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.S

SENATE ? 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON UNDERGRADUATE 

To

............................................................. 

From 

......STUDiE 

S

....................................... 

CENTRE ''FOR 'THE ART NtW COURSE ......... 

S blec... 

PROPOSALS - FPA. 152-3 INTRODUCTION 

TG.Afl1NG..l.1...FFA...1(.2..1NTRODUCTORy 

MAY 4, 981 

Date 

......................................................... 

Action undertaken by SCUS, at its meeting of May 5, 1981 gives 

rise to the following motion. 

MOT I ON: 

"That Senate approve and recommend approval to the Board of 

Governors, as set forth in S.81-104, the proposed new 

courses: 

FPA.152-3 Introduction to Acting II; 

EPA. 162-2 Introductory Drawing." 

Subject to approval by Senate and the Board, it is intended that 

these courses be first offered in Spring, 

1982. 

Careful attention was given by SCUS to the nature of EPA. 62-2 

Introductory Drawing, and a number of questions were raised concerning 

the most suitable grading system, the matter of transfer credits, and the 

place of the course relative to present programs and proposed programs 

under the anticipated 5 year plan from the Centre. These questions are 

addressed in the memorandum from the Director dated May 12, 1961, with the 

understanding that these proposals will not go forward until the 5 year 

plan is provided for discussion at Senate, or following that time. 

[It is noted that EPA. 162-2 is the first of a closely coordinated 

group of courses which will be introduced in the proposal of the Major 

programme. Introducing this course In Spring, 1982, before the Major is 

approved, would give an opportunity for the Centre to make this area of 

work available to students In the Minor programme.] 

(.5.0 

SENATE COMMITTEE ON UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES 

NEW COURSE

PROPOSAL. FORM 

1.

Calendar Information ? 

Department: 

CENTRL FOR THE ARTS 

isAbbreviation 

Code: 

FPA. ? 

Course Number: ? 

1

52 ? 

Credit 

flours: 3 

?

Vector: 

0-0-- 

fi

of Course: 

INTRODUCTION TO ACTING 

Calendar Decription of Course: 

This course introduces the process of working with a text, as well as eIeientary 

techniques of physical and vocal expression. 

Nature of Course 

Studio 

Prerequisites (or special instructions): 

FPAJ5I-3 or Departmental Permission 

What course (courses), if any, is being dropped from the calendar if 

this course is 

approved: 

None (NOTE: one section of FPA. I51 currently being offered will be 

dropped in fhe Spring). 

2.

Scheduling 

How frequently will the course be offered? 

?

Once each year (Spring) 

Semester in which the course ill first be offered? 

Spring 

1982

Which of your present faculty would be available to make the proposed offering 

possible? ? 

Peter Feldman and Marc Diamond 

jectives of the Course 

The objective of this course will be to provide the student actor with the 

analytical tools and technical skills which will enable him/her to build a 

character-. The student will be asked to recognize and exploit aspects of 

the text such as imagery, subtext, objectives, and sense memory. 

4. Budgetary and Space Requirements (for information only) 

What additional resources will be required in the following areas: 

Faculty 

Slaff 

Library ? 

None 

Audio Visual 

Space 

Equipment 

S. Approval 

Date:__________ 

Department Chairman 

74c/

Dean 

?

Chairman, 

SCLJS 

SCUS 73-34b:- (When completing this form, for instructions ace Memorandum 

SCUS 13-348. 

FPA. 152-3 INTRODUCTION TO ACTING II 

To begin to realize a dramatic role the student actor will be introduced 

to both textual analysis and related physical skills. Class work will begin 

with a warmup and the introduction of physical skills needed to build a 

character from a text. Then the student will begin the process of working 

from specific texts. 

1. Exercises will prepare the student physically for class work and performance. 

During warmuDs students will be asked to work with images in order to give 

the exercises a specific focus. (Learning to work constantly with a focus 

is perhaps the central issue of acting training, and this theme will inform 

all the classwork in some manner.). Students will be asked to explore ways 

of moving in space as a means of developing an expressive physical vocabular 

y

-

They will then be introduced to aspects of non-verbal communication 

?

Methods 

of physical contact, emotional contact, communication of rhythm, communication 

of specific information etc. may be explored without the aid of the voice. 

Finally, developing the voice as a medium for emotional and poetic expression 

will be introduced. The basic principles of vocal production for the stage 

will be analyzed through a series of exercises. The relationship of 

breathing to voice projection will be emphasized. Exercises will be chosen 

to demonstrate how an awareness of this relationship enhances the work of 

interpreting the text. 

11. The text work will begin with a study of what constitutes a dramatic action. 

Texts will be analyzed with the intent of isolating and labeling the specific 

actions. Exercises will be introduced to give physical form to these actions. 

