Studio Art in the Schools – Computer Arts

Art Ed 430/530 - 004 UNM College of Education, Art Education Program

Fall 2006

Wednesday 4:00pm to 6:45pm: B41 – Student Services Center (Basement)

Professor: Alexa Wheeler

awheeler@unm.edu

Office Hours: 3pm to 4pm, Wednesdays, B41 (before class)

Mission of the Art Education Program

The Art Education Program at the University of New Mexico prepares art

professionals to meet the needs of diverse populations in the state and nation.

The program supports art professionals in their examination of multiple

approaches to art education; these include, but are not limited to image

focused, discipline-based, and issues-based art education as well as visual

culture. The undergraduate program educates students toward becoming

reflective art teachers who can encourage students to develop artworks in

response to life experiences. The graduate program, culminating in a Master of

Arts in Art Education degree, supports students with a wide range of interests.

Students can focus their investigations on making and studying art in cultural,

social, and historical contexts. We believe that studying and making imagery is a

life-long pursuit for art professionals working in our diverse and visually complex

society.

Course Description

This course focuses on the possibilities of the creative, technical, and

conceptual aspects of digital image making. We will explore the technical

processes used to create and manipulate images, discuss the philosophical and

conceptual dialogues surrounding digital images, and analyze the work of

digitally based artists. We will focus on using the Adobe Creative Suite,

specifically Photoshop, the industry standard for the creation and manipulation

of digital images, as a tool to help you fabricate, restore, and retouch images.

The objectives of this course are three-fold. First, each student will acquire the

necessary skills to successfully create images using the computer in order to

have the ability to teach basic computer imaging to students in the K-12

educational setting. Second, each student will be able to manipulate images and

make technically competent inkjet prints while experimenting with creative and

aesthetic possibilities of image making through the use of digital technologies.

Finally, each student is expected to learn how to “decode” a photograph/digital

image visually and conceptually and to have the ability to do this on a variety of

teaching levels. This course seeks to expand the possibilities of the creative,

technical, and conceptual aspects of digital photography/art and provide the

skills for you to then turnaround and do the same in your own classroom.

Supplies & Required Texts - CD-Rs (no CD-RWs) or removable Flash Drive for back-up and

storage

- Required texts:

o TXT: Visual Quickstart Guide: Photoshop CS for Windows and

Macintosh, Elaine Weinmann and Peter Lourekas, Peachpit

Press. (Or other edition depending on what Photoshop you will

be using, if you have your own access), available at the UNM

Bookstore

o RDR: Course Reader – available in Publication/Copy Center,

Travelstead Hall 124, 277-7276

- Optional Texts:

o The Kids’ Guide to Digital Photography, Jenni Bidner, Lark

Books, 2004.

o Picture This: Fun Photography and Crafts, Debra Friedman,

Kids Can Press, 2003.

- Digital Camera (optional) – The Art Education Program has some

available for check-out for this class only

Course Requirements/Grading Policy/Procedures & Policies Requirements:

- Students are required to attend class, arrive on time, and remain

present until the end of class. More than 3 absences without prior

consultation may result in a failing grade. Leaving early or arriving late

3 times results in one absence.

- Assignments/projects must be presented on time. Although work time

in this lab (B41) is limited outside of class, there are plenty of labs

available throughout campus for use – see CIRT’s website

http://cirt.unm.edu - for hours and locations.

- Students must do the assigned readings and participate in class

discussions

- You will learn from each other – be generous with your feedback. You

are expected to participate during critiques.

- Enjoy digital art!

Grading:

Completion of the assignments/projects is necessary to complete this class.

Grades are based on creative, technical, and conceptual progress.

Projects 1 – 4 10% each

Project 5 20%

Assignments 1 – 2 15%

Readings 10%

Critique (Attendance and Participation) 15%

Procedures & Policies:

- Unless there is a clear emergency, I will NOT issue an INCOMPLETE.

- I do not give any extra credit.

- Please see your student handbook (p.38+) regarding the correct

procedures for filing a grievance.

