Akin Artist's Spring Courses at Toronto School of Art

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Akin members Rebecca Houston, Jess Thalmann, and Candice Davies are instructors of some amazing courses happening this spring at the Toronto School of Art. Join these Spring interdisciplinary courses that follow our belief of Artists Teaching Artists!

Mouldmaking and Multiples with Rebecca Houston  
starting wednesday May 9, 6PM-9PM 

Artists create multiples to emphasize a contemplation of form, to challenge us to see difference or the unique in the face of repetition, to ask questions about value in an age of disposable, identical consumer products or as a meditation on the very process of making. In this course, we will make a series of objects using moulds in plaster and create installations with those objects. Projects will include making push moulds of symmetrical objects and creating multiples with air-drying or oven-hardening clay, making a larger object cast in plaster and a collaborative project in which students will swap cast objects. Casting in plaster has certain limitations as compared to silicone, but also certain benefits. It is cheaper, less toxic and can be used for ceramic slip casting.

Beyond the flat: The photograph as Material and Object with Jessica Thalmann
starting Thursday May 10, 6PM-9PM 

This course investigates the intersection of contemporary photography with sculpture, print, painting, drawings and new media. Since Conceptual Photography, artists have been challenging the ideas and implications of the image, pushing the boundaries of what can be considered a photograph. The inherent qualities of the medium will be explored in this class as it brings together a group of stylistically diverse but similarly innovative artists. Students are guided through technical demonstrations to alter photographs including paper folding, cutting, embroidery, surface treatments and digital interventions. Beginning with the waning days of conceptual art, this class presents a wide variety of artists including Matthew Brandt, Marco Breuer, Alison Rossiter, Letha Wilson, Sigmar Polke, Julie Cockburn, Jessica Eaton, and Gerhard Richter— all of which have reconsidered and reinvented the role of light, color, composition, materiality, and subject in the both analogue and digital photography.

Beyond the Surface: A Contemporary Approach to Drawing with Candice Davies
starting Wednesday, May 2, 10AM-1PM

This course examines the link between drawing, material and space, with a key emphasis placed on contemporary approaches to drawing. Students will reconsider the relationship between the drawn surface and the conceptual/physical concepts of form, space and display. The following questions will be asked:  What defines a drawing?  Are there limits to drawing, and if so how do you overcome them or exploit them?  What are contemporary approaches to drawing?  How can a drawing exist in space, from the space on the page to physical space of ones surrounding?  Can a drawing be a three dimensional object and how can material transform the drawn surface?  What are alternative methods of display in drawing and how can these methods enhance the drawn surface?

This course consists of weekly exercises, discussions, and group critiques. Traditional elements of drawing are utilized, such as various types and sizes of paper and the graphite pencil, providing a foundation in which to build upon. Students are encouraged to think outside the box, to think beyond traditional notions of drawing and display, in order to reconsider drawing in contemporary art.