Into the Studios: Foundation Year

Alright, hello everybody. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us today and today we're going to hear from Michelle people, who is the terrible arts and Kathleen who is one of our foundation faculty to talk a little bit about the foundations here and the liberal arts ECHO into that year. If you do have any questions during this presentation, please feel free to enter them into the chat area which you should find on your right hand, bottom side of your screen. We will bring up any questions.

During the Q&A.

So yeah, if you have any questions, hopefully will take them. All right, I will hand it over to you too.

Hi, my name is Kathleen Eastwood Riano and I am a foundations faculty member. I teach 2D design in the foundation year.

And Michelle, do you wanna introduce yourself?

Hi everyone, my name is Michelle Foggle. I am currently chair at the Liberal Arts Department and have.

Then with Pcad for over 10 years now I am also.

A mentor for students who may be having some difficulties getting through school. So I get to wear a couple different hats and I teach all the all the great courses I think. But I teach this semester. I have a speech class and which will evolve into a theater class in the spring, and I also have popular culture which will evolve into heroes and villains.

And American culture, so I got a great variety of things.

Umm.

Should we talk a little bit about foundation here? What that looks like for incoming students and?

Why we think it's important for our incoming first year students.

Umm.

So coming from the studio perspective, I teach the studio arts classes.

I think the the foundation experience, the first year experience is especially important because there's some students that come in and they're not really sure what they want to focus on. So it's a really great opportunity to try a lot of different types of courses and get a little bit of taste of everything. Might help you choose your path a little bit with a little bit more information, but also for those of you who come in and you know exactly what you want to do.

Yeah, foundation year is really set up to give you that foundation so that you have.

Knowledge and skills to move into your field and it also gives you opportunity to test out something that you might not have the opportunity to later as you move forward in your in your career as a student and your and your post school career.

Yeah.

In liberal arts during your first year, first of all, I always feel like I have to clarify this. Not many people actually know what liberal arts means, especially because we're in an arts school and we have the word arts attached, but we do not teach.

Visual arts per se.

Liberal comes from Greek Libertaire, which was freedom to be free, and they believed that freedom came from universal desire to learn. So liberal arts focuses on giving everybody who enters a strong foundation in oral and written communication composition.

As well as art history and the history of visual culture.

Umm and pcad I think is different from other schools because we're a really, we're a small college and so you really get to know your peers and your instructors on on a deeper level, it's really, it's really exciting to get to see students moving throughout the their time here at peak CAD because we have teaching first year they come in, we get to know them really well and we get to see them grow.

Throughout their time and and you may end up working with the same professor or multiple times throughout your career if you know that you work really well together you'll have lots of opportunities for that. So that's a really exciting thing and also you're you're going to get more specialized attention here because we are such a small college.

Umm.

I completely agree. I think that the small overall numbers sometimes a classroom will have six people, sometimes 20, but it always feels small and.

Getting to know each other on a A1 on one basis, there are opportunities to spend time together one-on-one.

As well as.

Providing a time for students to develop a cohort to become close with the students that they start with, even though the following year you separated into your majors. So you may not see everybody, but it gives you a chance to meet most people before your first year of college is done.

And.

Yeah, let's let's look at the slide that I have up here. So foundation and liberal arts.

It's broken. It's broken down into a few different required classes for your first year experience. So in the studio courses you have drawing which focuses on observational skills, 2D design, which is what I teach and so I'm talking first semester and 2nd semester. We first semester we deal with compositional, compositional organization and 2nd semester we go into color theory, 3D design. You deal with objects in space.

Central imaging is a lens based making class and that is really good for photographers. For students who want to go into photography, we've got a foundation level class just for you and then digital media which is a newer course and that really focuses on computer based making.

Yeah. Michelle, do you wanna talk about liberal arts?

Or, and in liberal arts, you will take two liberal arts courses each of the two semesters of the foundation year. The first one is a.

Some vations of verbal communication one.

In that first semester, that will give you an introduction to narrative writing.

Editorial writing and informative writing.

It will give you some early school tools and skills that you may have forgotten by the time you reach us in research. How to do research, especially at our school. Every school is different. We have an extensive collection that is available to us in through the website, but we also have a library space, the other course that you would take first semester.

Is.

An art history course that is new this year and is extremely successful. Everybody seems to really be enjoying it. A new way of looking at our history.

That is a history of the majors that we have at this school, so you get to meet.

Typically the chair or chairperson or someone from each department and learn about the history of each one of the different majors.

