Courses
FBRS 480/3 A : FIBRES ADVANCED print and dye
Concordia University, Studio Arts
Fall 2011
Textiles and their production belie multiple histories, (personal, social, cultural, economic to name but a few), that are retold, in part, with every new project or presentation. They are a material residue of lived circumstances that both send and receive information. Often, cloth is seen as being in service to a greater end, ie. Yardage for clothing, tapestry for imaging grand narratives, banners for social organization, t-shirts for branding and sales - But- Each of these actions is inexorably tied to ones identity. In this sticky space each student/artist will endevour to establish their own goals for a practice, produce projects for critique, and present research to their peers. This course strives to create an arena of exchange to both inform one another of these multiple histories, expanding our shared knowledge base, and to integrate these informations into a developed studio practice. In short, our goal here is to facilitate the production of ideas in concert with a material practice. This goal will be realized through a series of demonstrations, media presentations, field trips, studio production and critiques. I aim to be responsive to your needs. As such, the week to week schedule will be completed upon reading the answers on the student quiz, given first week in class. This schedule will be published on the course wiki, and presented in week 2. The weekly schedule may change in response to other circumstances. Any changes will be sent to students via email and posted on the wiki.
DART 504: Contextualizing Design Practice: Making public
Concordia University
Winter 2013
This course approaches design and digital technologies through interdisciplinary theoretical engagement to investigate the cultural and discursive context in which design resides. Through a combination of seminar discussions, workshops, and individual writings, students situate their work in different environments, such as commercial, public or domestic contexts, and explore new venues of dissemination. Such investigations enhance students’ ability to contextualize, articulate and exhibit the thesis work.
DART 502: Language, Politics, Manifestos
Concordia University, Montreal, Graduate Certificate Program, Design and Computation Arts
fall 2009
Language, Politics, Manifestos… was originally designed as a reading seminar by pk langshaw. This year the course will shift its focus from research based practice to practice based research . The title remains the same as its areas of focus will remain central to our studio: Language as a complex arena for investigation and examination as well as for developing shared tools of communication, language(s) will be critical to maximizing our time together, and as language has always been first and foremost a representational system. Politics for it is impossible to remove the politic from human action. We will consider this term in an expanded form, with analysis of belief systems as manifested in object and spatial construction as well as recognizing our role as citizens and developing enquiry into methods of sharing of space, effects and affects of ourselves on the other, and developing a conscious ecology within our own studio environment. Manifestos, as we will look to historical models of these statements of practice as we determine our own. Manifestos are declarations of principles, intentions, ambitions that are made public and freely disseminated. There is suggestion of an answer or a problem identified and solved inherent in them. We live in a time of many problems with very fractured social systems. Are there unifying principles we can look towards to guide our practices today. Are such notions still of use? This class is a practice based research studio centred on ideas of poiesis & praxis, (knowledges of making and doing – bringing into being). Through field trips, archival research, seminars and applied practices, you will develop strategies of discipline and engagement to further your own studio work and future practices.
DART 501: GRADUATE STUDIO Graduate Certificate Program, Design and Computation Arts
Concordia University, Montreal, Graduate Certificate Program, Design and Computation Arts
winter 2010
making place making process making public The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness. It is not like a drug; it is a particular state when everything happens very quickly, a mixture of consciousness and unconsciousness, of fear and pleasure; it¹s a little like making love, the physical act of ove. Francis Bacon This class is a practice based research studio centred on ideas of poiesis & praxis, (knowledges of making and doing/bringing into being). Through field trips, archival research, seminars and applied practices, you will develop strategies of discipline and engagement to further your own studio work and future practices.
DART 262: Design History and Theory 2
Concordia University, Montreal, Design and Computation Arts
Winter 2010
"don¹t confuse legibility with communication." David Carson This course examines key themes in the last century of western design and cultural history and theory with a focus on the three ecologies: environmental, social, and mental, as outlined by Felix Guattari in his book of the same name. We shall examine identifying moments, original texts, objects, ideologies and their effects, with a particular focus on the technological changes that paralleled or prompted each of these historical moments. While each thematic start point will behave in a chronologic order to the next class, there will be crossover and slippage between them all, for history is not unicursal. "The past went that-a-way. When faced with a totally new situation, we tend always to attach ourselves to the objects, to the flavor of the most recent past. We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.² Marshall Mcluhan, The Medium is the Massage, pp74-75 Students are encouraged to develop critical inquiry, skills of analysis, but most importantly, open engagement.
Drawing 300
Sir Wilfred Grenfell College, Memorial University, Cornerbrook, Newfoundlan and Labrador
fall and winter 2006/7
second level drawing course