Aug
16
to Aug 22

Book Structures

Jessica Peterson

PRINT 603 001
1 credit hour
Lab $50

A book is an intimate object that can be alluring and surprising. A book structure brings together bookbinding techniques, ideas, and form. As we contemplate our ideas we will investigate several bookbinding structures and how to use various tools, adhesives, cloth and create unusual papers. Students will also learn how to paper back cloth and manipulate difficult paper, as well as several binding techniques, including pamphlet, Japanese stab, accordion, and coptic.

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Aug
16
to Aug 22

The Portrait as Starting Point

Peter Williams

PAINTING 614 001
1 credit hour 

This class will focus on issues raised in painting, particularly portraits and self-portraits, translating what is known and seen into the formal vocabulary of paint. Sources will include direct observation of the subject and the imagination. Students will investigate form and content as well as materials and techniques. Students may choose to work with oil-based media with odorless solvents, or water-based media. Slide lectures and critiques will be included.

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Aug
16
to Aug 22

Indigo and Its Metaphors

Jovencio de la Paz

FIBER 614 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $50 

Indigo is the most utilized dyestuff on the planet. Both in its natural and its synthetic form, Indigo blue has a mysterious and contentious history: from the mystery cults of Indigo in Southeast Asia to the slave trade in the New World. This course will cover fundamental techniques in preparing both natural and synthetic indigo dye-vats, and we will use those vats to explore traditional Japanese tie-dye (Shibori) as well as traditional Indonesian resist dying (Batik). Furthermore, we will also utilize the metaphoric notion of "blueness" and "bluing," in relationship to the natural landscape. While surface design and the production of textiles will be emphasized, students will be challenged to consider how the production of color and cloth can manifest itself in performance, installation, and other alternative forms. This course is open to all levels of experience.

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Aug
16
to Aug 22

Image and Word

Isak Applin and David Wolfe

PRINT 619 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $50 

Students enrolled in Image and Word explore several woodcut, hand printing, typesetting and letterpress techniques. The class emphasizes the sequential and narrative properties of the relief printing process. Through presentations and critiques, the course of study examine how the physical qualities of the paper, image, text and binding can influence narration, pacing, rhythm, and meaning. The class also investigates the role of traditional printing in contemporary image making. Studio projects may include the creation and editioning of broadsides, sets of prints, or pamphlets.

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Aug
9
to Aug 15

Image in Enamel

Veleta Vancza

SCULPT 645 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $50

In this course students learn the basics of copper enameling (fusing glass to    copper) and explore the potential of enamel decals. We cover basic enameling   techniques such as sifting and explore sophisticated decal techniques. Students   create their own decals on campus using laser printed images as well as    experiment with decals that are commercially available. Lectures on the histories   and applications of this technique augment work in the studio. Group and   individual discussions address technical issues of this process and troubleshoot   how to incorporate these elements into a completed artwork. This course is for   all levels of students. No prior metals or enamel experience is necessary.

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Aug
9
to Aug 15

Drawing Marathon

Jimmy Wright

PAINTING 603 001
1 credit hour 

This five day drawing intensive for beginning and advanced students expands the experience and definition of drawing. Drawing exercises emphasize figure/ground, composition, color and scale while exploiting materials and technique to push the perceptual conventions of the still life, the landscape and the figure. The course includes daily demonstrations and discussions of historical and contemporary masters use of ink, gouache, graphite, acrylic and pastel with visual references from Rembrandt and Freud to Eve Hesse and Amy Sillman.

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Aug
9
to Aug 15

Lithography: Stone & Photolithography

Mark Pascale

PRINT 635 002
1 credit hour 
Lab Fee $50 

This class will be offered in a two-week sequence and give the beginner and/or more advanced artist the chance to learn the traditional lithographic technique in week one. Week two we will introduce the photo plate using analog methods or digitally manipulated photo positives. Emphasis will be placed on understanding how to make a lithograph both in editions and as unique variants. Demonstrations will be given for the preparation of matrices, color mixing and modifying inks as necessary, as well as more advanced drawing techniques as required by participants’ needs and interests. Historical examples from the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago will be discussed in presentations aimed at enhancing participants’ aesthetic point of view.

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Aug
2
to Aug 15

Materials and Processes: Woodfire

David Peters and Perry Haas

CER 616 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $150

This multi-level ceramics course will incorporate wheel thrown and hand built vessels and objects to be fired in both a high temperature stoneware gas kiln and in Ox-Bow’s single chambered catenary style wood kiln that was built in 2005.  The first part of the course will be making individual work and firing the gas kiln with the second part being a collaborative effort in loading, firing, and unloading the work in the wood kiln.  Discussions, critiques, and slide lectures will be included.

