Professor Eli Neuman-Hammond
Students will engage with drawing as a way to understand place, and with place as a means to generate drawings. Each student will choose a single place to study for the duration of the semester, developing a sustained relationship with that place through intensive drawing. Our central conceit is that drawings are not transparent windows onto a place, but fragments of a material exchange between our senses, our media, our culture, and a particular time and place. This perspective will guide us in plein-air studies, visual and textual research into our chosen place, iterative drawings, and other experiments in observational mark-making. The results of our practice will be a probing portrait of a place across many drawings. We will take inspiration from practitioners such as Hiroshige, Beverly Buchanan, Charles Sanders Pierce, Rackstraw Downes, Cynthia Daignault, and Fra Angelico.
We begin with the conceit that there is no “single” drawing. Our goal is to develop our drawing as:
a craft of relation and contact
a unique means of learning and creating knowledge about a subject matter, different from other modes of knowledge production
an art that always points outside of its own container
If drawing is not a window, but a part–how should this impact our approach to the craft? Drawings relating to other drawings in space. Drawings relating to their subject matter. What is subject matter? How many relations between a drawing and a subject can there be? What are the ethics of relating to a site? To a drawing?
Through exercises, readings, extended studies and practice installing work, we will sharpen our approach to drawing. The class will culminate with an installation of drawings related to your place.
This is an extremely process oriented class...there is a lot of information to learn and digest throughout the semester. Absence from class means missing crucial technical demonstrations, as well as valuable individual instruction and work time. Knowledge builds cumulatively from week-to-week, it’s very important that you do not fall behind.
Speak up and be heard. In this class we speak through material, body, time, and mind
I expect you to at times be afraid, uncomfortable, dirty, and confused. All of which are a part of the ultimate joy and mystery of making things. Work through these challenges and you will do well.
Take risks and persevere. If something didn’t work, try it again. If your project didn’t pass, do it again.
Take responsibility for your work and your words. Leave nothing on the table, literally and physically.
Support the work of your peers. No meanness, no envy. Respect all around. Be generous. What you give comes back tenfold.
Work at FULL CAPACITY; work honestly. It averages out to 9 combined hours per week for 15 weeks (including class time). This is Full Capacity.
Full Credit will be given to students who:
Complete all projects to a high, honest standard.
Submit high-quality documentation of all of your projects.
Participate in class: speak your mind during critique, try new things, and work hard.
Show up to class ready to work with:
your complete work due for that class
materials you need to work in class
tools you need to work in class
pencil, eraser, and sketchbook
Attend all classes, missing no more than 2
Each project will be assessed in-class in a critique format. You will receive honest and thorough responses to your work from both your professor and your peers.
Critique is the backbone of our studio. It's unique to arts pedagogy, and not something many students in traditional colleges get to practice. Critique is where we become a collective, folding collective experience into the fabric of our work. This community is one of the great joys of making art. Together, we will learn to receive and share critical feedback on our work, and integrate it into what we make, whether that means altering or revising a piece or arriving at new and unexpected avenues of creative inquiry. Giving your unique knowledge, perspective, and intuition to other work is just as important and enlivening as receiving critique on your work.
We will respond to your work with these criteria in mind:
Technical: close attention to construction + practiced and appropriate application of your chosen techniques
Conceptual: clarity of idea and intention of the work + depth of inquiry into the project’s central purpose
Formal: intentional relationship between material, form and content + consideration of presentation
Your work should clearly express the objectives of the assignment. Beautiful work that does not relate to the project's objectives is not complete.
For every assignment you need to document your work with high-quality digital images.
Late work can be accepted, but it must be complete, not just finished.
Absolutely no cell phones or unrelated technology in class. We have breaks, text then if you want to.
Critiques and conversations are critical and ongoing processes for artists and designers; these exchanges provide an opportunity to give and receive feedback while developing a project. Critiques are a reciprocal process; during critiques and other activities, you are expected to participate.
Class is a social structure. While in class we are either in conversation or working in a collective studio. Among the most valuable assets in building an art practice is the sense of community. Towards this end, I seek to foster an expressive, open, and responsive atmosphere in the classroom and in discussion. In particular I seek to enact communities that valorize diversity and difference as fundamental to both interpersonal relations and society. Moreover, I strive to impart that difference is continuous: there are no neutral positions or “natural” forms of being in any frame of reference including but not limited to gender, race, sexuality, religion, culture, age, ability, and class.
Discriminatory language or behavior is unacceptable, but harm can also occur through unintended statements or assumptions. My goal as professor is to cultivate a vulnerable space in which assumptions can be challenged, discussed and diffused. I encourage students to speak with me outside the classroom if you have any concerns that you don’t feel comfortable voicing in class.
Check your MassArt email daily. All of your teachers will communicate to you through email, and I will occasionally email the class as a group. I check my Massart email daily during the week and not on weekends, and will return emails within 48 hours. Feel free to follow up with me if you have not received a response in this timeframe.
You should attend every class. More than 2 absences will result in NC for the course unless other accommodations are made.
You are expected to attend and be present for the full period of all classes. Late arrival will impact your participation grade. 15 minutes late arrival/early departure/disappearance during class will be counted as tardy. Two tardies will result in an absence. 30 minutes late arrival/early departure will be counted as absent unless otherwise arranged.
Missed class: If you miss class, you are still responsible for meeting work deadlines.
All students in this class are encouraged to share their personal pronouns during introductions, or at any time during the semester. Students who use a name other than their birth name are encouraged to update Self Service as well as going through the process of updating their student email with their preferred names, as this reduces confusion in grading and email communication. Students seeking assistance with this should contact K. John Ashworth-King at kashworth-king@massart.edu in Tech Central. If you are having difficulty navigating this process feel free to speak to me.
The Academic Resource Center provides access to peer mentors, an academic coach and professional tutors for ALL students.
Additionally, if you require more particular accommodations of any sort, I would love to talk with you about them so that we can work together to make our classroom more accessible. Accommodations are intended to bring as many students as possible into our learning together. Please note that excused absences or decreases in workload are not accommodations.
All students and faculty at Massachusetts College of Art and Design have the right to a positive and constructive teaching and learning environment. When students and faculty come together, the expectation is always that mutual respect and civility will prevail to ensure that every student has the optimum opportunity to learn and that each faculty member has the best opportunity to teach. Disruptions of any kind impact the atmosphere of civility and interfere with the opportunity for learning and growth to which both faculty and students are entitled. Disruptive behavior includes, but is not limited to, the following:
Verbally or nonverbally showing disrespect for others.
Using vulgar, obscene, or other inappropriate language.
Preventing others from being heard.
Making disparaging remarks or making slurs based on age, religion, race, ethnicity, gender, nationality, disability, or sexual orientation.
Disturbing and/or distracting classroom entrances that impact learning.
Using cell phones, computers or other technology inappropriately during class.
Excessive breaks not part of official accommodations.
Sleeping in class and other inattentive behavior.
Coming to class under the influence of alcohol and/or other drugs.
Threats or physical violence.
Such behaviors could result in sanctions, as indicated in the Community Standards here