Summer 05

Dr. Andrew Atkinson / Prof. Catherine LeCleire

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday 9-12pm

Room 230 / Printmaking, Calcia Hall.

Office hours: by appointment

Email:atkinsona@mail.montclair.edu

Web: www.andrewatkinson.net

This course is designed as a studio course for creating, critiquing and the contextualisation of digital printed imagery with an emphasis towards photographs outputted as polymergravures. Polymergravure is a contemporary variation of the C19th. print process photogravure which was used extensively for the reproduction of photographs particularly for reproduction in books. The course will use museum trips, discussions, lectures, and periods of studio time centred around the creation of your work, to encourage a reflexive process of discovering your own imagery and voice within the medium.

Technically the course will give you a basic understanding of photoshop for complete beginners, but those with more photoshop skills will have the opportunity to use them through their imagery. It will cover putting imagery onto polymer plates -black and white to begin with, colour later on- and processing them and the process of printing imagery onto good papers.

The course will centre its aesthetic arguments around the material image, and because the process' apex was during the C19th, it will look into how the printed processes informed the aesthetics of the time, and how that relates to contemporary aesthetics and the contemporary production of gravure work.

Grading is principally based upon the quality, aesthetics and conceptual execution of the work produced. Technical abilities factor into this because aesthetic quality and technical ability are part of the total quality of the work.

A an 'A' grade will show excellence in the execution of the work, in active discussion and participation in the class - including keeping the studio clean- and the presentation skills of the work.

B will demonstrate the same but with above average quality

C with average quality - n.B this is an average grade, not a low grade. Getting a grade better than this will require mental, physical and aesthetic input above just 'doing the work'.

D showing below average quality

Attendance is mandatory, two absences are allowed, beyond that a grade point will be deducted for every class that is missed. Turning up more than 15 minutes late will result in attendance marked as absent. Work that is submitted late will also be reflected in a lower grade.

A digital camera - if you do not wish to buy a digital camera, these can be rented from the Photo Lab in Rm.131. We have a selection of Nikon Coolpix cameras and several of the Nikon D70.

Writable CD's for archiving and transporting of data.

Paper for printing - a selection can be purchased from Dr Atkinson and Prof. LeCleire during the class.

An apron, or clothing that you are willing to get covered in ink and other printmaking grime.

Anon., The Photo Book, Phaidon, 1997.
Batchen G., Each Wild Idea, MIT Press, 2002.
Bayer. J, Reading Photographs, 1977.
BURKHOLDER, Dan, (1999), Making Digital Negatives for Contact Printing, Bladed Iris Press.
BURKHOLDER, Dan, (2003), Inkjet Negative Companion, Bladed Iris Press.
Eismann, Katrin, Real World Digital Photography, 2nd Edition, Peach Pit, 2004.
ESKOLA, Taneli and HOLOPAINEN, Kari, (1996), Polymer Photogravure: A New Method for Photographers and Graphic Artists, UIAH, Helsinki.
Fraser, Bruce, Real World Camera RAW with PhotoShop CS, Peach Pit/Adobe, 2003.
Grey, Tim, Color Confidence, Sybex, 2004.
Marien, M., Photography: a Cultural History, Lawrence King, 2002.

Week 1 - The digital photographic image

Monday - introduction and expectations, lecture of prints and early photographs, printing demo

Tuesday - introduction to photoshop for importing digital photographs, global tonal corrections, converting colour images to monochrome, drawing in photoshop and using graphic tablets.

Wednesday - Museum Visit: to the ICP - international center for photography - to see the shows on the photographic book, daguerrotypes and C19th folk practices of photography

Thursday - first image to be shown for critique / discussion of the previous day's trip

Week 2 - printing and second image

Monday - critique of your image, printing the image onto film

Tuesday - exposing the image on the plate and begin printing

Wednesday - printing in earnest and demo of colour printing

Thursday - critiquing second image

Week 3 - printing and assessment

Monday - creating the film, exposing and printing the second image

Tuesday - same as yesterday

Wednesday - Assessment 1, app. 20 mintues per student, everybody to attend

Wednesday - Assessment 2 - revenge of the assessment, once more: app. 20 mintues per student, everybody to attend