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Aug
2
to Aug 15

Environmental History at Ox-Bow

J. Elmo Rawling and Evan Larson

SCIENCE 603 001
3 credit hours 

The natural world is dynamic, with changes taking place across an immense spectrum of space and time. As people, our perspectives can be limited to what we see in our immediate surroundings and over our life spans. This course will use the Ox-Bow School of Art Field Campus as a natural laboratory to explore the application of methods in landscape evolution and vegetation dynamics. Students will gain a deeper comprehension of the campus’ current natural environment, how its landscape has changed over recent centuries and millennia, and how it may change in the future. This course will provide students a unique opportunity to combine classroom, field, and studio perspectives with scientific principles to create an environmental narrative of the Ox-Bow School of Art and its surroundings.

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Aug
2
to Aug 8

Watercolor

Carrie Gundersdorf

PAINTING 606 001
1 credit hour 

This course will focus on the materials and techniques of transparent watercolor. During the morning sessions, students will work from a studio still life and explore a variety of techniques and color schemes. Sessions will be individualized as much as possible to accommodate less experienced students. Afternoons will be devoted to a thematic suite of paintings developed over the course of the week.

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Aug
2
to Aug 15

Lithography: Stone & Photolithography

Mark Pascale

PRINT 637 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $100 (2 weeks) 

This class will be offered in a two-week sequence and give the beginner and/or more advanced artist the chance to learn the traditional lithographic technique in week one. Week two we will introduce the photo plate using analog methods or digitally manipulated photo positives. Emphasis will be placed on understanding how to make a lithograph both in editions and as unique variants. Demonstrations will be given for the preparation of matrices, color mixing and modifying inks as necessary, as well as more advanced drawing techniques as required by participants’ needs and interests. Historical examples from the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago will be discussed in presentations aimed at enhancing participants’ aesthetic point of view.

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Aug
2
to Aug 8

Lithography: Stone & Photolithography

Mark Pascale

PRINT 635 001
1 credit hour 
Lab Fee $50 

This class will be offered in a two-week sequence and give the beginner and/or more advanced artist the chance to learn the traditional lithographic technique in week one. Week two we will introduce the photo plate using analog methods or digitally manipulated photo positives. Emphasis will be placed on understanding how to make a lithograph both in editions and as unique variants. Demonstrations will be given for the preparation of matrices, color mixing and modifying inks as necessary, as well as more advanced drawing techniques as required by participants’ needs and interests. Historical examples from the collection of The Art Institute of Chicago will be discussed in presentations aimed at enhancing participants’ aesthetic point of view.

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Aug
2
to Aug 8

Metals Casting I: Mold Making and Bronze Casting Intensive

Kari Reardon

SCULPT 618 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $100

The beginning Metal Casting course will concentrate on casting bronze into green sand and sodium silicate bonded sand molds. Students will learn to create patterns and molds, the process of melting and pouring the metal, and finishing and patination techniques for their castings. Class time will focus on safety in the foundry, history of the metal casting process, and developing an understanding between the foundry process, pattern generation, and personal expression. Students will be encouraged to work in response to the natural environment at Ox-Bow while simultaneously working in an open-air metal sculpture studio/foundry.

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Aug
2
to Aug 15

Multi-Level Glassblowing: Tradition and Innovation

Anthony Cioe

GLASS 623 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $300

Using traditional and non-traditional techniques, explored through drawings and historical examples, we will focus on achieving specific shapes and consider simple innovations, like playing with opacity, and aesthetic accidents-bubbles or cracks, to transform traditional forms. Students may focus to work on something as simple as a clear tumbler or can take on more complex projects. Finding significance in even the most minute of details, we will find grounds for exploration, experimentation and conceptual thinking, while simultaneously examining the artifacts of our failures.

* Open to students of all levels

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Jul
26
to Aug 1

Monotype

Kristina Paabus

PRINT 609 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $50 

This course will present a variety of oil and water-based monotype techniques including chine colle, multiple plate or block printing, image transfers, and over-printing. Monotype is a versatile process that can be performed in the landscape as well as in the studio. Painters as well as printmakers will find this a dynamic new medium that is perfect for the home studio.

