ARTM186AL-1 / CHICANOM186AL-1 / WLDARTM125AL-1 BEYOND MEXICAN MURAL: BEGINNING MURALISM AND COMMUNITY LABORATORY CESAR CHAVEZ DIGITAL/MURAL LAB – 4 UNIT LAB PROF. JUDITH F. BACA – judybaca@ucla.edu
The César Chávez Digital/Mural Lab (CCD/ML) is a technologically equipped art studio housed at the Social and Public Art Resource Center in Venice, (10min) from UCLA campus where students can work in a community based setting in a facility where much of Los Angeles’ mural work originates. The CCD/ML is a research, production and teaching facility that utilizes the latest computer technology for the creation of community-based art. Led by Prof. Judith Baca, UCLA students in Beyond the Mexican Mural course will collaborate with community members to produce public art. The CCD/ML offers students instruction in a technologically sophisticated working environment to research, design and produce large scale painted and digitally generated public artworks for community environments. The lab component is a studio class intended to investigate and produce public artwork as a method of community development, education and organizing.
DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CURRICULUM
In order to best understand the following syllabi the following definitions of the characteristics of the curriculum offer clarification:
The UCLA CESAR CHAVEZ/SPARC DIGITAL MURAL LAB AND LARGE-SCALE IMAGING COMMUNITY WORKSHOP IS:
- Activist and problem solving. Visual art includes, but is more than, expression; it has a crucial role in community building, problem solving and changing perceptions. In recent years, public and community-based artworks have figured significantly in giving voice to people who have few alternatives
- Project based and product driven. Students will identify and develop Their own community-based projects which will allow for a diversity of skills and concept development, including analysis and critique. Since projects are ultimately product driven, the workshop will more realistically approximate the environment in which students will work as professionals.
- Learner centered. By its very nature, art making must be grounded in the curiosities, interests and passions of the creator. Students will be encouraged to develop art out of a complex relationship between identity, empathy, community and the need to express.
- Collaborative. Students will be encouraged to develop multiple approaches to art making and academic research, from solitary production to collaborative interaction with other students, with community members and with their audiences. The nature of visual art as communication requires a flexible approach to process.
- Interdisciplinary. Today’s art, indeed today’s work, is profoundly interdisciplinary, not only in terms of media–in this case the integration of both hand generated and computer generated images–but in terms of the information it draws upon and the partnerships it forms. Artists work with urban planners to transform neighborhoods. They work with churches and city councils to develop a sense of community. The mandate for interdisciplinary inquiry provides students with a unique environment in which to work with students in fields other than the arts.
- Diversity oriented. In the visual arts field, understanding cultural diversity and related questions of identity, audience and meaning forms a base of theory and practice that is fundamental to a curriculum of this nature. Workshop participants will examine current Eurocentric notions of art and art making in the context of multiple histories and ways of seeing. Students will engage in a multicultural discourse that acknowledges the values and expressive forms that come from different cultural heritages.
- Technologically sophisticated. Recognizing that the image is no longer simply or exclusively generated by hand, the Workshop will provide students with not only skills traditionally associated with visual art making, but also those offered by multi-media technology. The interdisciplinary linking of visual arts, public arts and technology will help students to develop a technological skill base that will allow them to be competitive as practicing artists, educators, sociologists, political scientists, historians, etc.
- Reflective. Today’s visual artists must have the ability to reflect upon their own work and that of their contemporaries, to analyze the effects of their work, and to continue the critique process begun in school long after they are working on their own. With the changing nature of art, art criticism itself is changing, and contemporary artists must not only make art but also be able to speak d write about it. This process of critical reflection is the basis for lifelong learning and practice as a visual artist. The Workshop will encourage students to be critical thinkers who contribute to a national and international intellectual community.
- Multiple level teaching. While beginning students are offered only one point of entry into the sequential course annually, intermediate and advanced students are offered entry at any time during the three-course sequence. As an aspect of the curriculum is student centered learning, various skill levels working in the studios simultaneously is a desirable characteristic of the courses. More advanced students provide impetus and support to beginning and intermediate students while learning to articulate what they have learned to less advanced students and carrying out more independent research in a studio/lab setting.
