The words “school” and “leisure” are etymologically linked, yet it is all too easy to forget this association of learning with enjoyment, given all the beastly competition in academe and the unremitting pressure to keep up your GPA. The Independent Activities Period (IAP), a special term at MIT that runs from early January until the end of the month, is designed to re-acquaint you with the idea that learning is a leisurely pursuit, an “intermission of work.”
Construct a bamboo bicycle. Weave medieval textiles. Bind books. Design inflatable, edible objects from yeast and an electronic pneumatic control toolkit. Build large-scale ice sculptures. Knit patterns based on fractals, numerical sequences and space-filling curves. Make an electric guitar, a video game, a teapot, a poem. Paint, sculpt, draw, print. Revel in these choices, dear readers, and enroll in an IAP (or two).
IAP 2016 will run from Monday, January 4, through Friday, January 29, 2016. To help you navigate the profusion of arts courses, we have compiled a list of classes in the visual arts, graphic design, multimedia, music, performing arts, architecture & design, books & letters, film, and craft, beginning with two IAPs offered by CAST Visiting Artists Keith Ellenbogen and Joan Levy Hepburn.
CAST-SPONSORED COURSES
Underwater Conservation Photography
Keith Ellenbogen, CAST Visiting Artist, and Allan Adams, MIT Department of Physics, Instructors
This intensive crash course in underwater photography will cover everything from underwater optics to hacking simple ROVs to building custom imaging devices to the ecology of coral reef ecosystems and the behavior of their inhabitants. These topics will be covered in lectures, in lab work, on local field trips and in team design and construction projects. The final week will be spent putting these skills and devices to use at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Glover’s Reef Research Station (GRRS) off the coast of Belize. A traveling exhibition of video and still images from this expedition will be shown at the Bronx Zoo, the MIT Museum, the Boston Planetarium, SUNY/FIT and beyond.
Form and Color
Joan Levy Hepburn, CAST Visiting Artist, Instructor
This class will focus on learning visual language and color perception through drawing and painting. Students will come away from these classes with a new awareness of observational skills documented in drawing, an understanding of form, a thorough understanding and control of color and applications of its use as light and pigment, and the completion of an oil painting.
GRANT WRITING
Getting a grant from the Council for the Arts at MIT, Susan Cohen, Director, Council for the Arts at MIT
VISUAL ARTS—3D (SCULPTURE/ CERAMICS/ GLASS)
Beginning Pottery Wheel, Darrell Finnegan, Technical Instructor and Studio Manager
Ceramica Botanica, Darrell Finnegan, Technical Instructor, Studio Manager
Composite Forms, Darrell Finnegan, Technical Instructor and Studio Manager
Creature and Character Creations in Clay, Jason Pastorello, Technical Instructor
Creature and Character Creations in Clay 2, Jason Pastorello, Technical Instructor
Mighty Mugs, Jason Pastorello, Technical Instructor
Mighty Mugs, Section 2 Jason Pastorello, Technical Instructor
Super Bowls, Jason Pastorello, Technical Instructor
Super Bowls 2, Jason Pastorello, Technical Instructor
Team Challenge: Ceramics Coat of Arms, Jason Pastorello, Technical Instructor, Student Art Association
Totally Teapots, Darrell Finnegan, Technical Instructor and Studio Manager
Contemporary Geometric Beadwork, Kate McKinnon, Erik Demaine, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Martin Demaine, Technical Assistant, CSAIL
Crafting the Cosmos – Handmade Projects and Introductory Astrophysics, Zach Berta-Thompson, Postdoctoral Fellow, Kavli Institute
Enameling Course, Tara Fadenrecht, Technical Instructor
Intro to Metal Sculpture, Tara Fadenrecht, Technical Instructor
VISUAL ARTS—2D (PAINTING/ DRAWING/ PHOTOGRAPHY)
