Foundation

Foundation courses are required of all first year students.

• FA-100.1, FA-100.2

  Introduction to Techniques

  An introduction to the physical aspects of working with wood, metal, plaster - and plastics, as well as an introduction to on-campus computer facilities and resources. A basic introduction to the Adobe interface, specifically Photoshop and Illustrator will be provided.

  Required for first year students. 1/2 credit per semester. One-year course. Pass/Fail.

• FA-101

  Color

  A study of the physical, perceptual, art historical and cultural aspects of color. The phenomenon of color and principles of light are explored in various media towards an understanding of color application in all of the fine art disciplines and architecture.

  Required for first year students. 2 credits.

• FA-102.1

  Two-Dimensional Design

  Exploration of the visual and intellectual aspects of form on the two-dimensional surface, in a variety of media. Investigations into the relationships of perception, process and presentation.

  Required for first year students. 3 credits.

• FA-104.1

  Basic Drawing (Analytical and Descriptive)

  A course in freehand drawing designed to emphasize perceptual and inventive skills in all drawing media.

  Required for first year students. 3 credits per semester.

• FA-105

  Four-Dimensional Design

  This course investigates the properties of time and movement and the fundamentals of four-dimensional design. Students explore duration, condensation, expansion, interruption, simultaneity, stillness, action and situation through a wide range of materials.

  Required for first-year students. 2 credits.

• FA-108

  Foundation Studio

  A studio methods and theories course for foundation students with a focus on the development of multiple lines of visual competency helping to prepare students for advanced study. This course works in conjunction with technical labs through a set of offerings in shorter lab/studio seminars. In this sense, the technical or craft learning necessary for visual practice, and the beginning of a personal conceptual or research methodology, merge.

  Required for first year students. 3 credits.

• FA-109.1

  Three-Dimensional Design

  Students work on projects that explore the fundamentals of forms and space and investigate the properties of materials, structure, mass, scale, light and motion.

  Required for first year students. 3 credits.

• SE-101

  Foundation Orientation

  Foundation Orientation brings together all first-year students as an introduction to the academic life of the School of Art, as part of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art. The course is designed to give students a working overview of opportunities and resources available to them.

  Required for first-year students. 1/2 credit. Pass/Fail.

• SE-150

  Foundation Project

  This course brings together all first-year students within a seminar. This course consists of a series of presentations that introduce various artistic practices, critical languages, and criticism. This aspect of the course indents to present contrasting historical and contemporary models of creating, seeing, speaking, and thinking about art.

  Required for first year students. 1/2 credit. Pass/Fail.

Calligraphy

• FA-419

  Independent Study in Calligraphy

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art.

• TE-216

  Calligraphy

  Geometry, optical balance and the stoke of the broad-edge pen are primary influences that shape the Roman alphabet. Students learn the fundamentals of “beautiful writing” through the study of historical models and the principals that are the basis of classical and modern letter forms. Exercises in ink train the hand kinaesthetically to write letters with graceful movement. Exercises in pencil train the eye to see and analyze the subtle geometry and skeletal “ideal” form of letters. Precise rhythm in letterspacing and careful line-spacing create the color and texture of the page. The class will have an emphasis on page design involving hand written compositions. Roman and Italic capitals and small letters will be the focus of first semester students.

  Fall 2024. 2 Credits.

Audiovisual

• FA 381

  Sound Design: Places, Spaces, Field Recordings, and Layered Time

  The term “field recordings” describes a wide variety of techniques and approaches that have traditionally been used to document the sound of something, someone, and/or somewhere at a moment in time. One thread that connects various practices labeled field recording is that they encode some trace of the ambient audio of the space in which they were recorded onto a recorded medium. While this ambient sound is often seen as a disadvantage when obtaining a “clean” recording is set as a goal, in this course we will explore the meaning and value of “background noise” and its fruitful use in sound and audiovisual compositions and productions.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits. Pre-Req: AV I and Pre/Co-Req: AV II.

• FA-272.1

  Film Workshop (16mm)

  This course is designed to foster independent student projects made using 16mm film. Alongside practical instruction into working with film, students will be exposed to the multiple and overlapping histories and practices of analog filmmaking. In-class workshops, discussions, and screenings will cover experimental, documentary, and narrative filmmaking strategies, toward providing students with a broad framework from which to make work. Students use Bolex 16mm cameras and black and white film in this course. Editing and post-production instruction includes analog and digital workflows.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre-Req: AV I.

