Courses offered:   

Note:   The courses offered below for the 2008 program are now closed.   2009 courses will be posted here by September, 2008 and will be comparable to those below.

 

Walking in Place: Wanderlust as a Source for Artmaking

ART4814-001 / 6811-001, 3 art studio credits

Instructor:  Wendy Babcox

 

The primary objective of this studio course will be to encourage students to engage with the city of Paris as a zone of discovery.  Paris will provide both the inspiration and the raw material for the creative process as students are encouraged to playfully subvert the role of the tourist during their stay, to slow down and to explore their environment with a joyful but critical eye.   The course will emphasize the experiential and organic encounter with the city as a form of artistic practice, drawing upon the symbolic, imaginative and sensory experiences of the walking rituals of the French 19th-century flaneur, or the drifting of the Surrealists and Stiuationists.   Students will use a variety of accessible materials and methods which may include photography, mapping, drawing, montage, found objects, performance, bookmaking and writing.   We will use strategies of inquiry and collection as practiced by the Theoria in ancient Greece, or more subversive forms of observation and surveillance as performed by French contemporary artist Sophie Calle. We will draw upon these strategies toward the creation of art that is engaged with the daily life we discover in the course of our meanderings through the exquisite territories of Paris.   Prerequisites:  Concepts and Practices I and II or equivalent foundation art studio courses.

                          

Wendy Babcox is Assistant Professor in Photography at the University of South Florida. She works in a variety of media including photography, digital media, video and performance. Her work has been exhibited in Russia, New Zealand, Peru, Colombia, and Mexico among other places. Her work is held in private and public collections both here in the US and abroad.

 

 

 

Monumental Paris: Sites of Invention

ARH 4890-401 / 6891-401, 4 art history credits

Instructor:  Anne Jeffrey

 

In this course we will explore the contradictions historically shaping and energizing this vital city.  Paris becomes our classroom!  A major focus will be the observation and analysis of the city’s monuments, supported by assigned readings and group discussions. Some examples of these complex cultural sites are the Place de la Concorde, Versailles, the Pantheon, the Eiffel Tower, Père Lachaise Cemetery, and La Défense. Others may be included depending on class interests.

 

Paris museums and their collections form significant sites of invention in this richly diverse city.  Again, supported by assigned readings, museums such as the Louvre, Orsay, Grand Palais, Picasso, Rodin, Gustave Moreau, the Georges Pompidou Center and the Val-Mac Museum of Contemporary Art will be examined within their historical context, and explored as intricate visual documents. Specific artists showcased at these sites during June 2008 may also form part of our investigation.

 

In addition to active participation in group discussions, student assignments will include 10-12 readings, written responses to site-related questions, a journal and small group projects.   Prerequisite:  History of Visual Arts II or equivalent.

 

Anne Jeffrey began teaching art history for the Tampa, St. Petersburg and Sarasota campuses, University of South Florida in 2001. Courses include 19th Century Art History, 20th Century Art History, Contemporary Issues in Art and Introduction to Art.  She has taught several art history courses in Paris for this program.

 

 

 

Paris and the Cultural Contexts of Art

ARH 4890-402 / 6891-402, 4 art history credits

or ART 4814-402 / 6811-402, 3 art studio credits

Instructor: Anat Pollack

 

This course is about becoming immersed in Parisian life, its culture and history, its people, food, lifestyle, art and architecture.  Framing our studies within a contemporary and historical context, we will focus on understanding the present location of the city and its people with regard to place, space and time. 

 

With the goal of experiencing Paris not merely as a tourist, but rather as a Parisian might, we will be working from macro to micro, from national identity to individuality.  To do this, we will look at how the social, political, and economic conditions of any given time have shaped the French, and how this has influenced individual creative expression.  Our discussions and readings will walk us through French history, drawing upon cultural studies, semiotics and critical theory.  Meanwhile, our visits to museums and cultural sites will seek connections between history and the content of art, as we focus on the cultural context in which the work was created.  The students will generate their response to the city through textual, visual, and aural journals of their experiences and will contextualize their explorations through short papers or artworks.   My hope is that the course will enable students to experience France with a great depth of understanding, openness, and compassion, and to learn how to see one’s own existence and personal experience through the lens of history.  Prerequisites:  Concepts and Practices I and II for those enrolling for art credit, History of Visual Arts II for those enrolling for art history credit or equivalents.

 

Anat Pollack is Assistant Professor of Electronic Media at the University of South Florida.   Combining old technologies with new, she is interested in engaging the viewer in real-time, real-space interactivity for active engagement.   She received her MFA from Carnegie Mellon University and has exhibited widely both in the U.S. and abroad.  Recent exhibitions include the New Forms Festival in Vancouver and the Muestra Internacional de Arte Digital in Argentina. 

 

 

Optional excursion to London, June 30 - July 6, 2008

ARH 4940-401, 1-3 credits
Instructor: Wallace Wilson

In addition to its array of superb museums and historical sites, London is currently a center for the production and exhibition of some of the most challenging contemporary art being produced. Our itinerary will include visits to the Tate Modern Gallery, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Photographer’s Gallery, and historical museums such as the National Gallery and the British Museum. A London artist will guide us on a tour of artists’ studios and of some of the city’s newest and most progressive galleries. The excursion will provide students with an introduction to this diverse and vibrant city and will include opportunities to explore its art, architecture, theater and street life. (Students must enroll for this excursion for at least 1 credit.  This excursion can be used to fulfill the extended studies requirement for USF art majors if taken for 3 credits.  Grading is on an s/u basis only.

Wallace Wilson has been director of the School of Art and Art History at the University of South Florida since 1994, bringing more than more than 25 years of art teaching, administration and practice to his current position. His photographic artworks have been exhibited and collected widely both in the U.S. and abroad. He has taught at the University of Kentucky, the University of Delaware, the University of Florida, the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) and the London Study Center of Florida State University.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lou Marcus is the program director and will serve as on-site coordinator in both Paris and London.  He is a Professor of Art at USF where he teaches courses on photography and the history of photography and visual culture and he has directed the Paris program since 1987.  His work has been exhibited widely and is in numerous public and private collections including that of the Bibliothèque Nationale.  He has led numerous groups of students to Paris, has completed four artist-in-residencies at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris and is a part-time resident of the city.

 

 

Other USF Credit Options

 

Options for earning additional credits include a 3-credit hour French course from Intermediate to Advanced levels, applicable to their language requirement at USF.  Students may also extend their study-abroad experience by combining this program with other summer study-abroad opportunities or a semester or year-long exchange in Paris.  Contact the program director or the Study Abroad and Exchanges Office for further information.

 

 

Students must be approved into the courses through the application process.  Enrollment will be limited in each course to 18 students.   Students may enroll in one Paris course only.   Those seeking additional credits are encouraged to enroll in the optional excursion to London.