This course introduced students to basics principles of photography. Instruction will consider both the technical and visual components of the photograph. Critical skills in understanding and interpreting photographs will also be taught. Students will receive instruction in the use of digital single lens reflex (DSLR) camera and basic printing techniques. The cameras used will require the student to manually adjust shutter speed and aperture.

In this course, the integration and translation of traditional two- and three-dimensional art media are explored in the digital environment through lectures, demonstrations, and tutorials. Students will learn to use the Apple operating system and design software such as Adobe PhotoShop, and Illustrator, but the emphasis is on digital imaging as a medium for artistic expression. Students will also learn the various digital and information technology (IT) resources available to them at the College; video and DSLR sign out; colour printing; as well as MyCampus and the College’s Learning Management System (LMS) DC Connect.

This course encourages students to develop ideas by engaging the world: through preparation, conscious attention, curiosity, effort, and sometimes luck. Students will learn to pay attention to the world around us – through the media or direct experience, and be willing to take risks with ideas and make connections between unrelated things or events. This class provides a foundation in critical theory and the relationship between theory and studio practice. Students will explore critical issues related to art and design, including process, representation, reproduction, originality, distribution, gender, identity, culture and politics. We will frame these issues in relationship to specific images drawn from a range of media in art and design. 

The main focus of the course is on detailed observation and development of skills through the study of objects, materials, textures and pictorial systems.

This course introduces fundamental skills of representation in drawing through the study of proportion, perspective; line quality, contour, positive and negative shapes, value and volume. Observational drawing exercises reveal these historical and contemporary drawing processes, and stress the development of perceptual and technical skills. Conceptually based assignments will emphasize the development of ideas and research. With subjects as diverse as the human figure, object studies, architectural spaces, and the imagination, students will learn to see and evaluate the visual world and translate visual impressions into two-dimensional images using a wide range of media. Students will benefit from both group and individual instruction.

In a few short years, social media has profoundly changed the global communication landscape. With the advent of social media tools such as Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, and Twitter, more and more people are connecting and collaborating online, and creating and distributing content in ways we have never seen before.

This course will provide a summary of the major developments in social media and will examine how social media can be used not only to stay current about art trends and news, but also to self-promote and conduct business online. Students will be introduced to a variety of social media environments and will gain hands-on experience with many of the leading social media applications. This course requires active participation of students and a willingness to immerse in social media practices. 

This course develops the students’ critical thinking and problem solving skills through an understanding of design theory and application on a two-dimensional or flat surface. It is intended to introduce the student to colour theory as well as the organizing principles and creative processes common to art, craft and design.

This course introduces students to the historical and contemporary fundamentals of art making by studying the interdependency of colour and composition across a broad range of media, from painting and drawing to digital media, including video and photography.

This course provides students with essential communication skills needed to meet performance levels demanded by assignments in other core subjects and eventual career employment.

This course emphasizes concepts of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. As a result, students develop flexibility in adapting messages which achieve appropriate results.

This course introduces drawing in a digital environment and the preparation of assets for use in a variety of creative projects, including self-portraits, posters, illustrations, graphic design, 3-D objects, animations, etc.  A student’s success in this course will be affected by their attendance, participation and motivation in developing an approach to learning the fine detail and nuanced skills that they will need to express their creative ideas. With the exception of some in-class exercises and/or quizzes the work in the course will be project based.

This course will teach students digital video production and cinematography through experimentation, demonstrations, lectures, discussions and projects. Students will learn through technical exercises; critical review of experimental, documentary and narrative video works; and the introduction of historical and theoretical issues. This course will introduce the collaborative nature of video production as well as its value in documentation and storytelling. Students will benefit from both group and individual instruction.

This course will explore current and historic issues of representation of the human figure. Students will use a variety of media in a sequence of exercises to develop insight into the form, structure and gesture of the human body from a life model. This course also introduces anatomical terminology. Students will benefit from both group and individual instruction.

This course will provide critical direction in the chosen area of specialization, providing students mentorship with their projects on an individual basis. Students will also refine their portfolios, presentation materials and exhibition strategies.

They will take the work and skills learned throughout the Program, and distill them for presentation to potential clients, employers or funding agencies and will be introduced to the practical operations of public art galleries. Students will target their portfolios for various objectives, such as visual industries, education, gallery or commissioned work or for the development of a freelance business. Students will learn to integrate their art portfolios, resumes and cover letters, including original works, physical media and online formats. They will also practice public presentation (such as a pitch or lecture on their work) and interviewing. Upon completion of this course, students will have the knowledge and ability to develop a career in visual culture and/or industry. 

Students develop a three-dimensional visual language by exploring the relationships of mass, volume and surface. The course introduces students to the conceptual elements, organizing principles, and creative processes used in the development of form. The material, structural and visual qualities of found and fabricated objects will be explored in assignment-based projects. Using a variety of materials and processes, students examine the meanings and associations of form, space, material, and process. This course explores contemporary art practice, and helps students produce meaningful forms in three dimensions.