• FA-275

  Audiovisual I

  Audiovisual I is the first semester of a two-semester trajectory. In semester one, students will be introduced to concepts, production techniques, and multiple histories of artists' sound and moving image work, exploring origins and evolutions of animation, film, video, and audio recording. Alongside a historical and theoretical framework, a wide range of practical tools will be introduced, including pre-cinematic image capture, 16mm film and digital cinema production, stop action animation, sound recording, and lighting. This is an assignment-driven class where students will work independently and in groups, supported by classroom instruction, screenings, workshops, and one-on-one meetings with the professor. Each of these modes will also contribute toward student development of critical thinking and language in which to conceptualize, make, and share with the class their time-based work.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. One-semester course. May not be repeated.

• FA-276

  Audiovisual II

  Audiovisual II is the second semester of a two-semester trajectory. The course is designed for students to further their exposure to important concepts, production techniques, and histories of artists' sound and moving image work, while developing the tools to work independently in the audiovisual realm. With an emphasis on students developing longer form prompted and self-generated projects, AV2 will delve further into both conventional and experimental techniques of moving image and sound recording, assembly, editing, post-production, lighting, and installation. Through classroom instruction, screenings, guest artist visits and group critiques, students will experiment with multiple modes of making, while also evolving critical thinking and language in which to conceptualize, make, and share with the larger class and school community their time-based work.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. Prerequisite to all Advanced Audiovisual Projects courses. Prerequisite: FA-275 Audiovisual I.

• FA-376.1

  Animation Workshop

  This class is devoted to the study and practice of frame by frame filmmaking. Alongside an examination of historic and contemporary examples of the wide and often experimental world of animation, students will engage in animation exercises and practical in-class demonstrations, ranging from traditional cartoon studies to fine art-based and experimental animation. Students create the initial artwork for their animations physically “with their own hands” and complete them digitally using the AV department’s animation facilities. Animation forms explored over the semester include direct-on-film, roto-scoping, 3D stop-motion, hand-drawn and 2D under-the-camera.

  Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre-Req: AV I.

• FA-387B

  AV Projects

  FA-387B-1: TV Shows

  The primary assignment for this course is straightforward: to produce a talk show, collectively, as a class. Our work on such a project will then lead us down numerous paths of historical and theoretical inquiry as we examine every aspect of the talk show—its functions as a social environment as well as a cultural idiom. These efforts will include the study of linguistics and nonverbal communication at a granular level, to better understand the mechanics of speech and the expressive vocabulary of the body.  We will also consider the shifting conceptions of conversation across eras, with readings ranging from Cicero's "On Duties" to Jonathan Swift's "Hints towards an Essay on Conversation" to Sherry Turkle on "the power of talk in the digital age." Finally, we will approach the talk show as a televisual genre, tracing its evolution, with special attention to both its stylistic character and its role in shaping the public sphere. As a production exercise, the class will provide opportunities for students to work collaboratively, and learn how to plan and execute an ambitious project.

  FA-387B-2: Deformers

  This course will be focused around viewing, discussing, and producing audio/visual works that, through experiencing them, deform you. These are works that distort the norm, disrupt convention, and disregard expectation to produce effects both physiologically and psychically altering. If Transformers are “More Than Meets the Eye,” Deformers contort the eyes and the mind, in ways both transitory and lasting, ever so slightly warping what was there before.

  Students will work independently on self-directed projects after proposing a work or set of works that directly engage with the course topic. Class time will be used for screenings and listening sessions, discussion and analysis of works and related writing, artist visits, individual presentations, and one on one visits with the professor.

  Spring 2025. 3 credits. One-semester course.

• FA-388A

  Adv. Projects in Experimental Film and Animation

  Students work independently on self-initiated projects under the guidance of the professor. Specific areas of audiovisual practice including film and video, sound design, editing, and the underlying structures of time-based works will be emphasized in relation to students' individual projects. Class periods include studio visits, meetings, project critiques, and viewings. Discussions, feedback, and independent work set the stage for students to deepen their understanding and skills in the audiovisual realm, as they develop original concepts into unique and solid works for exhibition.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits. Pre-Req: AV I and Pre/Co-Req: AV II.

• FA-389A

  AV Projects: Cinema and Language

  This course will explore the relationship between cinema and language. From the essay film, to inter-titles, to subversive play of subtitles and translation, radical uses of captioning and spoken description vis-a-vis accessibility, this course considers the multiple ways that language emerges in, relates to and complicates the moving image. Language is an important component of how film/video is expanded and disrupted. Along with production, this course will include weekly screenings and a focus on developing writing skills as a critical part of the film and video-making process.

  Fall 2024. 3 Credits. Pre-Req: AV II.

• FA-479A, FA-479B

  Independent Study in Film

  Independent Study in Film.