The concept of the actor's objective will he introduced. The necessity of 

working with a concrete objective will be stressed, Exercises designed to 

demonstrate how the use of objectives gives shape to action will be undertaken. 

The principle of working with an interior monologue will be introduced. 

Students will be asked to create and experience the inner life of a 

character. The exercises here will he designed to demonstrate that the 

interior monologue is a useful tool in the realization of objectives. 

The use of imagery will be discussed and demonstrated, Students will be 

asked to ex p 

lore the images in the text in order to discover how these give 

focus to the psycho-physical life of the character. The neutral mask will 

be introduced at this point as a tool for the physical exploration of imagery. 

The students will be asked to memorize and perform scenes. These scenes 

will provide the students with opportunities to integrate the physical, 

vocal, and acting work described, These scenes will be critiqued 

in

class 

and then performed a second time, and perhaps even a third time. The students 

will be encouraged to relate their work in these scenes to the vocabulary of 

technique acquired in earlier exercises. 

RATIONALE FOR FPA.152-3 

The Theatre Minor has been desiuned around the Idea that the stud 

y

of

acting Drovidos a useful point of on-try Into -Iho forms and functions of thn 

theatrical experience. The main thrust of the course work has been to 

facilitate the exploration and practice of the actor's craft. The work is 

suDplemented by a number of student and faculty directed projects which 

provide students with an onportunity to enrich their class studies throuah 

practical experience. 

At present the Centre offers one introductory acting course, FFAJ5I-3, 

to first-year students. This course, which concentrates on Iho dovotoomont 

of improvisational skills, provides an Introduction to the dynamics of perform- 

ance and gives the student an opportunity to build confidence in his or her 

own ex 

p ressive potential. The next phase of this study, the creation of a 

character, which involves work with a text and the assimilation of techniaues 

designed to make the resources of the voice and body available for interpretive 

work, beginsyin the second year. The proposed FPAJ52 would introduce element- 

ary as 

p

ectsÔf creating a character in the second semester of the first year. 

A

D

There are cogent reasons for introducinu such work in ho first year. 

The basic skills of performance take years to assimilate. The sooner such 

work is begun, the more fruitful will be the student's later work in both class 

and production. Students entering the second year with this foundation will be 

in an advantageous position when it comes to participation in production work. 

Instead of focusing exclusively on the technical problems of building a 

character, students at this level will be able to give attention to issues 

of style and interpretation. A similar argument can be made in regard to the 

second year studio work. Students will be able to spend less time grappling 

with the acquisition of technical skills, and more time with the central issues 

involved with creating a character. 

SENATE 

COMMITTEE ON

UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES 

NEW COURSE PROPA[, FORM 

Calendar Information 

?

Department:-- 

CENTRE FOR THE ARTS 

Abbreviation Code: 

?

FDA. Course Number: 162 

?

Credit hours: 

2

- Vector:0-0-4 

Title of Course: INTRODUCTORY DRAWING 

Calendar Description of Course: A studio course in basic drawing ski I Is, media, and 

techniques. Drawing is taught in the context of its functions in contemporary art. 

Basic ski I Is, approaches and techniques are practised both to develop students' physical 

abilities and their capacities to use drawing as a creative and imaginative method in 

all artistic work. This course is based on life drawing and on methods of spatiai 

'en $t ruct ion and depiction. 

Nature of Course 

?

Siudjo 

Prerequisites (or special instructions): 

What course (courses), if any, is being dropped from the calendar if this course is 

approved: ? 

None 

. Scheduling, 

How frequently will the course be offered? 

?

Each Fall and Spring 

Semester in which the-course will first be offered? Spring 1982 

Which of your present faculty would be available to make the proposed offering 

possible? ? 

Jeff Wall or Bruce Barber ? 

3.

Objectives of the Course 

Yo introduce students to the function; of drawing as a working and conceptualizing 

method and -tool in all visual art; to provide an introduction to the basic perceptual 

and graphic skills, techniques and sensibilities, and an opportunity for students to 

p:-a(.-Use drawing intensively under directed conditions; to provide a basis for relating 

drawing work ro al I other rrocesses characteristic of contemporary art. 

4.

Budgetary and Space Requirements (for information only) 

What additional reoourccs will be required in the following areas: 

F&iculty Nor 

Staff ? 

Frofesional models (approx. 40 hours per semester) 

Library Ncn 

Audio

Visual 

Norn 

Equipment Augmentation of existing studio drawing furniture and equipment (drawing 

benches and boards). Sufficient equipment has been included in this year's capital 

5.

Approval equipment request. 

Date: 

______ ______ 

j&(.aoLAO•

airman, SCUS 

/15eparLment Chairman 

?

Dean 

SCUS 73-34b:- (When completing this form, for instructions 

8CC

Memorandum SCUS 73-341'. 

