Creating Light – The Still Life

 

Creating Light: The Still Life can be studied as a stand-alone course and it is an optional course for the Certificate of Higher Education in Art and Design at Aberystwyth University.

Key Facts

 

Language: English

Duration: TBC

Number of Credits: 10

Tutor: Adam Blackburn

Learning Method: Online

Level: This module is at CQFW Level 4

Module Code: XK12810

Fee: £130.00 - Fee Waiver Scheme available 

This course is currently unavailable for booking

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Overview

This online module is designed to develop the experience of working from life by introducing you to a broad range of painting, drawing and colour theory skills whilst developing your own individual strengths. Projects will cover issues from the history of the genre of Still Life from early times, through to symbolism and narrative. We will study how this genre has morphed into the contemporary view of Still Life.

No bottles or pans will be drawn on this course - unless you want to, of course! You will be asked to work through tasks form each unit and send your work for feedback and then finish the module with a self-directed project showing a synthesis of your learning.

Programme

Before we begin addresses the requirements for the course, a list of materials, how to submit worth for assessment, future Blackboard navigation and student support skills.

Unit One - Introduction to Module.

Unit Two - The Art of Seeing: Observational Drawing Skills

Unit Three - Modelling Life: Form, Tone and Texture.

Unit Five - Cubism in Action: Interlocking and Overlapping Shapes

Unit Six - Composition in Still Life.

Unit Seven - The Colour of Light.

Learning Outcomes

On completion of this module, students should be able to:  

  1. Identify shapes and relationships in a given arrangement of objects.
  2. Identify particular artists and schools of art, evaluate and demonstrate an awareness of their work in relation to one’s own.
  3. Produce visually stimulating and creative responses to prescribed projects and self-directed projects.
  4. Demonstrate a grasp of colour theory and its effects on light, tone and form, composition and traditional picture-making skills.

Assessments

  1. Visual diary (20%)
  2. Portfolio (80%)

Reading Suggestions

  • Langmuir, Erika. Still Life. London: National Gallery, 2001.
  • Ebert-Schifferer, S. Still Life: a History. New York: Abrams,
  • Barnes, Donna R., and Peter G. Rose. Matters of Taste: Food and Drink in Seventeenth-Century Dutch Art and Life. 1st ed. Albany, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2002
  • Sterling, Charles. Still Life Painting from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century. 2nd rev. ed. New York; Harper & Row, 1981
  • Itten, Johannes. The Art of Colour: the Subjective Experience and Objective Rationale of Colour . [2nd ed.]. New York; Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1974
  • Simpson, Ian. Drawing: Seeing and Observation. [3rd ed.]. London: A&C Black, 1992

Entry Requirements

This course is for everyone. No previous experience is needed and there are no formal entry requirements.

What Do I Need?

A list of materials, not included in the course fees, will be available prior to the course start date.