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JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY
COURSE CODE: "AS 110-1"
COURSE NAME: "Drawing - Rome Sketchbook"
SEMESTER & YEAR:
Spring 2015
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SYLLABUS
INSTRUCTOR:
Peter Flaccus
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS:
T9:00 AM 11:45 AM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS:
45
CREDITS:
3
PREREQUISITES:
OFFICE HOURS:
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COURSE DESCRIPTION:
ONLY THE FIRST MEETING IS AT LARGO DEI FIORENTINI. GO DIRECTLY TO THE SITE FOR ALL LATER MEETINGS.
The course aims to make use of the unparalleled resource that is the city of Rome in an introduction to basic issues in the discipline of drawing. The mental concentration required while drawing gives students a direct, concrete understanding of the forms being observed--forms that are, in this case, of great historical, cultural and artistic interest. Instruction focuses on efficient visual note-taking: the quick rendering of form and volume in space, the depiction of light, the suggestion of complexity and energy using basic drawing strategies. Students are always encouraged to find their own personal techniques and styles of observation.
MATERIALS: Students must provide their own sketchbooks, which should be bound like books and have dimensions not less than 24 x 34 cm. Bigger is better than smaller. Ring-type and glued sketchbooks quickly lose their pages, and don’t hold up over the term. The drawing instruments are up to you. At least you should have a variety of pencils, soft, dark graphite, 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. Don’t use ball-point pens, magic markers, or colored pencils.
Sketchbooks and drawing supplies can be found in stationery stores (cartolerie), or in art supply stores. Cartotecnica De Gregori on the Corso del Rinascimento, 21, next to Piazza Navona has Moleskin books which hold up well. (Recently Winsor Newton books have been falling apart.) Poggi (two locations, one in Trastevere on Via Merry del Val, just off Viale Trastevere, and the other on Via Pie’ di Marmo, near the Pantheon) has a good supply of all possible materials. Another required piece of equipment is a map of Rome, so that you can get to the meeting places on time. There is no textbook. Class meetings will be held at the sites listed below. We meet rain or shine. 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 this schedule.) Some sites require entry fees; the total for the semester should not exceed 30 euros.
Do not use earbuds during class time, as they interfere with concentration and impede communication.
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SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
Each class meets at a different site of historical and visual interest around Rome. Students make drawings from observation in their sketchbooks both in and out of class, thus creating a record of their experiences. The beginning of each class meeting is dedicated to a brief discussion of the relevant features of the site, and the presentation of an issue to be addressed in drawing. Some of the basic drawing issues addressed in specific lessons include: thumbnail sketches and planning, the cultivation of line, rendering form in light and dark, creating space and visual drama through various kinds of contrast, practical advice on perspective, specifying point of view, creating atmosphere, faces and figures from classical statuary, organization of the page, and so on.
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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.
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TEXTBOOK:
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REQUIRED RESERVED READING:
RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:
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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. 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 |
-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.
C
An acceptable level of performance: the work shows awareness of the course content, but is very limited in quantity, quality, commitment and skill.
D
The student lacks a coherent grasp of the course material and has failed to produce much work.
F
Negligent in attendance, academic honesty, engagement with the course content, or production of work.
-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
Attendance is required.
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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.
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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.
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SCHEDULE
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PROVISIONAL SCHEDULE by week, but stay alert for changes:
1. (Tuesday Jan. 20) Introduction. Meet (this time only) at JCU Art Studio, Largo dei Fiorentini, 1. Lesson: two opposed languages of drawing, line vs. tonal value.
2. (Jan. 27) 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.
3. (Feb. 3) 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.
4. (Feb. 10) Meet at Ponte Sant’Angelo, under the Castel Sant'Angelo. Drawing focuses on the Baroque, the figure.
5. (Feb. 17) Meet at the entry to S. Peter's Square. Lesson involves depicting a large outdoor urban space.
6. (Feb. 24) Meet at Guarini entry; we will go by public transportation to the Centrale Montemartini, in Via Ostiense. Bring bus tickets. Lesson regards light and dark contrast. Entry fee.
7. (March 3) Meet at Palazzo Altemps, a museum of classical sculpture located in the
block just north of Piazza Navona. The entrance is in a piazza off Corso
Rinascimento and parallel to Via Zanardelli. Drawing the large
sarcophagus and other statues from antiquity. Entry fee 7 euros 8. (March 10) Orto Botanico; meet at Guarini entry, and we walk from there. Entry fee 6 euros. "Scribble drawings"; observation of nature.
9. (March 17) Meet at Piazza Mattei (the “Turtle Fountain”). Off Via Arenula, near Largo Argentina, take Via dei Falegnami. A series of figure drawing exercises.
10. (March 24) 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.
11. (March 31) Meet at Guarini entry, and we walk from there to Tiber Island. Problems in cityscape, landscape, riverscape, water, atmosphere. (April 7) Spring Break
12. (April 14) 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.
13. (April 21) Meet at Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, on Corso del Rinascimento, one block east of P.za Navona. Drawing Baroque architecture.
14. (April 28) 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.
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