Visa | Handbook

Department Handbook: Visual Arts

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Course Descriptions

Please note that the York University Undergraduate Calendar contains the official list of course descriptions. Please check the Timetable & Course Outline database for scheduling.

Summer 2010

FA/VISA 3680E 3.0 Jewish Museums, Identity and Public Memory
Explores the theory and practice of the exhibition experience in contemporary Jewish museums. Examines how these cultural institutions shape public memory, social identity, and collective history. Addresses issues of representation, space and architecture. Prerequisite: 3rd or 4th year standing. Open to non-majors. Cross-lisated to : AP/HUMA 3405 3.00.

Fall / Winter 2010 – 2011

FA/VISA 1000 3.0 Critical Issues in the Studio
Introduces students to visual, conceptual and theoretical language as it relates to studio practice. Ideas are examined through various disciplines from different points of view. Degree requirement for Visual Artts BFA Hons program. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 1120 6.0 Introduction to Visual Culture
Explores the ways that visual images work. What do images mean? Why do they matter? Visual culture is a complex cultural phenomenon affecting how meaning is visually produced, coded and consumed in public art, media, museums, advertising, etc. The course provides an overview of recent and historical approaches to visual culture. It considers various media, contexts and periods. The course introduces students to the study of visual culture in such arenas as film and video, photography, painting and sculpture, the built environment, advertising and fashion, or contemporary arenas such as video games and the Internet. Visual Culture involves the development of a critical framework for the understanding and discussion of those aspects of culture and society which involve any type of visual media The student will learn how to analyze visual media, interpret meanings, and gain experience in applying critical concepts to these understandings. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 2021 3.0 Painting: Approaches to the Human Figure
Examines Aesthetics and techniques through the study of various traditions and approaches to painting the human figure. Visual vocabulary and formal composition are developed through practical application and critical appraisal. Contemporary art concerns are discussed in slide presentations.

FA/VISA 2024 3.0 Painting: Colour and Composition
Introduces composition and colour through a number of assigned painting projects on how to structure a painting. Emphasis is on formal elements, particularly colour, and combining them through a diversity of compositional means that cover a range of painting genres. Course credit exclusion: FA/VISA 2022 3.00

FA/VISA 2025 3.0 Painting: Approaches to Techniques and Materials
Explores a range of approaches to painting through a study of both traditional and contemporary techniques and materials. Students develop the technical and conceptual competency required for further exploration in painting, and discuss contemporary issues relating to the practice.

FA/VISA 2031 3.0 Sculpture: Introductory Wood and Metal
Engages students in three-dimensional, non-representational sculpture stressing individual approaches to creative problem solving. Introduces students to sculptural methodologies and skills employing additive and reductive processes. Discusses fundamental concepts of traditional, post-modern, and emerging sculptural production in relation to abstraction, as experienced through individual production. Compulsory supplementary fees apply. Mandatory safety equipment required.

FA/VISA 2032 3.0 Sculpture: 3-Dimensional Construction
Projects focus on three-dimensional construction processes such as plaster construction, wood construction and found objects. The primary aim of this course is to introduce students to sculptural practices that encompasses more than one material in the production of 3-dimensional objects.The theory and practice of 20th-century constructed sculpture is examined through discussions, slide lectures and course projects.

FA/VISA 2033 3.0 Sculpture: Clay Modelling and Plaster Casting
Introduces students through a combination of slide lectures and studio practice to the historical tradition and the contemporary theory and practice of clay modelling over an armature and the transformation of the modelled object into a plaster casting through the waste mould process. Compulsory materials fees and damage deposit apply. Mandatory safety equipment required.

FA/VISA 2053 3.0 Time Based Art: Crossing Boundaries
Introduces students to interdisciplinary studio practice, emphasizing critical thinking and creative exploration. Projects may be developed through combinations of different practices, such as photo and text, bookworks, audio/video, and site-specific works. Technical workshops include introductions to Photoshop and Quicktime movies. Compulsory supplementary fees. Open to FES students formally registered in CAP.

FA/VISA 2055 3.0 Time Based Art: Performance and Everyday Life
Focuses on individual and group projects plus readings on time-based media, especially contemporary performance art. Students participate in exercises that promote original responses to the everyday environment, and are encouraged to use a variety of media in making works. Compulsory supplementary fees. Open to FES students formally registered in CAP.

FA/VISA 2056 3.0 Time Based Art: Introduction to Video Art – Production
Introduces students to the creative practice of video art in a production studio environment, including both concepts and techniques. Classes include workshops on camera, lighting, video effects and sound recording techniques. Students create individual creative video projects. Compulsory supplementary fees.

FA/VISA 2060 3.0 Introductory Photography: Black and White
Focuses on the creation and production of black and white photographs in this hands-on studio course. Camera, film and print skills are developed in conjunction with critical and aesthetic awareness. A 35 mm manually operable camera is required. Compulsory supplementary fees apply.

FA/VISA 2061 3.0 Photo Studio I
Offers an introductory studio in photographic theory and practice fundamentals. Tools, techniques and ideas related to seeing and camera art are explored with emphasis on the photographer as informed image-maker. Open only to visual arts majors, this course is a prerequisite for 3000-level photography courses. Course credit exclusions: FA/VISA 2006 3.00; FA/VISA 2061 6.0

FA/VISA 2065 3.0 Introductory Digital Photography: Camera to Image
Introduces photographic practices in a digital environment. Explores camera, tools, techniques and conceptual approaches related to image capture and printing. A digital camera is required. Compulsory supplementary fees. Open to students formally registered in the Cross-Disciplinary Certificate in Digital Media.

