Introduction to history, aesthetics, and practice of photography as a fine art; includes demonstrations, workshops, critiques, final portfolio; photography time outside of class; digital camera required.
Elements of Photography will allow beginning non-major students to experience a broad range of photographic practices. This includes introduction to contemporary image culture, workshops centered on historical darkroom techniques, and the production of a fine art portfolio. Students will learn how to use digital SLR cameras in a variety of modes as well as gain experience using Adobe photo editing software and producing fine art digital prints. Digital SLR camera required; available for checkout through the Photography lab.
non-art major
Basic Drawing 3 s.h.
This course is designed for the art major, addressing the formal and conceptual bases of drawing. Beginning with problems focusing on the essentials of line and mark, it progresses to shape and form. Each of these properties is explored with reference to space and value. Color is a minor component, with tonal range in black and white stressed. The media of charcoal, pencil, and ink are employed. Serious involvement is expected and additional outside work is required. The semester is devoted to developing a visual vocabulary and working attitude that are consistent with the major in art and serves to assist students well in advanced two- and three-dimensional courses. Course format consists of group and individual critiques, perceptual (including still-life and human figure, clothed and unclothed) and conceptual drawing, and other class activities. Materials such as paper, a portfolio, and the aforementioned media are required supplies. TA's teach the course with supervision from faculty.
art major or art minor
Design Fundamentals 3 s.h.
This entry-level studio course explores two- and three-dimensional concepts of design. The emphasis is on creative thinking and problem solving. Class projects are completed with variety of computer software to introduce students to industry standards. (Adobe: Illustrator, InDesign, Autodesk: AutoCAD, 3ds Max). Students prototype class projects using modern technologies such as Computer Numeric Controls (CNC) and Rapid Prototyping (RP), also known as 3D Printing, along with traditional techniques. Course format consists of informal lectures, in class workshops, and assignments completed outside of class. Grading is based primarily on class projects, participation and final portfolio.
art major
During this course, you will develop skills to analyze a piece of audio-visual interactive art, and to put it in perspective within the history of interactive and digital art. You will learn to manipulate audio and video in a digital world. By coding and using the tools some artists use, you will both acquire programming skills and better understand the creative process in projects involving art and technology. You will also develop valuable team work skills.
Upon completion of this course, you will be able to write code in the Max multimedia graphical programming environment, aimed at manipulating live audio and video. You will also be able to write programs for a microcontroller in the Arduino text-based language. You will be able to use basic electronic components, including sensors to get some information about the physical world.
Instead of taking a final exam, you will work on a final project; each final project team will gather students with a scientific background and students from the humanities.
Engineering Be Creative
Scene Design I 3 s.h.
This course focuses on the development of communication skill-sets and personal design aesthetic; script analysis, research, sketching, model building and drafting techniques will be explored and refined through the creation of a variety of scenic design projects. Success in this class is reflected the continual growth and development of the individual student’s abilities to effectively communicate their ideas within the context of this collaborative art form. If you have questions about the course or if you are a non-major and interested in the class, please contact the Eric Stone at eric-stone@uiowa.edu.
Engineering Be CreativeScenic Art 3 s.h.
Scenic art is an exciting theatrical field focusing on the creation of the "finished" visual picture onstage. Scenic Artists paint, carve, sculpt, texture, and faux finish large-scale works, often combining materials in creative ways to achieve the designer's vision. This introductory class will focus on basic techniques and move into more advanced work as the semester progresses. There will be a brief introduction to color theory, working with muslin, basic texturing techniques, and then focus on fundamentals such as glazing, spattering, spraying, light and shadow, etc. Students will learn to apply these fundamental techniques to various projects throughout the semester. Focus will be on the creation of large-scale scenic elements that maintain their visual integrity when viewed from a distance.
No prior experience is needed, and students from all majors are welcome. Please be advised that there is a course fee for this hands-on painting lab class, but then all materials will be provided. Also note that time outside of class will be needed in order to finish assignments.
This class is an ELECTIVE in the Department of Theater Arts, it does NOT satisfy the Design Requirement. Elements of Design, Costume Design 1 or 2, Lighting Design 1, and Scenic Design 1 are all courses that count towards the Design Requirement for Theatre Arts majors.
Engineering Be CreativeIntroduction to Book Arts 3 s.h.
Topics related to artist books, hand bookbinding, letterpress printing, papermaking, and lettering arts.
Engineering Be CreativeCeramics I: Handbuilding 3 s.h.
