Recent BFA graduate from Kendall College of Art and Design - Steven Miner shares his series "Index, Index, Etc" on the site today!
Steven Miner (b.1993) is a photographic artist currently living in West, Michigan. He received his B.F.A in Photography from Kendall College of Art and Design in 2017. His work and interests attempt to understand the representational and phycological surface of images. His current projects deal with the contemporarily difficult task of delineating asceticism, relevance and meaning within…
My relevant coursework at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago: 2002-2005
Bordering on Fiction
"Reality television," despite the furor, is not a particularly new idea. Direct precedents for shows like Survivor and Big Brother can be traced back to 1970, to An American Family or its sub-cultural counterpart, The Continuing Story of Carel and Ferd. Some of the most powerful and provocative independent film and video being produced today draw on the age-old fascination with the border between "document" and "fiction." The class provides a context for producing and critiquing student work, and provides a historical/critical grounding in examining work of video and cinema "verité" as well as "experimental narrative" and "new documentary."
Basic Video 2
This course introduces students to more sophisticated forms of image/sound manipulation, editing, and theory. Pre-production planning (storyboards, scripting, budgeting), further refinement of digital editing techniques, and basic post-production/visual effects are covered, as well as studio production techniques, such as “chroma-keying” and work with advanced cameras. Students are expected to achieve a level of technical competence and confidence necessary to undertake more ambitious independent work. The class views and discusses key contemporary works and related critical writings.
Advanced Film/Video Projects
This course is for students who have a sustained interest in using video technology as part of their art making. Participants work on a project-oriented basis that include individual critiques, special class meetings, practicums, and equipment workshops. Students should be both self-directed and interested in developing a support system for producing each others’ work. This course will be offered on a semester-to-semester basis, but students who wish access to the video department during the winter interim must take both semesters.
History of Video Art
This course is an introductory sampler of the rich and varied video practices that have emerged during the last 40 years. The emphasis is on the earlier experiments that have paved the way for much of the video and digitally based imagery we see everyday in our museums, on television and in the streets. We will look at the relationship of video to other media, particularly television and cinema, and the ways video art has been influenced by them, while also transforming them. We will also take a strong look at the social and political the possibilities of alternative video practices, particularly in relation to feminism, civil rights and broader social movements. Central to such an investigation will be a close reading of videos for their formal innovation and narrative possibilities, as well as the role of audience and theories of “spectatorship” in the development of video.
Editing Aesthetics and Strategies
An intermediate post-production seminar for students working in Film and Video. Conducted as a seminar/workshop in which students present unfinished work for critique and as the basis for demonstrations, this course provides methods for the organization and structuring of materials in short- and long-form works. While concentrating on practical problem-solving, particular attention is paid to sound/image relationships, structural continuity/discontinuity, professional practices, and non-traditional working procedures. Time is reserved for close analysis of films and videos, readings, and discussion on a regular basis. Students are expected to enroll with a work-in-progress, and to finish with a lock-cut of their film or video project.
Screenwriting
Students complete the first draft of a feature-length screenplay (at least 90 pages) based on an original idea that they propose and develop in the first or second class. No adaptations or partially-completed scripts are allowed. Weekly class sessions include group reading of script pages and critique by classmates and instructor
Visualization and Storyboarding
This is a production class that will focus on idea development for time based media, through the use of storyboards, treatments, location photos, sketchbooks, and script readings. Students working in film, video, performance, and animation will learn classical and experimental ways to negotiate these techniques as an integral part of the production of time based works. The final project for this class will be a loose-leaf volume containing treatment, storyboards and research scrapbook for a major work. This volume will be used for idea development and presentation of your project to collaborators, granting agencies, fellowship organizations and most importantly you, the maker.
Animation 2
This class introduces a variety of analogue and digital animation techniques and materials. Materials include paint, conté, plasticine, colored pencils and paper, sand animation, evolving charcoal drawing, paint on glass, cutout animation, replacement animation, digital rotoscoping, Xerox techniques, direct animation on films, and compositing images in Flash. Students learn camera techniques such as dollies, pans, and lap dissolves. Work is shot on Frame Thief, Lunch-Box and on 16mm. Students complete several assignments and a final project. Films illustrating a variety of techniques are screened
Writing for Film/Video/Performance
An interdisciplinary studio that develops skills specific to the challenges of writing for time-based projects, especially works in film, video, installation, and performance. The primary focus is in-class writing, a range of textual experiments, and workshop /critique of students' writing in relation to their own works-in-progress. We pay attention to 'invisible' texts ? the writing before the script, free-writing, conceptual issues ? as well as overt ones. Special emphasis is placed on developing the ear in work on monologue, dialogue, and voice-over. The class reads and discusses selected scripts and writings by artists, screens films and videos, attends exhibitions and performances, and performs close analyses (another form of 'reading') of texts.
New Media 01
This introductory course focuses on screen-based new media works, their historical contexts, their specific aesthetics and theoretical concerns. Students gain an understanding of the emerging culture and historical antecedents of new media. Interactive, network and web-based technologies are introduced from the perspective of media art making. New media works are screened, discussed and demonstrated.
If you love painting, photography, or graphic design, you will enjoy the work of our B.F.A. students. From April 24 to April 26, 30 graduating seniors hosted their 2014 Capstone Exhibitions in several locations in Shepherdstown, Charles Town, and Hagerstown. Here is some of their artwork and the stories behind their work.
1. “The Bearded Bear Boutique” — Tyler Howsare
A unique piece of jewelry belongs to the unique you. Howsare, who handcrafts pieces of jewelry that are all different from one another, created the Bearded Bear, an original jewelry brand. He believes that everyone should own a piece of jewelry that nobody else has.
(Key words: beautiful, unique, and handmade)
2. “Hunt & Gather” — Alyssa Cable
Drawing inspiration from her lifestyle, Cable designed a cookbook to show her attitude toward living: healthy and sophisticated.
(Key words: healthy, unique, and friendly)
3. “Inside Out” — Kevin Willey
Sometimes images are more powerful than words. Willey uses photos to show that the people in the LGBTQ community are just the same as others. They listen to the Beatles. They skateboard. They collect motorcycle models.
(Key words: diversified, intimate, and friendly)
4. “Reverie” — Virginia Kemmerling and Christine Soares
Recognizing the beauty in women, Kemmerling uses photos to show that every woman has her side of elegance.
(Key words: alluring, feminine, and beautiful)
Moving from India to the United States, then from New York to Virginia, Soares developed an appreciation for the unique traits of individuals. Each person she meets has a different personality and a different way of living.
(Key words: peaceful, nostalgic, and hopeful)
5. “Uncrowned” — Kavin Chhoeut
Graphic design is an expression of art, as is music. When the two come together, it is the “Uncrowned” that Chhoeut creates to celebrate the non-mainstream music and to show his admiration of these musicians.
(Key words: intrinsically detailed, vintage, and nostalgic)
6. “Channels” — Emily Jones
According to Jones, her exhibition is a series of watercolor paintings that “blur the lines of exterior and interior space as a metaphor for the momentary degradation of an individual’s state of mind during discovery.”