FA/VISA 2067 3.0 Introductory Photography: The Constructed Image
Explores fundamental concepts and processes related to photographic narrative, tableau and constructed images in this hands-on course. Directorial methods, studio and camera skills, and creative thinking are emphasized. Some group work and a DSLR are required.

FA/VISA 2070 3.0 Print Media: Lithography
In this introduction to lithography, students are exposed to the ideas and aesthetics informing contemporary print media. Demonstrations and projects cover various approaches to this medium, including drawing, transfer and photographic or digital methods. An understanding of the material and conceptual possibilities of lithography will allow students to develop individual print practices. Compulsory materials fee. Mandatory safety equipment is required. Open to FES students formally registered in CAP.

FA/VISA 2071 3.0 Print Media: Intaglio
Provides an introduction to intaglio, students are exposed to the ideas and aesthetics informing contemporary print media. Demonstrations and projects will cover various approaches to intaglio, including drypoint, etching and photo-etching. Compulsory materials fees apply. Mandatory safety equipment required. Open to FES students formally registered in CAP.

FA/VISA 2073 3.0 Print Media: Relief
In this introduction to relief printing, students are exposed to the ideas and aesthetics informing contemporary print media. Demonstrations and projects include various approaches to relief printing such as woodcut, linocut and collagraph, and cover a range of techniques and material processes. Compulsory supplementary fees.

FA/VISA 2074 3.0 Print Media: Screenprinting
In this introduction to screenprinting, students are exposed to the ideas and aesthetics informing contemporary print media. Demonstrations and projects cover various approaches to screenprinting with a range of techniques and material processes. Compulsory supplementary fees.

FA/VISA 2081 3.0 Drawing: Perception, Proportion, Structure
Explores contemporary approaches to traditional genres such as the still life, portrait, landscape and architecture are developed in relation to formal drawing skills. Studio projects include observational drawing and the application of representational systems such as perspective. The creative process is stressed encouraging personal, imaginative solutions to class projects and home assignments.

FA/VISA 2083 3.0 Drawing: Image Development
Explores conceptual, perceptual and formal drawing strategies for developing images. Emphasis is placed on the creative process leading students to develop and sustain personally relevant images.

FA/VISA 2340 3.0 The Art of Asia
Provides an interdisciplinary introduction to the art and architecture of East Asia explores a wide range of representations from artifacts and artworks to popular media and the built-environment. Discussions focus on issues of identity formation, political ethics, religious authorities, the nation-state, modernity, colonialism, and race/gender relations. Open to non-majors. Course Credit Exclusion: FA/VISA 2340 6.0.

FA/VISA 2390 3.0 African Art
Examines the arts of sub-Saharan Africa from a variety of media (sculpture, painting, architecture, performance, photography and personal decoration) and social contexts (initiation, religious ceremony, political and royal institutions, domestic arenas, cross-cultural exchanges, colonialism, post-colonialism and the international art world). Artistic production is presented primarily by culture group to facilitate comparative analysis around common themes. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 2520 3.0 Greek Art and Architecture
Studies the art of Greece in all media (vase painting, sculpture, architecture) from its origins in Aegean times through the Hellenistic period. Works of art are set in their philosophic, literary and dramatic context, and their social and economic background is considered. Extensive use of Toronto area museum collections is included. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1110 6.00. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 2560 6.0 Renaissance and Baroque Art and Architecture
Examines the art of northern and southern Europe from the early 15th century to the mid-18th century. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1110 6.00, any 1000-level humanities course, or permission of the course director.

FA/VISA 2620 6.0 Modern Art: 1750 to the Present
Provides a survey of modern art and Western visual culture from the mid-18th century to the present, with emphasis on European and North American developments in art and architecture. Provides a survey of modern art and Western visual culture from the mid-18th century to the present, with emphasis on European and North American developments in art and architecture. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 2740 3.0 Moments in Canadian Art
Examines key images in the history of Canadian visual culture in respect to their moment of production. The artworks are examined in the context of gender, race and national relations, urban and rural development, aesthetic practices, colonization and capitalism. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 2930 3.0 History of Photography
Offers a survey of photography from early experiments in the medium to contemporary work. Course Credit Exclusion: FA/VISA 2930 6.00.

FA/VISA 3001B 3.0 Critical Issues II: The Artist as Activist and Educator
This course is intended to further expand students’‘ awareness of critical debates in contemporary art practice. It focuses on how artists contextualize their own work in relation to key areas of contemporary thought: the impact of feminism on social activism as described by the phrase “the personal is the political.” Prerequisites: FA/VISA 1000 3.00, FA/VISA 2620 6.00 and six credits of practicum at the 2000 level, 3rd year standing in the BFA Honors Visual Arts.

FA/VISA 3001C 3.0 Critical Issues II: The Body & Technology: From Real To Virtual
This course expands students' awareness of critical debates in contemporary art by addressing how artists contextualize their work in relation to ideas about the body and technology. These ideas are examined through viewing works of art, the discussion of readings, presentations and research papers. Prerequisites: FA/VISA 1000 3.00, FA/VISA 2620 6.00 and six credits of practicum at the 2000 level, 3rd year standing in the BFA Honors Visual Arts.