This course serves as an introduction to the ceramic arts and focuses on hand-building techniques and surface decoration. Students will learn to create original work through five assignments. Students load and fire electric and gas kilns, with occasional wood, soda, and raku firing as time and scheduling permit. Students mix glazes and make clay throughout the semester. There are lectures on artists relevant to the field of ceramics, basic glaze and clay formulation and preparation, along with lectures on technical information and contemporary ceramics discourse. Short papers may be assigned for research. Several critiques concerning class assignments will be conducted throughout the semester.
Introduction to filmmaking; how to shoot and edit short works of cinematic art; exposure to various working methods including nonfiction, fiction, and experimental modes of video production.
In this introductory filmmaking class, students will learn how to shoot and edit short works of cinematic art. Projects include short exercises designed to build foundational skills, a final video project of each student's own design and in-studio group projects. Students can expect to develop skills in composition, story-telling, world-building and basic sound design as well as deepen their understanding of cinema as a wide-ranging art form involving writing, cinematography, acting and directing.
Exploration of creative nonfiction genres through readings, discussion, and writing exercises; introduction to workshop environment.
A course exploring genres of creative nonfiction through readings, discussions, writing exercises, and writing itself. Students experience a workshop environment in which class members read, discuss, respond to, and critique the drafts their fellow students produce. Course readings, assignments, and exercises model the many modes of nonfiction for student writers. For beginning non-English majors.
Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing ArtsHow we tell stories—every time people talk about themselves, someone they know, places visited or events experienced; creation of a story with intention to entertain and inform a particular audience; how to create compelling, thought-provoking, and resonant texts from raw material of daily life; exploration of three fundamentals of great storytelling—taking emotional and intellectual risks, being imaginatively rigorous, and revising, revising, revising. English majors may apply this course to the following area and/or period requirement. AREA: Nonfiction and Creative Writing.
Engineering Be CreativeProse Style 3 s.h.
Sentences: how they work, what they do; how sentences can help writing, expand understanding of prose style, stretch options. English majors may apply this course to the following area and/or period requirement. AREA: Nonfiction and Creative Writing.
Overview and Goals: Just sentences (and a few paragraphs). This is a course that will run through all the ways sentences get longer-and shorter. Whatever we can learn about how they work, what they do, how we can think and talk about them in ways that will help both our own writing and our understanding of prose style. Part of our concern will be with stretching our sense of options--all the things a sentence can be and/or do, and part with the notion of style itself. In other words, this a course in which we will dance with language, not a course in which we will trudge toward remedial correctness. And much of that dancing will depend upon your willingness-better make that eagerness-to experiment, to play with sentences. Your initiative and imagination will be much more important than your ability to "meet" minimal assignments.
Engineering Be Creative
This course explores the idea that to learn to teach writing best, we must write and read; these acts cannot be disconnected. Students read and discuss accounts by professional writers, student writers, teachers of writing, and writing researchers. The discipline of composition studies, as well as reflections by writers on writing, is rich with interesting documentation, important theory, and vigorous dialogue. Students write for an audience to read and respond, in a broad variety of genres including the personal essay, the poem, short fiction, short nonfiction, the letter, the one-pager, and an experimental blur of genres. Writing is one tool for working out thinking. It is a link between inner speech and a frame for talk, a link between writer/speakers and reader/listeners. It is a writing teacher's responsibility to create an environment that ensures a diet of varied writing and broad reading, a community of rich, specific responders, and lots of opportunities for revising and careful editing. Along with the development of the individual writer-reader, the "social construction of knowledge" is an important concept in a writing class, and students experience it in this course. There are no actual stages, there is no specific process, but we can describe and theorize about prewriting techniques, revision strategies, conferencing models, inventories of grammatical conventions and mechanics, and publishing opportunities. Describing writing allows us to freeze the action to discover conditions under which writing takes place, and what the differences are in every writer's approach. To teach writing, you need to see that the act of writing is different with each piece you write, that you contribute to the next piece you write with each piece you read.
English majors may apply this course to the following area and/or period requirement. Area: Nonfiction and Creative Writing.
Engineering Be CreativeCreative Writing 3 s.h.
The primary goal of this course is to strengthen each writer's fiction, poetry, and creative nonfiction; another goal is learning to read more like a writer. Much of the semester is spent reviewing and discussing the work of the writers in the class, but students also complete writing exercises and study work by established authors. Always, the focus is on craft and how to best negotiate the infinite number of choices that a writer faces with every word. Students may attend readings and lectures taking place on campus and at Prairie Lights Bookstore. Students are expected to attend class faithfully, bringing with them well-reasoned comments, honest work, and the belief, if for only a few hours a week, that nothing matters more than the powers of language and imagination.
