YSOVA FOUNDATION YEAR PROGRAM
COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
FIRST SEMESTER COURSES (QUARTER 1 & 2)
FIRST NATIONS CORE COMPETENCY
0 CREDITS (REQUIRED FOR VISUAL ARTS CERTIFICATE)
The Yukon is made up of the traditional territory of 14 First Nations. Each First Nation possesses both shared and individual heritage and culture, languages, and systems of governance. Whether you belong to a Yukon First Nation or not, the history of the Yukon, and the current day of Yukon First Nations, including the implementation of the land claims and self-government agreements, affect us all. To work towards this goal, Yukon University requires that all students achieve core competency in knowledge of Yukon First Nations.
If available, students will take the TH 101 workshop during their first semester. TH 101 is an introductory exploration of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch’in community that touches on TH worldviews, values, history, and hopes for the future in order to understand, as our Elders would say, “why we are the way we are.”
If TH 101 is not being offered, YSOVA students are required to complete Yukon First Nations 101.
ENGLISH 120: Art words
3 Credits (LECTURE)
This course focuses on how language can be used as part of an artist’s creative and professional practice. Through lectures, presentations, class discussions, close reading, written assignments, and writing workshops, students will develop skills necessary for writing about art. In addition to writing artist statements, an exhibition review, and a grant application, students will analyze writing by artists and the ways in which selected contemporary visual artists incorporate language into their art practices.
Prerequisite
Admission to Yukon School of Visual Arts Foundation Year Program or permission of the instructor.
INTRO TO VISUAL STUDIES 101: HISTORICAL CONTEXT
3 CREDITS (LECTURE)
This lecture course provides a historical survey of global visual art practices and fosters a deeper understanding of key works that include drawings, prints, paintings, traditional objects, rituals, sculptures, and architectural structures. Lectures contextualize historical art works in relation to issues such as geography, colonialism, science and technology, religion, trade, philosophy, and politics. Attention is given to the canon of art history, marginal voices, and the geographical site of the course, and students are introduced to a research methodology appropriate to art practitioners.
Prerequisite
Admission to Yukon School of Visual Arts Foundation Year Program or permission of the instructor.
FOUR-DIMENSIONAL STUDIO 101: INTRO TO NEW AND TIME-BASED MEDIA
3 Credits (STUDIO)
The 4th dimension in artistic practices is typically seen as the dimension of time as an extension of the traditional three dimensions of height, breadth, and depth. In this quarter, we investigate time through the mediums of photography and video. These explorations are undertaken through a series of projects exploring various concepts and techniques for the purpose of developing a foundation to a relevant, contemporary, artistic practice. The course will offer a broad exposure to contemporary art along with critical dialogue and historical context. Students will develop projects that reflect personal interests, cultural perspectives, and conceptual concerns.
Prerequisite
Full-time studies require admission to Yukon University’s Applied Arts Division and SOVA Foundation Year. Part-time students may be admitted upon available space and with approval of the instructor.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL STUDIO 101: EXPLORING SCULPTURAL FORMS
3 CREDITS (STUDIO)
The focus of this studio is on exploring a diversity of traditional and contemporary materials, processes and techniques involved in producing 3 dimensional works. This will include materials such as clay, wax, rubber latex, plaster, wire, metal, wood, textiles and stone, as well as found natural and manufactured materials collected from the surrounding environment. Students will explore a variety of sculptural approaches such as additive, subtractive, modeling, casting and assemblage; & consider how to contextualize their work in various environments. There will be an emphasis on process-based studio assignments and individual explorations.
Prerequisite
Full-time studies require admission to Yukon University’s Applied Arts Division and SOVA Foundation Year. Part-time students may be admitted upon available space and with approval of the instructor.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL STUDIO 101: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF DRAWING
3 CREDITS (STUDIO)
The first half of this course will focus mark-making, drawing, and paper making with natural or foraged materials. 2D Studio students will harvest their own willow supply (along with fireweed and wild rhubarb, and other natural materials) and learn to break willow down into fibres that will be processed to make a pulp, which will be used to make paper and pulp-based sculptural forms. Experiments with natural dyes, cordage, land-art and sculpture, eco-printing, will be supported and are encouraged.
This part of the course will be divided between foraging field trips, hands-on workshops, the occasional lecture, and independent studio work. On field days, students can expect to spend time outside, no matter the weather, gathering course materials. Students must be ready to do outdoor work and field trips as noted in the syllabus. Prepare to dress appropriately.
Students will be supported by class critiques, student presentations, and one-on-one check-ins with the instructor.
The second part of the course is workshop-based and is focused on drawing, illustration, and screenprinting. Students will be encouraged to print onto paper they made in the first part of the course, and experiment with natural inks in their sketchbooks and life drawing exercises.
