Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "AS 110-4"
COURSE NAME: "Drawing - Rome Sketchbook"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2022

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Roberto Caracciolo
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: M 9:00AM 11:45AM (Please note that this class cannot be taken remotely)
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course makes use of the unparalleled resource that is the city of Rome itself; each class meets at a different site around the city. Students work in sketchbook form, creating over the course of the term a diary of visual encounters. Instruction, apart from brief discussions of the sites themselves, focuses on efficient visual note taking: the quick description of form, awareness of light and the development of volume in space. With practice and growing experience, students become capable of producing drawings governed by conscious intention.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

Each class will be dedicated to a discussion of the work done during the week in the sketchbooks and to a brief presentation of the following week’s assignment, with an indication of particular issues to address while drawing. The rest of the time will be used to build upon the sketches, by changing scale and technique. Attention will be paid to developing a variety of skills: centering the subject on the page, the uses and the values of line, rendering form in light and dark, creating space and visual drama through various kinds of contrast, practical advice on perspective, specifying points of view, creating atmosphere, faces and figures from classical statuary and so on.

Each assignment will be about a specific site of historical and visual interest around Rome. Students will make drawings from observation in their sketchbooks creating a record of their experiences and of the places they are seeing.

Additional information:
1. The course involves working from direct observation.

2. The course may include visits involving an entry fee (this will depend upon regulations). These visits are held to a minimum and should not cost you more than a total of 25 euros over the semester.
3. The core activity is drawing directly from observation. No student will be able to meet the requirements of the course without working many hours outside of class.
4. The course is meant to be a framework allowing very free individual artistic choices. The lessons are meant to help students get started, but there is always room for creative alternatives.
5. Students must come to class on time because that is when the site is explained, and the day's drawing problem and other announcements are given.
6. On assignments, students need to dress appropriately: proper footwear, no bare shoulders in churches, warm clothing when the weather turns cold. Decorous behavior in public spaces.
7. If regulations change and we are able to meet on site, be sure to plan your morning itinerary in order to arrive promptly at the site at 9:00. Be alert for announcements of changes to the preliminary schedule below
6. On assignments, students need to dress appropriately: proper footwear, no bare shoulders in churches, warm clothing when the weather turns cold. Decorous behavior in public spaces.
7. If regulations change and we are able to meet on site, be sure to plan your morning itinerary in order to arrive promptly at the site at 9:00. Be alert for announcements of changes to the preliminary schedule below

Materials:
Students buy their own art supplies. You need a bound (possibly not spiral or glued) notebook not less than 22 x 30 cm. The drawing instruments are up to you, but most students use a variety of pencils, or soft, dark graphite. You need erasers and a pencil sharpener. Ink, pens and brushes are fine, but optional. I don’t recommend your using soft charcoal or pastel, as the image quickly degrades in the sketchbook, even when you use fixative.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
By the end of the course students should be more visually alert to their surroundings, capable of careful observation, familiar with significant sites in Rome, and capable of representing what they see in both quick sketches and longer studies. They will have acquired skill using various technical approaches to drawing and knowledge about some traditions in drawing and painting.

TEXTBOOK:

NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Completed sketchbook of drawings done over the term	Grading is based on a judgment of the contents of the sketchbook created over the semester and on the work done at the studio. Quantity of work produced is of great importance, since producing a large body of work by itself practically guarantees progress. Commitment, range of experimentation, resourcefulness, inventiveness, expressiveness, acuity of observation, concision, complexity, improvement, spatial clarity, and other aspects of technical skill and artistic quality are also considered.	100
Completed sketchbook of drawings done over the term		100

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality shows excellent mastery of the course content along with exceptional levels of technical skill, artistic awareness, originality, resourcefulness, commitment, quantity of work and improvement. There has been excellent collaboration and leadership in group projects, and there have been no attendance problems.
BA highly competent level of performance with work that directly addresses the content of the course, with a good quantity of work produced.
CAn acceptable level of performance: the work shows awareness of the course content, but is very limited in quantity, quality, commitment and skill.
DThe student lacks a coherent grasp of the course material and has failed to produce much work.
FNegligent in attendance, academic honesty, engagement with the course content, or production of work.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS AND EXAMINATION POLICY
You cannot make-up a major exam (midterm or final) without the permission of the Dean’s Office. The Dean’s Office will grant such permission only when the absence was caused by a serious impediment, such as a documented illness, hospitalization or death in the immediate family (in which you must attend the funeral) or other situations of similar gravity. Absences due to other meaningful conflicts, such as job interviews, family celebrations, travel difficulties, student misunderstandings or personal convenience, will not be excused. Students who will be absent from a major exam must notify the Dean’s Office prior to that exam. Absences from class due to the observance of a religious holiday will normally be excused. Individual students who will have to miss class to observe a religious holiday should notify the instructor by the end of the Add/Drop period to make prior arrangements for making up any work that will be missed. The final exam period runs until ____________

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

PROVISIONAL SCHEDULE by week, but stay alert for changes:

Week 1 (Monday Jan. 17) Introduction. Meet at JCU Art Studio, Largo dei Fiorentini, 1. Lesson: two opposed languages of drawing, line vs. tonal value. Discussion of materials.

