt

VIS 416 Exhibition Issues and Methods Fall LA

This seminar will give senior Practice of Art concentrators and certificate students in the visual arts a more structured and collegial environment for developing their thesis exhibitions. Over the course of the semester students will research and develop their art, their influences, and their aesthetic underpinnings to be presented as a formal proposal for their thesis project for group discussion. Material choices, exhibition design, and publicity strategies also will be addressed. Assigned readings will support and challenge received ideas of what art is and what the form and content of an art exhibition might entail. Instructed by: P. Lins

VIS 417 Special Topics in Film Production Not offered this year LA

This class will explore the art of storytelling through the aesthetics of film editing. By focusing on the editing process, students will not only learn how to edit their work but also how to better plan the writing, casting, sound design, and shooting of a film to better serve the editing process. Through screenings of award-winning films, informal class discussions with their directors, and exclusive access to raw scenes and footage, students will learn how to conceptualize the entire film production process as well as be introduced to accomplished professionals in the field. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 418 Extraordinary Processes (also
CEE 418
) Spring SEL

This class will be a series of material investigations in relation to the human body at rest. Each student will design, build, and critically analyze a custom bed frame that exploits the inherent properties of a singular material-ash wood-across a spectrum of rigid and flexible structures. Laboratory testing and creative work will be augmented by lectures on the cultural history of "the bed" as a site of function, fantasy, aesthetics, and politics, from Egypt and the Bauhaus to John Lennon and Yoko Ono. One larger goal (among many) in the class will be to compare methods of evaluation in visual art, engineering, social policy, and the occult. Instructed by: J. Scanlan

VIS 419 Spring Film Seminar Spring LA

This class concentrates on the editing process. Students will re-edit samples from narrative and documentary films and analyze the results. We will also critique ongoing edits of your own thesis films. Guest speakers will come to talk about rough-and find-cut editing, sound design, and sound mixing. Editing is about shaping the story through image, dialogue, additional sound and music. No matter how well (or badly) a film is directed and shot, its final result depends profoundly on the artfulness of its editing. This course will give you a better understanding of how many ways there are to approach and solve the puzzle of editing a film. Instructed by: S. Friedrich

VIS 420 Designing Narratives (See THR 420)

VIS 421 Sculpture II Spring LA

A studio course in which formal problems are raised and explored through a range of materials. The central focus is on analysis and exploration of the nature of sculptural space. One four-hour studio class. Prerequisites: 221 or 222 and instructor's permission. Instructed by: M. Friedman

VIS 424 Radical Composition (also
ART 479
) Spring LA

This seminar examines the radical possibilities of collaboration as fundamentally a process of radical composition through which collaborators bridge different modalities of creative expression - textual composition, artistic composition, speculative composition, among others - that span multiple media, forms and practices. By modeling and exploring collaboration as radical composition, this course seeks to reframe it as more that a dynamic of participation and coordination, and to recognize it as a generative methodology for producing critical scholarly and creative work. Instructed by: T. Campt

VIS 434 Counterworlds: Innovation and Rupture in Communities of Artistic Practice (See HUM 434)

VIS 440 Other Lives of Time Spring LA

This class is equal parts screening, filmmaking, discussion, and artistic critique. We will watch, discuss, and dissect works by artists and filmmakers from across the globe that use personal form and distinct techniques to communicate idiosyncratically. Readings will explore contemporary notions of time and cinema while screenings prioritize nonfiction and fiction works (as well as art pieces) that have mainstream audience potential. Students will use video cameras to complete assignments that will expand their filmic language as they work over the semester toward the completion of a short film that employs a singular structure. Instructed by: R. Ross

VIS 442 Film Theory (also
COM 430
) Not offered this year LA

An examination of the central texts and abiding issues of the theory of cinema. Properties of the shot as a unit of film construction and its relationship to the space of reality are analyzed. Different kinds of film structures and their theoretical underpinnings are studied. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 443 Topics in Modern Italian Cinema (See ITA 310)

VIS 444 Cinema and the Related Arts (also
COM 444
) Not offered this year LA

A seminar examining the ways in which filmmakers have used one of the other arts as part of the self-definition of cinema as an autonomous art. One or two such interactions will be the focus of the course, and will vary by term (e.g., painting, architecture, poetry, narrative fiction). Instructed by: Staff

VIS 445 Fascism in Italian Cinema (See ITA 312)

VIS 446 Marxism in Italian Cinema (See ITA 313)

VIS 447 Shooting the Enemy in Non-Fiction Cinema (See POR 401)

VIS 448 Introduction to Screenwriting: Adaptation (See CWR 448)

VIS 462 Advanced Video and Film Production LA

A third-level film/video course to further develop video production skills. Students have the option of spending the term either creating a single long work or a series of short pieces. Short weekly shooting exercises. Students view one film each week outside of class time. Two studio classes, five hours per week. Prerequisite: 361 or 362 and instructor's permission. Instructed by: S. Friedrich

VIS 471 Special Topics in Visual Arts Not offered this year LA

Advanced work in special areas of the various visual media or in areas where the traditional media intersect (for example, typography, video, photoprintmaking). Specific topics will change from year to year, and prerequisites will vary. Instructed by: Staff

VIS 472 Special Topics in Visual Arts Not offered this year LA

Advanced work in special areas of the various visual media or in areas where the traditional media intersect (for example, typography, video, photoprintmaking). Specific topics will change from year to year, and prerequisites will vary. Instructed by: Staff