Engineering Be CreativeFiction Writing 3 s.h.
Poetry Writing 3 s.h.
Science fiction literature as an ongoing conversation about the possible; exploration of world boundaries we have by imagining worlds that we don't (yet); alien encounters that consider ways we react to beings we see as unlike ourselves; alternate histories to illuminate what might have been; transhumanist fiction to explore what we may become; issues of composition and craft that underlie all effective fiction; students write and revise works of science fiction and engage in constructive discussion of each other's work.
Engineering Be CreativeSolid foundation for creative and professional communication in today's modern work world; exploration of techniques, strategies, and craft of writing résumés, letters of interest, email and its related etiquette, and organization of ideas into presentable form; semester-long creative project that builds a bridge between office and the world using modern technology and social media; readings and discussions of literature to better understand issues of ethics, leadership, conflict, moral judgment, decision making, and human nature; how to navigate and succeed in business or any professional field.
This class is a laboratory in which students will experiment with forms of writing common to the workplace. Through a series of scenarios that simulate on-the-job experience, students will generate professional communications including resumes, cover letters, email correspondence, press releases, short-deadline projects, and elevator pitches. In addition, lessons in grammar, usage, and style will help students become more effective editors of their own work. At the end of the semester, each student will have produced a portfolio of polished writing samples and will be ready to write in the workplace with confidence and skill.
Engineering Be CreativeThe course is designed to provide students an opportunity to explore interdisciplinary and foundational learning in the area of the world dance through interactions with explorations of two of the main aspects of the Brazilian popular culture (Samba and Carnival). Through extensive literature, video presentations and practice of popular dances of Brazil, students will be exposed to one of the most important and influential expression of popular culture in the world, according to place, time and event. This includes all aspects present in the Brazilian Carnival: dance, music, historical and social contents; production; critical theories of performance; religious backgrounds; and theatre making in the Carnival Parades – from current to centuries-old tradition.
Engineering Be Creative Values and Society Values, Society, and DiversityAir, Actuators and Motors 4 s.h.
Introduction to wide range of motors, actuators, and air devices available for integration in art projects; various forms of motor control and necessary means to power these devices; DC and AC motors, stepper motors, solenoids, electro magnets, relays, pneumatics, inflatables, and other air-driven devices; development of a project utilizing one or more systems; examples and media demonstrations to show how artists and scientists employ these systems.
Graphic Design I 3 s.h.
Basic concepts and principles that can be applied to all modes of contemporary visual communication.
This course focuses on basic concepts and principles of traditional and contemporary visual communication practices. Topics include fundamentals composition, color, and design thinking.
Basic metalworking techniques, including: sheet metal fabrication, hammer forming, hydraulic die forming, soldering, riveting, etching, texturing, roll printing, anodization of aluminum and titanium, stone setting, patination; creation of jewelry, functional, and nonfunctional objects using metals and other materials.
Photography I 3 s.h.
This course is designed to introduce students to color theory as it pertains to image making including color as conceptual/compositional tool, color as visual language, and consistency of printed color throughout a photographic series. Concepts are presented within the context of contemporary trends and practices. Through slide lectures and critiques the course emphasizes visual literacy while encouraging students to develop a critical awareness of their work.
***Please note that while Photography I and Photography II may be taken in any order, Photography II will not count as an upper-level BA course until Photography I has been completed. Contact your academic advisor with any questions.***
Painting I 3 s.h.
This course is a basic study of visual issues as they relate to pictorial space. Specific problems may involve still life, landscape, human figure (clothed and unclothed), or concept. Projects include monochromatic statements and the complexities of color. A technical understanding of oil media, a visual vocabulary, and the beginning of a personal investigation are stressed. Course format consists primarily of studio work and practice with faculty guidance through lecture and critique. Grading is based on the quality and improvement of work, participation in class critiques, and attendance. Written work may be required. A technical text may be assigned. The University Art Museum, Art Library, and School galleries are supplementary resources. Required materials include a complete list of oil painting supplies. The course is taught primarily by a faculty member with the assistance of a TA.
Introduction to Printmaking 3 s.h.