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art. 

• FA-489A, FA-489B

  Independent Study in Video

  Independent Study in Video.

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art.

Drawing

• FA-240A, FA-240B

  Drawing I

  The course is designed to explore the phenomena of drawing as basic to the visual language of all disciplines. The fundamental notion of observation and analysis in drawing is investigated. As preparation for work in an advanced level, the course involves further development of drawing skills and techniques, as well as an emphasis on individual aesthetic development. Assignments and group critiques are central to the course.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits per semester. One-semester course. May be repeated once. Prerequisite to all Advanced Drawing.

• FA-341B

  Advanced Drawing

  This course is for students seeking further growth in drawing, either as individual studio focus or as a tool for ideation and methodolgies within other disciplines. Advanced study in drawing interogates historical notions of traditional draftmanship and the contemporary contexts of the discipline. Students are encouraged to explore and experiment with drawing as a way to further develop visual understandings of pictorial, sculptural or temporal space. The course is intended to help students use drawing as a critical and procedural tool within individual art practice. Group critiques and drawing sessions as well as individual meetings with the instructor are integral components of the course.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre-Req: Drawing I.

• FA-343A

  Advanced Drawing

  Offered to students working independently in any medium. Must be self-motivated. There will be group and individual critiques.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits. Pre-Req: Drawing I.

• FA-345A

  Advanced Drawing

  Offered to students working independently in any medium. Must be self-motivated. Class meetings will include workshops with traditional and non-traditional drawing materials, as well as group and individual critiques

  Fall 2024. 3 credits. Pre-Req: Drawing I.

• FA-499

  Independent Study in Drawing

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art.

Contemporary Art Issues

• SE-401B

  Contemporary Art Issues Seminar

  This seminar addresses issues essential to an understanding of contemporary aesthetic thought and critical practice as explored by artists and theoreticians. Integral to this discussion is an examination of the role of art in contemporary society, the changing concept of the avant-garde and the relationship of art to culture. The format of the seminar provides for required readings, oral and written reports, guest speakers and regular museum and gallery visits.

  Spring 2025. 2 credits. May be repeated once for Art History credit.

Electives

• FA-313

  Art of the Book

  In this course the book will be explored as an interdisciplinary medium, placing emphasis on integrating and experimenting with form, content, structure and ideas. During the first half of the semester, students will make a number of books, examining sequence, series and text/image relationships, using various book structures. These “sketches” will prepare students for an extended book project during the second half of the term.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits.

• FA-327

  Computational Studio

  This course provides a comprehensive introduction to digital fabrication and is designed to augment existing practices through access to new tools, materials, and concepts for art production. Students will learn fundamental skills and will utilize a variety of digital fabrication methods including 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC machining, along with software & capture methods such as: Rhino 3D and 3D scanning. In the first half of the course, students will learn fundamental digital fabrication skills through technical demos and technique-oriented projects. In the second half of the course, students will develop a body of work utilizing these tools. We will move between computer classrooms, the AACE lab, and individual studios to explore topics such as built environments, sculptural methods, and medium specificity. As background, we will explore the history of digital fabrication, and ask critical questions about its relevance and impact on creative industries and society more broadly.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• TE-217

  Painting Techniques and Materials

  This course provides training in the safe handling of painting materials, contemporary applications and techniques in oil- and acrylic-based media. Practices in color mixing, color matching, glazing, uses of supplementary media, creating textures, effects, surfaces and customizing paint from dry pigments will be covered through instructor lead demonstrations and assignments. Students will receive hands-on practice with various techniques by producing original works. In addition, students will be introduced to the origins, history and contemporary evolution of paint as a material. Relevant examples will be presented through various media and field visits.

  Spring 2024. 2 credits.

• TE-372

  Steel Metalworking: Techniques and Materials

  This is a process-intensive course exploring various methods of steel forming and fabrication across a broad range of methods. A diverse range of Metalworking tools will be introduced to give students the capability of forming steel through forging, blacksmithing, gas and arc welding, and machine tooling. The material’s properties and transformation will be discussed in relationship to histories of use - both in art making and as an industrial material, expanding studio practices in concordance with the wider curriculum, and the broader field of fabrication now used in much contemporary art and design.

Graphic Design

• FA-211

  Graphic Design I

  An introduction to the techniques and visual language of graphic design. Weekly projects explore fundamental concepts in form, composition, and typography. Presentations and readings in graphic design history will complement weekly assignments. Students will explore basic imagemaking processes as well as be instructed in digital production techniques.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits.

