Course contents

History of classical, modern and contemporary art + general culture
A.V.A Course (Analysis, Verbalisation, Argumentation)
Painting
Drawing: body, architecture and design(s)
Contemporary Plastic Practises
Photography
Objets performés
Volume-installation
English
Graphic design

History of classical, modern and contemporary art
General culture
Ludmilla Barrand, Marion Roche

From a vision of art of Giotto’s quattrocento to that of twentieth century artists, this course proposes a historical and contextual approach to art on one hand, and a more transversal vision on the other, raising the question of the permeability of aesthetic and plastic issues. In addition to this, an introduction to the history of architecture and the history of Design is intended to provide an improved understanding of creation, with regard to different disciplines.

Driven by a methodology of analysis, the course is based on emblematic examples of artistic creation, not only for the acquisition of the basic knowledge that is the prerequisite for understanding contemporary art, but also to allow students to enter into a personal and critical thinking.

The theoretical basis of the course leans upon current events in art and the programs of various local and national cultural institutions – exhibitions, conferences and projections of films in the Musée d’art contemporain, the IAC, the Ensba Lyon,  biennials, and art centres – provide an essential complement to the classes, in particular for an improved understanding of the professional realities of the art world. Pedagogical monitoring is verified and commented upon, starting with reports and texts by students that are usually written in the wake of these visits. The classes that deal with general culture operate in different temporality, with sessions taking place with a reduced number of students to provide a more targeted approach. It is dedicated, in part, to a methodology of writing and commenting on artworks, and also deals with a certain number of major ideas (the image, the myth, utopia, etc.), being supported by texts by philosophers and historians, in addition to works of cinema for example.

A.V.A Course, Analysis, Verbalisation, Argumentation
Ludmilla Barrand, Anthony Musso et Marion Roche

Analysis, Verbalisation, Argumentation. A moment dedicated to exchange and dialogue, the objective of this class, led by three teachers working together, is to help students to become familiar with methods of analysis of elements of current artworks and / or their own work. This approach seeks to develop their capacity to verbally formulate the issues raised by their work, in other words, it allows them to back up their own point of view, affirm their choices, providing and justifying pertinent references so as to define and outline the unique nature of their work. This is also a privileged moment for students to define their fields of research and find their own vocabulary.

Painting
Manon Vargas

The painting classes are centered around, and concentrate on creative mechanisms, both on levels of thinking and production. Different subjects are proposed with the goal of training a unique and autonomous approach that culminates in a finished visual production. Students experiment with various techniques: wash, gouache, oil, acrylic, water-colors, collage, wall painting, etc…
Classes take place every Monday and every second Tuesday. Painting requires a lot of patience and practice, close monitoring will be done to ensure a wide ranging and intense evolution.

Drawing: body, architecture and design(s)
Thierry Odin

Drawing: Life model. «From life to movement»
Within varied pose times, long or short, the subject remains unmoving and also alive. The hand must live, press upon, release and analyse the information seen with speed and acuity. The living must inspire/perspire the drawing. In the latter half of the year, living and moving, it will be a matter of seizing the forms of drapes, animals and foliage.

Drawing: architecture. «From the built to the living»
Observing and drawing what one sees, up to and beyond the point of rigorously drawing what one observes (architecture, spaces, various vegetation). Learning to read features and details. With each drawing will come questions about the layout and composition, the framing, what is in, and out of the frame, etc. Students will also produce drawn plans, a tool that allows us to represent a current or future reality. The plan as a graphical and visual tool.

Drawing(s): “Living is inhabiting”
From anonymity to the person, developing diverse and trivial ideas with the help of sketches, an approach to the representation of ideas on planes. Production, but also diversion of planes. Analysing our relationship with the real so as to question our codes, allowing a singular sensitivity along with a tangible production to emerge. Design and production of models, mainly using folded paper, paper mache, packing card and cardboard.

Contemporary Plastic Practises
Anthony Musso

The teaching of contemporary plastic practises favours a diversity of practises, the multiplicity of fields of experimentation and the transversality of artistic disciplines. This space for production is also a source of debate and critical exchange, both individual and collective. The artistic engagement of each student is put to the test, allowing them to progressively build up a singular and unique artistic language: words, forms, materials, scales, spaces… In-studio work, along with sessions where work is displayed, confronts the students with questions of construction / production and the spatial installation of the work, as well as the communication of this within the contexts of art. Ultimately, each proposition will be accompanied by its documentation, a process that results in the construction of an individual portfolio of work adapted to each student.

Photography
Lise Dua

This introduction to film and digital photography will be done on a theoretical and practical level. Techniques are employed in the service of an artistic practise of photography, one that includes the documentation and archiving of the work done throughout the year. The different processes involved in taking shots and developing and printing images will be studied and applied. An additional objective is the development of an artistic practise in constant contact with different currents that have existed throughout the history of photography. Teaching students how to read and understand different typologies of images then completes the theoretical section of the course.

Objets performés
Félix Lachaize


Volume-installation
Maxime Lamarche
The objet, center of preoccupations.
Using a mix of visual and plastic production, sculpture and installation, the different techniques, both theoretical and technical, of working in volume are in operation in this class. From projection to creation, from the studio to the exhibition space, this is the issue at stake. Acquiring the skills necessary to apprehend space and to approach it by way of praxis.
The objectives of the classes are to develop students’ personalities and help them to be at ease with different contemporary materials so as to produce an autonomous response to a given subject. Responses in volume equally serve in the constitution of an artistic portfolio for each student. The question of the status of the object and its format is examined all throughout the year.

English
Gwyneth Baines
This class aims at providing the students with the necessary tools to express their views regarding works of art in English, by enriching their vocabulary and getting them more accustomed to the style of art criticism in the English-speaking world. The class will revolve around theoretical discussions and considerations based on articles written by critics, as well as around the more precise analysis of works of art pertaining to cinema, painting or even literautre so that students will be able to talk about a variety of art forms. We will mostly focus on works created by English-speaking artists, which entails teaching the students about the historical and political issues which underpin these works so that they will be able to contextualize and understand them better.

Graphic Design
Fabien Coupas

The workshop targets the acquisition of technical and cultural skills linked to the field of Graphic Design. It deals with the fundamentals of Typography, page layout, colour and image. It provides an introduction to Typography, to the micro and macro scales of Typography, as well as a knowledge of its rules of composition and its specific vocabulary.
Students will learn the principles of page layout and composition (grid, regulating lines, hierarchy, text / image relationship, format…) and an editorial lexicon. The proposed subjects will also allow an acquisition of the technical know-how required to use graphic design software.
The workshop permits the acquisition of a culture of Graphic Design which will allow students to have a sensitive production, to be in a position to justify their choices (both formal and conceptual) and to refine their critical approach.