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Jul
26
to Aug 1

Paint and Landscape: Materials as Narrative

Vera Iliatova

PAINTING 624 001
1 credit hour

This multilevel painting course will investigate painting as a form of language, where color, surface, and marks are considered as indicative of narrative. Students will consider questions such as: how do light, space, and color suggest narrative? How do surface and mark-making direct the reading of a painting, and how can meaning morph based on context? Using direct observation of the landscape as a jumping off point, students will be encouraged to work from other sources, such as memory and photographs. We will also examine painting in both contemporary and historical contexts. Oil paint will be supported, with demonstrations on techniques and material properties of oil. However, other media such as watercolor, gouache, and acrylic will also be supported for multi-level students.

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Jul
26
to Aug 1

TCB (Taking Care of Business)

Katherine Gray

GLASS 635 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $150 

Students in this class learn the fundamentals of blown and solid hot-glass processes. Traditional and unconventional methods are introduced in order to develop a formal language for expressing sculptural ideas. Techniques include experimental mold blowing, and hot working techniques, along with various color applications. The intended outcome of this course is to engage the students with the conceptual possibilities of craft media while maintaining a focus on developing technique and skill in the studio. By concurrently developing technical and intellectual prowess, students are introduced to the tools with which they can navigate a material in the service of an idea or concept.

* For students of all levels

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Jul
19
to Jul 25

Relief and Collage

Jeanine Coupe-Ryding

PRINT 607 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $50 

Woodcut printmaking offers a broad range of expressive possibilities, from abstract, minimal to intricately carved narrative. Combined with collage, participants will explore the power and potential of both media. Traditional processes such as hand drawn design and carving will be combined with xerox transfer, stencil and chine colle. Students will be encouraged to explore photo, found and collage imagery. Various approaches to these processes will be shown through slides, books and actual artwork. All processes can be done at home and are non-toxic.

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Jul
19
to Jul 25

Pre-College Program: Landscape Drawing

EW Ross and Olivia Petrides

DRAWING 407 001
1 Credit hour (for credit only)

Drawing upon the natural terrain of Ox-Bow, students explore drawing, design, composition and creativity. A wide variety of drawing materials are used. Slide lectures, critiques, and meetings with visiting artists are included each evening. Note to parents/guardians: All Pre-College students are required to reside on campus during the course. Students are chaperoned and rules and regulations are strictly enforced. An adult chaperone is housed with Pre-College students throughout the week. Students must provide their own transportation to and from Ox-Bow. Pre-College students are not allowed to have vehicles on campus.

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Jul
19
to Aug 1

Free Clay

Ian McMahon and Ashley Lyon
 

CER 624 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $150

In this class we will make sculptures using basic clay manipulating techniques (slabs, coiling, pinching, carving, etc...) as well as a variety of alternative approaches (paper-clay, unfired clay, combustible supports) and proceed to experiment and discover our own alternative approaches.  You will be encouraged to consider it in relation to other materials, both through incorporating alternative materials into clay bodies, as well as by challenging (or exploiting) conventional forms, practices, and the perceived boundaries of clay as a material. This class is intended to move beyond traditional technical instruction, and open up the dialogue on how we can use clay to convey and expand new meanings generally expressed with more conventional sculptural tools. This course will be open to beginning as well as advanced ceramic students; it will consist of demonstrations, critiques, slide presentations, and mostly, personal hands-on work. We will look at work from celebrated ceramicists like Cal Funk and Ken Price and artists like Johan Tahon and Salto Alto, to the sculpture of more historic artists like Matisse, Lucio Fontana, Niki de St. Phalle and contemporary makers like Vincent Fecteau, Rachel Harrison, Charles Long, Mark Manders, and Rebecca Warren.

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Jul
19
to Aug 1

Blacksmithing: Sculptural Forms

Mike Rossi

SCULPT 623 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $150

This intensive will start with the fundamental techniques of forging, and move quickly into more advanced projects.  We will focus on the processes of moving material while hot, and the forge and anvil will be the primary tools of achieving form.  As a corollary, the history of forged ironwork (architectural, tools, and sculpture) will serve as a source of inspiration.  Each student will also be encouraged to make an inflated sheet metal sculpture.

