Studio Areas
Sculpture
Sculpture classes allow artists and students to explore their ideas in three dimensional space at a time when new technologies are becoming a part of everyday life and there is a renewed interest in handmade forms and craft materials. As borders between media shift, contemporary sculpture and installation work may include new uses of video, ceramics, architecture, fabric, drawing, or performance, as well as classic skills such as woodworking, welding, or moldmaking.
The sculpture facility covers a full floor of the Barney building, and is divided into a wood and metal shop, a critique room, and a plaster and moldmaking studio. Shop technicians are available for information and oversight of the studio. The sculpture faculty includes Area Director Sue De Beer, who recently completed solo exhibitions in Berlin, Los Angeles, and New York, as well as Beverly Semmes, Rico Gatson, Curtis Mitchell, Dave Hardy, Ian Cooper, and other innovative practitioners.
Craft Sculpture: Ceramics, Metalsmithing, Fabric, and Glass
The renewed connection between fine arts and craft media has become the focus of a new cross-disciplinary movement in contemporary art. Courses in ceramics, mixed media sculpture, metalsmithing, jewelry, and sewn fabrics allow artists to expand their ideas and practices through a wide range of materials and skills in the Art Department’s studio facilities. Through a unique liaison with Urban Glass, the largest facility in the world dedicated to glass as an art form, students can expand their creative vocabulary in this medium, as well. Area Director Judith Schwartz is on of the world’s leading authors and curators in ceramics. Faculty including Matt Nolen, Beverly Semmes, Klaus Burgel, Shida Kuo, and discuss work within a historical and contemporary framework, designed to help students gain both technical and critical skills.
Art in Media: Photography
Photography remains a multifaceted and evocative medium that is central to the continued development of art in the 21st-century; it embraces aesthetics, political and historical issues, social change, and an ongoing dialogue with the "self."
Our darkroom on the second floor of Barney Building was recently renovated into a state-of-the-art facility, complete with a 30” color processor, group black & white and color darkrooms, as well as eight individual color darkrooms. The classrooms, which can also be used as studios, are equipped with iMacs, video and slide projectors, and digital photo printers. We have a large selection of equipment for loan, from 35mm cameras to 4x5s, tungsten lights to professional strobe lights. Classes offered include B&W, Color, Digital, Documentary, and Photography & Performance, as well as studio courses including lighting & medium and large format cameras. Artists, critics, and historians share faculty duties in this challenging area, led by performance artist Gerald Pryor, who also directs the NYU program in Shanghai. Outstanding photography faculty include Lyle Ashton Harris, whose work was recently included in the Venice Biennale, Patterson Beckwith, and Hiroshi Sunairi.
Barney Darkroom Blog & Hours
Art in Media: Video
Video has been a major force in the artworld since the 1970s, with new advances in technology, video will soon become a dominant force in commercial film industries as well. Artists working in video have been at the forefront of these new developments, exploring both the public impact of mediated imagery and the personal resonance of increasingly convenient technologies.
This fall, the department has completed a new computer studio for video and new media, housing 16 innovative iMac workstations, a laptop lounge, as well as viewing areas, projection, and video equipment check out. An advanced video suite contains two additional editing stations, and a 24p camera. The Video Area is guided by Peter Campus, a pioneer in video art, whose current installation work has recently been shown in Madrid, Paris, and New York. The Video faculty also includes Claudia Joskowicz, and Alex McQuilkin, and Aida Ruilova.
Art in Media: Computer Art
As we look toward the future of technology, the role of artists in realizing the potential, as well as the potential difficulties inherent in rapid cultural change, is more central now than at any time since the Bauhaus. The vision of artists in humanizing technology, in allowing individuals to respond to mass media is a unique form of resistance, as well as a source of creative energy.
The newly completed Computer Studio, with an i-mac classroom, a laptop lounge, a full range of software for photoshop, drawing, design, video, 3-D, sound, web and open source projects, as well as equipment for video projection, scanning, small scale prints, and drawing tables has enabled the Art Department to explore new media on a vastly expanded scale. New courses have been developed in design, freeware, web based art, laser cutting, and 3-D printing, as well as seminar courses in post-post modern theory. The adjacent Digital Printing Studio, with it’s large-scale Epson printers, has brought all of the department’s programs together for workshops and exhibitions.
The Advanced Digital Printing Studio provides student hands-on experience and advanced skills in printing large scale digital images.
Art in Media: Environmental Activism
Faculty member Natalie Jeremijenko, one of the most visible and dynamic forces working at the intersection of art, technology, engineering, and environmental studies, has established the Environmental Health Clinic, a laboratory to diagnose environmental ills and create prescriptions for a greener tomorrow. Working with designers, gardeners, and computer scientists, Jeremikenko, who is herself an engineer as well as an artist, is establishing a cross-disciplinary team of artists and researchers to contribute to a slate of poetic and political projects.
Painting and Drawing
The skills of painting and drawing enable the artist-student to transform ideas, be they internal or external, to the planarity of a piece of paper or canvas. This process of converting thoughts and signs into visually accessible shapes is complex and, at times, very direct. For this reason, painting and drawing will always be considered by many to be at the heart and soul of the visual arts.
The recent resurgence of interest in traditional hand made media speaks to many issues in contemporary life, and the demand for courses in these areas is higher than ever. Our painting and drawing faculty, led by Area Director Maureen Gallace, with the support of John Torreano, Jesse Bransford, Ross Bleckner, Keith Mayerson, Peter Rostovsky, Michael St John, and Jason Tomme reflects the broad range of acclaimed artists working in classical materials.
Printmaking
The print area offers a full range of courses exposing students to a breadth of established and emerging methods and approaches. All work is examined in a contemporary critical framework designed to challenge and extend the student’s creative experience. Experimentation and exploration is strongly encouraged. The print studios enable students to realize projects in a wide variety of methods, including etching, silkscreen, relief, book arts, letterpress, as well as digital laser cutting and 3-D printing. Print collections housed in the city’s museums and galleries contribute to a highly developed and environment for the study of printmaking. The printmaking area is supervised by Mark Johnson, faculty include Valerie Hammond and Kiki Smith.