drawing
SUMMER OFFERINGS
Drawing from Observation
Instructor: Michelle Ramin
10 Sessions / Wednesdays, June 12–August 14
Time: 6:30–9:30 pm
Location: Studio 13
Number: DR-1006
Tuition: $400
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Drawing from Observation will equip students with a solid foundation in drawing from life, with strong attention to nuance and detail. Students will gain an understanding of a variety of drawing materials, the vocabulary necessary for critiquing the technical and aesthetic aspects of a work of art, and an understanding of the basic elements and principles of 2D design. The course will cover such techniques as contour line, value, perspective, and gesture. Other highlights include lectures by working artists and talks on contemporary art as they pertain to class. Lectures as well as group and individual critiques will serve to supplement the work in class. No prerequisite.
Hailing from North Central Pennsylvania by way of Portland, Oregon, Michelle Ramin received her BA from Penn State University and her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute. Michelle has exhibited locally and internationally including SOMArts, Southern Exposure, and Incline Gallery in San Francisco as well as Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, Froelick Gallery in Portland, the Contemporary Art Center in Las Vegas and PR1 Gallery in the UK. Michelle’s work has also been featured in such publications as the San Francisco Guardian, SF Weekly, Beautiful Decay, FecalFace, New American Paintings and has work in the Jimenez-Colon permanent collection in Puerto Rico. Michelle currently lives and works in San Francisco. www.michelleramin.com
Introduction to Collage and Mixed Media
Instructor: Sara Wanie
10 Sessions / Tuesdays, June 4–August 6
Time: 6:30–9:30 pm
Location: Studio 13
Number: DR-1008
Tuition: $400
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Collage today is sometimes an underused and undervalued art practice. This course will explore the history of collage and how it can be expanded beyond the world of “craft.” Students will be introduced to basic collaging techniques including adhesive application, transfers, and image manipulation. The key elements of design and composition will be fleshed out through different mediums each week. Participants in this course will learn how to introduce a range of materials, including photography, drawing, and sculpture, into their compositions to develop mixed-media work. The class advances into methods for incorporating layers of textural mediums, drawing materials, collage, block printing, stencils, and transfers into drawn compositions. Students will also discover creative approaches to problem-solving while developing their own personal visual style. Demonstrations of technique, followed by exercises and in-depth projects, are designed to put into practice new methods of working, culminating in personal projects. Creativity and a personal approach to abstraction, formal elements, and representation are encouraged. Group discussions about contemporary art and work produced in class examine issues of craftsmanship and narrative/formal content. No prerequisite.
Sara Wanie is a practicing artist whose figurative, narrative, archive-based, multi-media work combines elements of a variety of mediums, including painting, drawing, printmaking and collage. Wanie received her MFA in Painting at the San Francisco Art Institute in 2009 and her BFA in painting from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2003. She has shown in California, New York, and Wisconsin, and has been awarded several honors, including the Murphy Cadogan fellowship. She has also been a guest lecturer and visiting artists at several Bay Area art schools and institutions.
Figure Drawing
Instructor: Lynn Colingham
10 Sessions / Thursdays, June 6–August 15, no class on Thursday, July 4
Time: 6:30–9:30 pm
Location: 13
Number: DR-1009
Tuition: $400
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This course is designed to provide students with the foundational skills necessary to describe the human form. Students will develop techniques to articulate the anatomy of the human body in the style of naturalistic representation. Over the course of the program, students will be exposed to contemporary dialog surrounding figural representation through readings, discussions, and presentations of contemporary artists. Students will be expected to contextualize their work within the contemporary moment and provide feedback to fellow students during critique. No prerequisite.
Lynn Colingham is currently pursuing her MFA in Painting and MA in History and Theory of Contemporary Art at the San Francisco Art Institute. Colingham emphasizes the uniqueness of the human body through an attractive and repulsive display of body specificity. In paintings utilizing watercolor, acrylic, collage, or mixed media, she accentuates the beautifully grotesque form in an investigation of the body that unravels the physical in search of deeper significance beneath the skin.
Narrative Drawing
Instructor: Alexis Amann
10 Sessions / Mondays, June 3–August 5
Time: 6:30–9:30 pm
Location: 13
Number: DR-1010
Tuition: $400
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From cave painting to web comics, storytelling and picture-making have been connected throughout human history. This course will give beginning and experienced students alike the opportunity to explore narrative in their drawing practice. Projects assignments will be specific and give students the chance to work with different narrative elements. Students will be guided in ways to create, find, and mine narrative through quick writing prompts, and then will make drawings based on the project assignments. The course will also explore formal drawing skills, emphasizing the relationship between how a drawing is constructed and how meaning is made. Project assignments will be supplemented with handouts, discussion of historical and contemporary work and context, and demonstrations. Students will get feedback on their work through one-on-one discussion with the instructor, as well as group critiques at the conclusion of each project.
Beginning and experienced students are welcome in this class; the only prerequisite is a willingness to work and play at making drawings.
Alexis Amann was born in Rochester, NY, raised on the Oregon Coast, and now lives and paints in San Francisco. Her acrylic gouache paintings on paper contain layers of worlds populated by women, monsters, fish, mermaids, rabbits, houses, boats, whales, demons, harpies, and other flora and fauna driven by the forces of love and water, and exist as both large-scale installations and smaller works. Amann received an MFA in 2006 from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a BA from Portland State University in 2002. Her work has been exhibited in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, the Pacific Northwest, and New York. www.alexisamann.com
Open Drawing Studio
Fridays, June 7–August 2, no session on Friday, July 19 due to campus-wide event
Time: 5:30–8:30 pm
Location: Studio 14
Tuition: Free (no advanced registration is necessary)
SFAI’s well-known Friday Open Drawing Studio has been an art resource in the Bay Area since the 1950s. It provides students with a great opportunity to draw from a live model in a relaxed and informal atmosphere.
The Open Drawing Studio is sponsored by SFAI alumna Judith Krebs Snyderman (BFA Painting, 1994).
