Worried about climate change and how we will live sustainably in the future? Join us to brainstorm and assess solutions together. This will be a course for first year students interested in learning how to evaluate potential solutions to current local and global environmental and social problems. The course will be co-taught by faculty across the curriculum at Hampshire and will include both large lectures and breakout working groups. The course will be divided into modules focused on specific problems and potential solutions, such as how the arts can help educate and engage the public in making positive changes for sustainable living; whether a cap-and-trade system can reduce carbon emissions efficiently and equitably; why humans are so resistant to changing our habits; or how we might ameliorate losses to biodiversity due to climate change. In addition to engagement in readings, lectures, discussion and activities, small teams of students will be expected to explore a problem in greater depth.

Designers, choreographers, and performers frequently face a traditional empty space or, as is often the case, face a nontraditional space and then question how to "fill" or design within it. What elements help create the functionality and appropriateness of a performance space? We will explore a variety of spaces, western, non-western, traditional, non-traditional, and the "performers" who use or have used them. We will then focus on design elements such as scenery, lighting and costumes, and examine the many ways these elements serve the text and/or vision of a performance piece within these spaces.

This course will familiarize the student with some of the basic creative applications of electronics. A central element in this process will be examining and modifying common electronic devices. This approach focuses on the physical and functional aspects of electronics and encourages an understanding of application through hands on experience rather than a study of theory. This also encourages the student to look to preexisting devices for artistic materials rather than building everything from scratch. This will be a project based course and most in class time will be spent experimenting and building. Prior experience with electronics is not necessary, but the student should be comfortable using simple hand tools. Each student will be supplied with a course kit. This will include all the necessary tools as well as a variety of common and useful electrical components.

What is presence on stage? And how does an actor manifest it? In this course, we’ll explore the work of the actor through an experiential approach.  We’ll focus on your body as an expressive form, on the relationship between the actor and the text, and on the alive and electric space between performers on stage.  Our work will consist of:

The contemporary practice of art is less and less dependent on any particular disciplinary skill. Nonetheless, making art is very much still a rigorous process. It depends on highly developed critical, sensory and communicative skills. This studio art course is an introduction to some of the basic questions a contemporary artist must answer: What rules will guide the making of my work? What forms and materials will be best for what I wish to express? How can my work metaphorically embody my ideas? We will answer these questions and more through a series of collaborative and individual projects, readings and viewings, and frequent group critiques--the process of critique itself being one of the foundations of a successful art practice. Some familiarity with an art medium could be helpful, but is not necessary.

This course will explore methods of teaching art to children in grades K-12. In this class, students will plan lessons, units of study and hands-on activities while learning theoretical and practical approaches relevant to the teaching of visual art. Working in groups and individually, students will apply creative and critical thinking to explore structured as well as experimental approaches to teaching art. Students will observe and participate in art teaching situations.

This is an introductory level design class that will begin with a series of guided activities and culminate in a final independent project. Students will become familiar with a range of basic design tools and skills, such as drawing, model making and prototyping in materials such as cardboard, metal and plastic. We will also consider aesthetics, manufacturability and usability of the objects we create. Throughout the course students will work towards improving visual communication skills and the ability to convey ideas.

Course Description: In this workshop, class members will read and respond to the work of contemporary poets, complete weekly writing exercises and drafts of poems, and participate in peer workshops. Each workshop member will complete at least one critical analysis paper and develop a portfolio work that includes both a statement of poetic disposition and a poetry chapbook or broadside. This workshop is designed for Division I students and is suitable for writers who have had at least one college-level writing class in which peer critique was a significant element.

Required Materials*:

1) Ordinary Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within, by Kim Addonizio
2) A notebook/journal designed for this course (see p. 23 of Ordinary Genius)
3) pen/pencil/writing implement of your choice
4) paper (loose leaf)

            * Bring these materials to each class meeting.

Assignments:

1)  developing your “everything” book –spot checked 2x in the semester
2)  weekly writing exercises (you must complete 7) and reading assignments
3)  memorizing a contemporary poem
4)  (1) explication of a published poem
5)  development of a portfolio of revised work, along with a reflective essay & critical introduction

Course Policies: please see attached syllabus

Request for Accommodations

Hampshire neither imposes accommodations on a student nor preempts his or her responsibility, as a an adult, to request appropriate accommodations and to make sure those needs are met. If you have a disability or condition for which you would like to request an accommodation, please contact Hampshire’s disabilities services coordinator, Joel Dansky, at 413.559.5423 or via email: jdansky@hampshire.edu so that you will have the appropriate documentation on file with the CASA office (this is required when you request an accommodation). Students must work in concert with CASA to specify, arrange, and follow through on accommodations. Should problems occur, students should alert the College in a timely fashion.

