2000-2001 Expressive Arts Programs

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Air Waves

Fall, Winter, Spring/Group Contract
Faculty: Doranne Crable, Karl Welty
Enrollment: 28
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing. One full year of performance work; one coordinated studies Core program or equivalent.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Field trips to commercial and public radio stations.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

This program focuses on radio theatre. Its goal is to study the political, social and performance histories and influences of radio drama in the 20th century. Beginning with research, seminar discussions, field trips, films and work with guests in fall quarter, we will study the works of writers who created drama for radio. Among them: Samuel Beckett, A. Guerney, Tom Stoppard, Orson Welles, Peter Handke, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter and war effort groups during World War I and World War II. Each participant will research one area of interest in radio, generally, and present that work as part of a small group discussion/project at the end of fall quarter. Studio workshops will include training in voice and acting for radio; studio engineering and radio performance/presentation in KAOS studios; production, management and publicity for radio programming and sound/music composition and writing for radio.

During winter quarter, participants will begin to translate research and training into actual on-air performance, beginning with small group and then full program presentations of already-existing radio dramas by authors listed above. Participants will also create the sound effects, publicity and promotions and other aspects of the work. In addition to plays, we will consider programming for poetry, novels, nonfiction and “children’s hours.”

In spring quarter, the group will create an original piece—either a series of works or one drama—which will air on KAOS Radio and, possibly, other public radio venues in the Puget Sound area. This collaborative effort will include all aspects of the work: sound effects and music; scripting and acting; promotions and publicity. Co-sponsors will participate as guides and, if the co-learners decide, as participants in whatever area the group deems necessary.

As part of the program, each of us will volunteer in some community service activity. Participation will begin in winter quarter and continue through spring. Details and possibilities will be presented to us in fall quarter by various community service volunteer coordinators. Donating time in some capacity that benefits others will be part of credit accumulation.

One of the exciting parts of the program will be live performance, which will be simultaneously broadcast over KAOS Radio. This will begin in winter quarter. We also will create a “Children’s Story Hour,” which can possibly be live, on Saturday mornings: details to be worked out with KAOS Radio.

  • Credit awarded in performance studies, research, social history, literary studies (poetry, drama, fiction and nonfiction prose), writing (expository and creative) and specific skills related work (acting, scripting, engineering, composition, publicity, promotions).
  • Total: 12 credits each quarter. Four credits only so long as the course doesn’t conflict with program schedules or requirements.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in performance, music, audio engineering, history, literature, marketing and promotions for radio and community service.

Awakening Ireland: From the Power of the Bards to the Call of the Euro

Fall, Winter/Coordinated Study
Faculty: Sean Williams, Patrick Hill, Charles Teske
Enrollment: 75
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Faculty will conduct interviews with students to assess the strength of the match between students and program. Program syllabus will be available prior to the Academic Fair, May 10, 2000. Students are expected to read and understand the syllabus and covenant as conditions of acceptance to the program available under Awakening Ireland at The Evergreen State College Web site or contact Sean Williams (360) 866-6000, ext. 6623.
Special Expenses: $50 per quarter for performance fees.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

This two-quarter program (with a spring quarter option of travel to Ireland) comprises a study of Ireland through its history and many modes of expression: songs, poetry, Gaelic language, stories, film, drama, literature. In focusing on pre-Christian and early Christian nature-based spirituality and expressive culture during fall quarter, we will set the stage for understanding Irish reactions to English colonialism, the Famine, and the social upheavals taking place at the beginning of the 21st century. Our work is quite interdisciplinary; you will be welcome in this program whether your personal passion is directed toward the peace process in Northern Ireland, literary giants such as Joyce and Yeats, or traditional music. By examining Ireland through the lenses of orality and literacy, philosophies involving cycles and seasons, language and cultural identity, and men and women, we will attempt to gain a holistic picture of the many facets of experience in Ireland.

The faculty of this program expect a great deal from themselves and from the students. We will participate in two seminars each week, lectures and workshops, films, weekly writing assignments, essay-based exams each quarter, and focused reading. In addition, we expect all students to participate, one way or another, in performances of play readings, poetic recitation and song performance in a supportive and safe environment. We expect you to learn enough basic Gaelic to use it as small talk in seminars and outside of class. You should also expect to develop your skills in research and critical analysis to explore theoretical issues verbally and in writing. In requiring a faculty signature for this program, we ask only that you carefully read the syllabus and program covenant (available from Sean Williams by May of 2000), assess your own capabilities and be certain that you see yourself as a good match for this important work.

Potential source material for this program includes Joyce’s Dubliners, Condren’s The Serpent and the Goddess, McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes, Kinsella’s The Táin, Collins’ The Cultural Conquest of Ireland, and poetry by Yeats, Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland and many others. We will also be viewing such seminal films as “The Field,” “The Molly Maguires,” “ The Last Hurrah,” “The Dead,” and “The Secret of Roan Inish.” In the context of the European Union and the post-Riverdance world, it is only appropriate that we focus in winter quarter on the tremendous upheavals in Irish culture.

In spring quarter, selected participants from the Awakening Ireland program will have the opportunity to study traditional language and culture in Ireland at the Oideas Gael institute in Gleann Cholm Cille, Donegal. See the program titled Irish Spring, page 92, for further information.

  • Credit awarded in Celtic studies*, literature*, traditional expressive arts*, cultural studies*, history* and Irish language*.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in Celtic studies, European studies, political economy, cultural studies, literature, Irish-American studies and ethnomusicology.
  • This program is also listed in Culture, Text and Language.

Big Technology

Fall, Winter/Group Contract
Faculty: Terry Setter
Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing; one year of study in music technology or composition.
Faculty Signature: Yes
Special Expenses: $75 for concert tickets, travel and retreat expenses.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

This program will familiarize students with the use of audio recording and synthesis technology and their application in music composition during the 20th century. There will be historic, aesthetic and practical components within the program that will place the compositions and technologies studied within stylistic and cultural contexts. Students will present weekly research on topics related to the program content and a concert of original pieces will be presented at the end of winter quarter.

