Classes in tools and techniques
Students on Metàfora’s Studio Arts Program come from many different backgrounds. In common is a strong desire to immerse themselves in the creative practice and experiment with different artistic techniques. Everyday throughout each studio block, the program offers a wide variety of practical workshops and classes.
The tools and techniques classes are open to students from all levels of the Studio Arts Program. All the classes are intended as introductory, allowing the students the option of continuing working with the technique, once the class has finished.
Sample materials for all classes are included in the fees with the exclusion of life drawing paper which is supplied by the group. For the digital workshops we recommend students bring their own cameras, smartphones and laptops. Should this not be possible, the school can provide this equipment to students to use during class.
These practical classes can be organised into:
“Pictorial Processes” includes workshops such as life drawing, portrait painting, working with oil and acrylics, watercolor, academic drawing and painting, and drawing perspective within the city. It also encompasses various forms of printmaking, including cyanotypes and screen printing.
“Object & Space” allow students to work with all sorts of materials from clay to metal (ARC welding), wood and mold making in plaster, silicone and casting with polyester, to name a few.
The classes of “Photography and Digital Media” are dedicated to artistic photography, basic video editing and graphic design.
Tutorials
Metàfora’s Studio Arts Program has the privilege to count with a set of extremely skilled teachers and talented tutors. We take pride in working with artists who are the cutting edge of Barcelona’s art scene, with experience both in teaching and as artists.
The fact that our in-house-tutors are practicing artists with a busy exhibition schedule gives their interactions with the students a sense of “something real”.
Students are assigned an in-house tutor upon arrival to the art program. Students and tutors meet every week in small groups or individually. The relationship between tutor and students is horizontal and friendly, based on a mutual understanding and agreement about the artwork.
Towards the end of each block all students have the possibility for having extra tutorials with their personal tutor, and other tutors and teachers on the course.
Artwork Presentations / Discourse Reviews
At the end of every studio block, all students on the course present their artwork to their personal tutors and the rest of the group of students and tutors.
These weeks are among the most intense and inspiring moments of the Studio Arts Program, bringing the group together in all senses through debate and celebration of creativity.
The idea behind the presentations or the “Crit” is that students work on preparing a piece of finished artwork and show it in an “exhibition like” format.
Together with the act of talking publicly, the students learn to formulate and develop their ideas coherently. The presentation week has an almost “festival-like atmosphere”, the event becomes a colorful space of respect and constructive feedback.
The presentations at Metàfora are open to the public so students can invite friends and family (should they happen to be in town).
Classes specific to the Foundation Program
The Foundation Program is designed for students to play, experiment and learn about contemporary art.
Most of the classes on this level are optional, and the idea is that each student should choose their own route though the classes in tools and techniques which are available each studio block.
There are, however, a few activities which we consider indispensable for anyone aspiring to understand visual arts today. All Foundation Program students are expected to attend the following:
- weekly Recent Art History classes
- “Thinking and Doing” workshops
- weekly tutorials
- artwork presentations at the end of each block
The Recent Art History classes are in a lecture format, allowing space for debate and discussion. Through images, videos and texts, these classes cover the movements in contemporary art from the 1970s to today.
The “Thinking and Doing” workshop is a space where students are introduced to different art disciplines. In these classes everyone is encouraged to develop artworks based on conceptual ideas as well as on artistic media. These workshops can be based on installation, performance, sound and space and are meant to help the student form a personal artistic discourse.
Classes specific to 2nd and 3rd year students
A major distinctions between the Certificate and Diploma versus the Foundation Program is that there are more mandatory activities for advanced students.
Students on the 2nd and 3rd year can still join Tools and Techniques classes, but the general emphasis on the program from this point onward is developing a solid artistic discourse through studio work, debate and critical review.
These 2nd and 3rd year art students have mandatory classes together, with the group usually no bigger than 18 to 24 students. The program works around a 2-year cycle, designed as transversal between all classes.
Every block there are weekly sessions of Critical Theory, dedicated to transcendental issues in Visual Arts, such as Aesthetics, Postcolonial Theory, Queer Perspectives, Feminist and Post-Feminist thought, Semiotics in Visual Art, and Psychoanalysis & the Subject, amongst others. Linked to this class is a written paper which is due twice a year.
“Debate & Assignment” is designed as a grey area between the practical and theoretical, often based on student presentations of specific practical homework from week to week.
The Friday Workshops are intended to shift 2nd and 3rd year students out of their comfort zone, working with materials and reflection processes, with which they do not normally engage in. This is a practical workshop where students produce work and engage in debate around the process.
The À-Lab is a space in the program dedicated to connecting with the local contemporary art scene, thus helping students develop and refine their artistic discourse: talking about art and getting to know local and no-so-local artists.