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Jul
19
to Jul 25

Hot Shop Botanicals

Emma Stein

GLASS 638 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $150

In this introduction to glass sculpting we will use as inspiration the flora that surrounds Ox-Bow's campus. The class will begin by collecting plants and images and will then explore how glass can be manipulated while hot, to recreate the botanicals. Throughout this class, students will learn four important glass-sculpting techniques: bit work, solid sculpting, the use of powder color, and torches at the bench. Although the class will focus on sculpting plants, the many techniques explored in this course are universal to all hot sculpting. This is an introduction to glass sculpting but at least one year of glass blowing experience is preferred.

For students with prior experience

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Jul
12
to Jul 18

Glass Casting

Jerry Catania

GLASS 616 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $250

This course is for artists of any experience level wishing to better understand their own creative path through an intense and intimate “hands on” exposure to the medium of cast glass.  Students will learn about iming, viscosity, gravity, heat, and light during hot studio sessions.  Class will also be discussing the technical and aesthetic concerns prior and post process.  Open face sand molds will be used as well as other interesting lectures, demonstrations and field trips.

* For students of all levels

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Jul
5
to Jul 18

Landscape Record

Scott Wolniak

PAINTING 641 001
3 credit hours

Students will utilize the landscape as raw material for site-specific mark making; pulling visual recordings such as rubbings and castings directly from natural or found elements. Tree bark, rocks, and the forest floor, among other things, can be recorded onto paper, canvas and plaster through rubbing, staining and casting then transformed through formal investigations in the studio. Work will occur in situ and in studio. Aspects of material history, process and site-specificity will be further considered through selected readings, including “Seeing is Forgetting the Thing One Sees,” (Weschler), “Art as Experience,” (Dewey) and “Color: A Natural History of the Palette,” (Finlay).

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Jul
5
to Jul 18

Breaking Bad Habits

Ben and Delaney DeMott

CER 635 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $150

Inspired by the rigor of Lars von Trier’s documentary “The Five Obstructions,” students in this course will challenge current trends of intuitive and provisional uses of clay. Through exercises, design challenges, and limitations, students will discover new technical and conceptual possibilities and will experience a range of ceramic material processes. Students at all levels working at the intersections of fine art and design are encouraged to enroll. Demonstrations and exercises will include fundamental hand building strategies, experiments in slip modification, post-firing assembly, and alternative finishing.

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Jul
5
to Jul 18

Screenprinting

Lauren Anderson and Geoffrey Hamerlinck

PRINT 611 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $100 

In this course, students will acquire technical proficiency in various hand and photographic stencil printing methods. Individual exploration and development in the medium will be encouraged and supported by individual instruction and group critiques. Emphasis will be placed on unique prints created by layering, stencil repositioning, and combining hand mark-making with photographic and found imagery. Collaboration will be encouraged.

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Jul
5
to Jul 18

Fashioning Legacies

Anthony Romero and J. Soto

PERF 605 001
3 credit hours 

This class explores the theme of performing cultural legacies with regards to fashion and entertainment of the 1990’s. The era of the supermodel, robust multiculturalism, a decade edging towards a millennial landmark and further from the horrors of the AIDS crisis. Tracing different paths of identification and layers of history, students will create performances with these ideas in mind. This course will take the form of a studio-laboratory, where students will consider movement, duration, and experiment with the performing object, fashioned precisely to suit the work.

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Jul
5
to Jul 11

Multi-Level Glassblowing

Jerry Catania

GLASS 602 001
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $150

A hands-on studio workshop for those with some glassblowing experience.  Students will learn a variety of techniques for manipulating molten “hot glass” into vessel or sculptural forms.  Lectures, demonstrations, videos, and critiques will augment studio instruction.

* For students with prior experience

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Jun
28
to Jul 4

Mark

Alex Chitty

PRINT 634 002
1 credit hour
Lab Fee $100
1 week

This multi-level course teaches intaglio techniques that mimic the marks of the pencil and brush. By using sugarlift, spitbite, whiteground, drypoint, softground, and multi-plate printing techniques students will learn to make prints that directly translate their personal style of drawing or painting. Emphasis is also placed on specific color mixing and careful paper choice. Slide lectures and examples will be used to illustrate this approach.

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Jun
28
to Jul 4

Mark

Alex Chitty

PRINT 636 001
3 credit hours
Lab Fee $100
2 week

This 2-week multi-level course teaches intaglio techniques that mimic the marks of the pencil and brush. By using sugarlift, spitbite, whiteground, drypoint, softground, and multi-plate printing techniques students will learn to make prints that directly translate their personal style of drawing or painting. Emphasis is also placed on specific color mixing and careful paper choice. Slide lectures and examples will be used to illustrate this approach.

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