This course provides a chronological overview of artists, art works and art movements from the 19th century. This course introduces the student to the major historical images, monuments and movements of world art with an emphasis on form, style, expression and cultural meaning. The course also introduces the student to art historical vocabulary and various methods of art historical research.

This course introduces the principles of sound and sound recording, including basic audio physics, aesthetics of sound, and digital audio theory through a series of projects that focus primarily on the analysis of film and television soundtracks. Students will use various microphones such as boom mics, lavaliere mics and wireless mic systems to learn techniques used for dialogue, sound effects, and music in audio storytelling for radio, television, film and the internet. This is a hands-on course with students actively recording and editing for use in their own projects.

Students will follow an intense, experiential, collaborative syllabus and learn the fundamental techniques of journalism to research and develop relevant, thought provoking stories through fieldwork and guided discussions of relevant work.

This course introduces students to the methods and techniques of collaborative art making in a variety of media including writing, photography, video and radio. The course explores dramatic, documentary and experimental approaches to audio/visual media production through direct experiences with technical and practical processes, from pitch to production. Students will create a series of non-fiction studio projects while surveying international and Canadian docudrama, first person and expanded portraiture, and cinema direct. They will be required to collaborate in small groups to produce a public service announcement or web profile for a local non-profit agency or community group.

This course provides an introduction to additive and subtractive sculpture processes through demonstrations, studio assignments and discussion of relevant historical and contemporary work. Building on the insights and information learned in 3D Art and Design, students will explore aesthetic issues of form and space using traditional and contemporary sculpture materials and technical processes. Goals include acquiring technical skills, understanding the physical and expressive possibilities of materials, and learning safe, appropriate use of tools and materials.

In this course, students explore the psychological and emotional implications of drawings that express ideas about the human condition. We have many traditions of representing the human body - among them portraiture and narrative; monuments and relics; pornography and freak shows; anatomical and medical illustration; and the family album. These modes of representation are affected by what is represented; how it is represented (context); and the material or method of representation. Students explore the interpretation and depiction of the human body through historical and contemporary developments in technical and expressive approaches to figurative representation. Building upon essential drawing techniques and anatomical studies, technical instruction is provided using a variety of drawing media on a range of supports.

This course introduces technical and aesthetic issues in painting, with an emphasis on various modes of representation and pictorial organization. It establishes a foundation of critical ideas, vocabulary and strategies for the study and practice of painting. Students will learn colour mixing and the proper use of the tools and media of painting. They will explore historic and contemporary approaches to self-portraiture, the figure, still life and landscape. Students will benefit from both group and individual instruction.

This course provides a chronological overview of artists, art works and art movements from the 20th century. This course introduces the student to the major historical images, monuments and movements of world art with an emphasis on form, style, expression and cultural meaning. The course also introduces the student to art historical vocabulary and various methods of art historical research.

In this course, drawing is introduced as a tool for conceiving and developing ideas within a design process. Students learn how various disciplines (furniture, ceramics, illustration and architecture, etc) use drawing to propose ideas for discussion and development. They will learn to present ideas using simple conventions of description and representation, exploring the conceits of drawing used to depict form, space, weight, reflection, heat, proximity, etc. This course also introduces site-specific drawing and installation, and explores ways in which varying a context shifts the meaning and reading of an image and how artwork can transform a space.

This course explores the practices of sculpture and installation within a social, cultural, and personal context. Pedestals, frames and galleries are the traditional or conventional structures for viewing art. Site-specific work and artistic intervention have challenged these structures by exploring how context and situation can expand the audience for art and change the role of the viewer. This studio course will address questions of context in contemporary sculpture and installation-based practices through a combination of projects and discussions.

Elective general education courses appear in your program of study as GNED 0000. This is called a “placeholder.” This placeholder is replaced by an actual course that you will select from a list of available "elective" general education courses when you register in the relevant semester.

Please note that the type and number of elective courses available will vary from semester to semester and from year to year.

Please visit the General Education website for more information.

This course explores the practice of painting as a social, cultural and personal medium of reflection and expression. Individual and group projects engage students in research, development and production of art that exhibits awareness of historic and contemporary issues. The formal structure and technical methods of painting are also addressed through workshops, lectures and assignments. Students will benefit from both group and individual instruction.

This course introduces the basics of web page creation, user-centered design principles, web authoring and editing, and design techniques for interactivity. Students gain an understanding of terminology, develop competencies in web software and apply principles of design, colour and composition. Students examine the organization and architecture of web sites to enhance user navigation. Through lectures, demonstrations, in-class assignments and individual projects, students will become proficient with web-based software. Students will plan, design and develop their own Web site.

