LSU BFA Digital Art

LSU SCHOOL OF ART

seeing a bigger picture

Digital Art Undergraduate BFA

New tools, in the hands of creative and well-informed conceptual thinkers, have changed the world and are transforming the way we think and feel.

Digital Art Undergraduate Prospectus 1

Character by Ethan Casiello

Render by Andy Thompson

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Undergraduate BFA Digital Art Digital Art at LSU is a cross-disciplinary concentration that nurtures creative insight, theoretical grounding and practical expertise. Students learn to give form to ideas while making use of multiple media.

After completing a strong traditional foundations program that includes drawing, photography, printmaking and visual communication, BFA students refine their skills in classes that provide a broad, integrated understanding of creative practice across typography, photo-based media, digital printmaking, video, Web, interactive systems, 3D modeling and animation.

Students in our program learn to work independently as well as collaboratively and develop a vocabulary with which to critique and discuss their own work and that of their peers. They learn how to be critical thinkers and well-rounded communicators through experience preparing oral and written presentations.

Through course work across studio arts, art history and liberal arts and sciences, students foster the skills, understanding and philosophical frameworks necessary to make their art and design practices relevant to historical and contemporary issues.

From this artistic, technical and conceptual base, students will confidently pursue studies in graduate school or launch careers as independent artists or commercial practitioners in fields ranging from film and video to computer graphics and game design to Web and interactive design.

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Undergraduate Admissions The LSU School of Art seeks motivated, enthusiastic students regardless of previous background in the visual arts. However, admission into the BFA in studio art program is a selective two-part process that begins when a student who has been accepted by LSU’s admissions office indicates a preference for studio art.

Foundations Program The first part of the admissions process occurs when a student who is accepted by LSU indicates a preference for studio art as their major. The primary tool for identifying candidates to enter the studio art Foundations Program is a review of their high school academic GPA and ACT or SAT scores. Students who feel they would be better represented by a personal interview to present their portfolio should contact the School of Art office to schedule an on-campus meeting. Students who have been accepted for admission into the Foundations Program will be notified in writing. Students who are not accepted into one of the major concentrations may complete the minor in fine arts.

Once students have completed their foundations work, applicants to the Bachelor of Fine Arts program must submit a portfolio directly to the School of Art to be evaluated by the studio faculty. Students interested in majoring in studio art will be notified in writing once the evaluation has been made.

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Selective admissions to three-year concentration The second phase of the admissions process for the BFA in studio art takes place upon completion of the first-year Foundations Program. Students submit a portfolio of work created in their first-year foundation courses. Students who successfully pass this review may pursue one of the three-year concentrations in studio art and any studio art minor concentration listed in the LSU General Catalog.

Transfer students Transfer students from other LSU programs and from other universities will be considered according to the same standards. Individuals not admitted directly to a professional concentration will not have access to courses other than those listed in the first two semesters (the Foundations Program) of the BFA curriculum. Transfer credit is accepted for degree credit if the completed courses are equivalent of degree work at the LSU School of Art, as determined by portfolio evaluation and the school director.

Guidelines for optional portfolio submission If you prefer the School of Art to review your creative work when considering your application to the Foundations Program, the portfolio you provide should consist of 12–20 examples of your work completed during the previous year. Choose pieces that exhibit a broad range of your skills. Please include: »» a self-portrait from life, »» work in both color and black-and-white media, »» and three drawings from observation.

Please do not include work copied from photographs. Other works may represent paintings, design, sculpture, photography, prints or crafts. Portfolios may be submitted in many formats: original work, on a disc with digital images or in 35 mm slide form. Links to websites are acceptable.

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Blaauw computer kiln View more student work under “Portfolios” at art.lsu.edu

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About the Curriculum During the second year, students are introduced to techniques of traditional and contemporary digital image creation—typography and printmaking in the first semester and planning, recording, editing and production of digital photography and video in the second semester.

In the third year, students are immersed in more advanced digital image making and photography. In the second semester, they learn to articulate three-dimensional forms within virtual environments and explore the possibilities for communication and expression using Web and interactive development tools.

In the fourth and final year, students choose electives that allow them to pursue independent creative directions while continuing to develop skills in video, modeling and animation. The course work culminates in a multidisciplinary senior sequence in which students plan and execute a capstone project that incorporates the artistic concepts and media of their choice under the direction of our faculty.