Spring 1982 

?

FPA.162-2 ? 

Faculty 

4 ?

0 ?

INIRODUC1ORY 

This course provides an introduction to the basic drawing skills, media, 

processes, approaches and techniques in the context of their function in contem- 

porary art. Studio work in gestural drawing, lifc drawing and the techniques 

of spatial construction are aimed at developing students' perceptual senitivity 

to form, tone, I i qht, and materials as we I I a: tt,jining t he I r phys I ca I c npnc I I es 

for all artistic work. 

The course is based on: 

I) study of the live model, nude and draped. This life drawing Is dealt 

with in a variety of media, and is aimed not simply at developing 

traditional academic drawing abi I ities (though these are not dispensed 

with), but rather at the whole range of contemporary attiludes in drawing 

toward gesture, representation, materials, and structures of meaning; 

2)

studies in spatial projection, construction and representation. 

Work in basic perspectival systems and their variations, as well as 

experiments in modern spatial structures which are critical of tradi- 

tional solutions, are aimed at developing students' ability to visual- 

ize and imagine complex situations graphically and to express them 

creatiely. 

All class work is intended to investigate the possibilities of drawing as a 

basic working and thinking process in the visual arts. Student's are not expected 

merely to conform to an established academic canon of 'excel lence' in drawing, but 

rather to work through the practice of drawing toward an awareness of the funda- 

mentals of visual expression. Through the activity of developing their own 

resources in this area, students are expected fobegin to define for themselves 

the place and function of drawing in their own artistic work as a whole. 

Class critiques are held regularly in the studio and students are expected to 

contribute to these. These critiques are intended to provide experience in assess- 

ing works of art rhrough the work of constructing a critical vocabulary which 

authentically reflects the situation of contemporary art and the place 

of

drawing 

within it. 

PRE-REQUISITE/co-REQUISITE: FPA. 160-3 

Attendanceat 

all

classes is a requirement. 

Students will be required to purchase Their basic drawing materials. An? 

outline of recommended materials wi I I be given at the beginning of each semester. 

•

RATIONALE for FPA. 162-2 INTRODUCTORYDRAWING 

The rationale for this course exists in its relationship both to the 

existing Minor programme in Visual Arts and the forthcoming proposed Major. 

The course is necessary as a recommended elective within the existing Minor 

for the following reasons: 

Drawing is a central working method and toot for all visual art. The act 

and art of drawing takes marry forms, generally dependin 

g

on its relation to 

other media, but through all the variety certain 

issues 

persist. These are 

basica 

l

ly the role of drawing in the development and enrichment of perceptual 

or visual sensitivity as a whole, and Its role as a physical ability -- the 

ability to imagine concretel 

y

, to predict or envision all the qualities of a 

thing or situation. These aspects can be taken as aesthetic objects in and 

for themselves (and the drawing consequently appreciated as a work of art in 

itself), or as necessary elements in a more extensive productive process in 

any of the media associated with contemporary art. Our Minor students now 

heed the opportunity to practise drawing within this frame of reference as a 

basic aspect of their studio work. 

The existing studio courses in the minor programme constitute 

what can be called the 'core' studio progression, the central experiential 

practical and critical framework through which all students move. They are 

intensive and experimental engagements with important artistic problems, 

approaches an issues which are realized in a variety of media. Thus, they 

are 'Open studios' with a multidisciplinary nature. Drawing would be added 

to this core as the first of several 'area studios'. 

The area studios broaden the technical and experiential base ot the student 

work and thus strengthen the multidisciplinary structure of the core. In the 

Minor programme now, the value of the core structure is limited by the students' 

relative lack of practical experience in any field- This inexperience -- most 

problematic in the second year -- hinders students in workina as fully and 

innovatively as they might had they a firmer grasp of at least one major field 

of artistic practice. With this firmer sense, students gain real confidence in 

dealing with challenging assignments and situations; they bring to the core 

studio greater resources, and consequently a stronger sense of artistic identity 

and a more develo 

p

ed experience of workin 

q

materially on artistic problems. 

The Major programme will be built on the foundation of the existing Minor 

and will provide opportunity for work in one or several 'area' studios. 

?

In

addition to EPA. 162-2. the following courses will eventually be added: 

FPA.262-2 DRAWING II; EPA. 

163-2 

INTRODUCTORY PAINTING; FPA.263-2 PAINTING II; 

FPA.164-2 

INTRODUCTORY SCULPTURE; FPA.264-2 SCULPTURE Il; EPA. 165-2 INTRO- 

DUCTORY VIDEO; FPA.265-2 VIDEO II; FPA.1763 PHOTOGRAPHY AS AN ART FORM; 

FPA.276-3 PHOTOGRAPHY II. 

