2012-13 Catalog

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Title   Offering Standing Credits Credits When F W S Su Description Preparatory Faculty Days Multiple Standings Start Quarters Open Quarters
Art/Work
Julia Zay, Shaw Osha (Flores) and Kathleen Eamon
  Program FR–SOFreshmen - Sophomore 16 16 Day F 12 Fall W 13Winter - In this program, we want to think about art, and we want to think about work, but we want to think about them in a historically-specific sense.  We will be talking about art and work as practices and discourses specific to “modernity,” and we will talk about modernity as marked by the emergence of art and work as distinct from the rest of social life.  And we will ask what it means to live, work, and make art right now. Two broad disciplines, visual studies and philosophy, will orient us, and we will also look to the spirit of the (1919-1933) and its struggle to define a modernist art school curriculum as a way of making these questions concrete.  We will work our own intellectual and theoretical capacities right alongside our skills and techniques in visual and time-based art.  We will come to understand what it takes to have both intellectual and artistic , as well as how to produce our own intellectual and artistic .  In terms of coverage, the program will offer foundational work in visual and cultural studies, art and media practice, as well as 18 -20 century European philosophy.  We will study history in order to understand our own moment better.  We will begin our study with important texts that respond to the gradual rise of industry as the dominant mode of production, and we will continue our examination into the eras that follow.  We will trace the emergence of two tendencies that stand in some tension with one another: the idea of “work” undergoes some disenchantment with the rise of large-scale industry, but it also takes on a romantic aspect with the possibility of greater egalitarianism.  “Art,” and its work, is also simultaneously both debased and exalted, thought of as both epitome and critic of commodity culture, a space apart from and the ironic fulfillment of the market economy. Following our study of the we will look to the rise of conceptualism in art in the 1960s and 70s and contemporary forms and institutions of art that are grappling with the question of art as labor and artists as workers under current economic pressures. All of these case studies will support our study of how the meaning and value of art has become invested in the everyday and uses labor as an organizing principle of the aesthetic. We will pursue our themes by thinking, looking, and making.  In fall we will set our foundation by studying major philosophical and artistic movements and texts, basic skills in visual and time-based art, but also by developing our skills in reading, discussing, and writing about challenging texts in philosophy, cultural theory, and art history.  In winter quarter, we will build on our foundation. One of our central aims will be to reconcile our own utopian aspirations, inspired by the struggles of the , by developing “schools” of our own.  Each of our schools will be responsible for designing a curriculum around a specific discipline and for making collaborative “work” across those disciplines. We will study a range of theorists, artists, objects and practices. Authors include: G. W. F. Hegel, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Michel Foucault, Pierre Bourdieu, Michel de Certeau, Judith Butler, Linda Nochlin, Julia Bryan-Wilson, and Miwon Kwon. Artists include: Joseph Albers, Walter Gropius and others affiliated with the Fluxus-affiliated artists, Robert Morris, Yvonne Rainer, Mika Rottenberg, Chantal Akerman, Charles Burnett, the Maysles Brothers, Fritz Lang and John Sayles. We will also read from a variety of sources in art and media history and theory, and social theory. Program work will include research, writing (both formal academic writing as well as writing experiments), and the making of visual and media art. humanities, visual studies, gender studies, cultural studies, education and communications. Julia Zay Shaw Osha (Flores) Kathleen Eamon Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Fall Fall Winter
Awakening the Dreamer, Pursuing the Dream
Terry Setter and Cynthia Kennedy
Signature Required: Spring 
  Program FR ONLYFreshmen Only 16 16 Day F 12 Fall W 13Winter S 13Spring -Joseph Campbell Joseph Campbell points out that our greatest challenge is how to live a humane existence in inhuman times. Awakening the Dreamer, Pursuing the Dream will focus on the individual's relationship to personal and cultural values, society, leadership and the creative process. This program is intended for students who seek to explore and refine their core values in a context where they can act upon them with increasing awareness and integrity.The program faculty recognize that the social, ecological and psychological challenges of every era have required people to live their lives in the face of significant challenges and it is now widely recognized that crisis often precedes positive transformation. Therefore, this program will begin by focusing on how people in the past have worked to create a meaningful relationship between themselves and the world around them. We will explore movement, stories, and images of various creative practices and spiritual traditions from ancient to modern times to discover their relevance in our own lives. As students gain knowledge and skills, they will develop their own multifaceted approaches to clarifying their identity, then prioritizing and pursuing their dreams.Throughout the year, the program will work with multiple forms of intelligence, somatic practices and integrative expressive arts approaches to learning. Students