The digital art concentration requires eight courses in foundations (24 credits), 12 courses in digital art (36 credits), five courses in art history (15 credits), 13 general education courses (39 credits), two studio art electives (6 credits) and one general elective (3 credits) for a combined 120 credit hours.

Digital art students are encouraged to pursue a minor or enroll in classes offered through the AVATAR digital media program or Film & Media Arts (FMA).

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Other Aspects of the Curriculum Art history The goal of the art history curriculum is to make artistic traditions relevant and to celebrate the masters of both past and the present in a way that enables students to develop an understanding of the history and criticism surrounding the studio area(s) in which they practice. The course work enables students to understand their own place in the continuum of culture and to use their knowledge of past periods and styles to inform their analysis of present and future projects, problems and practices.

A total of five courses (15 credits) comprise the art history requirement of the digital art curriculum.

Liberal arts and sciences In the 39-hour general education curriculum, students learn to think for themselves in new ways about the age-old questions of existence that touch upon each of our lives and find their way into every work of our creative expression. Students become more inquisitive, inventive and productive artists in the process.

The general education requirement represents a conviction on the part of the faculty that all students need to reason logically, communicate effectively and relate to the world around them. While courses completed in studio art develop specific knowledge and skills in a chosen profession, general education courses not only enhance awareness of the world and the people in it, but also foster an appreciation of the arts and humanities and provide a basic understanding of mathematical and scientific principles.

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Art history and general education courses are designed to produce students who have developed: »» an effective command of written and spoken English, »» an informed appreciation of the roles of the arts and the humanities,

Student work Christina Chang BFA

»» a familiarity with the nature and function of the social sciences, »» an appreciation of the methods of critical inquiry, »» an ability to deal with moral and ethical issues, »» a reasoned basis for selecting a career path, »» an understanding of other cultures and other times, »» and a comprehension of how knowledge is acquired and applied.

Interactivity4

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Learning outcomes for all students in the School of Art Students graduating with the BFA in Studio Art demonstrate that they have developed: »» a portfolio of original work suitable for either the pursuit of graduate study or professional practice in their area of concentration; »» an ability to conduct research and to synthesize solutions to artistic, technical and conceptual problems within their area of concentration; »» an understanding of art and design principles and skill in artistic, technical and conceptual decision making; »» the experience to evaluate work in their field, including their own work, using professional language; »» an eye for significant historical and contemporary cultural trends and styles that affect their work; »» the skills to communicate their ideas professionally and connect with their intended audience using relevant visual, oral and written presentations; »» the professional and social behaviors necessary to cooperate and compete successfully.

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Facilities

Computer labs The Art Building houses two 24-seat labs equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and professional quality software for still and motion graphics, photography, digital imaging, Web and interactive design, 3D modeling and animation. A high-speed wireless network, servers for file and Web hosting as well as numerous input and output devices complement the resources of our students’ laptops to provide a comprehensive design and production studio environment.

Motion capture and lighting studio A six-camera motion capture studio is located adjacent to the primary workroom for digital art students. The studio also houses a green screen and multiple lighting systems.

Private editing suite Digital art maintains a private editing suite with two 24-inch color correction displays, a 37-inch viewing monitor, studio speakers, condenser microphone and color correction control surfaces. The room also serves as a file-sharing access point with an upcoming 10GBPS connection to rendering services at our campus computing center.

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Facilities

4K theater and Digital Media Center Digital art students have access to a state-of-the-art 4K or UltraHD theater via the Digital Media Center. This new 100,000-square-foot building is home to electronic arts and the Center for Computation & Technology (CCT). Digital art shares a close connection with CCT through shared faculty and facilities including labs for arts, visualization and electronic music.

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Statue by Cameron Bragg

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AVATAR: Interdisciplinary Research in Digital Media The Arts, Visualization, Advanced Technologies and Research (AVATAR) initiative has established a multidisciplinary research and creative focus on the intersections between the arts, technology and the computational sciences.