Week 2 (Mon. Jan. 24) Meet at the Campidoglio (the piazza of the Capitoline Hill, up the big stairs to the south of P.za Venezia. Entry fee if bad weather. Lesson: view-finding, thumbnail sketches. Assignment 1: Ten fast sketches.

Week 3 (Mon. Jan. 31) Meet at Santa Sabina on the Aventino. (From school walk to the other side of the river at Tiber Island, then continue south past S. Maria in Cosmedin; after the main street leading to the Circo Massimo turn left up a little pathway called the Clivio di Rocca Savella leading from the river to the Aventine hill. Past the famous orange grove you will find the big parking lot of S. Sabina. Wait there.) No bare shoulders or shorts in this or other churches. Lesson devoted to solving problems of perspective.

Assignment 2: Five sketches of perspectives.

Week 4 (Mon. Feb. 7) Meet by the fountain of the Triton in Piazza Barberini. We will be looking at the Baroque by seeing the Ecstasy of Saint Theresa by Bernini and the church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane by Borromini. Drawing greater complexity.

Assignment 3: Slower drawings that include more information.

Make up Class

Week 4 (Friday Feb. 11) Meet at 9:00 at the entrance to the Centrale Montemartini, in Via Ostiense 106 (23 bus line will get you there). Bring bus tickets. Entry fee or MIC Card. Drawing objects in contest.

Assignment 4: 1 drawing, possibly Roman antiquity or otherwise draw in the city.

Week 5 (Mon. Feb. 14) Meet at the entry to S. Peter's Square. Lesson involves depicting a large outdoor urban space.

Assignment 5: 1 drawing of a large space, such as Piazza Farnese or Piazza Navona.

Make up Class

Week 5 (Friday Feb. 18) Meet in Piazza del Campidoglio. We will be drawing inside the Capitoline museum. Entrance fee or MIC Card. We will be drawing from the past , with a particular attention to shading.

Assignment 6: Five drawings with light and shadows, with high contrast of light and dark (even a still life with a spot light on it).

Week 6 (Mon. Feb. 21) Meet at Trajan's Market. Past P.za Venezia, past Trajan's Column, and up the steps. Drawing lesson on clarifying point of view: looking up and looking down. Entry fee or MIC Card.

Assignment 7: Five Roman views (can one still find a way to be personal in a city that has been depicted so many times before?)

Week 7 (Mon. Feb. 28) Meet at Piazza Mattei (the “Turtle Fountain”). Off Via Arenula, near Largo Argentina, take Via dei Falegnami. A series of figure drawing exercises, with attention to negative space.

Assignment 8: Three figures from the past.

Week 8 (Mon. Mar. 7) Orto Botanico; meet at Guarini entry, and we walk from there. Entry fee 6 euros. "Scribble drawings"; observation of nature.

Assignment 9: Drawing from nature.

Week 9 (Mon. Mar. 14) Meet at Guarini entry, and we walk from there to Tiber Island. Problems in cityscape, landscape, riverscape, water, atmosphere.

Assignment 10: Draw during the break, on your travels.

Break

Week 10 (Mon. Mar. 28) Meet at Guarini entry; we’ll go up the Gianicolo to Bramante’s Tempietto at S. Pietro in Montorio. Drawing architecture, round forms in perspective, also views over the city.

Assignment 11: Views of Rome.

Week 11 (Mon. April 4) Meet at Ponte Sant’Angelo, under the Castel Sant'Angelo. Drawing focuses movement of people within a given sight, catching a glimpse of figures today in relation to the still figures of the past.

Assignment 12: Everyday life in Rome.

Week 12 (Mon. April 11) Final meeting at JCU Art Studio, Largo dei Fiorentin, 1. Group critique. Appointments made for individual meetings that take the place of a final exam.

Monday April 18^th and 25th, no class

Mon. May 2 final One-on-one scheduled reviews.