It is strongly advised that students enrolling in this program also take a related course, through Evening and Weekend Studies, such as Music Theory, Piano, Musical Improvisation, Voice, etc., to complete their 16-credit course load. It is not required that students have a background in music technology in order to enroll in this program.

  • Credit awarded in music technology, audio recording, analog and digital synthesis, music history and aesthetics.
  • Total: 12 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in music, composition and technology.

Dance and Culture (NEW! Not in printed catalog)

Winter/Group contract
Faculty: Meg Hunt
Prerequisites: Junior standing; previous study of performing arts
Faculty signature: Yes. Students must complete a written application describing previous academic experience. Applications will be available in October 2000 from Academic Advising or the program secretary. Faculty will be present at the Academic Fair on Nov. 29, 2000 and is available by e-mail from then on: huntm@evergreen.edu
Special expenses: possible private dance classes outside of the college, depending on chosen research topic.
Internship possibilities: consult faculty
Credits: 12, 14, 16

The program will study the anthropology of dance and the value of approaching the study of culture through one of humankind's most basic activities: dance. Although the art form of dance has been too often maligned and trivialized in Euro-American culture, it has been, in most of the world throughout most of history, a powerful force in the life of the human community. We will examine how one looks at and defines dance in ways that respect its place in its own culture; we will also study forms from several different cultures or times. In addition to theoretical readings, there will be workshops by guest artists in different forms of dance. The emphasis will be on theoretical rather than studio work; students are encouraged to take a studio course along with the program. Each student will complete a major research project, which will be presented to the whole program. Credit will be awarded in dance history, cultural studies, and performance studies.
Program is preparatory for careers in dance, performance studies, anthropology, history, cultural studies, and education.

Theatre Laboratorium:
    Body/Sex, Space/Place, Voice/Text (This program has been cancelled for Spring quarter)

Fall, Winter, Spring/Coordinated Study
Faculty: Ariel Goldberger (FWS)
Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. One year
of coordinated studies and previous drawing experience. Portfolio review encouraged.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Art supplies approximately $200 per quarter, theater tickets approximately $30 per quarter, additional shop expenses depending on the student projects. Approximately $120 per student for tickets, lodging and travel during three-day field trip to Oregon Shakespeare Festival spring quarter.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: An out-of-state, three-day field trip spring quarter.

This program will provide participants interested in design and theatre with an environment to develop theoretical and practical approaches to designing the visual aspects of a performance. Participants will study a variety of theatrical texts and do research into different periods and other writings to generate appropriate visual and design responses that address the scenic, costume and lighting design needs of the stage.

In the fall and winter quarters, students will go through a structured sequence of projects to develop a familiarity with the design process and develop skills. A large component of the class will be dramaturgical research and studies into the history of fine and decorative arts, architecture, culture and theatre. Students will be expected to explore all three areas of study: scenic, costume and lighting design as well as participate in performance laboratories and collaboration workshops. In the spring, we will undertake longer, collaborative projects, to understand the design process in-depth and develop a portfolio for future use.

Students should expect to work very hard and participate in weekly critique sessions to develop familiarity with critical language and collaborative dialogue. Participants could develop skills in many of the following areas, depending on the overall class interests and structure: art history, drawing, sketching, model making, technical drafting and scenic painting, scenic and costume crafts, theory of color, dramatic theory and dramatic literature. Students with interests in theatre, stage design, applications of dramatic theory, performance, architecture and design in general are encouraged to register.

NOTE: The scope of the program may change to reflect the strength of the new faculty member in art history.

  • Credit awarded in theatre, design, art history, history of architecture and décor, history of costume, scenic design, lighting design, costume design, scenic crafts and technical theatre depending on the focus of student work.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in the arts, design professions, history of art, theatre, performance and cultural studies.
  • This program is also listed in Culture, Text and Language.

Drawing A Life (NEW! Not in printed catalog)

Spring/Group Contract
Faculty: Marilyn Frasca
Enrollment: 24
Prerequisites: This all level program will accept up to 25 percent or 6 first-year students. First-year students must bring a copy of an evaluation from a Core program to the first day of class. Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Students must provide their own art supplies, approximately $75. Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

Drawing images from one's own life in both writing and drawing are activities that will form the center of our work together. Students will have the opportunity to develop skill at drawing from posed models and will use journal writing sessions to identify the unique events, situations and experiences that have formed their life context. Students will be expected to present a final project at the end of the quarter that will document their effort at Drawing a Life. Activities will include weekly figure drawing sessions, journal writing workshops, discussions of selected topics drawn from art history, literature and psychology, work-in-progress critiques and individual conferences with faculty. Credit awarded in drawing, creative writing and humanities. Total: 16 credits. Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in the humanities, art and psychology.

The Empty Stage: Theatre Intensive

Fall, Winter/Coordinated Study
Faculty: Sandie Nisbet, Rose Jang
Enrollment: 50
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. One year of coordinated studies or equivalent.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Approximately $50 for admission fees for theatre tickets.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

Our primary focus will be Euro-American theatre tradition: theory, practice and dramatic literature. We will examine different theatrical experiments through history as reflections of social and political change. As we identify common themes in classical Western theatre and contemporary works in America, we will relate them to our creative work. Play readings will span from ancient Greece to Elizabethan England to contemporary America, with particular interest in works of various cultural and ethnic origins. The literature will include drama, comedy and dramatic theory created at pivotal points in the history of Western theatre and will be explored within the context of concurrent artistic movements. The program will culminate with public presentations of performance projects at the end of winter.

