* NOTE: Welcome to this semester's painting course. You are now in an advanced painting course, and your approach should reflect this. You are each unique individuals, with your own histories and interests. Your paintings will reflect this too. You may work in the medium of your choice, as long as it is accepted as some sort of painting medium. You will find that the assignments are open enough that you can interprete them to reflect your own thinking/vision. You will be working fairly independently, and now is the time to start developing your own personal approach. This is not to say that each of your paintings should look alike, but you can begin developing a direction. Cross-reference what you do in this class with what you do in other classes as a way to start reflecting a cohesiveness of thinking.

You should be pleased only with the best results that you are capable of achieving, and now is time to become more fully engaged with the discipline. You need to expose yourself to as much visual art as possible during the semester. Frequently refer to art magazines (located in the library) to see what aesthetic and philosophical issues and debates are current, and to see which contemporary artists are considered important. Art News, Art in America, and Art Forum are the primary publications you should refer to, but there are many more, and you should make it a habit to visit all galleries, museums, studios, etc. possible to see as much as you can.

This schedule is tentative and subject to change based on how things go with this course and the beginning one. We will have to see how critiques go. Now they are scheduled to be held on the same day, but again we will have to see how things work out. Everyone is still expected to arrive on time for class though. It is imperative that we get started on time since time wasted is time wasted. If you are going to be working outside of the studio I need to know this in advance, and I would still like to see you at least make an appearance and talk to me each day before leaving. Otherwise an absence is an unexcused one. Being more than 15 minutes late will constitute an absence. Unexcused, missed critiques count as two absences. Any missed class before or after a break counts as two (2) absences. After three (3) absences, each additional absence will decrease your grade by 1/2 letter. You are being allotted enough time to adequately complete each assignment so each painting is to be complete by the assigned critique date. You can change/alter/improve your work after a critique, in fact you should, but it still needs to be at a complete state at the crit. You are expected to work a MINIMUM of nine (9) hours per week for this course. To complete all that is expected, you will need to put in at least this much time, but if you productively use class time there should be little problem with completing everything required. I would strongly advise you to not miss any classes though, because they will be extremely difficult to make up.

The studio is here for you to use, but use it thoughfully. Radios, cd players, tape machines, etc. should be kept at a very moderate volume level. Consider those around you and those in nearby classrooms. Cooperate with one another to best adapt the studio to your needs and desires. Anything (almost) to make the work better is good. There is a great deal planned for the semester. Let's make it a very good one that will only make you better, and even more committed, artists.