Beginning Oil Painting Workshop, Nicole Tariverdian, Technical Instructor
Interpreting a Still Life-Beginning & Intermediate, Nicole Tariverdian, Technical Instructor
Oil Painting Workshop, Nicole Tariverdian, Technical Instructor
Quick Draw: A Crash Course for Absolute Beginners, Mauricio Cordero
Introduction to Gum Bichromate Printing, Thery Mislick, Technical Instructor and Studio Manager
Basic Camera and Classical Darkroom Techniques, Thery Mislick, Technical Instructor and Studio Manager
Digital to Analog Black and White Photography, Nicole Tariverdian, Technical Instructor
Introduction to Drawing, as taught in the Class “Introduction to Design for Engineers,” Carolyn Jundzilo-Comer
ART TOURS & COLLECTING
A guided tour of Class Distinctions: Dutch Painting in the Age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, Anne McCants, Professor of History
MFA Japanese Art Tour, Hiromu Nagahara
Slow Looking Art Workshop: Sol LeWitt, Courtney Klemens, Campus and Community Outreach Coordinator
MFA Tour: American Art of the Sea, Prof. Christopher Capozzola
Beyond the “Like”: Collecting and Contemporary Art, Courtney Klemens
GRAPHIC DESIGN & MULTIMEDIA
Coding Creativity, Cindy Bishop
DUSPviz: Basic Habits of Effective Graphic Designers, Mike Foster
ArtMTR, E-David painting robot source code rewrite, Ben Tritt, CEO ArtMATR
DUSPviz: Code your First Web Site—Introduction to HTML/CSS/Javascript, Mike Foster
DUSPviz: Create a Research Poster—Intermediate Adobe Illustrator/Photoshop/InDesign, Mike Foster
DUSPviz: IMapping with Leaflet JS—Intro to Web Mapping, Mike Foster
Video Games as Media Hybrids, Michal Zmuda
Digital Imaging 101, Jenn Morris, Digital Imaging Manager, MIT Libraries
Build a CNC Drawing Machine, Victor Leung, Instructor
MUSIC & PERFORMING ARTS
Build your own Electric Guitar, Hayami Arakawa, Asst. Director
IAP – Movement, Concentration and Meditation Techniques for Performers, Jean Rife, Lecturer in Music and Theatre Arts Department, musician
Vintage Musical Sound: Audio Technology from 100 Years Ago, Timothy Peng
Bhakti Modern Dance Master Class, Deborah Abel, Artistic Director, Deborah Abel Dance Company
Intro to Hoop Dance, Angie Tun
Japanese Tea Ceremony, Kyoko Wada
Learn to Play Music on Your iPhone or iPad, Dazza Greenwood, Scientist
ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN
Bamboo Bicycle Frame Making Workshop, David Wang, Founder of Bamboo Bicycles Beijing
Forces Frozen—Exploring Structural Ice Shells, Caitlin Mueller, Assistant Professor in Building Technology, Lancelot Coar, Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba
Inflated Appetite, Wen Wang, Postdoctoral Associate, Chemical Engineering, Lining Yao, Research Assistant, MIT Media Lab, Jifei Ou, Research Assistant, MIT Media Lab, Chin-Yi Cheng, MIT Architecture
The Distaff Arts: Medieval Clothing Technology, Margo Collett, Anne McCants
BOOKS & LETTERS
Historic Letterlocking: The Art and Security of Letterwriting, Jana Dambrogio, Thomas F. Peterson Jr. (1957) Conservatory
Two Bookbinding Styles, Kate Beattie, Preservation Associate, Ayako Letizia, Conservation Assistant
What’s Old is New: Recent Additions to our Special Collections, Stephen Skuce, Rare Books Program Manager
Pleasures of Poetry 2016, David Thorburn, Professor of Literature
EMBRACING THE OUTSKIRTS (book reading), Jo Ivester ’77
Mobile Reading Marathon: Arabian Nights, Susan Wiedner, Staff
Create Your Own Comic! (Artistic Ability Optional), Rebecca Thorndike-Breeze, Ph.D, Lecturer, CMS/W
Comics Culture from Print to Screen, James Paradis, Lacey Lord
MIT Writers’ Group, Steven Strang
FILM
Abstract and Experimental Film Laura Ryan, Film Office
Art and Lunchtime Discussion: Ann Hirsch Ann Hirsch, Courtney Klemens, Campus and Community Outreach Coordinator, List Museum
Urban Planning Film Series, Ezra Glenn
CRAFT
Chirimen-Zaiku: The Art of Japanese silk crepe craft, Mineko Sasaki
Daytime Knitting, Fabiola Hernandez
Ikebana: The Art of Japanese Flower Arrangement, Hiroko Matsuyama
IAP math + knitting, Teal Guidici