Foundation Courses

A hands-on introduction to the language of design and design principles, emphasizing composition, color, and type. Learn the software to create vector images and understand the full design process, from visual research to beta testing. We touch on print output, but the focus is on screen-based media.

Learn the basic concepts and techniques of digital photography: exposure, composition, color, retouching, resolution, and preparation of image files for on-screen and print use. Assignments explore both technical and aesthetic concerns.

An introduction to theories of the media, visual, and performing arts. Using semiotics (signs and symbols) as a point of departure, explore the language and iconography of visual communication, focusing on works of art, advertising, television, and the web as social contexts of cultural production. We analyze the role that ordinary people play in the production of media.

In this hands-on, introductory audio class, learn how to use sound in practical and creative ways in three phases of production: acquisition, manipulation, and reproduction. Explore some of the history of artists and makers who use sound as their medium and some of the technical and theoretical aspects of how sound is created and perceived.

In a visual environment that provides immediate feedback, learn the basic principles of programming and, by extension, math. Lectures focus on key aspects of programming and how working artists use code creatively in their practice. In this course, math is never the end but rather the means to problem-solve during the creative process.

You’re introduced to video as a creative visual, auditory, and spatial medium. Learn the fundamentals of video production with the goal of making original work in the genres of single-channel tape, performance, and installation. At the same time, explore key works in the history of time-based arts in a weekly thematic program of viewing, listening, reading, and critique.

Gain a solid understanding of website creation using HTML and Cascading Style Sheets. Explore scripting languages and libraries to create more advanced interactions or animations. Along with technical skills, you’ll learn web design fundamentals and how artists have used and even served as authors of the web since its inception.

Examine the interplay between new art forms and technologies from early modernism through today. Focus on how the two fields have developed in relation to each other through two questions: what is the relationship between technology, technique, and art, and how has it changed over time? This is both an art survey course and a study of related philosophical questions.

Examine the connections between computers and culture with a critical look at how computers may be changing and shaping culture and how culture affects people’s use and understanding of computers. Focus in particular on the ways in which gender, race, and class affect people’s experiences with and understanding of computers for both work and leisure purposes.