It extends, though, into other art history topics throughout the semester.

That sounds like such a cool class. I wish I could take it.

Kathleen no time.

So in your first master in your studio courses.

Each course is 5 hour block, so will be once a week and we really get to dive deep. During that five hour meeting you'll have drawing one.

Which really focuses on like the foundations of drawing you would go over perspective and.

Things like that. And then in two D1, which is mostly focused on compositional design, usually work mostly in black and white throughout the semester and really dive deep on the principles of design and get a really strong foundation on that. We work both digitally and physically with that. So we kind of hybridize those two mediums or two modes of working and then in 3D design and then digital imaging, which again is that lens.

List making class and then digital media.

And we'll move on to our second semester.

The second semester in liberal arts.

And I should mention to you, each of the classes in liberal arts will meet for a total of 2 1/2 hours in one week. It's typically split in half, and so twice a week you would meet for an hour and 25 minutes. The courses in this second semester are foundations of verbal communication two which simply builds on the 1st semester.

In where you left off with informative writing, you will move into rhetoric and persuasive writing and also get some practice giving presentations. The second recommended, although not required, art history course that's semester is global art history survey.

And in an effort to include some of the classics, but also look at artists who may not typically be recognized and places that are not typically thought of as being art centers of the early world. So we try to continue what you learned in that first semester straight through to the second, giving you what is hopefully a strong foundation.

Yeah, how about no, yeah.

That's awesome. I want to take all the art history courses.

And in your studio courses again they meet for five hour blocks, so once a week and in second semester of the foundation here we have drawing 2 and you get a choice. So you could choose either between narrative drawing which deals with storyboarding. It gives you options to be able to work digitally and really talks about sequential drawing and how to build build a narrative through your drawing.

Process and figure drawing, which dives deep into anatomy. You really get a strong foundation of working with the figure and then you have or. So you could choose from drawing to or. For our photo majors, there's a camera based observation course as well. So, so you've got those options and then 2D design 2, which is a color theory course and then you get to choose.

Between or then, if you hadn't taken 3D first semester, you would take 3D second semester. And if you did take 3D first semester, then you would go on to be taking the digital media course. So yeah, we've got.

Yeah.

I have a question, Kathleen, only because I am not teaching visual arts classes, but I hear this once in a while, but if you can't really draw very well.

Ohh yeah. So I mean, everybody comes in to all courses with a different level of experience, right? And I mean, that's really what's so exciting about the foundation year is we're expecting people to come in.

And build their foundation, right? So nobody's expected to come in being a super expert in anything. I don't teach the drawing courses, but I know that the the faculty who do do an awesome job at build being able to build your observational skills and give you those foundations. And I mean, for example, in 2D, which I do teach, there are people who come in who are not very comfortable with working digitally and working with the computer.

And we're doing the same thing, we're building that foundation. So if you come in and you're not comfortable drawing, you're not comfortable working with digitally work, that's what that's what this is about is to to teach you that. But for the for the drawings, the second semester drawing, if you have the choice to take that camera based observational, camera based observer.

Umm.

Right, very cool.

Camera based observation course instead of the drawing course. So you're only required to really take that one semester of drawing. Yeah, so we we try to we try to give options with along with giving like a broad range of foundational skills.

Yeah, I'd love that. You get to kind of test everything.

Yeah, yeah.

Unique.

Umm.

All right.

You wanna go?

Sure, we have a like other.

Colleges and universities.

In the United States we have level.

Of course, when you start your foundation year, the courses you'll notice typically begin with A1 and our 3 digits, so it's a 100 level course that would refer to a foundation year entry level the following year.

Council, along with me, is 200, which builds on the skills of that 100 level. We don't typically do prerequisites in liberal arts, but we also.

Know that people come with that, as Kathleen mentioned, my variety of backgrounds and knowledge bases so.

Even at a 200 level, we really try to get to a common language right away at the beginning of every semester. The 300 level is the advanced level, usually taken predominantly in the junior year.

And those 200 levels often come as a prerequisite. Is that in?

In the art and.

The majors.

Love.

In the studio, in the studio courses, yeah, so it's it has the same, the same structure where usually the 100 you would be a first year student. Sometimes we have transfer students who come in who might need one 100 level course but might be you know in their junior year or something like that. That happens from time to time. But generally 100 level would be foundation year, 200 level would be.

Would be their sophomore year and it moves up and and the rigor of the courses move up as as you move throughout your career here as a student.

Umm.