• FA-212

  Graphic Design II

  The complex relationship between word and image is explored. The study of semiotics, emphasizing the philosophy of communication, provides a rich historical and intellectual base for experimental projects combining verbal and pictorial information. Weekly projects reflect a broad range of disciplines within the field of design. Computer instruction will be provided as it relates to specific projects.

  Spring 2025. 3 credits. Prerequisite to all Advanced Design courses. Prerequisite: FA-211. Graphic Design I.

• FA-215

  Typography

  An introduction to the core principles of typography. Students will explore how typography influences language and communication, and gain a foundation for purposeful and expressive typography. This course will emphasize the formal qualities of typography, the implications of typeface selection, adapting to various contexts, visualizing concepts using only type, and attention to detail.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre/Co-Req: GD II.

• FA-315A, FA-315B

  Advanced Design

  Fall 2024

  FA-315A-1 Adv. Design: Zine Scenes: History and Practice of Zine Making

  Students will learn about historical nonprofessional artist publishing, and make new publications inspired by the historical movements and materials, from the Russian Futurists to science fiction fanzines, 60s counterculture comix, and the contemporary artists’ book scene. Assignments will be produced in multiples, so students will get an instant collection of work by their peers. This will culminate in self-directed zine publishing project.

  FA-315A-2 Adv. Design: Book Design

  The complex issues unique to book design are explored through studio projects and presentations that emphasize the grid, effective sequencing and typographic form. Computer instruction will be provided as it relates to specific projects.

  FA-315A-3 Adv. Design: Advocacy through Type and Symbols

  This course leverages the power of TYPOGRAPHY and symbol to inform and persuade viewers. An investigation into the history, scale, and diversity of publishing formats — from print through digital — from book through social media — offers students an opportunity to consider the most effective means of transmitting messages that they deem timely and relevant. The theme of ADVOCACY, in CONTEXT to how specific typographic, symbolic, and aesthetic formats are chosen, will then be supported by considerations of touchpoint: how the intended recipient is exposed to the message. A full range of communication will be considered — from working for clients to creating a powerful, personal voice. Traditional and contemporary research protocols will also be investigated.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits. Pre-Req: Graphic Design II, Pre/Co-Req: Typography.

• FA-320, FA-321, FA-315B-1

  Advanced Design

  FA-320: Visual Identities

  Issues unique to creating a coherent, yet diverse visual system will be analyzed and applied in a variety of contexts. Concepts and methods for integrating symbols, images, words and objects will be explored.

  FA-321: Icons, Marks, and Emojis

  From the thumbs up in a text message to the power-off button on an appliance, the swoosh on a sneaker to the cloud on a weather report, we rely on icons, marks, and emojis to help us communicate. In this course, students will be exposed to a wide range of systems that use non-verbal forms to communicate function, type, identity, or emotion and will draw and develop their own through a series of assignments.

  FA-315B-1: Product Design

  In this course, students will learn how to critically conceptualize, develop, and iterate on interactive web-based products. Through a mix of lectures and tutorials, we will explore the web as a creative medium, and investigate past and present efforts that expand on and challenge the product design process. Projects will be guided by comprehensive research, wire-framing, and developing an interactive system using both prototyping software and basic HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. No prior coding experience is required.

  Spring 2025. 3 credits. Prerequisites: Graphic Design II. Pre- or corequisite: Typography.

• FA-326

  Interactive Design Concepts: AI + Play

  An exploration of the nature of interactive design and how it informs and transforms experience. Information structures, navigational issues, design strategies and social implications of interactive experiences using traditional as well as electronic media will be examined.

  Over the course of the semester, students will learn how data influences how AI functions and apply the basics of game design to explore, design & prototype solutions for the issues they collectively wish to address at the intersection of contemporary culture & digital media. The goal of the class is to dive into our ideas and biases surrounding technology and humanity and create something meaningful through it. The key takeaways from this interdisciplinary course are cultivating an understanding of the AI & Data, system biases, human-centered design process and game design. Students will develop systems thinking skills and the ability to work collaboratively in an interdisciplinary environment, challenge and solve problems that they encounter. Also, learn the practice creating by iteration and explore different prototyping and testing methods within aesthetics, engineering and structural design.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits.

• FA-429A, FA-429B

  Independent Study in Graphic Design

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art

Painting

• FA-130A, FA-130B

  Painting I, Painting II

  This course is centered around the material, conceptual and historical concerns of painting media within individual studio practice. There is an emphasis on individual projects or assignments and the studio as generative space. The course is intended to clarify and evolve each student's individual relationship with paint media in preparation of advanced study in painting. Individual studio critiques and group critiques will enhance the development and articulation of each student's concerns in painting and image-making. The objectives of the course will be supported by readings, films, lectures and field trips that expand the historical and contextual understandings in the practice of painting.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre-Req: FA-130A is a pre-req for FA-130B.