will explore the practices of music, movement (such as dance or yoga), writing, drawing and theater in order to cultivate the senses as well as the imagination and powers of expression. These practices will help us understand the deeper aspects of the human experience, which are the source of self-leadership, intentional living and positive change. Students will also investigate the relationship between inner transformation and social change through engagement in community service. Students will read mythology, literature and poetry while exploring ideas that continue to shape contemporary culture. We will also look to indigenous cultures to deepen our appreciation of often-overlooked wisdom and values. We will seek to develop a broader understanding of contemporary culture as a stepping stone to thinking critically about how today's dreams can become tomorrow's reality. the liberal arts, expressive arts, psychology, sociology, and cultural studies. Terry Setter Cynthia Kennedy Tue Wed Thu Freshmen FR Fall Fall Winter Spring
Countershapes, Counterpoints, and the Resistance to Homophony: Music Addressing Complexity
Arun Chandra
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day S 13Spring How can musical compositions express the complexity of their times?  Western European music has had a long development of simultaneous complexity, from the introduction during Medieval times of independent voice leading, to the multi-voiced complexity of Gyorgi Ligeti's  "micro-polyphony" in the 1960s.  "Polyphony" is the opposite of  “homophony”, in which musical lines are not independent of one another, but hierarchically bound to one another, harmonically and metrically, as in a "Barbershop Quartet".Polyphony has analogues in human and animal behavior. From the 1930s through the 1970s, the anthropologist Gregory Bateson studied the cultures of the South Pacific, the behaviors of alcoholics in San Francisco, and the language of dolphins.  From these (and many other areas of study) he created analyses that addressed the complexity of their subject matters, without simplifying them.  In this program, we will be reading analyses by Bateson, while creating compositions in sound that mirror and address the complexities that Bateson writes about, via the musical techniques of polyphony and voice-misleading.We will also investigate and learn how to use Max/MSP, one of the mostpopular software packages for the creation of music compositions, in an attempt to create acoustic events that might begin to match the complexity of our own times, using polyphony, and studying the ideas of counterpoint as shown in the compositions of J. S. Bach, Arnold Schoenberg, Gyorgi Ligeti, and contemporary composers. 
There will be regular listening sessions, musical projects, and writing assignments using the Bateson essays as models.  The program will attend concerts of music in Seattle and Portland and give a public concert of our final compositions. Arun Chandra Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Spring Spring
Creating Dance
Robert Esposito
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day F 12 Fall This focused, one-quarter, movement-based program, involves progressive study in modern dance composition, theory, and technique. Prior dance experience at the beginner/intermediate level is advised.Activities will include regular classes in Laban-based Nikolais/Louis dance technique, theory, improvisation, composition, and seminar. Students will engage in vigorous physical activity based in basic anatomy and dance kinesiology, using a Pilates-based floor barre. Mind-body (somatic) work will be based on Feldenkrais’ “Awareness Through Movement” and theories of Gestalt psychology. Regular work in dance improvisation and composition will emphasize the personal and group dynamics of power-freedom-belonging-fun. Students will learn basic craft principles of composition: the formal design of space, time, shape and motion, drawing content from their own life experience and past interdisciplinary study to create original dance theatre work. Compositions will be performed weekly in performance forums that include faculty and student-centered critique and analysis.Theory, texts, and seminar will review the history, development, and methodology of dance and movement as somatic therapy, draw distinctions between art and psychology; and explore the creative process in therapy and the therapeutic efficacy of dance and other art forms. Seminar will draw on texts in psychology, art history, linguistics, poetics, and neurophysiology to develop skills in critical analysis and discourse, as well as situating texts, art and performance in their historical and sociocultural contexts. Writing will balance creative and analytical forms and research styles. The program culminates with a Week 10 showing of selected student work. dance and theatre. Robert Esposito Mon Tue Wed Thu Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Digital Audio and Music Composition
Arun Chandra
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 8 08 Day Su 13Summer Session I This course will focus on learning to use the computer to create and manipulate waveforms.  Students will learn how to use the "C" programming language to synthesize and compose with waveforms while learning about their mathematical premises.  Students will create short compositions using FM, AM, granular, and other synthesis techniques.  We will listen to contemporary and historical experiments in sound synthesis and composition, and students will be asked to write a short paper on synthesis techniques.  Students will learn how to program in "C" under a Linux or OS X system.  The overall emphasis of the class will be in learning how to address the computer in a spirit of play and experiment, to find out what composition can become.  There will be weekly readings in aesthetics, along with readings in synthesis techniques and programming.  Students of all levels of experience are welcome. Arun Chandra Mon Tue Wed Thu Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer
Drawing from the Sea
Gerardo Chin-Leo and Lucia Harrison
Signature Required: Spring 
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 16 16 Day W 13Winter S 13Spring This program will examine marine environments and life (The Sea) from the perspectives of science and visual arts. This program is designed for beginning students in either discipline. The Sea accounts for a major portion of the biomass and diversity of life and plays a major role in global cycles. The Sea also is a source of inspiration for artists, and artwork provides insights into the relationships of humans to this environment. Currently, The Sea faces major crises caused by human activities such as habitat degradation and natural resource over-exploitation. Science and art can contribute to effective solutions to these major environmental problems by providing an understanding of natural phenomena and insights into how nature is perceived and valued by humans. We will examine how both visual artists and marine scientists use close observation to study The Sea and produce images to communicate the results of their work. We will also study how scientific findings can provide a foundation for expressive art and how art can effectively convey the implications of scientific findings to how humans relate with nature.Activities will develop concepts and skills of marine science and visual art and examine how each discipline informs the other. Lectures will teach concepts in marine science and aesthetics and develop a basic scientific and visual arts vocabulary. Labs and field trips to local Puget Sound beaches, the San Juan Islands and Olympic Peninsula will provide opportunities to experience The Sea and to apply the concepts/skills learned in class. Weekly workshops on drawing and watercolor painting will provide technical skills for keeping illustrated field journals and strategies for developing observations into polished expressive thematic drawings. Seminars will explore how scientific and artistic activities contribute to solving environmental issues. For example, we will study how the understanding of human relationships with The Sea can be combined with knowledge of the science underlying marine phenomena to promote effective political change (artists and scientists as activists). Other themes that explore the interaction of science and art will include the Sea as: a source of food, a metaphor for human experience, a place of work or medium of transportation, and a subject of inquiry. Most assignments will integrate science and art.In winter quarter, we will focus on marine habitats including estuaries such as the Nisqually River estuary, the inter-tidal zone and the deep sea. Spring quarter will focus on the diversity and adaptations of marine life. Both quarters will include week-long overnight field trips. This program will include an outreach component where students will contribute to environmental education by developing and presenting science and art curriculum to local schoolchildren. visual arts, education, marine science, biology and ecology. Gerardo Chin-Leo Lucia Harrison Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Winter Winter Spring
Gothic Constructions: Architecture and Literature
Trevor Speller and Anthony Tindill
  Program SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day F 12 Fall W 13Winter In 1748, Horace Walpole purchased an estate in London. Over the next thirty years he converted that estate into a Gothic castle and planned "ruins." In 1765, Walpole wrote a novel widely regarded as the first true work of Gothic fiction. In an age of reason, Walpole's focus on the supernatural, feudal ruins and high passion pulled a medieval past into the order of the day, transforming it to meet the desires of a modern public both in print and in stone. From its beginnings, Gothic fiction shared a common link and a common bond with architecture. For generations before Walpole, the architecture of the Gothic period was the equivalent of history books and literature. Architectural historian Jonathan Glancey writes, "The Architecture of the great medieval Gothic cathedrals is one of the glories of European civilization. Here was an attempt to lift everyday life up to the heavens--to touch the face of God--using the highest stone vaults, the highest towers, the most glorious steeples permitted by contemporary technology...it led to some of the most inspiring and daring buildings of all time." Though not written in actual words, Gothic architecture is written in structural form and religious allegory.We will ask ourselves:We will investigate examples of Gothic literature and architecture in Europe and the Americas from the twelfth century to the present, as well as the history, theory and interrelationship of these artistic modes. Students will be asked to attend lectures and seminars, write papers, take examinations, and develop work in studio that may include drawing, model-building and writing. In addition, students will visit examples of Gothic architecture in concert with their readings. Architectural texts may include: by Roland Recht, by John Fichen, and by Nicola Coldstream. Fictional texts may include texts from the medieval period to the present, including , and stories by Edgar Allen Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Angela Carter and Joyce Carol Oates. literary studies and architecture. Trevor Speller Anthony Tindill Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall Winter
Iconoclasms
Lisa Sweet, Miranda Mellis and Elizabeth Williamson