In the fall, to build a foundation for such collaborative work, we emphasize theoretical understanding as well as skill building in acting, directing and playwriting. Along with regular workshops, the weekly reading and writing will inform students of the ever-present communicative and experimental nature of theatre. Also, we will invite guest artists to give workshops and talks. Hence, students will develop collaborative skills, theatrical vocabulary, critical thinking and writing skills through a variety of activities.

Winter quarter will continue theoretical exploration, with additional emphasis on technical theatre and rehearsal. Final presentations will emerge from workshops, writing and research over the two quarters. They will be performed by students and directed by faculty.

  • Credit awarded in dramatic literature, theatre history and theory, acting, directing, playwriting and technical theatre.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in theatre, literature, cultural studies and performing arts.

Fiber Arts

Fall/Group Contract
Faculty: Gail Tremblay
Enrollment: 18
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. Core program required, Foundations of the Visual Arts or work in the visual arts preferred.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Students can expect to spend $50–$100 for materials and shop fees. Additional expenses for museum and special event fees.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

Students in the Fiber Arts program will study techniques for weaving, felting, embroidery and various types of needle arts and techniques for various kinds of basketry. Students will weave a sampler on the four-harness loom and design and make three pieces of art work and one collaborative project with other students in this group contract. Projects must use or incorporate at least three different techniques we are studying. There will be lectures and films about the history of 20th-century fiber art. All students are expected to do a research paper with illustrations and footnotes and a 10-minute slide presentation about the work of a contemporary fiber artist.

  • Credit awarded in weaving, needlework arts, basketry and felting.
  • Total: 16 credits.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in the visual arts and textile design.

Foundations of the Visual Arts

Fall, Winter, Spring/Coordinated Study
Faculty: Lisa Sweet, Robert Leverich, Joe Feddersen, Gail Tremblay
Enrollment: 44
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing. One year of a coordinated studies program or equivalent.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Faculty will assess basic skill in expository writing and interest in the program. A written application will be available in April, 2000, from the Academic Advising Office. Students wishing to enter FOVA should bring a completed application to Lisa Sweet at the Academic Fair, May 10, 2000, or to the advising sessions held two weeks prior to the fair. Students should contact the program secretary after May 15, 2000, for notification of acceptance into the program.
Special Expenses: $100–$200 per quarter for art supplies.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

Foundations of the Visual Arts is a yearlong group contract that offers an introduction to the making of both two-dimensional and three-dimensional art forms in conjunction with a study of aesthetics and the history of art. This program is designed for students who have a passion for art, the ability to take risks and the stamina and patience to work hard for long hours. Students must be open to others’ critiques of their work and willing to learn how to be clear, generous and thoughtful in their critique of other students’ work. All three quarters students will write analytic papers about art history ideas and issues in contemporary art. Students will be expected to be in class and work in the studio at least 36 hours per week and spend another eight hours studying art history and contemporary movements.

In the fall, students will explore a wide range of drawing methods and materials. It is an opportunity for beginning art students to acquire new skills and form a grounding for future work in the arts. Students will develop a visual arts vocabulary, refine visual analytic capacity, acquire basic mechanical skills and gain a historical perspective through a survey of art history. Everyone will complete weekly studio projects designed to help students learn how to make creative and personal images in response to difficult visual problems. Students will develop a working process whereby they take charge of their own image making. Each week, in addition to studio time, students will participate in weekly drawing classes, monoprinting workshops, critiquing sessions, seeing seminars and art history lectures.

In the winter, students will do intensive work in color theory and design. There will be exercises in painting, printmaking and digital imaging as well as work with paper and other materials made out of fiber. All students will continue the survey of art history and do research and writing about three major figures in contemporary art that analyzes their works and the effects of that work on the culture(s) in which they work. In the second half of the quarter, students will complete and present drawings, paintings, prints and/or mixed media work that demonstrate their ability to combine a variety of techniques for art making with information about color, texture and concept to create powerful and evocative works of art. Students will participate in weekly studio classes, art history lectures, critiquing sessions, seeing seminars and visiting artist lectures.

In the spring, students will continue a survey of art history and develop skills in three-dimensional design and sculpture. They will work with found objects, wood, clay and metal. The first five weeks will emphasize skill building, design concepts and familiarization with equipment. Students will be given weekly design problems and have the opportunity to work on their own themes during the second half of the quarter. They will participate in studio workshops in the wood, metal and ceramics studios; critiquing sessions; art history lectures and seeing seminars.

  • Credit awarded in drawing, painting, printmaking, mixed media, two- and three-dimensional design, sculpture and art history.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in art, education and humanities.

Mediaworks: Experiments with Light and Sound

Fall, Winter, Spring/Coordinated Study
Faculty: Ruth Hayes, Sally Cloninger
Enrollment: 48
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing; Core program or its equivalent and written application.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Students submit a written application plus copies of previous evaluations and self-evaluations or transcript. Applications will be available by mid-April and can be picked up from the program secretaries in COM 301 or at the Academic Advising Office. Written application is due Friday, May 12, 2000.
Special Expenses: $250 materials each quarter.
Internship Possibilities: Spring quarter only.
Travel Component: None

Mediaworks is the entry-level moving image program. It is designed to provide students with basic skills in 16mm and digital filmmaking, animation, video and audio production, as well as background in some aspects of film and video history and theory. All moving image programs emphasize the linkage of media theory and practice, focusing on the development of a critical and oppositional perspective for imagemaking and studying the politics of representation, especially with regard to race, class and gender.