FA/VISA 3001E 3.0 Critical Issues II: Research and Practice in Art
Further expands students' awareness of critical debates in contemporary art practice. It explores how artists establish studio topics and develop areas of research expertise. Case studies explore how individualized art practice intersects and hybridizes established areas of structured research. Prerequisites: FA/VISA 1000 3.00, FA/VISA 2620 6.00 and six credits of practicum at the 2000 level, 3rd year standing in the BFA Honors Visual Arts.

FA/VISA 3001G 3.0 Critical Issues II: Reconsidering the Object
This course further expands students’‘ awareness of critical debates in contemporary art practice. It focuses on how artists contextualize their own work in relation to key areas of contemporary thought. Topics vary from year to year. Prerequisites: FA/VISA 1000 3.00, FA/VISA 2620 6.00 and six credits of practicum at the 2000 level, 3rd year standing in the BFA Honors Visual Arts.

FA/VISA 3022B 3.0 Painting: The Spaces we Live in
Offers Thematic painting studio that focuses on contemporary concepts of space: the 'real' space of super-modernity as experienced in large urban centres and virtual or cyberspace. The conceptual ideas related to the theme are introduced through selected readings. Prerequisites: FA/VISA 1000 3.00; six credits from 202x series of courses.

FA/VISA 3022C 3.0 Painting: Constructing the Human Figure
Investigates the representation of the naked and clothed human figure in painting. Working from close observation of a life model, appropriated images and from their imagination, students explore questions of identity and social references while developing technical and compositional skills. Prerequisites: FA/VISA 1000 3.00; six credits from the 202x series of courses.

FA/VISA 3024A 3.0 Painting: A 2- and 3- Dimensional Practice
Explores new forms of contemporary painting that extend the medium from a two-dimensional practice to a critical consideration of its limit/frame, different kinds of support/form, as well as its relationship with the surrounding architecture/environment. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1000 3.00; six credits from the 202x series of courses.

FA/VISA 3024C 3.0 Painting: Shifting Abstraction
Examines the recent shift of the boundaries of abstraction and figuration in pictorial experience. In a series of painting, students create new relationships between abstraction and figuration by using the visual strategies of convergence, interference and mutation. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1000 3.00; six credits from the 202x series of courses.

FA/VISA 3025A 3.0 Painting: Pre-1950 Strategies
Explores and develops contemporary pictorial strategies from some of the major art movements of the first half of the 20th century such as Cubism, Surrealism and De Stijl. Their innovations are explored in both historical and contemporary frameworks through presentations, readings, discussions and studio projects with an emphasis on the latter. Provides students with a solid understanding of certain aspects of painting's history, a command of technique, and an appreciation of painting as a tradition of experimentation and innovation. It presents the multiplicity, continuity and ruptures in various movements of modern painting as evidence of the medium's potential to generate original ways of seeing, feeling and thinking. Hence, the approach of the course is not strictly art historical. Rather, the goal is to highlight and elaborate the relevance of these earlier innovations to contemporary practice, thus leading to the development of new pictorial strategies. Pre/Co-requisite: FA/VISA 1000 3.0; six credits from the 202x series of courses.

FA/VISA 3030 6.0 Sculpture
Investigates sculpture within contemporary art practices encompassing a complex inquiry of materials, process and concept. Compulsory materials fee of $130. Damage Deposit: $100. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1000 3.0 and six credits in sculpture at the 2000-level with a grade of C+ or better in each course.

FA/VISA 3032E 3.0 Sculpture Processes: Metal Casting
Students investigate metal casting as a process, which has taken on a commemorative function in societies around the world. Historically, bronze has been the favoured material of artistic commissions and has occupied a central place in western culture as a means of reproducing fine art objects. In this course, students acquire experience in casting objects in metal using the lost wax process. Working directly in wax and from flexible moulds, students produce a form which is prepared for casting in metal. Students receive instruction in gating and spruing methods and in the ceramic shell casting process. After casting, students de-gate their work and finish it to a high level of resolution using hand tools. Prerequisite: 6 credits from the 203x series of courses. Material Fees: $150.

FA/VISA 3032G 3.0 Recycled Materials in Sculpture
Introduces the recycled object as an artmaking material. Students construct a work in the studio using found metal, plastic, rubber and other materials. Students develop a proposal for an outdoor site piece obtaining the required permits for such a project. They learn how context affects the making, presentation and interpretation of sculpture by completing this work as a second assignment. Students are introduced to historical and contemporary examples of artworks made from found objects through slides and field trips. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2032 3.00, 3 credits from the 203x series of courses. Materials Fee: $120.

FA/VISA 3055 3.0 Time Based Art: Video Installation
Explores various approaches to video installation including multi-channel video and video installation in combination with performance or visual art practices. Students develop individual video installations. Knowledge of video art history, digital video technology, and video installation is gained. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1000 3.00, FA/VISA 2620 6.00 and six credits from the 205X series of courses. Materials Fee: $40.

FA/VISA 3056 3.0 Time Based Art: Sound for Artists
Explores sound art both as a distinct practice and through its interdisciplinary intersections with new media, sculptural, installation, performative, musical, and other time-based art practices. Prerequisite: VISA: FA/VISA 1000 3.00, FA/VISA 2620 6.00 and 6 credits from the 205x series of courses; FACS: FA/FACS 2930 6.0. Course Credit Exclusion: FA/FACS 3937 3.0.

