Category Archives: Art + Artists

Comments about the course by Visual Thinking Students

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.

 

 

Making a Seeing-Drawing with an iPad.
Making a Seeing-Drawing with an iPad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visual Thinking: Art + Innovation

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.

 

The prismatic bridge constructed at the entry to Olafur Eliasson's exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
The prismatic bridge constructed at the entry to Olafur Eliasson’s exhibit at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art

4th Meeting – September 24

We checked in about the experience of collaborating on the first team project, a wiki on Light + Space art.

Next we framed the frottage, series of five rubbings.

A second session of ink painting, this time with a tool of our own making.

We watched a film on James Turrell. In addition, please also watch this video with him, describing a visit to his Roden Crater project (link provided by Team Boyle).

We talked about about the meaning of having a true, visceral experience, inspired by John Dewey’s book, “Art as Experience.” This introduces a two week individual project that begins this week, and concludes on October 8th.

VOICETHREAD >>

Of course we have VoiceThread this week. There are four slides. Please leave your comments by midnight, Wednesday, September 29th.