• FA-331A, FA-331B

  Advanced Painting

  This course offers students individual and group contexts to discuss their work and personal development as an artist. Students engage with relevant, practical, historical and contemporary discussions around painting. There is an emphasis on personal development. Clarification of interests, content, material processes center students within the context of advanced study. Individual and group critiques offer students opportunities to further locate their practice and voice as an artist. Various media and experiences such as lectures, films, reading and fied trips expand classroom and individual studio space learning.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre-Req: FA-130 A & B.

• FA-332A, FA-332B

  Advanced Painting

  For students who wish to have their work critiqued primarily on an individual basis. High motivation and dedication are of primary concern. There will be occasional group critiques.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits. Pre-Req: FA-130 A & B.

• FA-336A

  Advanced Painting: Alex Katz Chair

  This course is for students who have made a strong commitment to painting. Students are expected to work independently in their studios on a series of paintings that will develop during the semester.

  Fall 2024. 3 Credits. Pre-Req: FA-130 A & B.

• FA-339A, FA-339B

  Advanced Painting: Katz Guest Artist Series

  The Katz Guest Artist Series is named after and funded by Cooper Union alumni Alex Katz. This course introduces contemporary emerging and established artists in the fields of Painting & Drawing guided by a Cooper Union faculty. The course offers students opportunity for further growth within the context of advanced study through conversations around professional practices and individual development. Students interact with each guest in lectures, one-on-one studio visits and group critiques. Lectures introduce students to a wide range of practice and perspectives in Painting or Drawing within a classroom setting or field trips to guest artist studios. There is time for critical dicussion about the material presented. Individual studio spaces become sites for creation, research, presentations and meetings with faculty and guest artists. In this way, the course reflects the professional space of the artist studio. Students develop a deeper connection to their personal language and practice through a rigorous studio visit and lecture schedule. Students experience the “real world” model of studio visits in which visitors not familiar with their work or immediate concerns engage them. In this way students develop the communication of their work and interests outside of the traditional classroom structure. Group critiques and media such as readings and film expand and clarify student development and course objectives.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre-Req: FA-130 A & B.

• FA-439A, FA- 339B

  Independent Study in Painting

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art.

Performance

• FA-290

  Performance I

  This course is an introductory course to performance based track. This is an immersive course in the foundations for practice in performance. Through a wide range of methods and specific techniques this course focuses on a critical engagement with concepts such as time, movement as a language, voice and vocalization, script and score, narrative, event, audience, live experience, duration, body as a tool, interaction, context, documentation. The course will address varied approaches within the field, as well as their historical and current manifestations through lectures and attending performances. Exposure to critical theory and major philosophical arguments central to performance-based practices will be explored, along with development of individual and collaborative studio work. The class aims at giving the student techniques, language, and a range of positions for developing art based performance work. This is an assignment driven class.

  Fall 2024. 3 Credits.

• FA-395B

  Advanced Performance

  Advanced classes aim to deepen the practice of the student technically as well as conceptually, while bringing up current debates and questions in performance. Advanced Performance classes are offered according to themes devised by each individual instructor. Students are encouraged to develop semiautonomous ways of working over the course of the semester, this includes supervised, independent or collaborative projects. This course will afford students the opportunity to build a coherent body of work.

  Spring 2025. 3 credits.

Photography

• FA-206

  Lens/Screen/Print I

  LSP I Lens/Screen/Print I is the first section of a two-semester trajectory. This is an immersive foundation course in the practice of photography focusing on a critical engagement with lens technology, color theory/management and combined analog/digital workflows. Topics include: exploratory and technical knowledge of 35mm analog cameras, DSLR cameras, lenses and lighting conditions, fluid movement through digital black-and-white and color processes, such as digital imaging editing software, scanning analog color, and digital printing in black-and-white and color. Exposure to critical theory and major philosophical arguments central to lens, screen and print based practices will be explored. This is an assignment driven class.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-207

  Lens/Screen/Print II

  Lens/Screen/Print II is the second half of a two-semester trajectory. This course builds upon the foundations of LSP I with an emphasis on post-production and a critical engagement with lens technology, color theory/management and combined analog/digital workflows. Technical knowledge of the tensions and possibilities found between "digital" and "analog" spaces in relation to critical theory and major philosophical arguments central to lens, screen and print based practices will contribute to student development. Topics include advanced digital editing and printing techniques, analog black-and-white production methods, such as shooting with black-and-white film and darkroom printing, advanced medium-format cameras and scanners, as well as introduction to new technologies and modes of display. A distinction in LSP II is a focus on experimentation, articulation and acumen. Students are encouraged to begin to develop semi-autonomous ways of working over the course of the semester, this includes supervised independent or collaborative projects. This course will afford students the opportunity to build a coherent body of work in preparation for advanced study.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits. Pre-Req: L/S/P I or Photo I.