FA/VISA 3060 6.0 Black and White Photography
This intermediate studio focuses on camera art, darkroom production and contemporary presentation approaches related to the creation of black and white photography. Skills, knowledge, aesthetic awareness and critical understanding are developed through creative projects. Safety equipment is required. Prerequisites: FA/VISA 2060 6.00 and FA/VISA 2061 3.00. Materials Fee: $80.

FA/VISA 3062 3.0 Photography: Light and Studio
Intermediate students explore the lighting studio as an integral tool in photographic creation. Strobes, mixed light and low light techniques are explored within the controlled studio setting. Theory and practice are combined through demonstrations, hands on practice, readings and presentation. Recommended for any student wishing to pursue 3000 level course work. May be taken alone or in tandem with other 3000 or 4000 level photography courses. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2061 3.0 and 3 additional credits from the 206x series of courses. Materials Fee: $60.

FA/VISA 3063 6.0 Photographic Explorations
Investigates mixed method photo-based practices. It addresses the necessary interplay of creative problem solving, conceptual thought, social and political theory and the evolution of technologies in contemporary art practice. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2061 3.00 and three additional credits from the 206x series of courses. Materials Fee: $150.

FA/VISA 3070 6.0 Extended Print Practice
Building upon knowledge gained from introductory printmaking courses, students will have the opportunity to work in various print media as well as investigate extended print media practice such as artists’‘ book, printed ephemera, print installation and digital imaging. Compulsory supplementary fees. Mandatory safety equipment is required. Prerequisite: Six credits from the FA/VISA 207x series of courses with a grade of C+ or better in each. Materials Fee: $130.

FA/VISA 3071 3.0 Artists’ Books and Multiples
In this studio course students will consider a range of ideas and material approaches focusing on the artists' book and the multiple in the context of contemporary print media practices. Prerequisite: 6 credits from the 207x series of courses. Degree Credit Exclusions: FA/VISA 3071 6.0 to FA/VISA 3071 3.0 and FA/VISA 3071 3.0 to FA/VISA 3071 6.0. Materials Fee: $85.

FA/VISA 3082 3.0 Drawing Write Large
In the last fifty years, drawing has gone through a significant transformation. Traditionally relegated to works on paper, drawing has now entered the spheres of photography, painting, sculpture and video. Artists' book works including drawing abound taking the concept of multiples in a new direction. Digital programs that combine photography and drawing have revolutionized the visual arts. Drawing becomes a three-dimensional process when applied to architecture or when sited in the landscape. Students complete five projects exploring a number of themes such as panoramic space; the landscape; drawing combined with found objects to address ecological systems outside the studio. This course introduces students to contemporary cross-disciplinary processes and builds upon skills gained in other classes. Prerequisite: six credits from the 208X series of courses.

FA/VISA 3083 3.0 Drawing from the Model
Explores and develops drawing skills by concentrating on the figure and drawing from live models. Analytical and expressive skills are developed using a variety of drawing media. Emphasis is placed on the six basic elements of visual communication: line, value, volume, space and texture as it pertains to figurative drawing. Students gain an understanding of basic skeletal and musculature structures along with the ability to translate the human form into a volumetric, proportional representation. Class work and three home assignments. Prerequisites: six credits from 208x series of courses.

FA/VISA 3084 3.0 Interpreting the Model
Explores the human figure in contemporary art through studio projects and home assignments. Class work consists of observational and interpretive drawing, including drawing from live models. Form, composition, modeling and mark making are emphasized in relation to various drawing media. Prerequisite: six credits from the 208X series of courses or FA/VISA 2021 3.00 and 3 credits from the 208X series of courses with a C+ average or better.

FA/VISA 3085 3.0 Drawing: Image and Narrative
Students examine a variety of narrative structures through the drawing process to develop personal imagery and concepts applicable to a broad range of media. The course introduces and builds on contemporary concepts and techniques of serial imagery, narrative and allegory. Course work includes classroom studio projects, home assignments, gallery visits, class critiques and slide / power point presentations on modern and contemporary artists. Prerequisite: Six credits from the 208X series of courses.

FA/VISA 3110 6.0 Historical Techniques and Materials of the Artist
An intensive study of the media and the methods employed by artists throughout history. There are four units of study in the course: drawing, printmaking, painting and sculpture, which are examined in a series of lectures, studio, experimentation and demonstrations. Note: It is strongly recommended that students have taken at least 6 credits in studio and 12 credits in art history before enrolling in this course. Course credit exclusion: AK/VISA 3110 6.0. Materials Fee: $60.

FA/VISA 3310 3.0 Art Criticism
This course introduces students to the principles of art criticism. What questions do critics ask? How do they answer them? What assumptions are they making, whether implicitly or explicitly? Students read some theory, a few examples of work by critics, and write their own criticism. Class excursions to galleries in downtown Toronto are an integral part of the course. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2620 6.00.