In the 2000-01 version of Mediaworks we will focus our theoretical work on the historical, aesthetic and ideological approaches and issues that have influenced the work of experimental imagemakers. We will pay specific attention to media artists who deliberately mix styles, incorporate diverse aesthetic impulses in their work, move across disciplines, critique the dominant corporate media, explore autobiographical themes and attempt to broaden both film language and the perceptual sensibilities of their audience. We will also study seeing and listening. Texts may include: Technologies of Seeing, Brian Winston; Understanding Animation, Paul Wells; An Introduction to Film Studies, Jill Nelmes, ed.; Resolutions, Michael Renov and Erika Suderburg, eds.; and Audio-Vision—Sound on Screen, Michel Chion. Media artists may include: Germaine Dulac, Norman McLaren, Caroline Leaf, Sergei Eisenstein, Maya Deren, Pratibha Parmar, Robert Breer, Chick Strand, Man Ray, Bruce Conner, Peter Kubelka, Oskar Fishinger, Marjut Rimminen, Isaac Julien, John Cage, Nam June Paik, Michaela Pavlatova, Bill Viola, Ernie Kovaks and so forth.

During fall quarter, students in this program will be introduced to a variety of production skills, including cinematography, basic animation, video production, pre-production design processes, sound recording and editing. Students will be expected to complete a number of design problems in these media and to demonstrate a readiness to proceed to more advanced work in winter. They will also complete critical writing on media, learn and apply media research skills and participate in theoretical discussions and critique groups.

In winter students will continue skill-building in 16mm and digital filmmaking, sound design and animation. They also will be expected to complete their research on a contemporary media artist, design a lecture/presentation with a partner, and present their topic orally and in written form. Their design work will focus on the completion of projects in several media.

In spring students will have the opportunity to produce a short independent project in film, video or animation.

Students should expect to work collaboratively as well as individually, and to design projects consistent with the stated themes of the program. Considerable attention will be given to the process, as well as the product, of media production, with frequent screenings of work in progress and emphasis on group discussion and critique.

  • Credit will be awarded in film, video and sound production, animation, media history and theory, visual research and independent film/video/animation projects.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for career and future study in media art, visual art and communications.

NATURE / IMAGE - The Art of Documentary
 Fall Group Contract
Faculty: Susan Aurand
Enrollment 15
Prerequisites: Foundations of Visual Art or the equivalent 2-D studio art experience; submission of a portfolio of drawing and/or painting work, and a writing sample and interview with the faculty.
Faculty Signature: Required
Special Expenses: Yes, approximately $250 for art supplies
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: occasional fieldtrips to galleries in Seattle and Tacoma

This is a program for intermediate to advanced students in 2-D art who are interested in doing intensive studio work on personal themes connected to nature. The program will function on the model of the "artist-in-residence" experience, with both the faculty and students in the role of artists-in-residence. One day each week will be an intensive day of instruction including: technique demonstrations, studio projects, slide presentations by faculty and students, critiques and seminars on assigned readings. The rest of the week will be devoted to studio work. The faculty and students will work side by side daily in the studio, developing individual series exploring a theme related to nature. During the studio time, ongoing instruction will happen though informal discussions about work, individual themes being explored, and issues in contemporary art. This program is appropriate for students who are highly motivated and self-disciplined. Interested students should be able to demonstrate the ability to be self-directed and work well independently. The program is not appropriate for students who have daytime jobs during the week, since students must be able to work consistently in the studio five days each week, from 9:00 - 3:00. Readings and seminars in the program will focus on: historical and contemporary artists whose works respond intensively to nature or environmental concerns; the mirroring of the creative process in art and nature; and the emotional and spiritual importance of reconnecting to nature as a means of personal and cultural healing.
Credit will be awarded in studio art, art history, aesthetics, and areas of the student's own research in connection to their themes.
To Apply: Sign up for an appointment at Lab I, 2022 ASAP

Puppet and Object Theatre (NEW for Spring quarter)
Spring/Group Contract
Ariel Goldberger
Enrollment: 24
Prerequisite: None. This all-level program will accept up to 25 percent or 6 first-year students.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Estimated $150 for art and media materials and theatre tickets. Total expenses depend on student projects.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

This program is focused on an intensive study of the boundaries of what we understand as puppets. The program will depend on risk taking, collaboration, experimentation, very hard work on your part and weekly shows of your work to the class. This will be a hands-on class that will include performance. Participants will be expected to research puppet techniques, to explore new and innovative materials and tools, to design and create the puppets and the production, and to perform. You will produce two student originated projects using puppets; a shorter puppetry performance for the first half of the quarter and a more advanced piece for the last half of the quarter. The projects will be based on different explorations on what constitutes puppet and object theatre.

The Faculty will try to support your projects proportionally to the effort you put into them and will offer workshops in puppet making, design and performance. Class time will be divided between discussion and critique of individual projects based sessions, and hands-on workshops (presentations and project work). Students will organize weekly presentations of work to learn about each other's processes.

During the first two weeks we will focus on short intensive workshops and presentations to explore the basic types of puppetry and most common technical issues. The rest of the quarter will be devoted to developing student originated projects involving puppet theatre and object theatre. The program will meet in two main weekly sessions during which participants will present the student originated puppetry performance projects or work on them.

For each project you will create a short script or Storyboard based on a piece of music, on a created or found text, or on your favorite writings. You will then create working mock-ups for the puppets after coming up with ideas through sketches and other visual means. Those mock-ups will be the puppets you will use for performance during the two-weeks initial performance development period while you build the final versions. To learn how professional artists work, you will be expected to keep track of your expenses though budgets and expense tracking and to schedule your projects carefully developing basic and useful quantitative and management skills. Students will keep simple artist journals to keep track of ideas and will also engage in writing about the work in short descriptive narratives of projects, scripts (if applicable), critiques and "grant" descriptions.

The schedule will be divided in two major days of work. The "Critique" day will be devoted to presentations of works in progress and peer and faculty critiques. The "hands-on day" will include roaming critiques, hands-on work on the puppets and/or technical issues clinics. A one-hour lecture/presentation will focus on issues related to contemporary puppetry, technical issues and/or manipulation techniques. Depending upon student demand, a movement workshop may be offered.