Right. You'll notice that 400 level, the upper level or advanced, is sometimes held in what's called seminar style. You may have had that in high school. Not all high schools have seminars. Focus much more on discussion on.

In an involvement level that is really reserved for special.

First comments.

And and what that would look like in a studio course is usually you're working towards your your senior show for that on that in your senior year. So you're really trying to refine your work and create a body of work to be presenting for your final show. So that might, you know that might involve studio courses, more independent studies, things like that that are a lot more self-directed than say the assignments that you would get.

In your first year experience?

Oh.

Umm.

All right. And liberal arts.

So what do you learn in these course courses that are all about freeing your mind?

We focus on.

The basic skills of problem solving.

Critical thinking.

Composition and communication.

Composition meaning to create, often combining to create and then how do you communicate that verbally? It might be spoken word, it could be the written word.

Right now I am teaching the speech class and we're trying to incorporate all sorts of avenues like podcasts and YouTube so that communication can come in a number of different forms.

But really focusing on.

What we call the artistic and visual traditions.

We explore a great variety of disciplines of of subjects we have, art history, visual culture. We include in that department and in that heading. We include our film courses. We have some cult cinema happening right now and some great film classes that we offer almost every semester, science, which I know that terrifies a lot of people.

I would have been one of them, but the science at pecan is pretty unique and the math, I'll couple those together.

The science you have a choice between.

Biological science or earth science and.

They're not specifically for art students, and yet the instructors know that it's art students in the classroom, so take that into consideration. Math is currently it's a business math course, so it's math that is completely applicable in the lives of most artists.

We also have a social sciences, general humanities, which includes things like poetry, literature, folklore, philosophy, religion, and so on. And of course my favorite theater and multidisciplinary studies and creative writing, just to throw those in there.

The liberal arts curriculum as it extends them the rest of your career at pcad the additional three years you will take a total of 14 courses. The fact that you have 42 total credits in liberal arts is what allows you to have a BFA a Bachelors in Fine Arts as opposed to a B.

There are a couple things that set you apart from a BA and art, and this would be one of them.

That 42 credits or 14 courses is broken down into.

As you can see in the List, 5 classes in art history and visual culture 3IN oral and written communication one in the social sciences at pcad that includes sociology and psychology.

One course in as I said before, either.

Be a biology class, an earth science course, or a business math course.

And four in electives. That means you get to pick. You get to pick things that you really like. We also have minors. We have a number of minors that are new and expanding and evolving every semester. You can get a minor, which means that you have taken 6 courses. If you look at the art history and visual culture, that's only one additional class you'd have to take from what is required to get that.

Minor so most people who can fit in their schedule do that because it shows up on your diploma. You have 18 credits. The miners include creative writing and literature.

Art history, as I said in visual culture or general humanities and that humanities is wide open to kind of all the rest of the classes that I mentioned the this theater and multidisciplinary things that like linguistics, which is the the study of language, not how to speak a foreign language or how to speak English particularly, but what is language? What does it look like?

And and how does it shape our lives? So using that that idea of universal desire to learn.

And trying to fit as many appropriate things as we possibly can to help give shape and meaning to the art that you produce.

It's awesome.

Yeah.

Umm.

Help?

All right, let's look at some foundations student work. So this is some studio work.

And we have quite a range of work to share with you. So this looks like this is and not a lot of these are my students work so I'm going to guess on some some classes that they came from. But this is a looks like first semester drawing assignment and if you look at the two drawings the student is engaging like multiple spaces and reflection.

There's some narrative qualities to it, and they're also looking at the composition using like A-frame within A-frame composition. So there's a lot of different elements. And then obviously this is a value drawing, so they're using different levels of value and contrast, which we talk about in both 2D and in drawing.

And.

These are two other examples from our first semester drawing courses. These are both pencil drawings dealing with multiple spaces, so looking from 1 space into the other. And this would probably relate to after you've studied perspective a bit, being able to work with spaces and create that really deep sense of depth. They're also really focused on how light plays on the space, how you know observation of light.

One space.

Creating that really deep layered spatial effect.

And these these look like they're probably from our second semester drawing course. So in second semester you start to integrate some color into the drawing course and and so and and get a little bit more experimental time to time.

And these are some examples of a second semester 2D design project where you're working with the students are working with color relativity, and what you do and with color relativity is looking at how how the the relationship of the different colors influences how we're reading the color.

OK.

