What we offer:

Image: "Afflict the Comfortable, Comfort the Afflicted" 1985 Paul Thek / 4 Dimensions Thursdays 7pm -8:30pm April 9 - May 21 (7 sessions) All materials included. (class will run with 5 participants minimum) Instructor: Branden Koch "Your classmates are your world, your future will be like this now, as you relate to the present, you will relate to your future, recognize your weakness and do something about it." -Paul Thek One of Paul Thek‘s greatest contributions to American art is his "Teaching Notes:" a short questionnaire he used in one of the courses he taught at Cooper Union between 1978 - 1981. Many art teachers and artists have taken "Teaching Notes" and built upon it, using it to draw out students’ abilities as artists and as potential future instructors. It is truly considered a sort of living document guiding artists and educators in furthering their practice. The questionnaire starts with basic biographical questions, such as the student’s name, age, and place of birth. It moves on to more challenging questions, however, along multiple axes. Some are personal or unusual, asking about the student’s sleeping practices or the student’s thoughts on eternity. Others are more challenging, with research-centered questions and small projects offered as part of the questionnaire. In this course, we will take several cues and prompts from Thek's "Notes" to make a new artwork every session that materializes the unusual and experimental, personal, profound, and sometimes ridiculous modes of making that art can manifest. We will use multiple materials and approaches, each class a completely different exploration in sharing, in both 2D, 3D, and 4D, the handwritten and ephemeral, or collaborative. This class will be an experience in stepping outside of one's creative comfort zones and experimenting with humor to make something you weren't necessarily planning to make. All are welcome: no "talent" or "skill" required whatsoever. Just an open and curious mind to try new ways of learning in a collaborative and sharing vibe. Week 1: Who was Paul Thek? Lecture on Artist's work / paper doll self portrait Week 2: "Revolutionary Paper Airplane" Week 3: "Make a monkey" Week 4: Painting: "What is the most beautiful thing in the world?" Week 5: Mixed Media : "What is an Icon?" Casting with alginate/plaster. Week 6: Painting on Newspaper / Advertisements: "Message to future self" Week 7: Abstraction: "How do you know?"