Some possible puppet masters to be studied: Philippe Genty, Henk Boerwinkel, Bruce Schwartz, Julie Taymor, Theodora Skipitares, Janie Geyser, Roman Pasca and notable emerging American puppeteers. Members of the class may choose to create giant parade puppets for public demonstrations that include puppets such as the Parade of the Species. This course is for self-directed, hard working individuals. Credit equivalencies may be in areas such as Puppet theatre, Performance Studies, Writing for the Arts, Design, Technical theatre, Installation or other areas depending on student work.

Total: 16 credits.

Representing Actuality:
The Art of Documentary (NEW! Not in printed catalog)

Fall, Winter/Group Contract
Faculty: Laurie Meeker
Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Sophomore standing.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: $150 per quarter for film stock and processing and other media production expenses.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None


This group contract will involve the study of documentary film history, theory and production. We will examine the way filmmakers have developed strategies to represent actuality or reality, from the expository documentary of the thirties, to cinema-verite and observational cinema, to more contemporary forms like reflexivity, drawing attention to the act of representation itself. Students will also learn basic production techniques and will produce short documentaries in the second quarter. About half the curriculum will involve reading, research, seminars and expository writing, and the other half will involve the development of production skills, review of works in progress and critique. Primary texts include: Shot by Shot - A Practical Guide to Filmmaking, Cantine...; Representing Reality, Bill Nichols.

Total: 16 credits each quarter.

Shaping Function/Shaping Meaning

Fall, Winter/Group Contract
Faculty: Robert Leverich
Enrollment: 20
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing. Foundations of the Visual Arts or equivalent year of study in drawing, painting, art history and introduction to sculpture.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Faculty will assess student knowledge in art history and 3-D design. A written application will be available in April, 2000, from the Academic Advising Office. Students wishing to enter this program should bring a completed application to Robert Leverich at the Academic Fair, May 10, 2000. Students should contact the program secretary after May 15, 2000, for notification of acceptance into the program.
Special Expenses: $200 for art supplies.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

This advanced 3-D art program is designed for students who want to design and make work that is functional or expressive or both, including tools, furniture, vessels, sculpture and installations.

During fall quarter, students will address functional and expressive design projects and undertake weekly readings that address historical, theoretical and practical issues of functional and expressive object-making. Some projects will be individual efforts, others collaborative. Winter quarter students will conduct independent research and produce a body of work consisting of writings, drawings and three-dimensional work of paper, wood, clay, metal or other materials.

Emphasis throughout both quarters will include understanding and mastery of selected materials and processes, appropriate workmanship and focused use of form and writing (essays and journals) as observational and analytical tools.

The goal of the program is to foster a rigorously informed, reasoned and personal approach to object-making in each student.

  • Credit awarded in advanced sculpture, design, aesthetics and art history.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in art, architecture and humanities.

Student Originated Studies Media: A Practicum for Concentrators

Fall, Winter, Spring/Group Contract
Faculty: Anne Fischel, Ju-Pong Lin
Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing; coordinated studies program and Mediaworks or course equivalent.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Students must submit project proposal and portfolio to Anne at the Academic Fair, May 10, 2000.
Special Expenses: At least $200 per quarter for materials and project costs.
Internship Possibilities: Yes, winter and spring.
Travel Component: None

This program is designed for intermediate and advanced media students whose goal is to complete portfolio-level project work in film, video, installation, media studies, or (as space permits) photography. It is open to seniors and a few juniors with a strong course background in media.

Our goal is to create a community of artists and critical writers who can help and support each others’ work. Project development, work-in-progress sessions and critiques will be strongly emphasized. Critical viewing and research will also play a part in our work. Themes, content and workshops will be shaped by student needs and interests. Students should expect to be active co-creators and teachers in this program and will be asked to do research, present films, coordinate presentations and assist each other in production.

Students have the option to join this program in fall or spring quarters. Students planning to join this program during spring quarter should plan on applying to Ju-Pong Lin at the Academic Fair, March 7, 2001.

If you are accepted in this program for fall 2000, please expect to attend a planning meeting shortly after the May 10, 2000, Academic Fair. Contact Anne (360) 866-6000, ext. 6416, for specific date and time.

  • Credit awarded in media production* and media studies*, as well as in the area of each student’s project work.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in media production, media studies and the arts.

Student Originated Studies: Performing Arts

Fall, Winter, Spring/Group Contract
Johansen (FW) and Ratna Roy (S)
Enrollment: Fall and Winter: 12 students; Spring: 25 students
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing. Theatre intensive or equivalent college-level work in music, dance or performance.
Faculty Signature: Yes, performance experience will be assessed at an interview with faculty at the Academic Fair, May 10, 2000.
Special Expenses: Production costs will depend on project; expenditures for such things as costumes, makeup and prop materials may be required.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

This group contract will help students accomplish their goals in the performing arts by providing an all-program seminar and critique of participating students’ work.

Each student will make an agreement with the sponsor to focus their work on some form of performance, i.e., musical theatre production, music ensemble, theatre production, dance production, etc.

The faculty will direct the seminar and critique sessions with strong input by the students; will aid and assist in the productions as needed; will have close contact regarding the creative process; and will critique the projects.

Students will need the skills to work collaboratively on projects that they develop and produce. All students share their works in progress each week for reactions and helpful critiques by the group.

  • Credit awarded in performing arts according to each student’s project. Credit will reflect the type of work done by each student and may vary depending on his or her role in the project.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in performing arts and arts management.

