Faculty: Mark Cetilia | mark_cetilia@brown.edu
Class meetings: T / Th 1 – 2:50pm
Location: List Art Center, 64 College St. Room 315: DML (Digital Media Lab)
Office hours: T / Th 12 – 1pm (by appointment only)
Grading: S/NC (mandatory)
Modality: In person
Course website:
https://sites.google.com/brown.edu/visa0150-f22-s02
The site serves as a portfolio of ongoing and final student work.
It also contains assignment handouts and relevant notes, links, and resources.
Google group:
visa-0150-f22-s02@googlegroups.com
Please use this list to share information and ask questions of the group.
Portfolio site:
For this class, you will maintain a personal website, to be hosted using the Neocities platform. This site will serve as a portfolio of ongoing and final work; documentation will be required for each project.
This foundation studio course introduces the basic practices and concepts of two-dimensional digital media production including image acquisition, editing and manipulation, vector illustration, and preparation for online and offline viewing. Through studio exercises, readings, and assignments we will experiment with the production of electronic images. We will be looking at and producing work that is conscious and critical in nature, and which combines aspects of contemporary art, media, and technology.
This course is intended to benefit students who have limited experience with the practice of digital image production and the concepts surrounding it. As one of the foundation courses in the Visual Arts curriculum, the course is designed to form part of the basis for study in the concentration, especially the area of the concentration that utilizes digital technologies as a core part of creative practice.
Students are not required to have any specialized technical experience. No pre-requisites for the course are needed. Knowledge of the Mac OS is recommended but not required (lab computers are all Macs). Enrollment limited to fifteen. Field trips to off-campus exhibitions or events may be incorporated into the course curriculum.
This course is intended to introduce the tools of electronic image production, develop literacy in screen media work and its relationship to contemporary art practice, and encourage students to build and explore their own vocabulary in digital image media. Students will learn make clear practical and conceptual decisions on how to utilize the computer and software tools to serve their own creative practice and to further its development.
On completion of this course, students should be able to work with several computer applications and methodologies for constructing images, and have a clear idea of which digital tools to use for specific aspects of production. Students should also be able to analyze how creative practice in digital image media functions and show a clear understanding of how digital imagery operates in contemporary culture and in their own creative practice.
Over 14 weeks, students will spend 3 hours and 40 minutes per week in class (approximately 60 hours per term) for lectures, software instruction, discussion of media art works, critiques of student work, and working lab sessions. Required work on project development, reading, and viewing outside of class is expected to take up approximately 8 hours per week or more (120 hours per term at minimum). Note that the total time needed for coursework will vary from week to week, will tend to be heaviest when projects are due, and will increase significantly near the end of the term.
If you are committed and persevere, you will be on the right track to finding your own artistic voice. Challenge yourself, work diligently and practically to engage with course materials, complete all projects on time, and participate actively in discussions and critiques. Be on time and fully present and engaged for the entire the class. This is important.
Final grades are based on your attendance and participation, engagement with course material, contributions to discussions and critique, assignment completion, and a final project. All Visual Art courses are mandatory S/NC. An S-DIST (S with distinction) will be awarded for outstanding performance in the course. Earning an S-DIST will require intense commitment to your work. Experiment, work diligently, and make progress.
Final grade calculation
Factor Percentage
Attendance 10%
Participation (incl. reading responses) 10%
Documentation (incl. portfolio site) 10%
Project 1 10%
Project 2 10%
Project 3 10%
Pair Projects (5% each) 15%
Final Project proposal 5%
Final Project 20%
In terms of assignment grading, there are several factors taken into consideration:
Response to the guidelines and goals of assignments, including bridging to personal concepts (20%)
Troubleshooting, experimentation, and going beyond minimum requirements (20%)
Effort, technique, craft, and care for your work’s presentation (20%)
Consideration of critique. Demonstrated technical and conceptual progress (20%)
Meeting deadlines, submitting work properly and on time (20%)
There are no required textbooks for this class: readings will be posted or linked online via the course website or distributed in class in the form of handouts. You will need to have a storage strategy for your work. This may involve using a combination of portable storage (hard drive or flash drive), networked storage (cloud storage like Google Drive), and/or your own computing device. I do not recommend relying on Adobe Cloud storage. Advice will be provided in class to help determine the best system to use. If needed, a reliable portable hard drive can be purchased for under $100. Also recommended, but by no means required, is a small Wacom tablet. This can also be purchased for under $100.
