Just finished another semester of Visual Thinking at Loyola Marymount University. The individual expression of the students is what always keeps the course fresh and interesting. Here are some of their project images…
Comments of the Visual Thinking course by former students…
Camille:
It let me be creative in a way that wasn’t asking me to make perfect lines, but rather was asking me to create something relevant to how I was feeling. That was a new way of making art for me.
Cody:
I really loved this experiential approach to art. I connected it to way in which strong visual communication could make a positive impact, helping to solve some of most significant global problems.
Ever since I learned how to use mind maps in the course, they have become a staple for how I brainstorm, and I’ve literally organized projects, speeches, all kind of things through mind mapping, and realized the extremely powerful results that came from using the process.
Aamir:
My creativity expanded. I started thinking about things I normally wouldn’t have previously considered.
Before I started the class, when I thought of an artist I thought of a person with a paintbrush, looking out a window, and pretty much just painting something representational or impressionistic on a canvas. Once I took this class I discovered art is pretty much everything you see around you, and it comes in many forms and shapes.
Shannon:
This class welcomed my love of art, and mixed it with my need to fight for social justice. Learning how to connect these two aspects into an expressive artwork was amazing. The supportive environment in the classroom also allowed me to be more forgiving of my artistic process.
Michael Kieley is in his 18th year of teaching Visual Thinking at Loyola Marymount University. The course if focused on project-based, and experiential learning, inspired by the methods of Black Mountain College, The Bauhaus, and MK’s undergraduate work at the Southern California Institute of Architecture.
We make things in order to concretize the principles of innovative problem solving, brainstorming, and self-expression using techniques like photo-collage which give everyone the power to create resonate images.
To see and hear what a few of the 1000+ students of Visual Thinking felt about the experience, please listen to a few of the course reflections they recorded at the end of the semester. VoiceThread is a core cloud-based technology, employed to keep students engaged in between our face to face meetings.
Good job on the wikis about Light + Space art. I know for a number of you it was the first time you’ve collaborated this way, and I appreciate everyone’s effort. Future team projects will be more open ended in terms of the form of the response.
Please review what the other teams have created. It is a diverse take on this subject.