Student Originated Studies: Visual Arts

Fall, Winter, Spring/Group Contract
Faculty: Paul Sparks
Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Student must submit a writing sample, portfolio and proposal for study to Paul Sparks, The Evergreen State College, Lab II, Olympia, WA 98505, by March 31, 2000.
Special Expenses: Will vary depending on the nature of student projects.
Internship Possibilities: Yes, depending on the nature of student projects.
Travel Component: None

Student Originated Studies (SOS) offers students an alternative to faculty-designed programs. SOS programs vary widely in form and content, but as a general rule students take a leading role in the design of the program and with that, more of the responsibility for its success or failure. The process of putting together an SOS can be time consuming and demanding, but can have big rewards. You will need to do your planning well in advance, and to be aware that there is a strong correlation between the success or failure of a program and how well it is planned. The cohesion and motivation of the SOS group is important and tends to relate to the size of the group. I have worked with successful student-planned programs that had as few as four students and as many as fifteen, but four seems to be a minimum and five or six may be close to an ideal number.

Your proposal for an SOS program has to include the following:
1. A program description and goals statement.
2. A schedule for the first quarter with a listing of times and places for all program activities. These should include: lectures, critiques, studio time, workshops, field trips, etc.
3. A signed draft of a covenant that describes all agreed-on responsibilities and obligations including attendance, credit policy, record keeping and a process for deciding credit and completing peer evaluations.
4. A careful listing of space and/or equipment needs. Proficiencies or the need for proficiencies should be noted where appropriate.

If your group is materially larger than the ideal size suggested above, your proposal will not be dismissed out of hand, but you may be encouraged to consider a collaboratively-designed group contract with a stronger faculty role.

  • Credit awarded in visual arts and theory depending upon student projects.
  • Total: 16 credits each quarter.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in visual arts and humanities

Working Small

Fall, Winter/Group Contract
Faculty: Jean Mandeberg
Enrollment: 12
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing; Foundations of Visual Art or equivalent college-level experience in design, drawing and sculpture (which might include woodworking, fiber arts, metalworking, fine metals or ceramics).
Faculty Signature: Yes. Portfolio review and interview at Academic Fair, May 10, 2000. Transfer students can mail a slide portfolio and statement of interest to Jean Mandeberg, The Evergreen State College, Lab II, Olympia, WA 98505. Students may contact the program secretary after May 11, 2000, for notification of acceptance into the program.
Special Expenses: Students can expect to provide art materials including precious metals and nonferrous metals and specialized tools and supplies needed to accomplish a series of small-scale works.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

This is a two-quarter-long program for advanced visual art students interested in the particular demands of making small-scale art. We will be working in jewelrymaking, metalsmithing and mixed media sculpture, combining intensive studio work and critique with design research, writing, weekly seminars and readings on contemporary craft, art and folk art.

Students must be prepared to confront the artist’s and audience’s experience of small-scale artwork while considering such issues as the cultural values associated with scale, miniaturization, the intensification of form, imagination, mobility, technical precision and craftsmanship.

Students will learn to express their ideas through inventive designs and appropriate materials in order to take advantage of this unique viewpoint.

  • Credit awarded in metalsmithing and jewelrymaking, sculpture, issues in contemporary art, art history and three-dimensional design.
  • Total: Fall: 16 credits; winter: 14 or 16 credits. Winter quarter students may enroll in the two-credit course The Artist’s Portfolio.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in arts and humanities.

Observations: Perceiving the World Around Us

Winter/Coordinated Study
Faculty: Joe Feddersen, Joe Tougas
Enrollment: 44
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Faculty will assess student writing and art abilities. Student must submit a sample of both writing and artwork. Students should send samples of their work to Joe Feddersen, The Evergreen State College, Lab I, Olympia, WA 98505. Students will be notified of acceptance by December 8, 2000.
Special Expenses: Approximately $200 for art supplies and photocopying costs.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

Students! Here is a way to combine the unique forms of expression of creative writing and visual art into a whole. In this class, we will be creating forms drawn from our own observations of nature, multiple cultures and the cosmos around us. Activities will include creative writing workshops focusing on fiction and poetry, and printmaking, bookmaking and paper-making studio sessions in the art component of the class. We will also have weekly seminars on reading designed to inspire us and complement the foci of our study and creation. Reading will be drawn from texts such as Terry Tempest Williams’ Refuge and Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek.

An additional emphasis in the program will be the methodology and ideology of exhibiting works from different cultures. To this end, we are planning field trips to investigate the implementation of such concepts. Program activities include lectures, seminars, writing and art workshops and critique sessions.

  • Credit awarded in studio arts, creative writing and literature.
  • Total: 16 credits.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in art, literature, writing and education.
  • This program is also listed in Culture, Text and Language.

Contemporary Issues in Figurative Art

Spring/Group Contract
Faculty: Lisa Sweet
Enrollment: 25
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing. Foundations of Visual Art or equivalent year of study in drawing, painting and art history.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Lisa will review student portfolio at the Academic Fair, March 7, 2001.
Special Expenses: $200 for art supplies.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

This advanced two-dimensional art program will include a history of figurative art, a comparison of modern and contemporary approaches in figurative art and controversies over interpretations of and uses of the figure. Students will study advanced life-drawing and develop a body of work in one other medium: painting, printmaking or mixed media. Students will complete weekly seminar readings, write analytic papers, write about their own work and complete independent research about contemporary figurative artists.

  • Credit awarded in advanced painting, drawing and printmaking.
  • Total: 16 credits.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in the arts and humanities.

From Classic to Modern: A Traveling Seminar in Europe

Spring/Group Contract
Faculty: Bob Haft
Enrollment: 24
Prerequisites: Third quarter freshmen who have successfully completed Myth and Sensibility:
A Study of Eastern and Western Cultures,
page 51, or sophomore standing.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Bob Haft, (360) 866-6000, ext. 6474, will assess student interest
and background in art and classic or modern history (for those not enrolled in Myth and Sensibility) at the Academic Fairs for fall: Sept. 18, 2000, winter: Nov. 29, 2000, and spring: March 7, 2001. Students must also complete a questionnaire after the interview. Students can find out if they have been accepted into the program by calling Bob or his Program Secretary, Pam Udovich (360) 866-6000, ext. 6600, after each Academic Fair: fall: Sept. 20, 2000, winter: Nov. 30, 2000 and spring: March 9, 2001, or after successful completion of the Myth and Sensibility program.
Special Expenses: Students can expect to spend approximately $3,250 for travel and living expenses.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: Eight weeks of travel and study in France, Italy and Greece.

