Course Syllabus

ART 2950 Experiments in Creative Thinking

Course Description

Experiments in Creative Thinking is an idea-driven course designed to teach students to solve creative, conceptual, and material problems through interpretation and invention. Emphasis is placed on imagination, experimentation, audience, and on gaining an understanding of the rationale behind one's own and others artistic production. This course incorporates current themes in contemporary art and culture. Students develop an expanded vocabulary of contemporary creative practices while learning how to visually and verbally communicate their ideas and process. Students are expected to be self-motivated and directed. Class hours are devoted to lectures, discussions, creative exercises, and critiques. This course is open to all students interested in the creative process.

Justification

Snow College Visual Arts has an Associate of Fine Art (AFA) in Visual Studies Degree. Experiments in Creative Thinking addresses artistic issues not currently taught in other art classes. Students need to be able to articulate the creative process and support their material production with intellectual rigor in the context of current academic debate. Most higher education institutions teach these ideas and methods and it is important that Snow students can articulate these concepts both visually and verbally. This course will prepare students to transfer to a BFA program with a stronger understanding of contemporary creative genres and concepts. This course transfers well to other institutions in the state of Utah.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. MATERIAL PROFICIENCY
   Students will be exposed to a range of material processes applicable to the course. Each student will be required to maintain a portfolio and produce a final work serving as a culmination of techniques and concepts learned.
2. CONCEPTUAL PRINCIPLES
   Students will be educated to discern between material, formal and conceptual principles. Material and formal understanding of creative practice will be emphasized to solve conceptual issues. Each student will create portfolio of class projects.
3. HISTORICAL CONTEXT
   Students will study significant historical works with particular attention to the context of when it was created. This knowledge will assist in informing their formal creative sensibilities. Artistic influence and imitation is a standard part of the creative development of art students and will be evidenced in their final portfolio of creative work.
4. CRITICAL ANALYSIS
   Students will learn the process of critical analysis as it applies to creative process and risk taking. Utilizing the visual vocabulary, knowledge of material processes, concepts and historical context, students will learn to articulate aesthetic qualities, examine effective visual communication, and determine conceptual merit. Students will analyze both historical and contemporary work through oral and written critiques.

Course Content

This class will include lectures, discussions, critiques, and applied projects as they apply to the following topics in experimental and creative practices: resource building, mapping systems in cultural belief and future planning, risk management in artistic practice, and audience integration. A series of exercises designed to explore the boundaries of creative practice.