  Program FR–SOFreshmen - Sophomore 16 16 Day F 12 Fall W 13Winter Iconoclasm is about more than just destroying or defacing an existing image--it also creates its own symbolic content. This program addresses iconoclasm as both a contemporary and a historical phenomenon, asking questions such as: What perceptions and convictions inspire people to attack, deface or destroy images? What is achieved by burning a Quran or toppling a statue of a government leader?This program is designed for students with interest in aesthetic philosophy and printmaking. Over the course of 20 weeks, we will explore several case studies of the destruction of images--from religious objects to 'canonized' works of art in museums, from iconoclasm borne of religious conviction, to more familiar forms associated with political dissent. We will also cover image-breaking as an artistic strategy. Our collective project will be to gain clarity on the impulses, expressions and consequences of iconoclasms.Fall quarter will provide students with a framework for understanding the history and thinking embedded in instances of iconoclasm. Students will be introduced to texts and concepts through lecture and seminar, and will begin to process ideas addressing image destruction more intentionally through writing and revising critical essays. In order to heighten an understanding of concepts as well as developing new skills and habits of thought, students will learn basic intaglio printmaking techniques, providing a hands-on context in which to understand both the power of images and some consequences of iconoclasm. They will also practice storytelling with attention to the social and historical stakes of the fraught categories of truth and fiction, ethics and aesthetics. Exploratory, craft-oriented writing exercises will be assigned on a regular basis (with accompanying readings) in order to provide participants with a sense of the possibilities of form and content. Winter quarter will represent a deeper examination of events in which iconoclastic impulses go by other names: censorship, sacrilege, art history or art-making. During this second half of the program, students will also develop culminating projects synthesizing and advancing program concepts.Though we will be looking at works of art in a historical context, this is not a traditional art history class, nor does it offer a chronological survey of Western art. About 40% of students' time will be devoted to artistic practice and 60% to rigorous reading, writing and discussion. Students should be prepared to articulate the content of their artistic work, and to use creative modes of thinking to actively engage the theoretical materials presented in the program. Lisa Sweet Miranda Mellis Elizabeth Williamson Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Fall Fall Winter
Individual Study: Queer Studies, Performance
Walter Grodzik
Signature Required: Fall 
  Contract SO–SRSophomore - Senior 16 16 Day F 12 Fall Individual study offers individual and groups of students the opportunity to develop self-direction, to learn how to manage a personal project, to focus on unique combinations of subjects, and to pursue original interdisciplinary projects without the constraints of an external structure. Individual and groups of students interested in a self-directed project, research or internships in Queer Studies or the Performing and Visual Arts should contact the faculty by email at Walter Grodzik Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall
Music, Math and Cybernetics: Things + Relations = Systems
Arun Chandra and Richard Weiss
  Program FR–SOFreshmen - Sophomore 16 16 Day F 12 Fall W 13Winter Systems are not only of things but the relations between them.Mathematics offers an elegant language for the creation and analysis of relations and patterns, in and out of time. In its essence it is about order, continuity and difference.Music (when not merely reproduction) comes into being when a composer desires, specifies and implements sounds in a system of relations. ("Style" being a short-hand for a particular system of sounds and their relations.)Thus, music realizes the offer of mathematics when an implementation of desire involves systems of thought: what you want is what you get---but you have to want something! and articulate it! in a language! of things! and relations!---which is cybernetics."Cybernetics is a way of thinking about ways of thinking, of which it is one." --Larry Richards.This program interleaves the composition of computer music with the mathematics and analysis of sound. We will explore how it relates to scientific methodology, creative insight and contemporary technology. We will address "things" such as music and sound, rhythms and pulses, harmonics and resonances, the physical, geometrical, and psycho-physical bases of sound, acoustics, and their differing sets of relations by which they become "systems".A composer/musician and a computer scientist/mathematician will collaborate to offer a creative and practical, accessible and deeply engaging introduction to these subjects for interested non-specialists. Our math will be at a pre-calculus level, though students may do research projects at a more advanced level if they choose. Interdisciplinary projects could include creating music algorithmically with computers, or analyzing sound mathematically.Cybernetics offers both a philosophy underlying systems of thought, as well as frameworks with which one can both analyze and create. This program is designed for those who find their art in numbers, their science in notes, their thoughts on the ground, and their feet in the stars. By combining music, mathematics and computer science, this program contributes to a liberal arts education, and appeals to the creativity of both buttocks of the brain. Arun Chandra Richard Weiss Mon Mon Tue Tue Thu Thu Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Fall Fall Winter