Throughout the course, readings will be assigned to provide inspiration, as well as technical, conceptual, and / or historical context for your assignments. Readings will be distributed as PDFs and linked from the course website. We will discuss the readings in class, so to prepare, please write a short (roughly 300-word) response to the text(s) assigned for that week and upload it to the Google Drive folder linked on our course site. These responses will not be graded for content, but will be reviewed and count towards your participation grade.
This semester, you will complete three larger projects and a final project. You will also complete three “Pair” exercises in class that are meant to reinforce the technical skills we are developing, and foster a sense of community. Please see the schedule later in this document for provisional due dates. Updates to the schedule will be announced in class and posted on the course website. It is your responsibility to take notes during lessons, discussions, and critiques. It is expected that you will utilize feedback given during critique to improve both the technical and conceptual aspects of your work throughout the semester.
Outside of class, you are required to complete homework. This includes readings, viewings, online submissions, and progress on projects. Please budget your time wisely; due dates are strict. All work must be turned in on time and critiqued with the class to receive full credit. Late work will be evaluated, but will lose credit accordingly (33% per class meeting). Work that is more than three classes late will not be accepted without prior arrangement and exceptional circumstances.
All assignments (projects, homework, and reading responses) should be uploaded to the course’s Google Drive at least one hour prior to class time. In addition, you will be required to upload documentation for each project within one week of your critique to a portfolio site you design and maintain throughout the semester, to be hosted using the Neocities platform. Links to everyone’s portfolio sites will be posted to the course site so that everyone in class can see your work. This will be an important way of sharing ideas, images, and insights.
Shopping period. On the first day and during the shopping period, students registered in Banner AND present in class get first priority. A waitlist will be created on the first day if needed. Registered students must attend the first two weeks of classes to hold their place or it will go to someone on the waitlist.
Attendance. Students are permitted 2 absences. Three unexcused absences will result in a failing grade. Please let me know in advance if you are unable to attend class. Two late arrivals will equal one unexcused absence. Students who miss assignments because of tardiness or absence are expected to request assignments from classmates.
Participation. Please come to class prepared and ready to participate in discussions, assignments, and critiques. It is your responsibility to read the syllabus and anticipate the appropriate materials to bring to class.
Assignments. Students are expected to complete all assignments.
Students are required to attend every class meeting (unless excused by the instructor with prior notice), arrive on time, and ready to start promptly. Please bring any required materials, homework, and note-taking equipment.
Students may not leave early without consent from the instructor. If a student leaves early without consent, they will be counted absent and lose all participation points for the day.
Students are expected to follow all rules set forth by the monitors and administrators in the Digital Media Lab.
Your full attention is required. Evidence of your attention includes maintaining focus during work sessions, participating in critiques and discussions, taking notes, and asking questions. Please refrain from phone calls, text messaging, and the use of social media sites (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) during class time.
Attendance will be taken during the first fifteen minutes of class. If you arrive after that point, it is your responsibility to notify the instructor of your presence; late arrivals will be marked on the attendance sheet.
Students must do assigned readings, participate in class discussions and critiques of projects, provide feedback about other students’ work, and be open to working collaboratively (sharing information and resources). Participation means that you are alert, focused, and responsive in relation to your work, your peers, and the instructor. Lateness, absences, and lack of preparation for class activities will adversely affect your participation grade.
Students must complete a final project and present it during the final critique. Failure to participate in the final critique is grounds for a failing grade.
Creative experimentation is required and expected; use your imagination to stretch the boundaries of any and all assignments.
This course will require substantial time spent outside of class each week. Besides the in-class studio time, students should expect to work an average of eight hours per week for artwork production, research, and developing projects. When in class, be prepared to work during lab sessions, so collect all materials outside of studio class time. Note that the distribution of work outside of class time will vary from week to week, and will increase substantially towards the end of the term.
