Course Overview
This immersive class is based on the fundamental practices of looking, listening, questioning, and developing how we, as artists, talk about our work and engage in discussions about the work of others. We will use Sister Corita Kent’s “Ten Rules for Students & Teachers” as our text and guide to discover our own “rules” for ourselves as artists and makers. This class meets three days a week. Two days per week, students will visit a diverse group of artists in their studios in and around Los Angeles. Students will have the unique opportunity to dialogue with professional artists about how they developed their practices as artists living and working in Los Angeles. On the second field trip day we will visit curators and writers at museum and gallery exhibitions.
On the third day, we will take these experiences back into the classroom to discuss what we learned, observed, and discovered. Each student will be required to keep a journal to write, draw, take notes, sketch, collage, make lists, etc. They are free to choose whatever they like from their journals to share at our group critiques and one-on-one visits with visiting artists that will take place in the -classroom. These discussions will be used to develop one work per student and together we will produce a collaborative class “zine” as an archive of our summer learning and working together. Students will also use journal entries to create a bio and brief statement about their work.
All students who successfully complete the course will receive a Certificate of Completion and have the opportunity to request a Syracuse University noncredit transcript.
Learning Objectives
- Introduce students to the professional practices of talking about one’s work and engaging in discussions about the work of others.
- Expose young artists to a diverse group of artists and art workers throughout the expansive artistic communities of Los Angeles.
- To develop generative questions about works of art in a welcoming space that allows a young artist to gain confidence and understanding of one’s creative projects.
- Develop collaboration and communication skills as we self-publish a class “zine” based on their class experience.
Course Information
Course Prefix and Number: SCN 160
Format: On Location: Los Angeles, CA (commuter only) at Syracuse University’s Dick Clark Los Angeles Program
Eligibility: Students must be of rising high school sophomore, junior or senior status. Students must be able to commute to and from the Los Angeles (North Hollywood, CA) location for class.
Credit: Noncredit
Grading: Pass/Fail
Cost:
- Commuter, only: $2,175
Program rates are subject to change and will be approved by the board of trustees. Discounts and scholarships are also available.
Program Information
Summer College – On Location: Experience what college is really like in one of Syracuse University’s homes on the west or east coasts!
Course Dates and Details
| Program | Course Dates | Location | Class Time (Pacific Time) | Credit/Noncredit | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Summer College – On Location | 4-Week Session: Monday, July 8 – Friday, Aug. 2, 2024 | Los Angeles (North Hollywood), CA | WThF; 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. | Noncredit | Closed |
Course Requirements
Supplies
Students will need a sketchbook and/or journal exclusively for this course and favorite drawing or writing supplies.
Typical Day
Tentative Schedule
FIELD TRIP DAYS:
- AM: Meet at the SULA Dick Clark Los Angeles Programs Building in North Hollywood. Check in and briefly review for 30 minutes who or where we will be going that day. Discuss what looking, listening, and question-forming skills we will be focusing on for that day’s visit.
- Take the shuttle to the first visit
- Visit to an artist’s studio (1-2 hours)
- PM: Lunch (one hour)
- Back on the shuttle to SULA Dick Clark Los Angeles Programs Building in North Hollywood
- Debrief and reflect on that day’s visit, journal, and discussion for an hour.
CLASSROOM DAY:
- AM: Meet at the SULA Dick Clark Los Angeles Programs Building in North Hollywood. Check-in and review key topics that came up at our field trips for 30 minutes. Discuss what looking, listening, and question-forming skills we will be focusing on for that day’s visit.
- Either myself or a student will Introduce our visiting artist.
- Visiting artist presentation (1-2 hours)
- Q&A with students
- PM: Lunch w/ visiting artist
- Group crit or one-on-one visits with the visiting artist. Journaling, sketching, personal research, group work on the “zine”
- Debrief and reflect on that day’s visit, journal, and discussion for an hour.
Faculty Bios
Jill Spector
Jill Spector is an interdisciplinary artist and independent art worker who lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. Her practice encompasses artmaking, performance, design, teaching, and collaboration. Jill’s artistic background blends performance and sculpture, suggesting mimicry and roles to be played, and places the viewer into relationships between bodies and objects.
In 2017 Jill founded In Favor Of, a consultancy that grew out of her desire to partner with others and expand the potential of their work. As an advocate and guide, Jill works with artists and designers to nurture moments in the creative process where collaboration, creative growth, and community collide. In 2021 Jill Spector, along with artist and activist Julie Weitz co-founded Tzitzit Project – a collection of tzitzit, a ritual garment, specifically designed for women, trans, and gender non-conforming Jews.
Jill Spector’s sculptures and collages were featured in Made in L.A. 2012 at the Hammer Museum. Her work has been included in the exhibitions Biomorphic Forms In Sculpture at the Kunsthaus Graz and Drawling, Stretching, and Fainting in Coils…, an exhibition organized by artist Diana Thater, at the Pinakothek der Moderne and National theater in Munich, Germany. Jill Spector’s photography has been featured in publications, including Valeria Napoleone’s Catalog of Exquisite Recipes, and SchindlerLab.org published by the MAK Center. In 2016, Spector created The Editor’s President: Models and Mock-Ups for Elaine May, Nora Kaye, and Eileen Gray, an installation at JOAN in Los Angeles. In 2015, Jill Spector and artist Bret Nicely founded TARP, an ongoing series of performances and installations in and around their empty swimming pool in Altadena, California. In 2016, Spector formed Designing Women, a conversation series by women who own and operate businesses in the fields of art and design. Spector has collaborated with choreographer Rebecca Pappas and NoExit Performance on PARADE 2017: Garfield Park, in Indianapolis, IN, with writer Soffi Stanassi on New And Unknown Thing, a performance inspired by Christine de Pizan’s The Book of the City of Ladies at Cities Of Days in Los Angeles. In 2020 she created a variety of costumes for artist and activist Julie Weitz’s My Golem project. Jill Spector was named one of the Orange County Contemporary Collectors 2013 Fellowship Artists and in 2019 awarded an Inquiry Fellowship from American Jewish University, Los Angeles, CA. Her works are included in the Zabludowicz Collection, London, the Kunsthaus Graz, and The Museum of Modern Art. Jill is an alumna of the Syracuse University School of Visual and Performing Arts (BFA 1998) and the Graduate Art Program at Art Center College of Design (MFA 2005).
Jill Spector is currently the coordinator of Syracuse University’s L.A. Turner Semester Residency Program where MFA candidates from Syracuse University’s School of Art come to Los Angeles to live and work for a semester while developing and employing essential professional practices in the arts.