Rites of Passage: Ceramics and Fine Metalwork
Jean Mandeberg and Evan Blackwell
Signature Required: Winter  Spring 
  Program JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day F 12 Fall W 13Winter S 13Spring Our long lives are marked by celebrations, ceremonies and often age-related events that we remember years later through associated objects and images. Artists are the ones who make the plaques, gravestones, amulets, awards, medals, lockets, etc. that pass through the memories of generations, and these objects are often made using ceramics or precious metals. Clay and metal are the materials we will focus on in this studio art program as we explore materials and technical processes that express our understanding of rites of passage. Which rites are public and which are private across cultures? How have these commemorations changed over time and been influenced by travel and technology?This will be a rigorous studio-based program where students will spend one quarter focusing on ceramics and one quarter focusing on fine metalworking while continually experimenting with mixing media. There will be particular emphasis on the relationship between these two studios and the way surfaces such as glazes and enamels are fired over dimensional forms, and ways the process of casting can be used in either metal or ceramics. We will consider political aspects of the collection and processing of our materials, as well as the meaning associated with them in particular commemorative forms.Art historical examples such as memento mori ("Remember your mortality") or milagros and ex votos will be closely examined through weekly writing, extensive readings and lively seminar discussion. Students should be prepared to constantly juxtapose theory and practice as they address both individual and collaborative assignments during fall and winter quarters.During spring quarter each student will either pursue a theme-based project or an internship with a practicing artist or regional arts organization. It will be the student's responsibility to write a detailed proposal for an individual project and faculty will assist students in locating and developing internships. Both paths of study in the spring will build on the conceptual framework, technical skills and studio work ethic established during fall and winter. We hope spring quarter will be a time for students to connect their visual work to the social and political realities of these ideas outside the studio. Jean Mandeberg Evan Blackwell Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall Winter Spring
Student-Originated Studies: 3D Shaping
Robert Leverich
Signature Required: Fall  Winter  Spring 
  SOS JR–SRJunior - Senior 16 16 Day F 12 Fall W 13Winter S 13Spring This year-long program will provide a studio community and critical and technical support for students ready for intermediate to advanced independent work in 3D studio arts and design. Proposals for work in sculpture, crafts, site-specific installations, environmental art, and sustainable design are all welcome, from individuals or groups with a shared focus.Giving shape to materials is time-consuming, intellectually challenging, and physically demanding work. This program will emphasize informed, responsible, and skillful mastery of materials and shaping processes. Along with individual work and communal activities, students will take part in skills workshops that may cover drawing, advanced wood and metal shop processes, carving in wood or stone, fabrication with repurposed materials, or casting in bronze or aluminum, depending on student interest and commitment. In the first week, students will finalize plans for their independent work and supporting research and writing, sign up for workshops, and work with faculty to identify shared readings and activities. Students will be expected to produce significant bodies of thematic studio work, supporting research, artist statements and portfolios. They will be called on to work intensively in the studio together, to share their research through papers and presentations, and to participate in regular and rigorous critiques. Collaborative work will also include seminars, field trips, and guest lectures, to challenge distinctions between arts, crafts, and design, and to look for commonalities of approach and meaning. A key challenge for students in the spring quarter will be to jointly organize and mount an exhibition of program work at an off-campus venue.Program goals include well-informed and rigorously developed 3D work, technical competency, skillful responses to site and community contexts of the work, and the ability to speak for the work in writing, presentations, and other forms of public discourse. visual arts, sculpture, architecture, environmental design, and art education. Robert Leverich Junior JR Senior SR Fall Fall Winter Spring
The Uncanny in Psychoanalysis and Philosophy
Kathleen Eamon
  Program FR–SRFreshmen - Senior 8 08 Day Su 13Summer Session I Using Freud’s famous essay on as our starting point, we will investigate this category of experience which has been described as hovering between the natural and the supernatural.  Although our approaches will be diverse (including philosophical and psychoanalytic texts, as well as short stories and other media), we will focus on the way "the uncanny" has been mined for insight onto life, politics, and experience in modernity.  Other possible authors include Kant, Baudelaire, E.T.A. Hoffmann, Edgar Allan Poe, Otto Rank, Tzvetan Todorov.  The program will be reading, writing, and conversation intensive. Kathleen Eamon Mon Tue Thu Freshmen FR Sophomore SO Junior JR Senior SR Summer Summer