FA/VISA 3345 3.0 Visual Culture of Modern Asia
Examines visual culture at different localities of modern Asia that builds a framework for understanding artistic and cultural activities in the 20th century in their historical and social context. As modern Asia is not a unified but dynamic space, we will explore various kinds of visual and built environments including art works, exhibitions, literature, popular culture and events. Visual representations are analyzed as crucial in the formation of the norms of history, culture and politics of the region. Discussion focuses on the binary conception of "the East" versus "the West", and notions of "Asia," "tradition," "modernity," and nationalism in particular postcolonial conditions of East Asia. Questions such as what is "Asia"? How do we define the notion of "modernity" in Asia? These and other questions seek to construct and deconstruct fundamental assumptions on "modern Asian art," examining contemporary theories of art, culture, and nation. Students develop visual and analytic skills needed to read Asian modern art and culture in relation to growing tension and interaction between national, regional and global flows. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 3350A 3.0 Representation of Indigenous North Americans in Art and Popular Visual Culture
An exploration of images of Indigenous North Americans in art and popular culture from Medieval visual precedents such as the Wildman until the present. Themes to be critically explored include such organizing dichotomies as "primitive versus civilized", "nature versus culture" and "heathen versus Christian". We will also interrogate such related tropes as: the noble savage, the Indian Princess, the captivity narrative, the vanishing Indian, the environmental Indian, the Indian as child of nature and the Indian as threatening savage. Indigenous responses to these representations will be explored primarily through the work of contemporary artists. Visual sources will include fine art, mass-market illustration and cinema. When informative, we will also look at other sources of Indigenous representation such as literature and anthropology. Prerequisite: 3rd or 4th year. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 3540C 3.0 Stained Glass in Context 1100-1800
Explores the development of architectural stained glass from its origins in Germany ca.1100 to ca.1800. Selected secular and religious monuments are discussed in conjunction with developments in architectural form, and in comparison to contemporary painting and sculpture. The materials, technology, and design of architectural glass and its imagery are investigated from stylistic and iconographical viewpoints. The multi-faceted role of stained glass as a public art form is taken into consideration. Periods covered are Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. Questions of preservation and restoration are addressed. Although material is presented chronologically, topics discussed include: How to make a stained glass window; Abbot Suger and his windows; The medieval philosophy of light; Patrons and images; Stained glass as the "bible of the poor"; Medieval aesthetics; Renaissance aesthetics; Images in stained glass and manuscripts; Dutch Reformation and the secularization of images; 17th century decline of stained glass. Students develop their skills in reading and critically evaluating texts, consolidate their ability to undertake fruitful library and internet research, and develop both synthetic and original styles of argument. They develop the ability to understand and interpret material culture as an integral aspect of the beliefs and social organization of its time, and to recognize and appreciate the influence of the past on our own society. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1110 6.00. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 3611 3.0 Curatorial Studies: Practices of Display
Examines the medium of exhibition, particularly how the placement of artifacts creates specific aesthetic, semiotic and ideological contexts. Topics explore the display practices of curators, artists, interpreters, designers, collectors, and dealers. Consideration is given to how the arrangement of exhibitions determines the conceptual and ontological experience of art. Analysis includes a wide range of display forms including museums, galleries, artist-run centres, virtual exhibitions, as well as site specific installations by artists and curators. Readings drawn from the burgeoning interdisciplinary literature centred on exhibitions. Participants are invited to undertake research on particular exhibition sites and present their findings to the class. The objectives of this course is to give a comprehensive overview of how exhibitions are formulated and presented, to develop a critical understanding of the specificities of exhibition discourse, and to introduce a range of methodologies used in developing exhibitions. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 3620A 3.0 Realism and Impressionism
Offers a study of Realism and Impressionism in Europe between the 1830s and the 1880s. Realism is examined as a series of linked but differing concepts of art involving artists throughout Europe including Scandinavia and the Russian Empire. Emphasis is placed on the importance of prints and illustrated magazines in the formation of Realism. The study of Impressionism focuses on the French movement. There is also a concluding analysis of the contribution of Impressionism to Post-Impressionism. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2620 6.00

FA/VISA 3620B 3.0 Romantic Art
Focuses primarily on European art from the late eighteenth through the mid nineteenth centuries. It explores the relationship between Romantic art and the modern condition of revolution, industrialization, urbanization, and colonial expansion. Some issues considered: why and how the art of Goya, Turner, Blake, Constable, Friedrich, Gericault, and Delacroix articulate new understandings of the human subject, political history, and the natural world; what role popular art forms, such as prints, and forums, suchas exhibitions, played in the cultivation of wider audiences for art. Students develop an understanding of the place of Romanticism in the history of Western art. Critical thinking and writing skills are developed through readings, discussion and assignments on the form, content and context of works of art from the Romantic era and by analyzing the role of philosophers, art historians and museums in shaping our understanding of those works. Resources of local collections provide direct contact with art works exemplifying the forms and themes of the course. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2620 6.00

FA/VISA 3650 3.0 Art in Crisis
Examines art produced in times of crisis, social and personal extremes: imprisonment, totalitarianism, political occupation, illness, war. Focuses chiefly on the Holocaust of WW2, as well as Indigenous American Reserve cultures, contemporary Palestinian art, representation of atrocity. Prerequisites: FA/VISA 1110 6.00 or FA/VISA 2620 6.00

FA/VISA 3680D 3.0 Canadian Art Outside Quebec: 1940-1980
Offers a consideration of such major movements in Canada as Painters Eleven (Jack Bush, Jock Macdonald), the Artists’‘ Jazz Band (Michael Snow, Graham Coughtry), first-generation feminism (Joyce Wieland), London nationalism (Jack Chambers, John Boyle), Atlantic regionalism (Alex Colville, Christopher Pratt), the Regina Five and the revival of Native Peoples’ art. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2620 6.00

