Painting: Exploring the Modern and Abstract

(ART 210)

Appreciating abstract art often starts with the realization that abstract painting is born of the observed world and deals with many of the same elements as traditional painting. The difference is how these elements are translated and how they convey feelings, memories, and fundamental truths through treatments of color, shape, line, composition, and light, without literally illustrating narratives. In this course, we will learn to see and paint in new ways by drawing on our own real and imagined sources, and also by taking a look at the work of late 19th- and early 20th-century painters such as Cézanne, Matisse, Picasso, Kandinsky, and Paul Klee.

We will focus on using water-based media such as acrylic, watercolor, and egg tempera. This course will be valuable to any painter who has ever wanted to understand and paint in a modern aesthetic.

Some previous painting experience is recommended.

Katie Hawkinson, Painter; Lecturer, College of Environmental Design, UC Berkeley

Katie Hawkinson teaches drawing and design, and received an MFA in painting from the University of Washington. Hawkinson has worked in a range of media and processes, from oil painting, egg tempera, drawing, and printmaking in order to respond to the richness of the environment that inspires her.