MFA Grad Teaches New Project Open Door Class

Edward Steffanni, MFA Printmaking 2021, in his Visual Mixtapes class is providing Project Open Door teens with a great opportunity on Wednesday afternoons during Spring semester to create work developed from imagery co-opted from visual culture.

Visual Mixtapes Class

Throughout the history of art, artists have borrowed and copied from each other and their surroundings. From the practice of copying master paintings to Andy Warhol to Rauschenberg’s readymade paintings, the class will see how images and things from our environments can be used as sources of inspiration to convey one’s experience or reflect issues or triumphs within greater society. The studio course will focus on the how to use appropriated imagery as both a source of inspiration and material for their artworks. The course will begin with assignments using collage and other readymade materials to get the students acquainted with the many sources at their disposal. Then students will be tasked with making a final painting(s) from their collages. Students will be encouraged to be interdisciplinary in practice. Contemporary art and examples from the past will be presented and discussed as an introduction to class projects.

Questions to think about throughout the class:

• How do we borrow from the world around us? How can images/things that are not necessarily yours be used to convey your experience?

• What images of your everyday life do you find important and not represented in contemporary art?

• Are there right/wrong ways to use imagery from other cultures?