Matter, Meaning and Making

Undergraduate course

Course description

Supplementary semester information

Focus area: Printmaking

Module responsible: Ciara Philipps

HMS: Printmaking workshop - Slikscreen print

Matter, Meaning and Making is a project-based module that explores the collaborative potential of the print workshop and encourages a collective approach to material and theoretical research. Over the duration of the course, hands-on working will be complemented by regular group discussion around shared readings identified by the group. It is important to note that this course is not focused on perfecting printmaking techniques; rather, it explores the myriad ways in which print is used, and it invites you to consider print’s relationship to the dissemination of knowledge, social and political activism and art.

An introduction to screen-printing and bookbinding techniques will form a basis for an exploratory approach to thinking-through-print together.

Objectives and Content

This is a project-based module with a focus on material processes and the relationship between the act of making and the creation of meaning.

PRO modules are designed to enrich your artist development (as explored in the ART modules) through activating skills, connecting communities of practice, and investigating disciplinary territories. PRO modules allow you to focus on a specific project critically connected to your own practice within a context established by the module leader(s).

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge:

  • Develop awareness of relevant references and practices

Skills

  • Explore material-based approaches and techniques for the creation of works of art
  • Enhance and broaden your own skills and processes through the creation of a self-initiated project

General Competence

  • Identify your own learning needs in relation to the subject area(s)
  • Demonstrate a consideration of the relationship between making and meaning
  • Develop and present new work
Teaching and learning methods

Methods may include:

  • Project development
  • Individual research
  • Group work
  • Lectures
  • Presentations
  • Group discussions
  • Tutorials
  • Assigned readings
  • Writing exercises
  • Workshop-based instruction

See info text above for semester-specific details.

Forms of Assessment

Submission of artwork(s), either physical or digital, as assigned by the module leader in the beginning of the semester.

Assessment criteria:

Research

Subject knowledge

Experimentation

Realization

Collaborative and independent work