| Culture, Identity and the Over-Painted Image (Online)

Explore the evocative nature of visual image within the tumultuous contemporary culture we are experiencing. Create dynamic, petite yet vital bodies of works by integrating photography with the abstract materiality of the artist’s hand.

NOTE: This class will be held in a live, online format using the Zoom Platform. 
Class meets 4 days, Mon & Wed 2-4pm ET + arranged 1:1 critiques with the instructor.

I thought of a labyrinth of labyrinths, of one sinuous spreading labyrinth that would encompass the past and the future and in some way involve the stars. — Jorge Luis Borges, from “The Garden of Forking Paths”

This workshop explores the evocative nature of visual images within the whirlwind of contemporary culture we are all experiencing.  Impulsive, intimate responses to the visual world may be ending in themselves or the genesis for larger developed works — or a focused series.

We will create a petite yet vital body of work that merges photography with the abstract materiality of the artist’s hand.  This class is intended for painters, photographers, and filmmakers of all experience levels.  

This workshop will use Zoom for four, two-hour group sessions and individual critiques with the instructor.        

The first session will begin with a shared group discussion about our own individual fascinations and concerns, moving quickly into personal explorations of landscape, portraiture, and still life.  The instructor will also provide an introduction to relative contemporary art and artists working in dialogue with the workshop’s goals.

Between classes, students will be encouraged to continue working on their own and to pursue a continuation of thoughts and ideas that are important to them.  Everyone will schedule an individual consultation with the instructor. 

Our final class will focus on continued studio work, and a final group discussion and review.  We will use a formal critique format to discuss works. 

• Each class will begin with a critique of works from the previous lesson, a lecture on contemporary art and cultural norms, and work. To accomplish this, your works MUST be presented in a PDF slide (Preview works well).  
• The first session will begin with introductions and shared group discussions about our own individual fascinations and concerns, moving quickly into personal explorations of landscape, portraiture, and still life.  The instructor will also provide an introduction to relative contemporary art and artists working in dialogue with class goals.
• Between classes, students are encouraged to continue working on their own (as time dictates) and to pursue a continuation of thoughts and ideas that are important to them by maintaining a sketchbook. All students will schedule an individual consultation with the instructor.
• Our final class will focus on the group presentation, continued studio work, discussion, and review.

For the first class, please show up with a tangible example of your current work from which to begin work: a printed photograph or video still, on matt or glossy paper.  Have digital files at hand as well to share and discuss your work. 

Students should also be prepared with:

• Continuing edits of digital images 
• PRINTS from which to work with wet media
• Desktop from which to set up and work
• Wet media of choice: inks, oil, and acrylic paints, appropriate tools and mediums 
• Blank page sketchbook for drawing, writing, and recording perception

Suggested Texts:

• Visual Culture: The Study of the Visual after the Cultural Turn, Margaret Dikovitskaya 
• Post-Constructuralism, A Very Short Introduction, Catherine Belsey
• Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag
• Photography, Trace and Trauma, by Margaret Iverson
• On Photography, Susan Sontag

*A materials resource list will be emailed to registered students prior to class. 

See more of Kate Beck’s work at https://katebeck.art.

All images: ©Kate Beck