Students will investigate “intermediate” or “appropriate” technologies traditionally used by people in resource poor parts of the world.  We will consider factors that make for their abandonment or successful adoption and widespread use.

We will consider how we might apply some of these tools and techniques to our own local surroundings, to generally do more with less.

Class projects will focus on conservation of the earth’s non-renewable resources; poverty alleviation around the world; access to water, healthcare, mobility and transportation. 

Understanding the limits and possibilities of point of view is an essential step in becoming a writer. This reading and workshop course will introduce members to various kinds of literary point of view. Through focused writing exercises, intensive reading of contemporary U.S. and international fiction told in different modes, members will acquire a language for analyzing point of view in fiction, as well as practical experience in using varied points of view themselves. Most importantly, members will refine their ability to read as writers, mining published work for technical insights and guidance. Students will produce 2 pieces of fiction for the workshop and will also write a critical essay about point of view. Prerequisite: At least one college-level intensive creative writing course featuring significant peer critique. Students must view creative writing as a key part of their Division II concentration. Instructor Permission only: NO PERMISSIONS GRANTED UNTIL FIRST WEEK. NO WRITING SAMPLES. ALL INTERESTED STUDENTS MUST ATTEND THE FIRST CLASS.

Sometimes translating ideas in your head into words on the page can be daunting. Sometimes you just don't feel "inspired." We'll learn strategies to work with those awkward moments, use writing prompts to generate the raw material of poetry and look at strategies for revision that keep the work alive. Most of all, we'll honor "mistakes" as a path to brilliance. Emphasis on creating and revising new work, but we'll also practice reading/performing work, introduce ourselves to a variety of writers and poetic forms, and develop a shared vocabulary for our critical thinking. We will concentrate on creating a supportive community of individuals able to give as well as receive helpful and productive feedback. No prerequisites, but a prior college-level creative writing course is helpful. An ideal course for students in their 3rd semester contemplating a Division II in Creative Writing.

This course will explore the creation and ethics of documentary drama. Concentrating on contemporary American repertory, students will read and analyze the works of Peter Weiss, Anna Deavere Smith, Eve Ensler and The Tectonic Theater Project amongst others. Students will also have the opportunity to research, edit and perform oral histories and historical documents, learning first hand the responsibilities of representing a 'real' story on stage.

This workshop is designed for advanced students of poetry. Members will write and design a chapbook of 20-30 pages; at least 15 pages of this work will be 'new writing' completed in the course of the semester. The collection/chapbook produced can reflect mixed mediums, collaboration, and hybrid forms. Workshop members are expected to submit work for peer feedback and to respond to peer work in the course of the semester. Each workshop member will also study and respond to collections of published poems, with an emphasis on 'first book' and small press publications. Limited to 16 students, this workshop is designed for those who have had at least one 200-level workshop in poetry. Instructor permission is required. Email hmIA@hampshire.edu for more information.

This seminar is designed for first or second semester Division III students whose project involves some aspect of theatre. Seminar participants will be expected to read some key performance texts and discuss them in relation to their own work, as well as helping to select readings relevant to their area of focus. We will also attend performances and participate in workshops led by theatre practitioners. Considerable time throughout the semester will be devoted to students' presentation of works in progress, peer editing, and sharing strategies for completing large independent projects. Assignments will include brief reaction papers, as well as the creation of an annotated bibliography and an artist statement that could be incorporated into the Division III project. This seminar can be used as an advanced educational activity.

This introductory course is for students who have wanted to write fiction but have not yet had a forum in which to do so. Through weekly exercises, we will explore all the basic elements of craft, including: character, dialogue, point of view, setting, and conflict. Students will keep a writing journal. We will read and respond to a variety of stories, as well as essays by writers about writing. Our goals are to invigorate our imaginations, and to gain concrete practice in the art of fiction.

Our work in this tutorial will be more or less equally divided between reading plays and writing a one-act. The plays we read, which will include a wide variety of playwrights, will inform our exercise work even as they deepen and extend our sense of drama as a form. We will be paying particular attention to the way character is revealed through dialogue, ways to unfold exposition, segmentation of dramatic action, and how dialogue is shaped by character activity.