Critical Mythologies with Samantha Stover
Class | Currently Unavailable
How do we create Myth? This theory-based course will explore themes of art and artifice, objects and their representations, and how society can develop a kind of lore surrounding cultural (and, even, mundane) phenomena. We will read and discuss selections from Roland Barthes’ book of critical essays, Mythologies, and develop original artworks inspired by some of the topics therein. Using modern methods of construction, deconstruction, and semiotics we will learn to transform our conceptual ideas into unique visual representations of our contemporary world – analyzing if and how mythologies have changed, approximately 70 years after Barthes composed those essays.
This class will be comprised of lectures, class discussion, studio exercises, group critiques and a final project. Readings from Mythologies are an essential component to this class and there will be homework assignments to share and discuss, which support the development and creativity of our final projects.
- WSS is closed the week of Thanksgiving, all classes will conclude the first week of December.
- Materials List - These are the materials you will need to bring with you for this class.
- Your copy of Roland Barthes, Mythologies, (1957, English 1972)
- Notebook or tablet for taking written notes.
- Sketchbook of choice.
- At least 4 canvases, panels, or surfaces for in-class assignments.
- Your media of choice (painting, drawing, collage), to be discussed in detail in class.
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- Materials for final project, painting recommended.
Samantha Stover
Samantha Stover grew up in Bethesda, Maryland. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Literature and Art History from McGill University and a Masters in Fine Art, cum laude, from the New York Academy of Art. Throughout her academic studies in art, she focused her concentration on Drawing Techniques: historical methods and materials as well as figure-drawing exclusively from life. She learned painting, predominantly, as a copyist in New York and Washington, DC and she has traveled widely through Europe studying master drawings and paintings. Her current work involves figuration and the power of creative expression. Drawing also on her previous experience as a theatrical costume designer, she is influenced by the performative and communicative capacity of the human form and spirit. She employs the practices of her traditional training and her experience with the figure in motion to capture fleeting observations, emotions and memories.
To view more of Samantha's work online, visit www.samanthastover.com