This program is being held in tandem with Gordon Beck’s program Museums, Monuments and Backpacks: The Prehistoric and Ancient World Museums and Monuments XXII; A Traveling Seminar in Europe. Although we will be meeting and traveling separately, our activities and goals will be roughly the same; we plan to cross paths and share ideas at least once during our respective stays abroad.

This will be an intensive on-site study of the paintings, sculpture and architecture of selected locations in France, Italy and Greece, from the cave paintings at Lascaux to the Acropolis at Athens to the Matisse Museum in Nice. By reading and writing about, as well as drawing and discussing what we see, we will engage ourselves in the process of aesthetic criticism and appreciation.

Our activities include seminars, research reports, informal on-site discussions, image-response writing and individual site research. Our goal is to develop an increased understanding of the nature of artistic activity—both the process and the product—and to discover the similarities and differences between historic and contemporary sensibilities.

To keep expenses low, we will stay in camp-grounds and youth hostels. Detailed information will be available at the fall Academic Fair, September 18, 2000. In order to be considered for the program, students will fill out a questionnaire and have a personal interview with the faculty.

  • Credit awarded in art history, aesthetics and writing.
  • Total: 16 credits.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in the arts, humanities and the social sciences.
  • This program is also listed in First-Year Programs.

The Good Woman of Sichuan: An Experimental Production

Spring/Coordinated Study
Faculty: Arun Chandra, Rose Jang
Enrollment: 50
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing; Core program in addition to at least two quarters of performing arts experience.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Students may pick up an application from the COM building program secretary beginning February 26, 2001. The application deadline is 5 p.m. on Friday, March 9. See the application form for further details.
Special Expenses: Admission fees for theatre and concert tickets.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

The program will offer students with interest in theatre and music an opportunity to participate in the production of a play, Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Sichuan. The production, to be staged at the end of the quarter, will explore the experimental nature of performing arts and will emphasize the dynamic interaction between music, theatre and video. This program will work in collaboration with selective members of a Student Originated Studies program to incorporate video or installation art as integral components of the production. Drawing on the Brechtian concept of alienation effect, the production will challenge the way audience perceives a “performance” and experiment with its sense of “theatrical space.” For example, the musical and dramatic happenings may be juxtaposed freely, without any clear definitions or transitions. The performance may move fluently from stage to installation space, from video space to live space, and may cross boundaries between audience and performers.

The Good Woman of Sichuan is chosen for this experimental production based on its potential for exploring relationships between visual, performative and musical forms. We will start the quarter with serious, in-depth study of the play and related works on Brechtian Epic theatre, and move to intense rehearsal and studio work. Students will work on specific areas of interest—which include electronic music, music composition and performance, music recording and engineering, theatre acting, physical movement and dramaturgy—directly applicable to the production. Faculty will direct the production as a whole, but the process will be an interactive collaboration between all participants.

  • Credit awarded in music composition, music performance, electronic music, theatre acting, experimental theatre, dramaturgy and theatre theory.
  • Total: 16 credits.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in music, theatre and performing arts.

I Want Burning: Ecstatic Poetry and Images

Spring/Group Contract
Faculty: Craig Carlson, Susan Aurand
Enrollment: 50
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing; Foundations of Visual Art or equivalent studio art experience; some prior experience in poetry or creative writing advised.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Students can expect to spend approximately $250–$300 for art supplies.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

Rumi’s poems are the whisperings of two lovers in a crowd—the union of lover and beloved, body and soul. He is more interested in celebration and ecstasy than in explanation or linear meaning. He hears camel bells in the distance, he waits for the beloved to arrive and the first word spoken will coincide exactly with the last word of his last poem. “For Rumi, poetry is what he does in the meantime, a song-and-dance until the greater reality he loves arrives: A melting tear-gift eye-piece to look through, while it and the scene and the eye dissolve,” as Coleman Barks explains.

Ecstatic poems such as Rumi’s, and images inspired by such poetry, are created not as books or manuscripts or fine art, but as a part of a constant, practical and mysterious dialogue with the spirit. The focus changes from memorializing moments or embodying ideas, to a fluid, constantly self-revising, self-interrupting process. “They are not so much about anything as spoken from within something,” as Coleman Barks writes. “Call it enlightenment, ecstatic love, spirit, soul, truth, the ocean of ilm [divine luminous wisdom], or the covenant of alst [the original agreement with God]. Names do not matter. Some resonance of ocean resides in everyone. [It] can be felt as a salt breeze from that, traveling inland.”

If Rumi is the Ocean of Sufi poetry, then other Sufi poets such as Rabi’a, Hafiz and Lalla are the Great Rivers. Rumi’s spiritual intensity, multidimensional resonance and musical richness balance well with Rubi’s asceticism, Hafiz’s slyness and Lalla’s eroticism. Living as we do in an age when the Greco-Christian denial of Earthly reality has so terribly come to realization, these poets, and their contemporary counterpart poets and artists, offer deep spiritual and cultural lessons. They are antidotes to the times. Mystics tend to seek the universal—the Holy, the Healthy and the Holistic. Seeing the one root of all, they can see the transcendent unity of all living things beyond greed or shallow eclecticism.

