Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "AS 314"
COURSE NAME: "Advanced Painting II"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2026

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Michele Tocca
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: TH 12:30 PM 3:15 PM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisites: AS 304 or Permission of Instructor. This class requires a materials fee of €75/$85 to cover all basic art supplies.
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course provides an intensive environment for students to refine their painting practice and expand their conceptual and material ambitions. Building upon the skills and independence fostered in previous painting courses, students undertake advanced self- directed projects that may explore interdisciplinary connections, expanded painting practices, or site-specific work. Emphasis is placed on sustained inquiry, technical mastery, and the integration of conceptual frameworks into studio production. Students are expected to engage in research that informs their practice, present work regularly in critiques, and produce a cohesive body of work that demonstrates depth, experimentation, and critical engagement with contemporary art discourse.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:

For students who wish to deepen their artistic concerns and gain insights into the vagaries of contemporary painting, Advanced Painting 2 focuses on further growth as artists and offers the critical and theoretical guidance to keep exploring their own practices. This takes the form of regular one-on-one tutorials and periodical group crits, along with meetings with faculty, visiting artists and art professionals, that provide ongoing feedback based on each student’s individual agenda. Occasional workshops are organized on aspects that include process-based and formal concerns, presentation skills, portfolio-building, exhibition-planning and display, statement-writing. Lectures and field trips help students to locate their work within the intricate field of contemporary painting. The objective is to demonstrate an ability to sustain an autonomous studio practice; to embed research into studio work; and to build a coherent final exhibition of their work. This is considered an essential moment for their final assessment. The ability to identify major aspects of painting’s discourse and a knowledge of working art contexts, institutions, magazines etc... is as equally important as the standard of their painting outcomes.

Essential Bibliography

Critical/Painting Theory (Selection)

Bois, Yve-Alain, Painting as Model, Cambridge: The MIT Press 1993

Droitcour, Brian, Essays on post-Internet aesthetics, in “Art in America”, October 30, 2014.

Online at www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/the-perils-of-post-internet-art/.

Elkins, James, What Painting Is, New York: Routledge 2000

James, Merlin, Painting per se, New York: Cooper Union 2002

Joselit, David, After Art, Princeton: Princeton University Press 2012

Graw, Isabelle, The Love of Painting: Genealogy of a Success Medium, New York: Sternberg Press 2018

Gumbrecht, Hans Ulrich, Production of Presence: What Meaning Cannot Convey, Standford University Press 2004.

Hudson, Suzanne, Painting Now, London: Thames&Hudson 2015.

Myers, Terry R. (ed.), Painting: Documents of Contemporary Art, London: Whitechapel Gallery 2011

Schwabsky, Barry, The Observer Effect: On Contemporary Painting, New York: Sternberg Press, 2019

Artist Text (Selection)

Salle, David, How to See: Looking, Talking, and Thinking About Ar, New York: Norton&C 2018

Sillman, Amy Faux Pas: Selected Writings and Drawings, New York: After 8 books 2022

Whitten, Jack, Notes from the Woodshed, Hauser & Wirth 2017

Art World (Selection)

Louden, Sharon (ed.), Living and Sustaining a Creative Life, Chicago: University Press 2013

Thornton, Sarah, Seven Days in the Art World, New York: W. W. Norton & Company 2008

Catalogues (Selection)

Gingeras, Alison et al., Dear Painter, Paint me, Paris: Centre George Pompidou ed. 2002

Mullins, Charlotte, Painting People, London: Thames&Hudson 2006

Shwabsky, Barry et al, Vitamin P I, 2,3, London: Phaidon Press 2003

*Technical workshops/tutorials will be arranged and given according to students’ interests.

**Visits to relevant shows (with or without entry cost) will be encouraged or scheduled according to the city’s calendar.

***Readings will be provided according to students’ individual needs. Please see bibliography for books quoted in main lectures or seminars.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

1. To develop and sustain an independent, conceptually cohesive painting practice through a body of work that evidences experimentation, insight, and contextual awareness;

2. To demonstrate an ability to embed complex conceptual apparatuses into the production of visual work, showing evidence of rigorous critical research;

3. To demonstrate an ability to implement professional exhibition skills;

4. To demonstrate an ability to present, critique and critically contextualize one’s own work and that of others via written and verbal discussion;

5. To demonstrate an awareness of painting’s current context and one’s own work lineage and traditions;

TEXTBOOK:

NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
Final Portfolio	The students' final body of works must reflect their identity and potential as practitioners within the current concerns of painting, giving evidence of an awareness of historical traditions to sustain ideas and approaches to research. Evaluation criteria include: experimentation, resourcefulness, inventiveness, expressiveness, complexity, improvement, intentionality, awareness of historical models and current debates, and other aspects of technical skill and artistic quality.	50%
Group Critiques	While informal discussions/crits take place throughout the semester, there will be two formal critiques - one at mid-term and the other during final week. Students will be required to professionally present their work to the class and to answer questions about their work by the professor. Students will comment on the work of their classmates. Attendance is mandatory. Failure to be present will result in a significant drop in assessment at the end of the term.	25%
Attendance, participation and initiative	Attendance is mandatory. Independent work will be expected from each student. Students should expect to have their own studio routine.	15%
Exhibition Project	Each student is expected to present an exhibition project based on core aspects of their studio research.	10%

-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

Week 1

/Introduction to the Program (Expectations, Rules, Introduction to Studio Work and Portfolio-building)

/Lecture 1: Contemporary Painting: History, Phenomenology and Major Tropes (Project)

/Individual Presentation of Previous Works

/Seminar: How to present Works in a Talk

/Lecture 2: Critical Discourse, Research and the Work

/Discussion of Projects

/Home assignment: Artist’s Statement

/Seminar: How to Write an Artist’s Statement/Text

/First Individual Tutorials

/Studio Session

/Lecture 3: Contemporary Displays: How to Build Narratives and Articulate One’s Own Work through Exhibition Dynamics.

/ Introduction to and Discussion of the Exhibition Project Brief

/Studio Session

/Studio Session and Individual Tutorials

Mid-term Critique

/Presentation of Ideas for the Exhibition Project

/Submission of 1^st Artist’s Statement

/Lecture 4: Painting Places – Seminal Events, Protagonists, Places, Magazines…)

/Individual Feedback and Tutorial

/Studio Session

Group Discussion: Painting, Research and Critical Theory

Studio Session

Group Critique with Slides

Studio Session

Individual Tutorial with Project Feedback

Studio Session

Submission of Statement and Exhibition Project

Studio Session

One-to-one tutorials with choice of final pieces

Exhibition Installation

Final Critique to take place in exhibition location