This class is designed to give the beginning artist an overview of basic printmaking techniques and an understanding of what a print is, its form in both unique and multiple formats, and how these function in our culture. Printmaking processes result in a rich array of pictorial possibilities and methodological approaches. Students will be exposed to the basic techniques and concepts of intaglio, lithography, relief, and basic computer applications for printmaking during the course. We will discuss the history of printmaking by looking at works by professional printmakers, both historical and contemporary, for inspiration.
art major
Acting for Success 3 s.h.
Undergraduate Sculpture I 3 s.h.
This course is an introduction to basic sculptural concepts and processes. Emphasis is placed on developing personal ideas, and acquiring basic skills and knowledge of materials. Each assignment builds upon the others, creating a solid conceptual/technical foundation. Instruction includes readings, discussions, demonstrations, and slide presentations. Attendance is mandatory and grades are based on personal development and class participation. This is a fundamental 3D art course that introduces students to a wide array of hands-on fabrication techniques including, wood assemblage, plaster/wax mold-making and fabricating with wire/metal.
Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing ArtsIntroduction to 3D Design 3 s.h.
Materials, their formal and structural possibilities.
This is the foundation course for Product, Furniture and Interior Design and the introduction to the 3D Design discipline. Students develop conceptual and critical design thinking while solving problems to create 3D structures. Composition principles and their relation to aesthetic, structure and material are evaluated, discussed and developed through several handmade models that lead to the final design.
Communication skills and ability to strategize ideas are emphasized. Students will work on improving their ability to pitch their ideas. Participation in class discussion is mandatory.
This course should also provide the foundation for students applying for graduate programs in design, architecture and other related areas.
Course activities include lectures, demonstrations, assignments, critiques, presentations and a final digital portfolio (website).
Basic Acting 3 s.h.
This course is intended for students who are not theatre arts majors. The course is an introduction to the elements of performance, including exercises in concentration, imagination, observation, communication, relaxation, and sensory awareness. Classes are designed to promote toning the voice and body, freeing creative expression, and developing an understanding of the dramatic situation. This is primarily a lab class; appropriate casual clothing is necessary. Play attendance with written critiques, a journal, and a final performance project with written character and scene analyses are required. The course enhances interpersonal communication and presentation skills required for a successful career in occupations such as Engineering, Business, Medicine, Marketing, Mass Communications and Education to name a few.
non-theatre arts major
Theatre Technology 3 s.h.
This is a concentrated hands-on training course that quickly introduces students to scenery, costume, and property construction, along with lighting and sound production. Students are shown the stages, shops, tools, equipment, safety procedures, and some of the basic techniques involved in producing a live performance. The course is required for all theatre arts majors. Course requirements outside of class include a mandatory tool qualification, and the attendance at one technical rehearsal and two performances. Theatre faculty teaches the course.
Engineering Be CreativeProduction Lab 1, 2, 3 s.h.
Playwriting I 3 s.h.
This course provides an introduction to the craft of playwriting. Students will focus on the fundamentals of writing for the stage, including playwriting structure, creating characters, writing dialogue and building plays. Coursework includes in-class writing, regular writing assignments, and the reading of plays.
Engineering students, as well as students of other disciplines, are encouraged to enroll.
Engineering Be Creative Literary, Visual, and Performing ArtsUse of theatrical exercises and improvisation techniques to help students develop their imaginations, stimulate creativity, and approach practical projects from a fresh point of view; emphasis on working in teams and using improvisational techniques to solve problems.
Engineering Be CreativeCostume Design I 3 s.h.
Lighting Design I 3 s.h.
A hands-on introduction to the principles and mechanics of lighting design in contemporary theatre and dance. This course is designed to further the student’s knowledge of live theatre by providing them with an opportunity to explore emerging lighting technologies. This objective will be accomplished through demonstrations, group projects, and individual presentations. At the conclusion of this course, the student will have a basic understanding of the tools and techniques associated with contemporary lighting design, including 3-D modeling. In addition, the student will have acquired the skills to conceptualize and execute a lighting design for a gallery production in the Department of Theatre Arts.
Engineering Be CreativeEntertainment Design 3 s.h.
A hands-on introduction to concert lighting design, large format projection design, media servers, LED walls, and basic scenic design layout for corporate events. Working in groups, students are exposed to a variety of software and design concepts that relate to the Entertainment Design field. Students execute design projects with Moving Lights, LED Fixtures, Media Servers, and Projection Mapping software. Students are then able to choose their final project from the concepts covered during the semester.
The course is open to all students and may serve as an elective for the Event Management Certificate.
Please Note: This class is an ELECTIVE in the Department of Theatre Arts, it does NOT satisfy the Design Requirement.