• FA-362B

  Photography: Studio Lighting

  The course will primarily address lighting, including the use of hot lights, flash, and strobes, with specific studio equipment such as sweeps, diffusers, backdrops, tethered shooting, Lightroom, and Capture One. Retouching and color correction in Photoshop will be covered.

  Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre-Req L/S/P I and Pre/Co-Req*: L/S/P II *This class can be taken with L/S/P II simultaneously.

• FA-364B

  Advanced Photography: Open Studio

  Students will advance their practice by producing work using photographic material(s), cameras or any photographic device of their choice. Work will be discussed in group critiques as well as individual conferences with the instructor. Photographic issues and representation will be the subject of readings and class discussions.

  Spring 2025. 3 Credits. Pre-Req: L/S/P I and Pre/Co-Req: L/S/P II.

• FA-366

  Advanced Photography: Alternate Processes

  This course breaks down barriers between digital and analog photography, transforming meaning and content through various forms of manipulation. Its fast-paced, hands-on demos include hand-applied photographic emulsions (such as cyanotype, Van Dyke, palladium, and liquid light) and digital printing/transferring options (beyond emulating the traditional print, on surfaces such as paper, wood, metal, fabric, etc.). The production of large-format analog and digital negatives will also be explored. Adjustments for remote teaching include live-streamed and pre-recorded demos of processes as well as presentations focusing on contemporary and historical uses of processes. Students unable to work on campus will be provided supplies for “safe-for-home” processes so they may work concurrently with what is available in the lab. These include Anthotypes, Cyanotypes, Lumen printing, Chlorophyll printing, building capture devices, Wondersauce inkjet transfers (non-toxic), and gel-medium transfers.

  Fall 2024. 3 credits. Pre-Req: L/S/P II, or Photo I.

• FA-368A, FA-368B

  Photography: Henry Wolf Chair

  This course is intended to help students clarify and further the growth of their own work through group and individual critiques, classroom presentations and discussions with a contemporary photo based artist in the position of the Wolf Chair.

  This course will investigate concepts of the archive in art and broader culture, thinking closely about systems of control, capitalism, surveillance, and the internet as a form of giant archive. The course will also explore existential impulses and the archive, and photography as being inherently archival. Students will explore different modes of working with and against existing archives in their own work, using an expanded definition of the term.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 credits. Pre/Co-Req: L/S/P II; or Photo I.

• FA-469A, FA-469B

  Independent Study in Photography

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art.

Printmaking

• FA-250

  Screen Printing

  This introductory course covers all aspects of contemporary Screen printing as a photomechanical stencil printing method. In a series of demonstrations, lectures and projects, students will become familiar with stencil making, color separation, printing, color mixing and image registration with the goal of building a broad knowledge of Screen printing. Methods for producing images by hand and by computer output are both addressed. Attention will be paid to the use of Screen printing within fine art, design and popular culture spheres as a way of discussing the history and current use of the process.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-251

  Lithography

  This is a comprehensive course covering the full range of lithographic techniques. Instruction begins with hand working processes on lithographic stones and progresses through to contemporary approaches of digital image preparation for output to photographic printing plates. A series of projects and critiques are targeted to develop command of the material process and place the use of Lithography in contemporary visual practice.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-252

  Etching

  This course is an introduction to the process of etching and printing from metal plates. Topics covered are the full range of platemaking techniques, from traditional wax grounds to contemporary photographic grounds, and printing techniques, including chine-collé, multi-plate color work and surface rolling. Lectures and critiques will place the practice of Etching in historical and contemporary context.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-253

  Paper: Materiality and Sustainability

  This studio course explores making paper from traditional to contemporary approaches. The course incorporates specified instruction and experimentation driven by student independent projects. The exploration of the structural and historical uses of Western and Eastern methods including contemporary issues of recycled and alternative fibers will frame an understanding of the potential uses and appearances of handmade paper. From a basis in sheet forming, pigmenting, sizing, and the use of additives, the class will move into an emphasis on paper as a visual and sculptural object, covering paper casting and other three-dimensional approaches.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-354A, FA-354B

  Experimental Printmaking

  This course is focused on advanced studies across all forms of print media toward the development of individual student work. Instruction will build on the introductory level courses, covering color separations, extended techniques, experimental approaches, and additional print media forms. Student development will be driven by individual meetings and a series of group critiques.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits. Pre-requisites: 2 of the following 5 courses - Etching, Lithography, Relief, Paper: Materiality and Sustainability, or Screen printing.