Wo want to construct the conditions for a sense of specific 

,

artistic areas 

to develop in relative freedom on 

a limited 

scale. This act 

ivi

t y

Is designed to 

ievelop both Interest and experience in the various fields, and to feed stimulated, 

experienced, and opinionated students 

into the core studios at 

every level. In 

the core courses, their Involvement with their chosen areas is subjected to the 

kinds of provocative Investigations characteristic of those courses. People who 

are becoming invcylved with drawing, for example, may In their core course 

have 

to

work on projects Involving, say, live actions or events in real places, or with 

painting issues, projects in which drawing is both necessary and takes unpredict- 

able forms. Their interest 

in drawing Is 

re-directed and they are obliged to come 

at it from directions not specifically worked on In the drawing classes. The 

experience of the drawing class, though, makes it possible for them to respond 

to these situations more resourcefully. The fact that the core studios will he 

. ?

filled with students working in all five area!;, and bringing into the core 

experiences and attitudes generated by the tareas, indicates that these core studios 

will be extremely lively, var-led,:and intense. 

?

Inversely the kind of cross- 

fertilizing that this should stimulate will reflect back into each of the area 

studios, creating an atmosphere of questioning there as well. In this way, the 

areas cannot develop a routinized attachment to the iisi 

•

dofhiii-iOn of -their 

art form, but are continually shaken up, rethouqht, reworked, criticized and re- 

invented from within. 

Therefore, EPA. 162-2 is the first of a closely coordinated group of courses 

which will be introduced in the proposal of the Major programme. Introducing 

this course in Spring 1982, before the Major is approved and begins gives us an 

opportunity to make this important area of work available to students in the Minor 

programme.0 

I

.p

SiMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MAY 13 INI

MEMOL1DUM ?

REGISTRAR'S OFF1C

&IkII

...t

Harry Evans, Registrar 

?

From ....... ?

.-.

Centre for the Arts' 

Subject

...... 

r9p9d•• 

FPA.16 ? 

9?rY

Date .......

....... 

ay...981 

Drawing 

Further to our conversation regarding the queries of SCUS about the proposed course 

FPA.162, Introductory Drawing, I submit the following as additional rationale. 

In line with the educational policy of the Centre for the Arts, no course will ever 

be devoted entirely to skill training. 

?

On several occasions we have firmly 

declared our intention in favour of arts education as opposed to arts training. 

In that sense all of our studio courses are hands on only to the extent necessary 

to devise new directions and concepts. 

?

We are not anti-technique because technique 

is required to realize ideas, but our primary concern is the generation of ideas. 

If one thinks of drawing, sculpting or any crafting process as the vocabulary of 

art, one can make a clear analogy to creative writing, for instance. 

?

Each art 

form ha.s its own specific literacy. ? 

It is difficult therefore to proceed to 

creative drawing without sufficient literacy 

in

that medium. ? 

The designers of? 

FPA.162 realize that Centre students require more literacy than is now provided to 

advance to higher levels of perception and more sophisticated concepts. 

FPA.162 cannot be likened to a course in typing or shorthand because drawing is an 

inseparable part of the art act. 

?

By definition art remains non-functional. I? 

should point out that FPA.162 is the first of a series of courses planned for the 

future, courses which we refer to as "area studio courses" in our new Proposal for 

the Further Development of the Centre for the Arts soon to be submitted. ? 

Other 

such area courses will deal with painting, sculpture and video. 

?

It is perhaps? 

helpful at this point to quote from the document. 

The area studio courses constitute a two semester opportunity for 

students to concentrate on a favourite field of work; they do not, however, 

represent a separate stream or division of the program. Entry into area 

courses is based on full involvement in the core system courses. Core 

courses will retain their present characteristics, demanding of students an 

intensive and investigative engagement with important artistic problems, 

approaches and issues which are realized in a variety of media. These 

courses broaden the technical and experiential base of student work and 

thus strengthen the interdisciplinary, experimental core system. 

By adding these area courses, students will enter 2nd, 3rd and 4th year 

studies better equipped to work confidently in innovative directions with the 

knowledge of at least one major field of artistic practice." 

We therefore contend that FPA.162 should be a credit course, evaluated in the same 

way as any other credit course. ? 

It is no more difficult to assess than is any 

other course to do with creativity. ? 

12

Memo to H. Evans, Registrar 

•

12 May, 1981 

Page 2 

In the same way that dance and theatre studio courses now recognize unassigned 

transfer credits, we expect to give a limited number of unassigned transfer 

credits to studio art courses offered by reputable 

post—secondary institutions.

Should you require further discussion or explanation I will be happy to provide 

it.

/

Grant Strte 

Director 

Centre for the Arts 

MP F 

cc. Dean T. Calvert 

S. Aloi 

J. Wall 