Like Rumi, there is in our culture a strain of American poets and artists who celebrate the ecstasy of poetry and art and the hope for spiritual transcendence. Some spark up from the natural world, such as the artist Emily Carr. “This is what life is all about: salamanders, fiddle tunes, you and things, the split and burr of it all, the fizz into particulars,” as Annie Dillard writes. Others begin with the physical body; the longing for union— whether physical, natural, spiritual—is a central concern in the work of Mary Oliver:

—everything else
can wait but not
this thrust
from the root
of the body. What
we know: we are more
than blood—we are more
than our hunger and yet
we belong
to the moon and when the ponds
open, when the burning
begins the most

In this program we will study, write and perform poetry and see and make images. We will emphasize the skills involved in perceptive reading, listening, seeing and working with two-dimensional media, in particular, painting and drawing. We will try to understand interpretations of cultural influences and change, through cross-cultural comparison of Sufi and American poetry and images. We will make many poems and images of our own. “Let the beauty that you love be the work that you do,” as Rumi suggests.

  • Credit awarded in creative writing*, poetry*, literature*, art history*, drawing*, painting* and cultural studies*.
  • Total: 16 credits.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in the humanities, arts, writing and cultural studies.
  • This program is also listed in Culture, Text and Language.

Irish Spring: Living in Rural Ireland

Spring/Coordinated Study
Faculty: Sean Williams, Patrick Hill
Enrollment: 35
Prerequisites: Junior or senior standing; two successful quarters in Awakening Ireland, page 59.
Faculty Signature: Yes. Participation will be determined by the student’s work in Awakening Ireland, the submission of a preparatory essay based on two books about Gleann Cholm Cille.
Special Expenses: Students will spend at least five weeks in Ireland. Students can expect to spend approximately $2,000 for airfare, related instructional costs, room and board. A non-refundable deposit of $500 is due by February 15, 2001.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: Five to six weeks in Ireland.

This one-quarter program is intended for selected participants from the Awakening Ireland program. We have the opportunity to study traditional language and culture in Ireland at the Oideas Gael institute in Gleann Cholm Cille, Donegal, one of the few regions where Gaelic is still spoken in Ireland.

We will begin our studies in Ireland during the second week of the program, starting with a single week of focused study in Gaelic language, song, poetry, dance and drama. For several more weeks we will be back in the Gleann, studying language and aspects of traditional culture, including options of archaeology, tapestry weaving, singing, dancing, playing music and performing theatrical works on stage. Students will also have the opportunity to work closely with local poets, artists and musicians, and to witness first-hand the dramatic impact of the European Union on traditional culture.

All students must return to Evergreen by the end of the ninth week of spring quarter. A summative essay will be due by the end of the tenth week. The two faculty for this program expect dedicated participation in all activities, appropriate behavior for small-town Ireland, cooperation with hosts and host families and strict adherence to the travel dates and essay deadlines.

  • Credit awarded in Celtic studies*, European studies*, cultural studies*, fieldwork,* history* and Irish language*.
  • Total: 16 credits.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in Celtic studies, European studies, political economy and cultural studies.
  • This program is also listed in Culture, Text and Language.

Where Spirits Enter: Artistic and Literary Expressions of Religion in African Cultures in the Americas

Spring/Group Contract
Faculty: Gail Tremblay
Enrollment: 22
Prerequisites: This all-level program will accept up to 25 percent or 6 first-year students. Two quarters in a Core or All Level coordinated studies program with full credit especially in writing, or for new transfer students with a B or above in English composition and courses in the humanities.
Faculty Signature: No
Special Expenses: Students can expect to pay special event fees such as museum, music or theatre performances and for art supplies for their final projects.
Internship Possibilities: No
Travel Component: None

Students in this program will study interrelationships among the various arts of those cultures from the Caribbean basin and the Americas who derive their spiritual world view to a great extent from the cosmologies and religions of West Africa. The arts of the African diaspora in the Americas have been the site of cultural preservation even in the face of the cruelties of slavery and have provided an avenue for resistance and empowerment that has enriched and humanized the culture of the Americas. Even when the statues and images of Catholic saints function as a mask for the ancestral deities, in these powerful expressions of syncretism (or cultural mixing) the ancient traditions of Africa and indigenous peoples thrive and renew themselves.
Art forms influenced by these cultural traditions are infused with possession by spirits that inspire possession theatre, altars, masks, banners and other objects used in rich multifaceted ceremonial visual arts events. In these cultures' literature, music, dance and film become expressions of the sacred. Students will read books about African and Diaspora religions, as well as works about art and aesthetics in a variety of genres. Students will study films, and visit the African collection at the Seattle Art Museum, and attend exhibits including an installation concerning the Orisha Yemaja and a lecture by Puerto Rican artist, Imna Arroyo in late May for the college galleries. We will notice the way in which the survival of African spirituality and culture has informed and enriched American culture, especially in our Century.
Each student will be responsible for a major research project that explores the history of cultural survivals and evidence of cultural syncretism in their own family culture(s), whatever their ethnicity, and will examine the influences of growing up in the multicultural settler culture which is the U.S., and the effects of cultural mixing as it is revealed in the tension between what individuals hold on to and what they transform as cultural beings in a complex cultural milieu. This research should include substantial reading and interviews with family members, and analysis of the roots of family customs and beliefs. This work will culminate in a research paper due week eight, in either an art installation, or a collection of fifteen pages of poetry informed by one's research and bound as a single copy artist's book-either accompanied by a public presentation of one's creative work. Poetry to be included in one's artist book should be carefully crafted and discussed in the writing workshop and reworked during the course of the quarter before they are collected and bound. Installation pieces should be multi-media, and must strive to work powerfully as art. Presentations should help classmates and invited guests to contextualize student's work in the light of what student's learned in their research. Half the students will present their work during week nine and the other half will present their work during week ten.

  • Credit awarded in comparative religion, cultural studies/cultural analysis, art history, mixed media art and creative writing.
  • Total: 16 credits.
  • Program is preparatory for careers and future studies in non-Western art history, mixed media arts, comparative religion, cultural studies, creative writing (poetry) and media studies.