ARTS 33
Flat Space: Gouache! Winter 2024

This is not the current course catalog

Gouache acts like opaque watercolor; it is excellent for painting small, flat areas of brilliant color on paper. In this course, we will make small but mighty gouache paintings on paper from observation and invention, focusing on depictions of space (inside, outside, real, imagined…). Instead of shading a space according to a light source and linear perspective, we will activate pattern and color-experimenting with shifts in scale, chroma, value, and temperature-to create space through flatness. We will look at rich painting traditions that arm flatness in this way, including Indo-Persian miniature paintings and ancient Egyptian paintings and drawings. We will also discuss global modern and contemporary painters who take up flatness, from Gustav Klimt to Chris Ofili. Class time will consist of painting exercises, discussions, group critiques, and independent work time towards the week’s given painting assignment with 1:1 feedback. Homework will include a short reading each week. Coursework will culminate with an ambitious final painting of the student’s choosing. This course is open to all levels of painting experience and beginning students will be encouraged! An interest in color, willingness to play, and follow-through are the only requirements.