• FA-355A, FA-355B

  Relief

  This course provides an introduction to Relief printing techniques. Projects will cover hand carving wood and alternative surfaces, with specific attention to the Japanese water-based woodblock tradition and the western oil-based tradition. Instruction will cover printing by hand, as well as printing on Etching presses, hydraulic presses and Letterpresses.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-459A, FA-459B

  Independent Study in Printmaking

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art.

Projects

• FA-384A-2

  Projects: Exhibition: Design and Practice

  This practical studio course will design and produce exhibitions. We will explore critical theory and histories only to the extent that they enable this practice. The function and habits of the contemporary museum and its supporting partner, the commercial gallery, are under tremendous critical and social pressure. Vital interventions by artists into the appearance and function of these institutions have proved to be explosively important to what art can and could do. The course proposes that architectural space, catalogs, signage, and archives are opportunities for the public presentation of artistic invention. Students will be encouraged to approach public display beyond the containment of single practices, authors, or disciplines. Transfigured by formal arrangement, the conditions of an exhibition's ability to address consciousness, community, education, and social reality will be our subject. Students will use the exhibition spaces, archives, and histories of the Cooper Union as well as sites and contexts beyond campus, when possible.

  Fall 2024. 3 Credits. Pre-Req: Juniors/Seniors.

• FA-384A-3

  Projects

  Students work independently on self-initiated projects under the guidance of professors and visiting artists.

  Fall 2024. 3 Credits.

• FA-384A, FA-384B

  Projects

  FA-384B-1: What Can Art Do?

  This Projects class is newly designed to respond to the sensation that many artists, students, and teachers report - that our work appears to have no effect on an ailing world. The course will provide a forum for imagining and building alternative forms of work, self-design, and ethics through weekly in-class projects, collectively designed actions, and organized play.

  FA-384B-2: Robotic Sculpture

  This is a studio course focused on the intersection of sculpture, robotics, and performance art. With an emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration, the class will engage students in the conception, design, and creation of robotic sculptures under the guidance of internationally acclaimed artist Chico MacMurtrie, Artistic Director of Amorphic Robot Works. Over the course of the semester, we will explore the role of robotic art within political and social contexts, while investigating the unique challenges and creative possibilities of working with both inflatable and mechanical robotic forms.

  FA-384B-3

  Students work independently on self-initiated projects under the guidance of professors and visiting artists.

  FA-384B-4

  The course will collapse the material properties of artworks with our ways of perceiving now. It will be structured around lectures and student’s work. Cultural and global ways of understanding will be foregrounded with specificity. The enormous abys between place and understanding will be studied as a generative space of thought and work. To have a sense of the density of specific practices will be a constant in the class. Student work, which can be in any media, will be discussed in either four or two-hour group critiques.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

Science

• RS-201-G

  Science: Astronomy

  The course starts with how to measure things, such as units of time, length and mass. We introduce the celestial sphere, which will help us to understand such things as days as measured by the Sun and by a star. This will also help to understand seasons. We then introduce a short history of western astronomy. We look at the universe, starting at home (Earth and Moon) and move out---solar system (Sun and planets), stars, galaxies and cosmos. Along the way, we look at how we look (light and telescopes), and how we measure things (distance, brightness and color).

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• RS-201-H

  Science: Physics

  The course is the survey of major concepts, methods and application of physics. It will chart the history of the discipline, tracing the development of ideas about motion, time, space and the structure of matter from the early Greek philosophy to the present day. The main topics will include Newton’s mechanics, conservation principles, electromagnetism, thermodynamics and modern physics. Special attention will be given to the radical changes in our understanding of reality brought about by the advances in the main branches of modern physics: special and general relativity, particle physics and quantum mechanics. The course will introduce essential concepts from these fields, such as spacetime, spacetime curvature, uncertainty principle, complementarity, entanglement, dark matter and energy, etc., and discuss their scientific and philosophical implications.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• RS-201-I