FA/VISA 3680E 3.0 1960s Art in the USA and Europe
Examines the work, processes and context of artists who emerged in Europe and the United States immediately after the Abstract Expressionists and their European counterparts. These may include: Post-painterly Abstraction, proto-Pop, Pop Art, Cubist-Constructivist sculpture, Minimalism, photo-realism, earth art, kinetic art, the El Paso group in Madrid, Joseph Beuys, the beginning of post-modern architecture, and early performance art. Course requirements: Individually chosen mix of essays and tests. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2620 6.00

FA/VISA 3680N 3.0 Art, Politics and Society
Clarifies the numerous and varied functions of art within society at key moments in the history of the twentieth century. That century marked the exploration and exploitation of the relationship of art and ideology, including the work of the Mexican muralists during the 1920s and Depression-era photography in North America during the 1930s. It also marked extreme attacks on art as in Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union and even within the liberal democracies, e.g., by Senator Joseph McCarthy. The relationship of the aesthetic to economic, philosophical, political, psychological and social issues addresses such examples. Pre-requisite: FA/VISA 2620 6.00. Course credit exclusion: AS/SOSC 2813 6.00.

FA/VISA 3680R 3.0 Jewish Art and Architecture in Antiquity
Explores the visual culture of the Jews between the first and seventh centuries CE in the land of Israel and in the Diaspora, with particular focus on architecture, sculpture, mosaic and portable arts associated with synagogues and tombs. Monuments include the Temple in Jerusalem; synagogues at Dura Europos, Hammat Tiberias, Sardis, Sepphoris, Bet Alpha, Hamman Lif, Susiya; sarcophagi and their settings in Bet Shearim and Rome; magical objects, including incantation bowls and amulets. While the course is chronological in presentation, ideological issues that pervade the study of Jewish art and recent questions - dating of early synagogues, meaning of zodiac imagery - are also examined. Pre-requisite: 3rd or 4th year standing.

FA/VISA 3690 3.0 Theoretical Issues in Contemporary Art
This course examines theoretical developments within contemporary art from 1980 to the present The initial lectures trace the historical background preceding the 1980s with particular emphasis on the relationship between modernism and postmodernism in both theory and practice. Following this introductory analysis, the emergence of neoexpressionism in the early 1980s is considered within the context of contemporary theoretical polemics and the expansion of the commercial and museum market for contemporary art. The principal body of the course focuses on the theoretical issues linked with artistic production and reception from 1985 to the present in sculpture, painting, photography, video, and installation. The major theme of the course involves the complex interplay between theory and practice within contemporary art. Topics covered include: feminism, psychoanalysis, simulation theory, institutional critique, postcolonial theories of ethnicity, elite and popular culture, and issues of public, site-specific, political and digital art. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2680 3.00 Course credit exclusion: FA/VISA 3800C 3.00.

FA/VISA 3740 3.0 20th Century Canadian art
This is a seminar course dealing with the histories of visual arts in Canada during the 20th century. We will explore a wide range of arts from different regions of the country in the context of race and ethnicity, gender, and the search for national identity. This course considers works of art and artistic movements with particular reference to the social and political contexts in which they were created and the ideological principles which influenced them. Throughout the course we will be considering the social position of the artist, the hierarchies of genres (fine art/craft/folk art), the emergence of art markets and patrons and the development of institutions like museums and artists organizations. We will also consider the question of what constitutes Canadian art and what such definitions exclude. The class periods will be a combination of lecture, class discussion, group work, film screenings, in-class writing assignments, field trips and the occasional guest speaker. Visits to museums and galleries in and around Toronto and Buffalo are an essential part of this course. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1110 6.00 or FA/VISA 2620 6.00 or FA/VISA 2740 3.00. Course credit exclusion: FA/VISA 3720 6.00.

FA/VISA 3830 3.0 Aspects of Portraiture
Offers the artistic theory, psychology and development of portraiture in the West from Roman times to the portrait photograph, with emphasis on portraits after 1400. Lectures, discussions and student presentations. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 1110 6.00.

FA/VISA 4051 3.0 Time-Based Art: Video Art, Site and Screen
Explores a range of practices in video art including: narrative, documentary, multi-channel installation and video installation in combination with visual art. The course emphasizes self-directed student video projects incorporating creative concepts gained through the course. Prerequisite: Six credits of from the 305x series of courses.

FA/VISA 4070 6.0 Print Media
Students will further refine skills and develop a greater understanding of contemporary print media practices. In consultation with the instructor, students will develop studio projects toward a portfolio of work. The incorporation of digital imaging and other media is encouraged. Compulsory materials fees apply. Mandatory safety equipment required. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 3070 6.00 or FA/VISA 3073 6.00 with a grade of B or better.

FA/VISA 4090A 6.0 Installation Art
Offers a focused practicum for senior students that addresses the origins and history of installation art including site-specificity, the context of the gallery/museum, alternate environments and artist collectives. Compulsory supplementary fees. Prerequisites: Third- or fourth-year standing and at least six credits in studio at the 3000-level with a grade of B or better.

FA/VISA 4090D 6.0 Painting: Contemporary Explorations
Provides a focused practicum for senior students that examines contemporary practices in painting. This course is structured around self-initiated projects under the direction of the instructor. Through the coupling of theoretical and practical explorations, the course facilitates students' ability to develop their individual projects within the contemporary context of representational and abstract art, popular culture and mass media. Prerequisites: 3 credits from the 302x plus 3 credits from the 302x or 308x series of courses with a grade of B or better, 3rd or 4th year standing.