Research projects explore intelligent and responsive systems such as video games, training systems and simulation visualizations, and collaborative digital media arts. The AVATAR initiative is part of a campus-wide program to establish interdisciplinary research around themes that transcend traditional academic boundaries in the following areas: »» Computer Music: Electroacoustic composition, visual music, interactive music systems, information retrieval or auditory display »» Digital Art & Design: Animation, shading, modeling, environmental design; computational and digital art/design, interactive installations, situated technologies; media art, narrative content creation, writing for film or games »» Computer Graphics: Graphics processors and hardware, visualization, animation; digital signal processing for image, audio and video »» Interactive Systems: Intelligent agents, machine learning, responsive systems; human computer interface; domain specific semantics

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AVATAR minor in digital media Many digital art students choose to complete the AVATAR minor in digital media.

This minor requires three additional courses for our students, primarily focused on expanding technological competencies and completing a collaborative project with computer science and engineering students. Please visit avatar.lsu.edu for up-to-date information on requirements of the minor.

LSU’s AVATAR initiative in digital media is debuting a new, interdisciplinary academic program to help students learn the skills they need for careers in the broad, exciting, and emerging field of digital media.

Undergraduate students can enroll in one of two digital media minor programs, each with a focus on different thematic cores. The DMART minor is an arts-oriented program offered through the College of Art & Design, and the DMTEC minor is a technology-oriented program, offered through the College of Engineering. Students in both programs will take foundation courses in the arts and computer programming followed by three courses in digital media within their area of focus (arts or technology) and one course from the other area of focus. Finally, students from both programs meet in a senior capstone course that engages both arts and technology applications in collaborative interdisciplinary projects.

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LSU Future Fest

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Student Organizations DADA The Digital Art and Design Association (DADA) is a student organization at Louisiana State University. DADA aims to develop talent in a variety of fields including animation, visual effects, video games, motion graphics, video production, visualization and interactive art. DADA explores innovative approaches to making work at the intersection of art and technology. The group serves as a creative laboratory for making original content, hosting events and working with clients on various digital media projects.

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About the Faculty Frederick “Derick” Ostrenko is a media artist and assistant professor at LSU. He holds a joint-appointment in the digital art concentration at the School of Art and the cultural computing research group at the Center for Computation & Technology (CCT). Derick creates physical and virtual systems that examine Derick Ostrenko

Assistant Professor

the intersections of media, culture and technology. He employs custom hardware and software that use various interfaces such as mobile applications, brain waves, generative visualizations, video processing, animation and games. His research focuses on pushing art and technology to reveal hidden networks between people by creating structures for innovative forms of expression and discovery. Derick received his MFA in Digital+Media from the Rhode Island School of Design.

Hye Yeon Nam is a digital media artist working on interactive installations and performance video and teaches courses in creative coding, moving images, and interactive installations.

She holds a PhD from the Georgia Institute of Technology and holds an MFA in Digital+Media from the Rhode Island School

Hye Yeon Nam

of Design, and a B.F.A. in Information Design from Ewha

Assistant Professor

Womans University. She foregrounds the complexity of social relationships by making the familiar strange, and interpreting everyday behaviors in performative ways. Hye Yeon’s art has been showcased in the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., Times Square, the art gallery Eyebeam and

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the Tank, the Conflux, the DUMBO Art Festival in New York, FILE, SIGGRAPH, CHI, ISEA, E3 Expo, the Lab in San Francisco, and several festivals in China, Istanbul, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Denmark and Switzerland. Her work has been broadcast on the Discovery Channel (Canada) and live television program Good Day Sacramento, published in Leonardo Journal and featured in Wired, We Make Money Not Art, Makezine, Business Insider, Slashdot, and Engadget among other publications.

Kristine Thompson received her BS from Northwestern University and MFA from the University of California, Irvine.

Her work addresses social and emotional responses to death and memorial practices, how photographs circulate in digital and tangible ways, and how photographs can elicit empathy. She Kristine Thompson

is the recipient of a DAAD Fellowship in the Arts and a grant

Assistant Professor

from the Center for Cultural Innovation. Kristine also served for several years as a curator at UCR/California Museum of Photography, and she continues to initiate curatorial projects.

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LSU SCHOOL OF ART art.lsu.edu 123 Art Building Baton Rouge, LA 70803 t: 225-578-5411 f: 225-578-5424