CURRICULUM STRUCTURE
Curriculum will be based on a three-hour course offered once weekly, taught in a 4 hour lab per/week for ten weeks. However, because of the time required to develop and implement the community outreach process, as well as the organic nature of the art making itself in studio, students should be prepared to invest considerably more than 12 hours per week in order to complete their projects by the end of the quarter.. Students need to consider their capacity to commit to the time required to see a mural production through from start to finish
Art making, research, contemporary cultural and community issues, problems solving and conceptual skills development will be integrated within the developmental sequence of creating:
- (1) Research and Development;
- (2) Pre-Production;
- (3) Production;
- (4) Post-Production; and
- (5) Distribution.
(1) Research and Development. Basic skills, both in traditional mural painting and creation of digitized images; understanding of the genre of mural making and its evolution in Mexico and the United States; historic, social, cultural and community and issues; philosophical considerations in the realm of public art;
(2) Pre-production. Developing a concept, scripting, planning, applying basic skills to the project, designing the actual project, research involving teamwork, laying groundwork in the community, including interviews with community members, organization of speak outs or public forums as a means of eliciting community input.
(3) Production. Creating the artistic product. Complex interactions, skills, production techniques combined and applied to the work.
(4) Post-Production. Refinement, evaluation, analysis, meeting with the community to determine project impact and effectiveness.
(5) Distribution creating broad community awareness of the project, documenting the project, publishing the impact and results.
UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORKSHOP
The workshop will be unique in several respects:
(1) Typically, students acquire theoretical concepts and hone their technique in an academic setting before venturing off campus to apply their newly learned skills in an actual working environment. In the alternative, the Workshop will be conducted at the Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC), a multicultural, grassroots arts organization located in Venice California. Students will have the opportunity to learn, practice and create in a service and community-based learning milieu, while at the same time, working directly with community members in selected venues that will ultimately house the final artistic product. Thus the Workshop will more closely approximate working environments in which students may be employed in the future.
(2) Funds provided by the University and Grants to SPARC were used to retrofit the former police motor pool area of SPARC’s historic art deco building, (formerly the Venice City Jail,) creating the UCLA Cesar Chavez Center/SPARC Digital Mural Lab. The Digital Mural Lab is a complete production and teaching facility, housing a network of Apple workstations. Together with local participants who will act as informants, the students will help to articulate community defined issues, unearth historical and cultural materials, and work cooperatively to find art- based solutions while acquiring important technical skills in the application of sophisticated graphic programs, including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and Painter. Use of these programs will facilitate the replication of hand painted murals. Combined photographic materials and hand rendered images can be used to produce the mural size image, which can be painted or printed at any scale.
(3) The work will prepare students to perform within a higher technology environment, and to attain skills that will make them eminently more employable. The artistic and commercial implications of digital imaging are far- reaching and dramatic. New mural images can be created digitally from drawings and photos, scanned into the system, and superimposed onto potential sites. Proposed work can then be viewed in situ by a potential client, saving hundreds of hours of studio time in hand-generated work. The newly created images can then be printed FULL SCALE, a method gaining increasing commercial usage. Digitally created fine arts Giclee prints can be generated easily and relatively quickly for sales and marketing purposes. Skill in producing and manipulating digitally enhanced images, both by themselves and integrated with hand-painted images, will allow students to work on the cutting edge of art production and conservation in the twenty-first century.
(4) Team building and cohort collaboration is encouraged in the mural studio setting. Students are provided the opportunity to work with other students, intergenerational and community members in a non-competitive environment. Through the process of collaboration on shared goals over a two-quarter project, important cohorts are developed and often result in lasting connections between students who have shared an important creative experience resulting in a permanent public artwork.
CÉSAR CHÁVEZ DIGITAL/MURAL LAB
Lab hours Tues. Thurs. 1:00-5:00pm A studio course in Muralism by Prof. Baca
Past enrollment in Beyond Mexican Mural Theory 186A
Winter 2013 Student Project
This Winter Students of Professor Judith F. Baca’s UCLA/SPARC César Chávez Digital/Mural Lab will be producing 3 digital multimedia projects. Students will receive special individual instruction to support their project development.