Students should be prepared to back up their work continuously; there are no excuses for losing digital information. Keep at least three copies of everything: one on your hard drive, one on removable storage (hard drive, flash drive, etc.), and one on a networked server (e.g. Google Drive or other cloud-based storage). Lab computers are not a safe place to leave your files, as they will be periodically cleaned out or possibly deleted /modified by other computer lab users. Note that there is networked storage available to you via Brown University’s computing services. Feel free to make use of it but have additional backup locations for your data as well. Losing your files because you have not backed them up is not an acceptable excuse for not turning in assignments.
Problems with computer equipment are a fact of life in any setting, including educational ones. However, “technical problems” are often “operator problems,” or “organizational problems” and you cannot use them as an excuse for missing or late assignments. Start your assignments early and anticipate spending significant periods of time working through technical issues. This process of problem-solving and trouble-shooting is a normal and integral part of creating artwork using technology, so be prepared to embrace it.
This course is an opportunity for experimentation and skill building. You will gain more from creating not-quite-polished work that is at the edge of your skill set than from sticking to safe, known territory. Level of experimentation and exploration evident in the work will be taken into account alongside other factors like craft and concept.
You don’t need to be a technical genius to do well in the class. While you can do well without displaying the highest degree of technical proficiency in all areas, you will not get high marks without a significant commitment to each of your assignments. This means willingness to experiment and consider multiple solutions, attention to detail and presentation, and adequate time given to planning, drafting, and completing each assignment.
Email is the best way to contact the instructor outside of class time. The instructor will use your Brown email address for any correspondence unless you provide a different one; emails generated via Banner or Canvas will automatically go to your Brown address. The instructor will generally respond within a day, typically during normal working hours. The instructor may respond to email outside of these times, but do not expect quick responses at night or on weekends. If an email is not responded to within these timeframes, please send a reminder email.
For students meeting in person, please remember that you signed an attestation that you will follow required public health practices. These practices may include wearing a face mask in a class where the instructor requires it. Please check Campus Activity Status for the most up to date information on campus-wide COVID-19 policies and procedures. Disregard of these practices is a Student Code of Conduct violation that could result in removal from campus. Please note that instructors are required to abide by the same guidelines, and I look forward to working with you together this term to keep our community safe and healthy.
Brown University is committed to full inclusion of all students. Please inform me early in the term if you may require accommodations or modification of any of course procedures. You may speak with me after class, during office hours, or by appointment. If you need accommodations around online learning or in classroom accommodations, please be sure to reach out to Student Accessibility Services (SAS) for their assistance (seas@brown.edu, 401-863-9588). Students in need of short-term academic advice or support can contact one of the academic deans in the College.
The Department of Visual Art recognizes and actively supports the diversity of our students, faculty, and staff and considers an inclusive learning environment critical to serving the diverse perspectives of our academic community. We believe that differences of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, religion, and disability enrich and broaden the intellectual discourse and scope of creative practices within the department. We uphold as an essential value a supportive, open and tolerant environment in which students can explore and respectfully discuss the full range of human experience in their work including controversial or difficult subject matter. For more information on Diversity and Inclusion at Brown, go to: https://www.brown.edu/about/administration/institutional-diversity
Undergraduates with concerns about the non-tuition cost(s) of a course at Brown may apply to the Dean of the College’s Academic Emergency Fund to determine options for financing these costs, while ensuring their privacy. The Fund can be found in the Emergency, Curricular & Co-curricular Gap (E-Gap) Funds in UFunds. More information is available at: http://brown.edu/go/egap. Students may also submit inquiries to: egap-funds@brown.edu.
If your Brown undergraduate financial aid package includes the Book/Course Material Support Pilot Program (BCMS), concerns or questions about the cost of books and course materials for this or any other Brown course (including RISD courses via cross-registration) can be addressed to bcms@brown.edu. For all other concerns related to non-tuition course-related expenses, whether or not your Brown undergraduate financial aid package includes BCMS, please visit the Academic Emergency Fund in E-GAP (within the umbrella of “E-Gap Funds” in UFunds) to determine options for financing these costs, while ensuring your privacy.