Course Agenda Aug-23 Introductions, Review/Discussion of Syllabus, Textbook, Reader

Readings: RDR: p. 12 - 25

The Reconfigured Eye

Digital Imaging: An Overview

Anatomy of the Digital Image

A Life in the Day of an Image

Aug-30 Demo: Photoshop StartUp, the Basics/Tools,

Image Types, Color, Create/Save Files, Bridge,

Workspace

Lecture: The Reconfigured Eye

Readings: TXT: Chapters 1 - 5

RDR: p. 26 - 37

Medium or Tool?

Introduction (Color)

Color Systems

Color in Practice

Color

Project 1: Color, Hand-Drawn: Childhood Memory

Sep-6 Demo: Selections, Layers, Text, Compositing,

Cameras, Card Readers, Scanners

Readings: TXT: Chapters 6 - 9

RDR: p. 38 - 58

Design Process

Unity

Project 2: Text as Image

Sep-13 Work Time

Demo: Adjustments (color, tones, exposure, refocus,

retouch), History, Colors, Brushes,

Assignment 1: Critical Writing: ABQ Museum – Biennial

Southwest

Readings: TXT: Chapters 10 – 19

RDR: p. 59 - 65

Balance

Shape/Volume

Sep-20 Demo: Printing, Preferences

Lecture: Posters/Poster Artists

Readings: TXT: Chapters 30, 31

RDR: p. 66 - 69

Photographer at Work: Merging

Photography and Illustration

Photographer at Work: A

Photojournalist uses Digital

Imaging

Project 3: Poster

Sep-27 Work Time

Readings: RDR: p. 70 - 77

Digital Imaging for Personal

Expression/Advertising

Into the Information Age

Oct-4 Work Time

Oct-11 Midterm Critique – Projects 1, 2, 3

Oct-18 Demo: PowerPoint

Lecture: Contemporary Digital Artists

Assignment 2: Research Digital Artists: give PowerPoint

presentation to a target age group between

grades K – 12

Oct-25 PowerPoint Presentation

Nov-1 Demo: Filters, More Tools, Masks, Paths

Readings: TXT: Chapters 20 – 24, 26, 27

RDR: p. 78 - 85

Computers, Thinking, and Schools in

the “New World Economic

Order”

Project 4: Image/Reality

Nov-8 Work Time

Nov-15 Critique - Project 4

Lecture: The Digital Photographer

Readings: RDR: p. 86 - 93

Utopian Plagiarism, Hypertextuality, and

Electronic Cultural Production

Project 5: Self-Directed Series/Lesson Plan

Nov-22 Work Time/Individual Meetings

Nov-29 Work Time/Individual Meetings

Readings: RDR: p. 94 - 100

A Flow of Monsters

Dec-6 Work Time

Dec-13 Final Critique

critical writing: ABQ Museum “Biennial Southwest”….. Assignment 1

Choose a piece in the show that has been created or has utilized any digital

technique/s. Write a 500 word critical review of the piece. First, describe the

piece. Then, discuss how this work is pushing the envelope of the current

“digital revolution?” Place this piece in art history – what were the preceding

movements/artists that may have influenced this artist? How does this piece

speak of future art technologies? How can this piece be a tool in describing

digital art to students in the K – 12 setting?

contemporary digital artists…..a selection

Assignment 2

Find an artist with whom you feel a conceptual or aesthetic connection.

Research his/her contribution to digital technology. How does their work

respond to this era of “technological revolution?” What issues are addressed in

their work? When researching your artist, evaluate how they discuss their work

and the critics interpret it. In what educational setting and for what type of

project would you use this artist as inspiration to your students? Research

online and at the library to collect information and visuals about your artist. You

will share your findings with the class in the form of a 10 minute oral/visual

PowerPoint presentation. This short lecture will be presented to a hypothetical

target audience of your choosing, between K – 12 grades.