PROJECT 1: Students will work individually to complete first assignment of producing a Personal Narrative composition using combination of a place/context photograph and personal image to express an idea about oneself, friend or loved one. Students will define their personnel identity cultural, racial, religious, gender, or ideological or other and will visually express their point of view to be incorporated with their portrait. Students will combine unlike imagery to create juxtaposition of two or more photographs. Your personal opinion should be entirely apparent in the final image. Students will be instructed on a series of simple computer maneuvers and learn basic image manipulation techniques. Student comfort level with technology will be assessed.
PROJECT 2: Two days at Judy Baca Arts Academy. Students will present a workshop on identity to 6th graders. Photos will be taken of the youth which will be turned into digital portraits for a second day of painting with the students to permanently installed at the Arts Academy
PROJECT 3; Collaborative Mural Project. Location of this mural is still pending determination at either SPARC or on UCLA’S campus. This project is intended to incorporate all that you have learned to this point in the class and must be activist based addressing a current issue locally or internationally that you feel needs to be addressed. It should engage community participants and motivate civic action or public response advocating for change. The project will be developed with instructional staff support in the Digital Lab. It can also be carried out through social media tools.
Recommended readings and materials:
Readings will be distributed during class and available online at www.sparcmurals.org/ucla Students are welcomed to bring new thumb drives to transport their projects and archive their work. One Time Lab Fee of $25 To be made out to The Social and Public Art Resource Center This cost will cover ink and paper costs associated with printing in the lab. Students are required to be in class on time. Students are responsible for arriving in a timely manner to the DML Site 685 Venice Blvd, Venice CA 90291. Carpooling to the site is up to the students to coordinate. Students can also catch the Santa Monica Blue Bus #2 on Westwood and Wilshire and be dropped off at Venice and Lincoln.
WEEK ZERO:
Tuesday January 07
STUDIO WORK (FIRST 2 HOURS): OVERLAPPING OF PERSONAL HISTORY GROUP EXERCISE Introductory exercises for class team building. Exercise uses biographical information formulated by students to determine shared experiences of members of the class and creates affinity groups. Affinity groups work collaboratively to express their common and individual experience through written word, performance or visual representation presented to the class.
Students work in large group to develop personal experience index cards and then in small affinity groups defined by the exercise. Students are required to work together outside of class in affinity groups to complete project for presentation in class. Students use LAB hours to prepare their presentation for OVERLAPPING OF PERSONAL HISTORY GROUP EXERCISE.
LAB DEMONSTRATION BY LAB STAFF
DML TUTORIAL: INTRODUCTION TO THE DML
Rules of the Work Environment. Students will learn to use the CCD/ML File Server, set up personal folders and file naming protocols. Staff will host a hardware and software orientation including security protocol, project review and a review of Projects by the CCD/ML. Overview of the software used during the course: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Dream Weaver, Adobe Bridge, Adobe In design, Apple Final Cut Pro, After Effects , Autodesk Maya, Google Sketch.
Introduction to SPARC and UCLA student websites: www.sparcmurals.org, www.sparcmurals.org/ucla , www.savelamurals.org , www.judybaca.com .
WEEK ONE:
TUESDAY January 14th
SCANNING INSTRUCTION AND PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL. NOTE: Students who fail to bring images will not be able to participate in the class. **
Students will present their OVERLAPPING OF PERSONNEL HISTORY EXERCISE WORK. 2hours
formats.
Project 1: Personal Narrative on Identity
Students will work individually to complete first assignment of producing a personal composition using combination of a place/context photograph and personal image to express an idea about DML TUTORIAL: SCANNING, FILE SETUP AND FILE NAMING PROTOCOL. Students will learn about file protocols and how to use the scanner. They will then begin working on Project 1. They will receive an introductory lesson to Photoshop. Topics covered: Photoshop navigation, toolbars, setting up working environment, floating windows, saving and various file oneself, friend or loved one. Students will be instructed on a series of simple computer maneuvers and learn basic image manipulation techniques. Student comfort level with technology will be assessed.
PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL:MASKING,LAYERS AND IMAGE CLONING TECHNIQUES. INTRODUCTION OF CINTIQ TABLET. Students will learn how to utilize Quick Mask and masking effects on specific areas of layers. Students will learn how to utilize Content Aware Fill and Cloning Tools. Project 1 Work time and support continues.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT – Due Next Tuesday Students must bring a personal photograph of a family member and/or themselves and a place or context for use in the first tutorial. Students are welcomed (but not required) to bring their images already scanned at 300 resolution. If not, a scanner is available in the lab for student use. The development of this first artwork will introduce students to basic Photoshop techniques. This work will coincide with the Overlapping of Personal History exercise.
WEEK TWO:
TUESDAY January 21th
PROJECT 1 CONTINUES AND PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL.
PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL: PAINTING WITH CINTIQ.
Students will learn how to use Wacom Cintiq to draw and create painterly effects in Photoshop. They will learn how the Realbristols engine works and how to use paint-cloning techniques. Project 1 Work time and support continues.
PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL: IMAGE ADJUSTMENTS AND LAYER ADJUSTMENTS.
Students will learn how to use the Image>Adjustments section of Photoshop to create a sense of environment and lighting. They will learn how to use Levels, Color Balance and Hue & Saturation, building on previous lessons.
PROJECT DUE BY THE END OF CLASS.
WEEK THREE:
TUESDAY January 28th CLASS WILL BEGIN WITH PROJECT 1 CRITIQUES. Students will present Project 1. Students will discuss each other’s artwork and give feedback on what they present to the class.
DYNAMIC COMPOSITION AND PROJECT 2 INTRODUCED.
PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL: COMPOSING DYNAMIC IMAGERY.
Students will watch a PowerPoint presentation of dynamic mural artwork and learn how to apply the Puntos system developed by David Alfaro Siqueiros in their digital compositions. Students will learn how to use guides, grids and smart guides to arrange imagery, compositions and drawings into dynamic compositions.
PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL: SPECIAL EFFECTS.
Students will learn about special effects and techniques related to Photoshop filters, Blending options and layer options.
WEEK FOUR:
TUESDAY February 4th
MEET AT THE JUDY BACA ARTS ACADEMY:
Students will present an interactive workshop with youth on “identity” providing examples of how identity is defined. They will encourage student participation and then talk about how it is expressed in actions and in life. Students photographs will be taken for use as a canvas print. Photo booth set up and interaction with youth to encourage them to pose in such a way as to “express an identity”. These photos will used for the basis of a painting exercise on canvas prints that the students will produce and return to the school with for a painting exercise.
WEEK FIVE:
TUESDAY February 12th STUDENTS TO MEET AT THE JUDY BACA ARTS ACADEMY. PAINTING EQUIPMENT TRANSPORTED . Children paint individual canvases that express their identity. Students will work with children as they paint encouraging and managing the project. Students plan for site of permanent installation and didactic panels for the installation.
HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT – Students are to research methodology for identity workshop for 6th graders. Students are welcomed to collect imagery and bring them in for use and to prepare a presentation for the children.
WEEK SIX: 18th
Students will begin to collect content, stories and imagery for their Collaborative project.
WEEK SEVEN:
TUESDAY February 25th
STUDENTS CONTINUE TO WORK ON COLLABORATIVE PROJECT
WEEK EIGHT:
TUESDAY March 4th
STUDENTS CONTINUE TO WORK ON COLLABORATIVE PROJECT PROJECT.
WEEK NINE:
TUESDAY March 11th
CLASS CRITIQUE
WEEK TEN:
TUESDAY March 18th
CLASS PRESENTATIONS Class potluck and celebration
TUESDAY February
COLLABORATIVE MURAL This project is intended to incorporate all that you have learned to this point in the class and must be activist based addressing a current issue locally or internationally that you feel needs to be addressed. It should engage community participants and motivate civic action or public response advocating for change. It should incorporate the use of technology. It should be publishable on the internet and can be a collaboration with another classmate or carried out individually. The project will be developed with instructional staff support in the Digital Lab.