Please read Brown University’s policies on academic conduct carefully: https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/degree/policies/academic-code
Presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own (even if you worked on it together as a group) constitutes plagiarism, as does using someone else’s ideas without appropriate citations. The use and re-use of pre-existing material in art practice (“appropriation”) has a long and legitimate history. We’ll be looking at works that make up some of this history as part of the course, and you will be required to make work that uses appropriation as a strategy; be sure to cite your sources and make sure that your use of the materials substantially transforms them.
This course will use the following technological platforms: Google Sites / Google Drive (for sharing readings, project information / deadlines / etc.), Google Groups (to share resources outside of class and facilitate group discussion), and Neocities (where you will post your work to a portfolio site of your own design throughout the course). I am committed to ensuring access to online course resources by students. If you have any concerns or questions about access or the privacy of any of these platforms, please reach out to me.
The IT Service Center (https://it.brown.edu/get-help) provides many IT Services including remote assistance, phones, tickets, and chat. Please also see the Online and Hybrid Learning Student Guide. Brown’s Software catalog can be found by visiting this link: https://www.brown.edu/information-technology/software/
The Department of Visual Art Lending Library aka Equipment Checkout can be found in the List Art Building, room 515. Hours of operation are Monday – Thursday from 1 – 3pm. All currently enrolled VISA students may check out equipment, some limitations apply depending on the course in which the student is enrolled. VISA students may check out equipment, keeping the following terms of agreement in mind:
Return equipment no later than the due date to Visual Art equipment staff during designated hours or assume liability for the loaned equipment
Follow accompanying loan instructions with respect to the operation of the equipment
Use the equipment only for the purposes for which it was designed
Be responsible for the maintenance, control, and safekeeping of the equipment while it is on loan and notify staff of any issues with said equipment promptly
Accept full financial responsibility for the replacement of equipment with comparable equipment (as determined by the Department of Visual Art) if the equipment is lost, stolen, or, in the estimation of the Department of Visual Art, irreparably damaged during the period that it is on loan
Forfeit the borrowing privileges granted by the Department of Visual Art if any of the terms of this agreement are violated
If the University moves to fully remote instruction and students are allowed to stay on campus, students may keep equipment until the end of the semester. However, if the University instructs students to vacate their campus housing, students are not permitted to leave Providence with VA equipment. All items must be returned before students leave, even if the semester isn’t over
Non-compliance with equipment loan procedures will affect grading or standing in a class
Any items not returned will be charged against the student’s account
The Visual Art Department employs students to work in the labs/studios in the evenings during Monitor Hours. These students receive special training at the beginning of each semester to ensure the safety of other students working in the studios during the evenings.
Students enrolled in VISA courses are allowed to use the studios related to their course during card swipe hours (respective to their courses.) All enrolled students will have 24/7 access to the building and communal studios (List 225, 325, 315). The hours below outline when a lab monitor will be present. Certain equipment, supplies and machinery might be off-limits when a lab monitor is not present. All students must leave the building no later than midnight. Students may not use the studios and labs while classes are occupying the space. Students should not interrupt a class to access labs and studios.
Monitor Hours are as follows and available via this link: https://sites.google.com/brown.edu/resourcesforstudents/studio-monitors
Darkroom / Digital Print Lab / Painting / Printmaking
S 7pm – 12am
M 7pm – 12am
T 7pm – 12am
W 7pm – 12am
Books Arts Studio
S 3:30pm-8pm
M 6:30pm-10pm
T 6:30pm-10pm
W 6:30pm-10pm
Sculpture Studio
S 3:30pm-11pm
M 6:30pm-10pm
T 6:30pm-10pm
W 6:30pm-10pm
Due to the format of the class and/or unforeseen circumstances, there may be changes to the scheduling and scope of the assignments, and the quantity and types of demonstrations. This syllabus may be updated as needed as the class progresses. Any updates to the syllabus will be posted to the course website. If there are differences between the web and printed syllabus, the web version will take precedence.