Virtual Photography & Painting; Visual Arts Courses in The Age of COVID-19

One course that was interrupted this semester by COVID-19 was the Spring 2020 Documentary Photography class, taught by Bjorn Steinz. Professor Steinz started an Instagram page called the “Ballad of Quarantine” to collect, curate, and display student work. 

Through this course, the students have documented their experiences under these current difficult conditions, and specifically, they are documenting where they are since some of them either chose to or had to leave the country. So there are images from not only Prague, but Kiev, across the USA, South Korea, and other places.

Following suit, there will also be a Summer 2020 Virtual Documentary Photography course that will allow students to receive the same intense course instruction, earn credits over the summer and do so from wherever they are located in the world. 

There will also be a Summer 2020 Virtual Art Studio: Landscape Painting course with Richard Willenbrink. 

This painting course will introduce the student to the basic concepts and techniques of painting landscapes from observation while also introducing the student to related expressive painting methods. This is a multi-level course, which can accommodate beginners as well as those with painting experience.

This course will present online lectures and demonstrations on technique, methods and styles. The instructor will be teaching the course from his studio on the Sázava River. The range of subjects will include motifs from the river, forest, grain fields, gardens, and flowers.

The students will work independently and mostly plein air (painting outdoors). They may choose their own motifs based on what is available to them. These subjects may be similar to those mentioned above or may be based in and around Prague which can additionally include motifs of Baroque architecture and Baroque gardens. Like the demonstrations, the evaluation and critique of the work will be in online group meetings.