Course Syllabus

ART 2220 Screen Printing

Course Description

This course explores screen printing, also known as serigraphy, as a dynamic and thriving visual art medium. Students will create original works of art utilizing the stark, graphic, and rapid character of the photo screen-stencil process as the catalyst. Study will include the evolution and historical significance of this versatile process as well as theory and application of contemporary approaches in the expansive world of printmaking. This course will include studio applications printing on rag paper, fabric, panel, and will include multiple artists’ book studies utilizing screen printing technologies. A lab fee is required.

Justification

This is a studio course in process, history, and production utilizing the screen printing process. Printmaking is included in most higher education curriculums as a prominent visual arts medium. The course is essential for 2D art majors and is required for many bachelor degree programs in the visual arts as part of an art major’s curriculum.

General Education Outcomes

1. A student who completes the GE curriculum has a fundamental knowledge of human cultures and the natural world. This course is designed to provide art and non-art major students an experience to actively engage with creative process as it applies to fine art printmaking. It will expand creative abilites, heighten historical and cultural sensibilities, and will promote an informed vocabulary in printmaking. The linkage of the past to the contemporary culture of printmaking will be addressed during lecture and discussions, and will be utilized in the practical application of the media. The dialog of histroical content is pertinent to the criticism and interpretation of the media and will be an integral aspect of the course. Content will be introduced with introductory lectures and demonstrations and emphasis is ultimately placed on experimental studio projects. Studio production will culminate with informed critical responses analyzing each work for formal and conceptual merit. These findings will improve and inform each student's sensibilities surrounding the screen printing discipline.

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Material Proficiency: Students will be exposed to a myriad of possibilities for the application of screen printing to their visual vocabulary. It will be utilized as both a technique to create distinctive visual output by combining it as part of a mixed media application, and as a reproductive process to create multiple originals.
2. Principles of Concept: The theory and application in the balance of form and content is an innate part of this course. Students will be encouraged to apply meaningful content to their own creative output in print.
3. Historical Context: In addition to researching contemporary examples, student will be introduced to the historical context of the screen printing process—both as a new technology and as a means to the creative process. This knowledge will provide students with a broad understanding of why this process was so influential during the 20th century and continues to thrive both in industry and as a visual art medium today.
4. Critical Theory: Students will learn the vocabulary, context, and experience the practical application of the screen printing process. This literacy will provide a catalyst by which to speak in an articulate manner while analyzing prints made by their peers as well as their own creative endeavors.
5. Creative Process: As part of a collective studio environment, students will work collaboratively in the Printmaking Studio to create work and solve creative problems and technical issues.

Course Content

Through theory and the practice, students will learn to utilize the screen printing process to create original works of art and to supplement other media with this dynamic print medium. This course will include lectures, class discussions, critiques, demonstrations and applied studio projects as they apply to the screen printing discipline:

· Demonstrations of screen printing process, including preparing positive transparency images for exposure, coating the screen with photo emulsion, and printing utilizing the stencil process.
· Discussions of practicing ethics in printmaking, editioning, signing, and framing fine art prints, and other printmaking specific concerns.
· Slide lectures directly related to the process, history, and contemporary application of the screen printing discipline
· Class discussion and critiques designed to inspire students to critically evaluate historical print examples, their own prints, and those created by their peers.
· Readings from the text supplementing information provided during demonstrations and lectures.
· Applied studio projects designed to provide students the opportunity to create original works in the screen printing medium including utilizing the multiple character of printmaking to create limited editions, mixing screen printing with other media, and the conception, printing, and binding of artists' books.
· Utilizing rastor imaging and vector software to aid in the creation of hard-edge images appropriate for the application of screen printing.
· Implement the design process to problem solve each studio project including, but not limited to, formal compositional structure/spatial organization and the introduce of meaningful content in their work.
· A focus on maintaining a high level of craftsmanship applicable to the medium.
· Written Assessments analyzing newly created works of art.