Prerequisite
Full-time studies require admission to Yukon University’s Applied Arts Division and SOVA Foundation Year. Part-time students may be admitted upon available space and with approval of the instructor.
SECOND SEMESTER COURSES (QUARTER 3 & 4)
PRINT & PUBLISHING 101
3 Credits (STUDIO)
Print & Publishing is an introductory printmaking course. Learners will be introduced to various hand printmaking formats like relief printing, collagraph, and etching. We will explore print editions, posters, artist books and comics, with an emphasis on current and historical publishing in Dawson City and the Yukon to gain an understanding of the ways that printed matter shapes an understanding of place. This course emphasizes hands-on experience, and learners will have the opportunity to create self-published editions of their own original artwork through exploring various printmaking techniques and processes.
This course uses low and non-toxic printmaking materials.
Prerequisite
Full-time studies require admission to Yukon University’s Applied Arts Division and SOVA Foundation Year. Part-time students may be admitted upon available space and with approval of the instructor.
INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL STUDIES 102: CONTEMPORARY IDEAS & CRITICAL CONTEXTS
3 CREDITS (LECTURE)
This course asks questions like, what is art for? Who is art for? What does art do? What makes something art? How does art make meaning? How does art function in the formation and understanding of culture? Of politics? Of identity? It doesn’t necessarily provide any answers.
Through weekly lectures, readings, writings, in-class assignments, and student-led research projects, we will do our best to find answers to some of these questions together by looking at the work of artists. This course will approach critical topics such as art as-cultural revitalization, activism, decolonial aesthetics, art institutions, and humour, from a place-based and situated perspective, acknowledging and respecting the long history of creative expression on what is contemporarily known as Tr’ondëk Hwëch’inTerritory.
Prerequisite
Successful completion of Visual Studies 101 (fall term). Part-time students who have successfully completed Visual Studies 101 may be admitted upon available space, and after consultation with instructor.
FOUR-DIMENSIONAL STUDIO 102 : EXPERIMENTS IN NEW AND TIME-BASED MEDIA
3 CREDITS (STUDIO)
In this course we investigate the dimension of time through the mediums of audio, Super 8 film, GIFs, and performance. These explorations are undertaken through a series of projects exploring various concepts and techniques for the purpose of developing a foundation to a relevant, contemporary, artistic practice. The course will offer a broad exposure to contemporary art along with critical dialogue and historical context. Students will develop projects that express personal reflections, cultural perspectives, and conceptual aspects, with consideration to place.
Prerequisite
Successful completion of Four-Dimensional Studio 101 (fall term). Part-time students who have successfully completed Four-Dimensional studio 101 may be admitted upon available space, and after consultation with instructor.
THREE-DIMENSIONAL STUDIO 102: EXPLORING SCULPTURAL SPACE AND ENVIRONMENTS
3 CREDITS (STUDIO)
In this studio students extend their 3D practices by examining the relationships between viewer, object and environment from various perspectives. Awareness of the different ways in which 3 dimensional practices are informed by and shape both physical and cultural environments is deepened by an exploration of techniques such as textiles, installations, prosthetics, animatronics, toy hacking, kinetics, and off-site art. A combination of traditional and contemporary practices allows students to continue to experiment with a wide variety of media while increasing their understanding of their relationship to community & environment.
Prerequisite
Successful completion of 3 Dimensional Studio 101 (fall term). Part-time students who have successfully completed 3 Dimensional studio 101 may be admitted upon available space, and after consultation with instructor.
TWO-DIMENSIONAL STUDIO 102: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES OF DRAWING, COLLAGE AND PAINTING
3 CREDITS (STUDIO)
This studio extends students’ repertoire of mark-making techniques, mediums, and processes, while introducing the practices of collage, painting, and other image creation processes, such as old school animation techniques, paper-craft and book works. This allows for continued experimentation and exploration of a wide range of traditional and contemporary modes of expression. Developing a daily practice, through the maintenance of a sketchbook will be encouraged.
Prerequisite
Successful completion of 2 Dimensional Studio 101 (fall term) Part-time students who have successfully completed 2Dimensional Studio 101 may be admitted upon available space and after consultation with instructor.
MID-YEAR EXHIBITION OPEN HOUSE & GRADUATION EXHIBITION
YSOVA Foundation-Year students have two opportunities to showcase their work to the community while gaining hands-on experience in mounting an exhibition.
In December YSOVA opens its doors for the Mid-year Exhibition and Open House, with student works installed in the SOVA Gallery and throughout the school. In April, held at both the SOVA Gallery and offsite in the ODD Gallery at the Klondike Institute of Art & Culture, the Graduation Exhibition celebrates our students’ achievements from the past eight months.
