Art Programme at VNF

Course Description 2009-10

Title of Course: Introductory Period

Duration: 69 hrs

Teachers: Bjarne Bäck, Auni Pelho

Aims and Content: Students first participate in a three-week introductory course
which lays the foundations of their artistic work during the year and
their social interaction both with teachers and students. They do artistic
work in different environments.

Title of Course: Life Drawing and Anatomy / Anatomy: the Head

Duration: 69 + 64 hrs (Two separate courses)

Teacher: Auni Pelho

Aims and Content: Life drawing is fundamental to all visual expression. The
pedagogical methods are objective, based on observation. The
human skeleton is important both to the act of drawing and to
the perception of volume and structure. A knowledge of the human
skeleton and the muscles is the basis of a logical method which facilitates
work with proportions, inclinationary angles etc. Several different
drawing materials are used.

Title of Course: Croquis Drawing

Duration: (In 2009-10 the course is integrated into Life Drawing and Anatomy)

Duration: Auni Pelho

Aims and Content: In croquis drawing a sketch is made, within a short period, for
example a few minutes, of a model in which expression is given to
his/her essential features, such as position and movement dynamics.
Croquis is based on movement and helps to practise the interplay
between eye and hand.

Title of Course: Drawing Techniques

Duration: (During 2009-10 integrated into other courses, such as Introductory
Period, Life Drawing and Workshops.)

Treachers: Auni Pelho, Bjarne Bäck

Aims and Content: The course provides an introduction to classical drawing
techniques comprising practical and theoretical knowledge of wet and
dry materials and combinations of these, so-called mixed techniques.
Line, shade, surface and texture are studied in practical exercises with
different themes.

Title of Course: Painting – Fundamentals, Materials and Methods

Duration: 69 hrs

Teacher: Bjarne Bäck

Aims and Content: The course provides a basic knowledge of materials, also
from a historical perspective. Pigments, binding media,
varnishes and techniques used during different periods and by
different artists. It also deals with the preparation of
different painting surfaces, such as paper, wood and canvas.
Practical exercises with different themes are carried out:
historical studies, landscapes and stilleben.

Title of Course: Portrait Painting / Model and Space

Duration: 75 hrs + 64 hrs (Two separate courses)

Teacher: Daniel Enckell

Aims and Content: This is a practical course which teaches students to shape
and construct (=paint) space, volume and figures into a
credible whole (painting) by studying models in spatial
contexts and portraits while focusing on the face/the head
and its plasticity. The emphasis is on colour and on painting as
personal expression.

Title of Course: Sculpture

Duration: 69 hrs

Teacher: Auni Pelho

Aims and Content: The course aims to provide a deeper understanding of the
relationship between volume and space, of different materials and
working methods, of the power of association and of personal
expression. Students sculpture figures and portraits using
modelling clay and plaster, as well as combinations of marterials
and mixed techniques.

Title of Course: Pottery I and II

Duration: 69 hrs + 69 hrs (Two different courses)

Teacher: Karin Gottberg-Ek

Aims and Content: The course provides a general introduction to pottery work and
its possibilities. It is largely practical and consists of a survey of
the basic working methods (throwing, plate technique, small
sculptures etc) as well as surface treatment and decoration
techniques. Students produce their own glazing.

Title of Course: Fundamentals of Metal Art, Design and Jewellery

Duration: 69 hrs

Teacher: Auni Pelho

Aims and Content: The course provides an introduction to the basic techniques of
metal art, its tools and technical terms. The teaching is practical:
students design and make jewellery and small objects. The course
also includes stone cutting and mounting.

Title of Course: Metal Art, Small Objects

Duration: 69 hrs

Teacher: Auni Pelho

Aims and Content: As the course above, but with the emphasis on corpus work,
the smithing of metal into bowls, cutlery, small receptacles
etc. Materials used are wood, stone and glass.

Title of Course: Graphics, Woodcut and Lino

Duration: 69 hrs

Teacher: Bjarne Bäck

Aims and Content: The course aims to give students a basic knowledge of
traditional graphic techniques, including relief printing,
(woodcut, linocut), intaglio printing (dry point, line etching and
aquatint) and the carborundum techniques. Technical and artistic
tuition is given depending on students’ needs and ideas. The
course includes framing, signing and numbering of graphic
works.

Title of Course: Graphics, Engraving and Etching

Duration: 69 hrs

Teacher: Bjarne Bäck

Aims and Content: As above.

Title of Course: Perspective, Theory and Practice

Duration: 69 hrs

Teacher: Bjarne Bäck

Aims and Content: The course teaches the fundamentals of perspective, including
the central perspective according to the method of the
Renaissance architect Alberti, the two-point or angular
perspective, the three-point or bird’s-eye perspective and
methods ranging from the geometrical construction to the artistic
shaping of a motif. The construction exercises are combined with
tasks in which observation and artistic imagination are more to the
fore. A compendium on the theory of perspective is provided.

Title of Course: Painting and Theory of Colour

Duration: 69 hrs

Teacher: Daniel Enckell

Aims and Content: The course provides a general introduction to the theory
of colour, its physics and chemistry, to colour vision and our
experience of colour. It includes practical painting exercises
in which students explore different kinds of lighting and their
artistic consequences.

Title of Course: Drawing Workshop and Drawing Excursions

Duration: 245 hrs

Teachers: Auni Pelho, Bjarne Bäck

Aims and Content: The drawing excursions, which are undertaken at different times
during the year, are intended to provide new approaches to
artistic work by confronting students with teaching environments
different from those at the college. The course mainly involves
practical, artistic work.

Title of Course: Watercolour

Duration: 75 hrs

Teacher: Bjarne Bäck

Aims and Content: The course makes students acquainted with the versatility of
watercolour in an unprejudiced way. It includes knowledge of
materials and working methods, both theoretical and practical,
practical exercises around specific themes and analyses of the
works of well-known artists.