FA/VISA 4090H 3.0 Advanced Explorations
Offers a focused practicum for senior students to apply conceptual, technical and creative skills in the production of directed photo-based projects. Encourages the development of advanced skills in digital and/or film-based technologies, independent research and production. Prerequisites: Third- or fourth-year standing with six credits from the 305x or 306x series of courses with a grade of B or better.

FA/VISA 4340B 3.0 Monumentality & National Imagination in Asia
An integrated seminar provides critical discussions on the concept of monumentality in relation to the formation of political subjectivities, the invention of the past and traditions, and the establishment of the disciplinary state in Asia. Drawing on a variety of reading materials from various disciplines, it explores issues of nationalism and post-colonial/ post-war conditions and practices of monuments, memorials, and museum. Over the past years we have been witnessing the massive production of memories of colonialism and the Asia Pacific Wars. The making and remaking of catastrophic memories of violence have taken place in memorial museums in the Asia Pacific region and the United States. Memories of the violent past are however not self-evident but continuously challenged and negotiated in the particular cultural and political contexts. The politicized dimension of a memory production is perhaps most acute when it involves the problem of identities of postcolonial/ postwar nations. This course studies the concepts of "memory," "amnesia," and "national identity" by analyzing concrete cases of visual representations in the postwar Asia. Integrated with: GS/ARTH 5341 3.00. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 4342 3.0 Visual Spectacle in Asia
This course examines the visual spectacle of art, architecture and urban design in Asia. Drawing on theories of spectacle and power, it discusses the operation of power, the formation of collective subjectivities, and the construction of histories in contemporary Asia. Particular attention is paid to the following questions: How the various forms and sites of spectacle are related to one another and perform as a cultural technique of political communication; how they are associated with the modes of "govern-mentality"; how they articulate a larger citizenship project associated with modernity, nationalism and neo-liberal globalization; under what conditions they are mobilized for particular political agendas; and how they in turn transform the way in which people think about their social and political subjectivities. This course is based on historically and empirically grounded case studies of aesthetic productions and cultural institutions. Prerequisite: 4th year standing. Open to non-majors

FA/VISA 4351 3.0 Issues in Contemporary Indigenous Art of North America
A seminar exploring five current issues in contemporary indigenous art of North America. Questions to be explored include: Is there, for want of a better term, an "Orientalist" discourse of the American Indian and if so what does this mean for contemporary artists? What role do artists play in the recovery and transmission of suppressed histories and what sort of histories do particular art forms create? To what extent do some indigenous nationalisms appeal to an implicit "salvage paradigm" for indigenous cultures? What is the role of humour and irony in contemporary indigenous art? Is there a post-Indian and post-identity politics for indigenous artists? The seminar will be divided between close reading and discussing assigned texts on the five issues outlined above in the first part of the term and the presentation of student essay research in the latter part of the term. Prerequisite: 3rd or 4th year standing. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 4610 3.0 The Senses in Art
Examines the senses in the experience and production of art, with an emphasis on the senses beyond vision -- taste, touch, smell, and hearing - in art and aesthetic experience. Explores how the senses are a prominent factor in contemporary artworks that involve spectators physically, focus on the body, and use new technologies to create distinct perceptual experiences. Considers the regime of visuality and the hierarchy of the senses, the allegorical representation of the senses in art history, and the emergent activation of the non-visual senses in contemporary art practice. Topics will focus on the cultural politics of the senses in art, with focused case studies on art and taste, art and touch, art and smell, audio art and synaesthetic art. The objectives of this course are 1) to introduce students to the impact of the senses in art practice with reference to specific works of art ; 2) to study the cultural politics of sensorial mediation; 3) to develop a critical understanding of non-visual aesthetics. Open to non-majors.

FA/VISA 4620D 3.0 Major Movements in Modern Art: The Decade 1905-1914
Examines key issues that still play their part in art today in this advanced seminar. The extraordinary decade in Europe that saw the founding of modern art, with the equally extraordinary variety of innovations made by movements like Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Die Brucke, Der Blaue Reiter, Vorticism, Rayonnism, Suprematism and Orphism are studied. Included are the contributions of individual artists like De Chirico and Chagall, as well as the creation of abstract art by Kupka, Kandinsky, Delaunay and Mondrian etc.

FA/VISA 4620F 3.0 The Artist and the Modern Museum
Recent artistic responses to the modern art museum as providing the context for the consumption of art suggest that the museum may be a dying institutional form. The work of Buren or Broodthaers, for instance, questions the autonomy of art by exposing its reliance or involvement with the museum as its institutional ground. The construction of the category of ‘‘artist’‘ in the 19th and 20th centuries is addressed as well as the relations between the ‘‘high art’‘ product and the museum as the site of its consumption, display and authorization. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2620 6.00.

FA/VISA 4620H 3.0 Nationalism and Modern Art
This course will examine the development and representation of nationalism in modern visual art and mass culture. Is art really "universal" and trans-cultural? Why is art history organized around national schools? How does the marketing of art affected by national designations? How is national identity formed through visual images? What about "melting-pot" or "mosaic" nations? How should we consider the art of diaspora or minority peoples? Among the art and issues we shall consider: Canada's national landscape, regionalism and artistic heritage, utopian art in the USSR, Fascism and art (Germany, Italy), Jewish art, Indigenous arts, international exhibitions. Prerequisites: One of FA/VISA 1110 6.0 or FA/VISA 1340 6.0 or FA/VISA 2620 6.0; third or fourth year standing in any department.