Robert & Shawna ParkeHarrison

Jim Campbell

James Nakagawa

Joyce Neimanas

Esther Parada

Andreas Gursky

Nancy Burson

Anthony Goicolea

Ann Hamilton

Simon Attie

Nam June Paik

Trihn T. Min Ha

Martina Lopez

Mariko Mori

Pedro Meyer

Shirin Neshat

Simen Johan

Maggie Taylor

Lorna Simpson

Meridel Rubenstein

Bill Viola

Bruce Nauman

Clarissa Sligh

Loretta Lux

Carrie Mae Weems

Orlan

Guerrilla Girls

Mary Tsiongas

Juan Fontcuberta

Byron Wolfe

Sally Mann

Emmett Gowin

Mark Klett

Alfredo Jaar

Christian Boltanski

Pedro Meyer

Daniel Shifman

Hannah Gal

Shirley Kaneda

Wallace Berman

Helmut Newton

common terms*…..

CPU Central Processing Unit, a microprocessor. CPU

usually has 2 places to read and write information. Hard Disk and RAM (memory).

Booting “Booting up” to turn a computer on, system “pulls

itself up by its bootstraps.”

Disk Slower, low cost per unit of data, non-volatile storage

for CPU (hard disk). Where thinks live when the computer is on.

Removable Storage Floppy, Zip, CD, DVD, Flash Drive, etc….

Memory A class of silicon chips that are able to hold

instructions or data. The CPU can either read

information from memory or write to it. Most common is DRAM.

DRAM Dynamic Random Access Memory; 64 billion “bits” of

data in groups of 8 Volatile, needs electrical power to retain their contents. Fast, expensive, loses contents when electrical power is cut-off.

OS Operating System; software that controls operation

of the computer once it is running.

ROM Read only memory

ROM BIOS Chip that contains entire set of instructions,

computer programs written in to the chip manage the boot-up process.

Motherboard Circuit board that connects all components in the CPU including other things like fans, power supply, etc….

Binary Binary mathematics uses only 2 digits vs. the 10 in our normal decimal system. Conforms well to the “on” and “off” states of electronic

devices. Zero and One are used. Zero = absence of charge and One = presence

of charge.

Analog An analog system uses a representation of information rather

than a numerical version in its processing. For example, the traditional radio

sends and receives sound with an electronic wave that is an analog of voice, music, or noise waves that enters the microphone. Analog systems are well

suited for carrying information, but not modifying it.

Digital A digital system is one that translates all the information it works with into numbers – binary numbers in the case of computers. Binary and Digital

systems gave birth to the term “bit,” a contraction of the two terms.

Bit A single digit that can be either one or zero

1 01 21

2 00 01 10 11 4 (22) 3 000 001 010 011 100 101 111 110 8 (23)

-

-

8 = 256 (28) = byte = unit of measurement in computing

1000 - thousand =KB: Kilabyte

1,000,000 -million =MB: Megabyte

1,000,000,000 -billion =GB: Gigabyte

1,000,000,000,000 -trillion =TB: Terabyte

When a computer is turned on it has to “relearn” everything including the fact that it is a computer, what kind of

computer, how it displays texts, how many days until warranty ends, etc….The noise it makes is the hard disk spinning

at 4,500 rpm. A MAC starts reading the hard disk, plays the disk and copies everything that it reads into its memory; when something is in its memory, it is instantaneously available to the computer.

Memory = temporary storage RAM = fast, expensive, measured in MEGS (buy memory 32 or 64 megs at a time)

Hard Disk – slower, permanent, measured in GIGS (buy 10 gigs, 20 gigs, etc…)

*Mary Tsiongas, Associate Professor, College of Fine Art, University of New Mexico

short select history*…

1121 Physicist Al-Khazani describes force of gravity in text on hydrostatics

1200 Arabic numerals develop around 600 CE – introduced to Europe, greatly easing computations

1492 Leonardo da Vinci describes the flying machine in his notebook

1435 Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press produces 42-line Mazarin bible, beginning era of movable

