Fall 2025 - CA 260 D100

Studio in Visual Art I (3)

Class Number: 6227

Delivery Method: In Person

Overview

  • Course Times + Location:

    Sep 3 – Dec 2, 2025: Tue, Thu, 9:30 a.m.–12:20 p.m.
    DT VSAR

  • Prerequisites:

    CA 118 (or 168) and 161. A course materials fee is required.

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

This course permits students to work extensively in a mature critical studio environment on a combination of freely chosen and assigned projects in various contemporary media. Reading will be required.

COURSE DETAILS:

This course offers a studio environment in which students become familiar with the skills, concepts and conditions of a contemporary art practice. Students work on challenging projects that focus on the development of material, technical, and conceptual vocabularies. These are enhanced by class discussion, critiques of completed projects, gallery visits and written assignments. Students are expected to attend visiting artist talks. Class time will be primarily devoted to working on projects with group critiques at intervals. Students should expect to spend outside time working on assigned projects, and to actively contribute to class critiques as well as the Alexander studio community as whole.

Grading

  • Project 1 Group  10%
  • Project 2 Concept Strategy 20%
  • Project 3 Research, Presentation, Response 35%
  • Gallery Report 10%
  • Written Project(s) 10%
  • Participation, Studio Practice 15%

NOTES:

Grading Guidelines:
A+ = exceptional | A A- = excellent | B- B B+ = good | C+ C = satisfactory | C- D = marginal

Grades are determined according to the student’s level of:

- seriousness of engagement with studio practice and the problems posed during the course
- openness and willingness to pursue avenues of investigation relevant to their own progress and needs of their work

- openness to and awareness of issues in contemporary art
- complexity of ideas manifested in projects and how those ideas are transformed into material existence ie. understanding of the relationship between materials used and an artwork’s connotation

- understanding of the chosen process of production
- attention paid to the “finish” of works: care of fabrication appropriate to works; presentation of works

- contribution to critiques: level of thoughtful analysis of works

- ability and willingness to integrate feedback from critiques and from instructor into one’s practice i.e. future work and the thinking about one’s own work and other artist’s work
- development of work over the semester: degree of advancement attained beyond entering level of achievement

- ongoing contribution to class group as a whole and the maintaining of good studio practice (clean work area, respectful sharing of resources and space, tools, etc.)


Detailed descriptions of projects with timelines will be published on Canvas

Please note the following:

1. Attendance and punctuality are very important. We are in a pandemic. Please do not come to class if you feel unwell.
2. Students are expected to spend at least as much time on the course outside of class as in class, i.e. 3 hr class + 3 hr extra.
3. Complete your projects to meet deadlines. This includes installing work for critique prior to the beginning of class. Marks will be deducted due to late projects.
4. Keep regular notes and / or sketches. You may be required to hand them in.
5. Daily Cleanup: The last 10 minutes of class are for cleanup. All students will contribute to cleaning up the shop (sweeping the floor, benches and tools, putting equipment and materials away, etc.)
6. Final Cleanup: No grade will be issued until all work is out of the studio and all tools returned; walls and floors patched, sanded and repainted; all string, wire, screws, nails, masking tape removed, shop cleaned up, etc. (see Alexander Guidelines)

Materials

REQUIRED READING NOTES:

Your personalized Course Material list, including digital and physical textbooks, are available through the SFU Bookstore website by simply entering your Computing ID at: shop.sfu.ca/course-materials/my-personalized-course-materials.

Registrar Notes:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: YOUR WORK, YOUR SUCCESS

At SFU, you are expected to act honestly and responsibly in all your academic work. Cheating, plagiarism, or any other form of academic dishonesty harms your own learning, undermines the efforts of your classmates who pursue their studies honestly, and goes against the core values of the university.

To learn more about the academic disciplinary process and relevant academic supports, visit: 


RELIGIOUS ACCOMMODATION

Students with a faith background who may need accommodations during the term are encouraged to assess their needs as soon as possible and review the Multifaith religious accommodations website. The page outlines ways they begin working toward an accommodation and ensure solutions can be reached in a timely fashion.