VIRTUAL Mentorships in Art and Culture: Portfolio Development
Course Info:
- Instructor: Andrew Smaldone
- Department: Fine Arts
- Area: Special Programs Fine Arts
- Credit Hours: 3, Contact Hours: 45
- Course Number (SRISA): TBA
- Course Number (Maryville University): TBA
- Prerequisite: Junior and Senior level Art majors
Course Description:
About Virtual Visual Arts Program
Together Artists and SRISA Professors, Andrew Smaldone and Justin Randolph Thompson, have built a program for Junior and Senior Studio Arts majors who wish to connect to a global community through Virtual mentorship and studio development. These courses are designed to be taken together or independently and will engage students in an international Virtual dialog about art, culture and studio practice.
Given the practical limitations of travel during the current global crisis, these courses open up the opportunity for young artists and students to enter into a global art dialog. We will utilize this intense moment for as an opportunity for critical discourse around art in an international community.
International artists, curators and writers will contribute through guest lectures, Virtual studio visits and collaborative projects and dialogs working with students towards a exhibition/ art event to be hosted in Florence and virtually at the termination of the program.
Virtual Mentorships in Art and Culture: Portfolio Development
Professional practice and sustainable studio engagement
This course is designed to push students towards a profound meditation on the principles and values that shape their studio practices as a means for guiding them in the development of a portfolio that communicates these values and a professional practice that engages the sites and audience in which the work is grounded. A range of professional practice approaches are introduced including grant writing, dialogue with curators and artist statement development through an interface with professionals in the fields of art including artists, gallerists and curators. Leading students in their preparation for applying to Masters programs or just pushing them to the next level, this course places the emphasis on finding our own driving force and honing its potential.
International Guest:
- AWI - Art Workers Italia: an informal, autonomous, and non-partisan group of contemporary art workers formed in response to the current crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Nicolas Combarro: a new typology of artist who works with photography.