So color theory, I don't know. It's very exciting to it's very fun. And this is the first semester 2D design assignment where it's a, it's a 3 panel narrative where the students are thinking about creative market making, they're using pen and ink, and they're also thinking about 3 distinct value relationships.

And this is a digital collage from our digital media course where students are taking photographs that they've taken and compositing them together using Photoshop and to create this fantastical world that.

Obviously has a lot of narrative qualities to it and the title of it is my alter ego, so there's a bit of self portraiture involved in this as well.

And this is another example of that same assignment. So you can see how students coming in, they bring their own personality into their work. They you can really see like very different approaches to the same assignment happening.

Uhm.

And this is a pattern assignment in two D1. So in the first semester in 2D and in this assignment. This is after working with a few different design principles and really like getting a sense of composition. We work with pattern, we work with Grayscale, and we make a acrylic painting.

Of a pattern that we've designed.

And this is.

This is a digital painting, so this is probably from that digital media course where students get the opportunity to work and do digital painting and some of the Adobe programs and.

And this is all. This is the 20th century color study. I'm lying to you. This was in this is a second semester 2D design assignment where students are allowed to choose whatever media that they want to work with. And so maybe the student picked this up in the digital media course and then wanted to apply it to their 2D design assignment.

And this is a second semester color theory 2D design assignment where students are again approaching pattern from a really different point of view. So they're integrating color, they're working with analogous color relationships, and they're kind of breaking out of that like traditional all over pattern motif and expanding on that.

And here is another example of a digital painting. So this could possibly be either in a drawing course or in a or in your digital media course.

And this is from the digital media course. This is a book project. And so students at the end of their digital media course, towards the end of that, they put together a a book.

Where they start to integrate, you know some some text, some writing and some studio work as well. So this is where the liberal arts and creative writing and studio start to come together.

I think we're at the end of our slide show here.

So this is a good time for questions if anybody has any.

Kids.

Perfect. Thank you both so much. You're such great information and I know everybody is going to enjoy it. So we are now opening up this session to our Q&A. We have a few minutes to take any questions that anybody has. I know that we did get a question in.

Uh, specifically asking since going into foundation, nerve racking for some students. What advice would you give for somebody coming out of high school, about to go into their first year of college?

Do you want to take it, Michelle?

Probably. Probably.

I'll do part, but I I'm sure we're going to overlap quite a bit and so yeah, I'll gladly hand this off to you pretty quickly.

Me?

The first year is.

Wow it it's such a massive change and.

We're all keenly aware of that, that your teachers here, you know, are we remember we've all been there and keep that in mind at all times. It's not an experience that is comfortable because it's brand new and you you've never done this, you've never been here and it takes a little while to ease in. I have.

Hmm.

And from when I am fortunate enough to work with foundation students, I hear so often that it it happens so much faster than people think it will, that suddenly you're with a new set of best friends. And I think that.

The support that students lend each other here, as well as, of course, the the teachers in relationship. But watching students bond, all being in the same situation, all being brand new here, helping each other get through the halls, or how to get to the grocery store those bonding moments are are priceless.

I think it's all about taking risk. It really is. And and trusting your instinct and knowing that you'll be OK you're not alone. There are people here to help you.

Definitely.

Mm-hmm.

Expecting too much of yourself. Sometimes I see that a lot not allowing yourself the time to transition and kind of be present in this new space.

I I think you're so right with that like expecting too much of yourself coming in like there are a lot of students that.

Umm.

But I, I find that there's, you know that that they might hold back a little bit because they because they have really high expectations. And I think one of the one of the best things to do as a student is to be willing to take risks and be willing to like to not have it be perfect all the time. You know, failing is one of the best ways to learn. Not saying failing a course, but like, you know, doing a design that doesn't necessarily work.

Exactly the way you want it to, that conversation afterwards about what could improve it, that's one of the best ways to to be able to learn and and grow as an artist. So I think just being open to that experience of of learning and and adjusting and.

Yeah, and asking questions, you know, I think that's one of the, that's one of the things that I try to communicate as much as possible is.

We're your resources as faculty. We wanna support you, and if you're if in your freshman year, you're able to.

You're able to see us as resources and learn how to communicate with your faculty and take advantage of the resources that you're, that picap has. You're going to be successful because that's what we're here to do, is to support students and help them learn and help them grow.

I wanted a high double highlight, something Kathleen said.

Communicate with your professors and I think that's really different for a lot of people going from high school into college. Not all, but most teachers, maybe all. I don't know, but I know for myself, it's, you know, first name basis. We are learning together and learning from you and you learn from me. I am not the guru and I don't know everything. Please be aware of that and that that process is really a shared.