type and opening the way for the mass production of books

1514 Nicolaus Copernicus outlines heliocentric theory

1609 Galileo Galilei builds optical refracting telescope

1623 Wilhelm Schickand engineers mechanical calculator, which can add, subtract, multiply, and divide

1633 Galileo charges with heresy for discoveries supporting Copernicus and placed under hose arrest

1712 Blacksmith Thomas Newcomer makes first commercially successful steam engine

1735 Carolus Linneaus proposes taxonomic system for naming species; humans get a new name:

Homo Spaien

1801 Joseph Marie Jacquard invents automatic loom using punch cards for control of patterns in

fabrics

1822 Mathematician Charles Babbage conceives Difference Engine No.1, considered the first

mechanical computer

1840 Ada Lovelace, assistant to Charles Babbage, conceives programming language for his computer

1859 Darwin publishes On Origin of the Species

1876 Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone

1877 Thomas Edison invents the phonograph

1878 Edison perfects the carbon-thread incandescent light bulbs

1881 Nicola Tesla, electrical engineer and physicist, discovers principles of alternating current and

invented numerous devices and procedures that were seminal to the development of radio and

harnessing of electricity

1905 Albert Einstein publishes special theory of relativity, stating the equivalence of matter and energy

in the now famous equation: E = mc2

1939 John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry complete prototype of digital computer; it is able to store data

and do addition and subtraction using binary code

1946 Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC) – one of the worlds first electronic

computers, delivered to the US Army.

1957 Sputnik I, the first man-made satellite, goes up; Laika, the dog, is the first living creature in space

and flies aboard the Sputnik II.

1969 Neil Armstrong walks on the moon. Arpanet, a precursor to the Internet, officially commissioned

1976 Apple computer developed by Steven Jobs and Stephen Wozniak

1981 Xerox PARC develops Star Systems, User Interface (UI) used by Apple

*Mary Tsiongas, Associate Professor, College of Fine Art, University of New Mexico, “Much, much more, of course, was not included here.”

table of contents…..

syllabus 3

critical writing - assignment 1 7

contemporary digital artists - assignment 2 8

common terms 9

short select history 10

image size equivalents 11

The Reconfigured Eye 12

Digital Imaging: An Overview 20

Anatomy of the digital image 22

A life in the day of an image 24

Medium or Tool? 26

Introduction (Chapter 1) 27

Color Systems (Chapter 2) 29

Color in Practice: Two-Dimensional (Chapter 4) 35

Color (Chapter 13) 36

Design Process (Chapter 1) 38

Unity (Chapter 2) 47

Balance (Chapter 5) 59

Shape/Volume (Chapter 8) 64

Photographer at Work: Merging Photography and Illustration 66

Photographer at Work: A Photojournalist uses Digital Imaging 68

Digital Imaging used for Personal Expression 70

Digital Imaging used for Advertising 72

Into the Information Age 74

Computers, Thinking, and Schools in the “New World Economic Order” 78

Utopian Plagiarism, Hypertextuality, and Electrnic Cultural Production 86

A Flow of Monsters: Luddism and Virtual Technologies 94

Bibliography:

Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information, Brook, James and Ian A. Boal, editors, City Light

Publishers, 1995.

The Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era, Mitchell, William, The MIT Press, 1992.

Parables for the Virtual: Movement, Affect, Sensation (Post-Contemporary Interventions), Massumi, Brian, Duke

University Press, 2002.

Electronic Disturbance (New Autonomy Series), Critical Art Ensemble, Autonomedia, 2000.

New Media in Late 20th Century Art (World of Art), Rush, Michael, Thames & Hudson, 1999.

Snap to Grid: A User’s Guide to Digital Arts, Media, and Cultures, Lunenfeld, Peter, The MIT Press, 2001.

Photoshop CS for Photography: The Art of Pixel Processing, Ang, Tom, Amphoto Books, 2005.

The New Media Reader, Wardrip-Fruin, Noah and Nick Montfort, editors, The MIT Press, 2003.

Photography, London, Barbara and John Upton, Prentice Hall, 204.

Color Basics, Pentak, Stephen and Richard Roth, Wadswirth Publishing, 2003.

Design Basics, Lauer, A. and Stephen Pentak, Wadswoth Publishing, 2004.