Art 108: Foundations: Approaches in Abstract Painting

This studio course will focus on providing students a strong foundation in various approaches to making abstract paintings and considering meaning in them. Students will become familiar with numerous techniques and variations of oil painting media, from gestural abstraction, hard edge painting, abstraction from the figure and landscape, and pure non-objective abstraction. A strong emphasis will also be placed on discovering how abstract painting functions in culture, both historically and in contemporary times. Students will work with painting concepts, skills, and materials with the use of oil paint and oil mediums. The course will explore color, spatial issues, form, paint handling, and idea development as it relates to abstraction. Group critiques involve articulation of terms and ideas.