If you're willing to communicate with your teachers and and not be.

2 free.

You know, again, that risk is all about that risk.

Thank you. Yeah.

Well, and and and I think finding, finding your comfort zone and how to communicate also like if if you know that, like in a big class setting, it's really scary to raise your hand and ask a question like being willing to hang out after class and have a conversation about that or sending an e-mail. You know, like finding, finding what works for you and and understanding that. Learning that early on I think is super important.

Thanks.

Yeah.

Very well.

Very well said. Thank you both.

It looks like we do have one other question, which is what are some of the like things that you hear from your students that is like their favorite of the boards?

Most favorite thing that you hear students say that they like about foundation here.

Wow.

I'm hearing voices in my head.

I I think, I mean, I don't know that I've heard a student specifically say this, but it's like the feeling at the end of at the end of first semester. But then at the end of the foundation year we always end up having like this big fun crit like critique at the end of the year. And they've made these awesome projects that they're really excited to share and just like that energy that they bring to that.

After like all that they've learned and all the growth that they've had throughout the semester, just like seeing that like excited energy and it's always like a really fun project at the end of the semester and and usually the critique is kind of feels like a party, you know feels like a celebration. So I think you know.

Rather than what they say, it's just like they're bringing the energy, they're excited and yeah.

I don't know.

I do have parties. That is something I really like doing at the end of the semester. We don't. We're obviously structured a little differently.

Well, I'm going to be super selfish here and say one of my favorite things, but it it's definitely about this student specifically.

I'm always fascinated at the beginning of the semester when.

I'll be reading the syllabus, which is the the guidelines for the semester and what things we're going to attempt to complete in this semester, and.

I'll get to a particular assignment that the students aren't ready for it. They shouldn't be. We haven't prepared for it. But they're like terrified. Terri can't do that. And they roll their eyes and they huff and puff under their grave, you know, and the the fear is palpable. And then, one by one, people come up to me after class and say, shall I don't think I can.

Share this essay I I know it's supposed to be a presentation, but I can't do that and I'm not. I'm a teacher. That will honor that, and we'll find other ways to.

To share things and so I'll I'll allow them to not share.

That's awesome.

But just a few weeks into that semester and that assignment is due and they're lining up to go 1st and share with the rest of the room and it's it's such a special thing to watch and it's that memory that thought was triggered when Kathleen said about just bringing that energy.

Another thing, and it's tied in that I really do hear from a lot of students, is that they feel very supported by their teachers and.

That's big.

It sounds cliche, you know, of course I would say that, but I'm I'm completely honest that it's I hear that from multiple students not just one or two, but doesn't at the end of of the semester, especially in reflection. And I also hear in the we have a picnic at the end of the school year and.

I hear a lot of.

Dang, I can't believe I did that.

You know and and realizing you're a different person by the end.

It's it's such a year of personal growth, as well as your skills and and abilities and.

It appears to be something that people actually.

They see it.

Get within themselves if they recognize that.

And even speaking from an alumni's perspective, like one of my favorite things that I will always remember and it always is something that will like travel with me no matter where I go, is the fact that like the things I learned during my first year in the boards and foundation are things that I still use to this day.

Yeah.

Ohhh.

Like, I mean, public speaking, hi, we're doing this now. But that's something that I never, like, clicked in my head when I first started college was like, oh, OK, like, I'm just gonna take these classes to pass and all that stuff. But then you see it being kind of like shown through your visual works and all of that kind of stuff as you go through and even after you graduate as a professional. So definitely live hearing your perspectives on those and seeing them actually resonate in.

A former student as well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I miss having Julia in class, I have to admit.

But alright, well it looks like that was all the questions that we have today. So I just want to say thank you both so much for speaking on these two departments. I know that our students either watching live or watching in the future definitely appreciate it and thank you both so, so much for being amazing people that you are along with. Thank you for everybody who has logged in life to watch this webinar and anybody who's watching recording at home.

If you do have any questions after this, you can reach out to us at admissions, at peapod.edu at anytime, and we can always connect you with whomever you have questions for. I know that these two will probably be more than happy to chat afterwards, but also, if you haven't come and visited the school, definitely come visit the school. I know that a lot of our faculty and chairs are attending our events every once in a while, so you might get to see them, but also it's a great way to see that community that you heard so much of in this presentation.

Thank you everybody so much and I hope you have a good night.

Five or three?

Thank you.

You don't know.