Signifying Practices: Intro to Art Making and Critical Thinking

The pur­pose of this class is to pre­pare you to be an inter­est­ing, knowl­edge­able and pro­duc­tive artist cit­i­zen (cul­ture mak­er) in the 21 cen­tu­ry. This course is designed as an intro­duc­tion to the­o­ret­i­cal per­spec­tives from many fields and dis­cours­es, now often grouped under the head­ing Visu­al Cul­ture stud­ies. We will become a com­mu­ni­ty of learn­ers in which each of you will devel­op the knowl­edge, per­spec­tives and skills that will sup­port your unique artistic/culture mak­ing prac­tices. You will work on evolv­ing a per­son­al writ­ing style that will be use­ful as you devel­op your­self as an artist/citizen/intellectual—supporting your thinking/research/making as well as your abil­i­ty to explain and pro­mote your work.

Blog address: https://signifyingpractices.wordpress.com/

Jen Delos Reyes is a cre­ative labor­er, edu­ca­tor, writer, and rad­i­cal com­mu­ni­ty arts orga­niz­er. Her prac­tice is as much about work­ing with insti­tu­tions as it is about cre­at­ing and sup­port­ing sus­tain­able artist-led cul­ture. Delos Reyes cur­rent­ly lives and works in Chica­go, IL where she is the Asso­ciate Direc­tor of the School of Art and Art His­to­ry at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois, Chica­go. http://www.jendelosreyes.com