Art & Process is an independent course which can also be seen as a modality or “track” of our Studio Arts Programs.
Students share the tools and techniques classes scheduled on Tuesdays-Thursdays with the Studio Arts programs and have specially designed Art Therapy classes most afternoons.
Like the short term students on the Studio Arts Program, Art & Process students integrate into the program along with other students. Every week the program offers different workshops and classes in Tools & Techniques. These classes are optional and it is common for short term students to try to follow as many classes as possible during their stay. Nevertheless we recommend that students also leave time for their personal studio practice.
ART THERAPY CLASSES
ART & PROCESS THEORY
The importance of the art making process entered the art scene for the first time in the early 60’s, soon afterwards art therapy also pointed at the art making process as a relevant element of the art experience. Ever since the creative process has become an essential part of any art training.
Art & Process offers both a number of theoretical classes run by art therapists and psychologists. Here, the main concepts of process work is distilled from art therapy and psychology.
CASE PRESENTATIONS AND WORKSHOPS
There are case presentations of the course tutors’ clinical work with different clients. Alongside this presentations, workshops are an excellent occasion to see how creative methods are practically applied in art therapy, and how art therapy is implemented with different user groups.
EXPERIENTIAL ART THERAPY (TRAINING GROUPS)
The best way to learn art therapy is from within. Experiential groups, or “training groups”, are the essence of art therapy training around the globe, and form the space in which the different teachings of the course become truly meaningful. Our methodology is based on specific ideas about the dynamics of groups in which art is used as a tool. As this type of group is similar to a therapy group, this allows the student to experience this aspect of an Art Therapy career from the participant’s perspective.
HABITUAL ACTIVITIES ON METÀFORA’S STUDIO ARTS
THEME BASED WORK
Every Studio Block starts with a new theme-based project. The idea behind this is to help the individual studio-practice of every student.
Each theme-based project ends with a work review where students present the work produced. Art & Process students do not present during these days, unless they have signed up for the Extended Package of the course, which also includes art tutorials.
RECENT ART HISTORY
Every week we expose the student to different currents in Recent Art History. These lectures are followed by dynamic debate-seminars where students are encouraged to build a personal discourse informed by what is happening today in Contemporary Art.
TOOLS & TECHNIQUES
Every Studio Block offers a series of programmed classes in different tools & techniques, covering common techniques within graphic expression such as painting as well as 3 dimensional work.
Tools and Techniques classes in October-November 2021:
Painting the Human Body, Piotr Perski
Painting the human body is one of the fundamental excesses in any painting program. Piotr will demonstrate fundamental techniques and guide you through a series of exercises to help you understand the structure of the human body and explore ways of seeing it in three dimensions. Piotr’s innovative and entertaining methods will give you a solid start in understanding portraiture and basic painting. You will be working in acrylic paint with live models, exploring acrylics and “a la prima technique” and do a large scale painting on canvas or wood.
Mold making and casting techniques, Oriol Texidor
In this class students will gain understanding of why, when and how to make a mold. Oriol will demonstrate the different type of molds and their uses and the focus is on learning the process, step by step, of obtaining a good rigid or flexible mold. We will be working on testing diverse types of resins, choosing the right one depending of our project. there will be one part dedicated to understanding of the chemical reaction with hardeners, working and cure time, mixing ratio and managing methodology. Naturally, this block of classes include a range of items around safety habits for preserving health.
Print Making techniques, Oriol Texidor
This workshop is dedicated to different printmaking techniques such as Screen Printing, Woodcut and Linocut, and Monotypes. We will learn concepts like image transfer, print edition, numbered copies, types of inks and supports, framing, and value on the market. There will even be a paper making lab. Students learn to use both traditional and contemporary tools, with the goal to gain basic skills for a professional edition project. Usually we end up with a “Printing Market Exchange” among all the participants.
Sound, Graffitti, Cyanotypes
There are a few classes we really want to “fit into the program” every year, but they do not seem to own their own module. The Graffitti class, the Sound-Editing and the Cyanotype are so popular that we have decided to offer this mixed-class module in order to equip our students with a wide range of different techniques.
Tools and Techniques classes in March-April 2022:
Techniques in oil and acrylic, Piotr Perski
Join Piotr in this workshop focusing on still life in acrylic paint, where students learn the basics of color, compositions and brush techniques. Under Piotr’s guidance the class will work on their own still life, with the opportunity throughout the workshop for one-to-one discussions and assistance. The second part of this block of 4 classes contains an introduction to oil painting of unusual objects in still life, reduced palette colours with soft and thick texture and palette knife. Students will use a projector and photographs of the faces in digital and print format to achieve powerful big scale painted gesture portrait on large paper.
Installation / site-specific art, Oriol Texidor
Installation art is an artistic genre of three-dimensional works that are often site-specific and designed to transform the perception of a space. Generally, the term is applied to interior spaces, whereas exterior interventions are often called public art, land art or intervention art. However, the boundaries between these terms overlap. Loss of the centre, accumulation, site-specific, multimedia, atmospheric, interactive… are the issues we work with in this workshop. Taking the architectural space as a ‘frame’ and placing the elements for a multisensory experience related with the concept.
Graphic Design
Many of our students are considering which career to choose and world of design is attractive because of its creative contents and a practical applications. The basics of narrative thinking, layout and presentation have many things in common with Fine Arts. This group of classes is not only recommendable because it presents students to a coupe of programs from Adobe’s Creative Suite, but because is places emphasis on communication, presentation and conext, things which are basic when working with art.
Other classes
Like in Block 2,we reserve a space for classes which are useful for our students, even if they do not”belong”in any of the other batches of classes. At this point of the academic year it is also useful with a flexible space for recollecting specific wishes of the student group which are no represented in the program.