FA/VISA 4640B 3.0 Contemporary Sculpture
Examines the development in contemporary sculpture from 1980 to the present, within both a theoretical and historical context. Initial seminars successively examine questions concerning the traditional public monument, modernist sculpture and problems of theoretical definition. The principle focus, however, is on sculpture in the past fifteen years. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 2620 6.00.

FA/VISA 4640C 3.0 Contemporary Art and Surrealism
Focuses on the art of the 1990s. In exploring this period, major emphasis is placed on the resurgence of Surrealist strategies in recent practice. A central theme involves the complex interplay between theory and practice within contemporary art of the last 10 years. In this vein, theories such as Kristeva’‘s concept of the abject, Bataille’‘s notion of the formless, Freud’‘s categories of the uncanny and the death drive, and Lacan’‘s problematic of the real receive close attention. Revisionist interpretations of Surrealism itself by contemporary critics such as Yve-Alain Bois, Whitney Chadwick, Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss and others are extensively discussed. Rachel Whiteread, Jimmie Durham, Mona Hatoum, Gary Hill and Sarah Luca are among the contemporary artists whose work is considered. Prerequisites: FA/VISA 2620 6.00 and preferably a second course in 19th- or 20th-century art.

FA/VISA 4660 3.0 Dada and Neo-Dada
Examines the history and reception of Dada, first dealing with the historical development of the movement in New York and major European centres (Berlin, Cologne, Zurich, Hanover, Paris) and then considering its influence upon Neo-avantgarde movements such as Pop Art, Performance Art and Conceptualism. Dada artists considered include Marcel Duchamp, Hannah Hoch, Francis Picabia and Kurt Schwitters. Dada and Neo-Dada practices considered include the use of chance and automatist procedures, the readymade, photomontage, collage assemblage, performance, sculpture, and painting. Prerequisite: 3rd or 4th year standing.

FA/VISA 4670 3.0 The Sex of Architecture
Explores gender and sexuality in architecture, urban form and city space. Challenges the boundaries of architecture because space and place are never neutral. Case studies about buildings and places of sexualized sites are examined. FA/VISA 2620 6.0 or FA/VISA 1120 6.0

FA/VISA 4800J 3.0 Photography in Contemporary Art
Examines the standing of photography in the recent history of art. In the early 1960s, both the fine art and the popular photograph were increasingly incorporated into the materials and practices of the studio, market, museum and art theory. Later, with conceptual art, photography developed into a primary means of analysis and presentation of fine art itself, yielding further examination of the institutional and historiographic basis of the medium, including decisive essays by practitioners, theorists and art historians that critiqued and presented new, complex frameworks for considering photography as a system of signs and social meaning. Prompted by this theoretical move, and utilizing more technologically sophisticated instruments, artists working with still and moving photographic images extended the pictorial and formal aspects of photography, lending it qualities analogous to those of the history of painting and, in installations using projection, the space of sculpture. This course traces and elaborates this history, looking at the aesthetic, social and methodological implications of this development, including focus on such artists as Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Martha Rosler and Jeff Wall, and writers such as Roland Barthes, Hal Foster, Rosalind Krauss and Abigail Solomon-Godeau. While historical and theoretical attention to photography as fine art is a continual concern, other issues, such as the reproducibility and ubiquity of photography as spectacular culture are figured, as is consideration of interpretive models such as semiotics, feminism, institutional critique, and the conditions of photography under digitisation. The course can take advantage of the resources of local collections and exhibitions-at the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Ydessa Hendeles Art Foundation, the Power Plant and the Art Gallery of York University-in order for students to have direct contact with art works exemplifying the themes and concerns of the course. Prerequisite: FA/VISA 3690 3.00 (formerly FA/VISA 3800C 3.00).

FA/VISA 4800K 3.0 Image Wars: Iconoclasm and Idolatry
This seminar explores issues of image worship and destruction in several cultural contexts. Topics include: images as magic; fetish and taboo; Judaic, Christian and Muslim interpretations of the Second Commandment; the 9thc. Christian Iconoclastic Controversy; individual, state and revolutionary destruction of images. In a world increasingly saturated with visual images and information across a range of media, it is crucial to understand the power of images on human consciousness, and the ways that power has been deployed, celebrated, circumscribed and challenged. What is the significance of the human need to make images, or to attack and destroy them? What is the image's magical or sacralizing power? The elaborate attention to images-their proliferation and their proscription, their sacred and blasphemous forms, their permissions and taboos-is central to all three major monotheistic religions-Judaism, Christianity, Islam. How has this concern with images and image-making shaped cultural responses to the visual field? And in the modern period, where visual forms dominate much of mass culture, how do modern icons and image control create sites of fascination and heightened consciousness? This course examines these questions through several historical epochs and cultures. Magic, fetish and taboo serve as a starting point. The course then explores ancient icons and idolatries, with a view to understanding the force and the limits of the aesthetic icon, as well as the ethical and moral implications of the Biblical Second Commandment ("Thou shalt not make any graven images…") for the three major faiths. For the modern period (from the late eighteenth century on), the course considers examples of secular and official image destruction (such as French Revolution, Paris Commune 1871, Soviet Image control and the fall of the USSR, the fall of Saddam Hussein and lootings in Iraq).

Department of Visual Arts

Department Handbook: Visual Arts

Course Descriptions

Summer 2010

Fall / Winter 2010 – 2011