  Science: Properties of Ceramic, Metals, and Glass

  In this course students will gain an understanding of the fundamental similarities and differences between ceramics, metals and glass. Through first exploring the crystalline unit structures of each material on a microscopic level, students will learn about the related material characteristics, working properties, and ultimately manufacturing techniques on a macroscopic level. Then we will focus on causes of degradation of each material with particular attention to pollution, the life cycle of the materials, and the resulting chemical reactions from the inorganic materials and the interactions with their environments. Project based work will serve as a focal learning tool with independent research and weekly in class hands on work and discussions. Students will recreate, observe, and document degradation properties through accelerated aging of metals. Sustainability, sustainable development, and our mindsets towards changing our behaviors in favor of lower environmental impact choices will be a continual thread throughout the semester. Students will evaluate a carbon calculator at the beginning and at the end of the class, and will work on an independent assignment where they will explore material production, use, atomic structure, degradation mechanisms, how the climate crisis threatens our cultural heritage, and experimentation of artists materials as a driving force for technological advancements.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

Sculpture

• FA-391A, FA-391B

  Sculpture: Open Studio

  In this course “Sculpture” will be understood as open to an expansive and changing definition of its limits. Students may draw from its historical traditions or choose more experimental modes of production, in other media or methodologies. The course will be structured as an open studio, where students can bring in works as they progress though each individual’s studio thought and experiment . Students are expected to work independently in initiating their research, concepts, choice of mediums, and the installation/context for their projects.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-392A, FA-392B

  Sculpture: Reasoning with Things

  This is a sculpture studio course that takes a concrete approach to the development of critical discourse about works of art through making and discussing objects. It exercises the student's ability to analyze the activity of making sculpture in particular - and advances the student's understanding of how to proceed in the studio. Problems of structure, materials, meaning, intention, and context are the subjects of class discussion. Together we will look at examples of artists practice which fall within these themes, visit related exhibitions, and host visiting artists.

  Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-393A-1, FA-393B-1

  Sculpture: Making, Craft, and Concept

  This course will emphasize a balance between craft and concept in making Sculpture as creative acts that produce physical interventions in the world. Unlike other courses, we will work closely with the 4th floor Shop facilities to explore how a combination of woodworking, metalworking, casting, as well as other fabrication methods (plastics, sewing, new technologies, etc.) can facilitate and expedite each student’s vision. Students are expected to be self-driven and self- motivated with their projects. they are interested in working on over the semester. This class will help reinforce their technical and material research in completing complex fabrication. Skills will be learned as well as built upon, and workdays will be integrated into class time to get as much hands-on experience as possible.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-394A, FA-394B

  Sculpture: Narrative and Systems

  This is a sculpture studio course. While all media are welcome, we will approach the course with sculptural concerns. The theme of the class is Narrative and Sculpture with a focus on Relationships to Systems. This class is loosely defining a system as a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. The class is broken into three ways of exploring this theme: artists intervening within existing systems; artists reinventing or creating their own systems; artists displacing or circulating material from one system to another. Together we will look at examples of artists practice which fall within these themes, visit related exhibitions, and host visiting artists. Throughout the class, students will make their own works or projects with these themes in mind.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.

• FA-499A, FA-499B

  Independent Study in Sculpture

  1-3 credits. Requires approval of instructor and the Dean of the School of Art.

• TE-390

  Casting Techniques

  Casting Techniques is a process intensive course covering the methods of translating a wax positive into bronze or other non-ferrous metals. All associated techniques from beginning a plaster or rubber mold to casting, chasing, finishing and patination of metal sculptures will be covered. Students will explore a variety of approaches to casting, as well as engage in discussions involving the history of bronze casting, and its place in contemporary art.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 2 Credits. One-semester course. May not be repeated. Free elective credit.

Sound Art

• FA-281

  Project in Sound Art

  This class will introduce strategies for understanding and participating in the aural world. The course is divided into specific weekly topics including acoustic ecology, radio transmission, and others. Screenings, readings, and discussion are supported by hands-on workshops in capturing, manipulating, and reproducing sound in unconventional ways. Grading is based on student projects and participation in class discussions.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits. May not be repeated.

Practicum

• FA-301

  Teaching as Collaborative Social Practice

  As a practicum, this course invites students to actively explore the evolving role of the artist engaged in teaching as an art practice. The aim is to support the undergraduate who is currently teaching or who has an interest in teaching in The Saturday Program. In this course, we will explore questions such as: What is [un]learning? What constitutes community? To what extent is teaching an art practice? To what extent is art itself, pedagogical? How is knowledge produced through art? How does art and art-making prompt us to build ecosystems between these emergent bits of knowledge? Introductions to an interdisciplinary set of readings, artists, collectives and institutions that hold varied approaches to the notion of community, learning, social discourse and positionality will also be essential to the class. This course is not designed as an overview or survey. This class is designed as an opportunity for collective inquiry and play. Weekly sessions will include short lectures, collaborative activities, and discussions.

  Fall 2024, Spring 2025. 3 Credits.