This course continues through two semesters. It prepares students as problem-solvers able to address the complex challenges of the 21st century; promotes citizenship by educating students not only for careers and jobs but also for their roles as active and engaged community members; and creates opportunities for students to practice the rewarding work of citizenship. Students will collaborate in small teams with not-for-profit organizations, public schools, or small businesses. Course projects will help community groups achieve their goals and help students understand how classroom learning can be applied in real-life contexts and assist in the development of the economy and culture of this region. This course will challenge students to explore critical social and community issues such as sustainability, marginalization, poverty, and gender politics. Community Collaborations will add value to our community, prepare youth leaders, promote social and environmental justice, and connect students to the natural and social systems that sustain us all.

This lecture course is a critical exploration of issue-based approaches to art and design studio practice from a thematic and global perspective. Students examine the visual representation of ideas such as spirituality, colonialism, the body, race, gender, industrialization, mass reproduction and technology. Studio Practice in the Global Context manifests a growing concern with the destructive and alienating consequences of globalism itself: ecological deterioration, the widening gap between rich and poor, and the constant state of war. The artists deploying these methods often form collectives that mirror the structures of corporate and political organizations, combining aesthetic methods and media with political activism in defense of human agency, and against corrupt economic, political and military systems.

This is a skill-building course in the technical processes and visual issues essential to the development of sculptural skills in wood. In this course, students will learn to identify material resources, develop technical production skills and gain a critical awareness of visual and structural integrity. Students develop productive work habits in the development of a distinct body of work and learn the use of tools and materials in a safe and appropriate manner. Students will benefit from both group and individual instruction.

Have you ever wondered why one film captures audience attention over another? Why was that film “special”? What social factors contribute to its success? These questions and many more will be investigated in the analysis of how “pop” culture, film, and society are intertwined and interrelated.

This course provides a critical discussion to assist graduating students as they define their own studio work. Through group conversations, in-process critiques and workshops, students will identify and pursue meaningful subjects and position their practice in the context of history, society, and culture outside of the art world. Students will learn strategies for studio research and production through an increasingly self-directed practice. Students will initiate a preliminary body of work and present it through the semester for review and discussion. This is a six-hour course that continues in the winter semester, resulting in a coherent body of finished work supported by an artist's statement and an oral presentation.

Community Collaborations - Service Learning builds partnerships between young people and the broader community and affect myriad businesses, community organizations, social service agencies, and other groups that share the project's goals. By bringing people together in collaboration, these partnerships can bridge intergenerational, ethnic, and cultural gaps; provide young people with strong role models; and strengthen the economy and culture of our community. This course concludes with a reflection on what has been accomplished and what needs to be done in order to sustain the community benefits and personal growth initiated in service learning during this academic year. As the projects are completed, students and community partners will discuss what they think and how they feel about the experience and how to best channel this new understanding into continuing action. This is the second part of a two-semester course. Community Collaborations I – Service Learning is the pre-requisite for this course.

This course provides craftspeople, artists and designers with ways to translate ideas into material forms through drawing and/or the construction of models. In this course, students learn the safe and appropriate use of 3D modeling tools and techniques, and how these tools can be integrated with various prototyping tools.

Through lectures, workshops and presentations by professional photographers, filmmakers and videographers and practical assignments, students will learn the basics of entrepreneurship. The objective of the course is to provide students with a concrete plan for creating a job for themselves and covers relevant topics such as business financing, risk & return in the creative industry, international opportunities, and professional ethics. Students will also learn how to design a portfolio for various markets.

Through lectures, workshops and presentations by professional photographers, filmmakers and videographers and practical assignments, students will learn the basics of entrepreneurship. They will be mentored in the creation of a personal entrepreneurial plan for a realistic business venture. The objective of the course is to provide students with a concrete plan for creating a job for themselves and covers relevant topics such as business financing, risk & return in the creative industry, international opportunities, and professional ethics. Students will learn how to register and operate a small image production business including bookkeeping, business protocols; the pricing, estimating and invoicing of assignments; and how to protect their copyright. Students will also learn how to design a portfolio for various markets.

This course explores the current trends and issues in the imaging industry from technical, creative, and business points-of-view. Students are introduced to existing and emerging opportunities through guest lecturers, field trips, and independent research. Students will learn how to discuss and write about images and artists from a variety of critical perspectives. Students use their knowledge of visual communications, elements of composition and design, and lighting and exposure techniques to critique images in verbal and written format.

Building on research pursued in the first semester, students produce a cohesive body of visual work refined through a rigorous critique process. Students learn to discuss their artwork in a broader cultural and historical context. This course concludes with the exhibition of an original body of studio work by each student, based on a project proposal submitted in the Fall Semester (Studio Thesis I –Research). Final evaluation is based on the completion of the studio project, oral presentation and public exhibition.