DES1405W: Building Vision

The desire to succeed and do well can sometimes circumvent one's willingness to embrace challenge in order to safely achieve an outcome (not fail). This freshman seminar aims to break down barriers and fears while developing processes toward new ways of seeing. It builds and expands connections to a larger world of ideas and disciplines. Through weekly exercises in visual story-telling, participants will sharpen their ability to see (the real world as well as the imagined). Projects are constructed to challenge perceived personal limitations in ideation and process and to build a way of communicating in a visual manner. This seminar is for individuals interested in expanding personal ways of seeing, thinking, and doing, individuals interested in developing a personal process in the evolution of ideas. It includes lectures, student-led discussions, demonstrations, classroom activities, field trips, and homework. Various media will be used to build a visual journal and to build skills in articulation. While drawing will be a component, students need not be skilled, just willing. A writing component will help students gain skills in understanding connections between right brain and left brain functions. They will find relationships between self-expression via the written word and self-expression through visual work. Many who do visual work, become tongue-tied at explaining the deeper concepts behind their work. This course will build a long lasting confidence by building skills in visual and verbal expression.

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