CTRL P: Pop Art for the Digital Age Summer Scholars Session I

The Pop Art movement brought forward a critique of popular culture, consumerism, mass-production, social change, and the deconstruction of images in everyday life. It pushed back on abstract expressionism and looked toward the world around us for inspiration and change rather than within. During the time of the Pop Art movement, the United States thrived in an ever-abundant consumeristic economy and the revitalization of the American Dream. Television became common place and the way the world was viewed became less isolated and more global. The new fight was on poverty and social change through moments like the Civil Rights Movement and the Counterculture Movements. This movement gave way to artist like Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg, and Corita Kent, all who used screen printing in their practice.

As the world continues to evolve, issues have become more complex and more global. Technological advancements have created mass connection and serious isolation. Never before can we get the latest news at our finger tips, but bury ourselves headfirst in the blue-glow that blocks us from in-person communication. The boom of generative AI continues to raise complex questions about aesthetics, representation, and authorship. Political divide creates extremism while populations increase in size and must be fed by the ever-growing need for more industrial farming. The fight for freedom has continued, ever shifting to new peoples and lands. While all this happens, we continue to live in a disposable world where trash cumulates like giant islands in the ocean and microplastics infiltrate every inch of the planet.

This project-based course will allow students to explore these issues through research and making using photographic screen-printing processes. Screen printing was developed commercially to expand the printable surface through a stencil application. It has evolved to be a voice for social change in the hands for of the artist and designer. The final project in this course will use CMYK silkscreen printing to create a four-color edition of prints using hand drawing, photography, digital creation, and/or generative AI. The edition will be exchanged with everyone in the class as a book to create a collaborative project everyone is able to take home.

Course Schedule

This course will be offered during Summer Scholars Session I on campus.

Academic Director