First Year Writing in Art and Design

Prerequisites: No Prerequisites.

This Stamps-specific First Year Writing Requirement course offers students the opportunity to develop transferrable research and writing skills relevant to artists and designers at Stamps and beyond. We’ll use the Stamps Speaker Series as a primary course text, analyzing the content of the lectures to explore questions like: what does it mean to be an artist/​designer right now? How are artists and designers navigating rapidly-changing technologies, socioeconomic realities, and cultural moments? How can artists and designers address urgent social issues in their creative practices? How do speakers communicate their complex ideas and demystify their creative processes? We’ll apply what we learn to our own creative work by writing (and designing) in three genres relevant to artists & designers: the profile, the research-based essay, and the slide talk. Through these assignments, you’ll have the chance to locate and investigate the questions, topics and processes that align with your personal creative mission, as well as to explore questions like: what does it mean to be an art & design student right now? How can you harness the resources of higher education while also recognizing its biases and limitations? What other kinds of inspiration or guidance can you glean from the speakers, even if you don’t share their exact interests? Along the way, low-stakes process exercises will help you to hone your close reading, research and critical thinking skills, as well as encourage you to develop a writing process that works for you. Working closely with each other and your instructor, you’ll develop your projects through critiques and revisions. The skills we develop in this class will also prepare you to succeed in other Stamps classes, including the Upper-Level Writing Requirement (ARTDES 399) and curricular milestones like Sophomore Review.

Frequency: This course is typically offered in both the fall and winter terms of every academic year, though scheduling may vary according to future term circumstances