Distance learning Course
DISTANCE LEARNING FINE ARTS
PAINTING
DRAWING
PHOTOGRAPHY
VIDEO ART
SCULPTING
COMPOSITION
CHROMATICS
DISTANCE LEARNING COURSE SEMANTAZATION
ART HISTORY
OBJECTIVE CONTEMPLATION OF ART WORK
SCHOOL OF SEMANTAZATION
The Wiesbadener Freie Kunstschule offers its students the possibility to actively discover the most incredible and diverse areas of creativity in the fields of visual arts and cinematic arts.
A distance learning course at wfk will suit those who
- are looking for new possibilities of artistic creativity;
- want to be creative;
- are artists, looking for new and astonishing sources of inspiration;
- wish to enrich professional activities in the area of painting, drawing, photography, cinema, art design, sculpting, interior design, stage design or architecture;
- are convinced that creativity and spontaneity are not the same thing as working simply on gut feelings;
- are preparing to study at the wfk or wish to supplement their studies;
- wish to study, express and refer in their own work to the conditions of visual perception;
The wfk distance learning program is a fertile mixture of work at the studio and distance support via mail, mainly e-mail. As a part of this program you may also meet with your tutor or other students. It is also possible to take part in all courses or workshops in Wiesbaden (Germany) and use the wfk facilities anytime at no extra charge.
The wfk distance learning program provides for the time and flexibility individually needed to meet the requirements of each lesson. The material you will be working with is exactly the same material used in classes and workshops at the school in Wiesbaden (Germany) and conveys the same information. The scheduled tasks are outlined to you in all details. Interim results of your studies can be submitted directly to the school or via e-mail. In all cases you will meet intensive personal accompanying support.
The wfk distance learning program provides an intensive technical and theoretical introduction to the present wfk school of fine arts, the result of 39 years of intense academic research of human perception and broadness of expression.
The presentation of the sophisticated wfk fine arts teaching program to the famous “Bauhaus Academy” (Dessau/Germany) in 1996 was the beginning of an ongoing exchange and future cooperation based on innovative wfk research results.
In comparison to the low impulse didactics of other professional schools and colleges the wfk fine arts teaching program consist of a clear and directly worded technical and theoretical presentation, with respect to universalism, flexibility, agile thinking and increased sensitivity.
The wfk fine arts teaching program is an essential source of creation for artists, designers, illustrators or graphic designers, photographers, film-makers, architects, art teachers, art therapists or anyone seeking to develop and transfer innovative ideas into the area of painting, drawing, photography, video art, sculpting, et cetera.
With the competent and patient support of our experts, you will access the unknown and unimagined authentic force of creative and innovative esthetic art. You will achieve a creative level of work allowing for stimulating impact in the face of nowadays raging postmodern non-conceptual arbitrariness and technical deficiency in the fields of fine art.
The wfk distance learning program ensures intensive tutoring and informed assessment. After completion of each term an interim report will be sent to you. Upon completion of each term you will enter an examination and receive an intermediate or final report.
Flexible time management based on individual agreements is possible.
Intensive guidance will be guaranteed through:
- in-house meetings with your tutors at the wfk in Wiesbaden, Germany
- regular postal or electronic correspondence
- telephone or skype
The wfk distance learning course is divided into six terms. Each term may only be entered after successful examination of the term before.
- 1st and 2nd term, basic teaching (to enter next term is scheduled without examination);
- 3rd and 4th term, studies and research term, preparation and development of an independent artistic point of view;
- 4th and 5th term, graduation classes, pursuit of an independent artistic concept;
The main focus of each term is compositional creativity.
Composition is invention! We want to inspire you to develop your own creative ideas, to discover and successfully enter new worlds in the field of fine arts.
Be prepared to question and doubt your present habits of perception.
Being creative means to break away from accepted customs and social conventions, and to confront yourself and the viewer with the unknown. The artist always searches for the unknown and the extraordinary. And his artwork creates genuine novelties provoking resonance and new impressions
.
Our goal is to offer you possibilities for effective and resonant creative work.
You will learn to distinguish between striking and sensual, and the opposite. Your studies at the wfk will provide you with a basic perceptive training, experiencing the world with a different and sharply focused view.
To achieve this goal, the course focuses on practical work including intense analysis of artwork.
Composition as an interdisciplinary field of study
Composition is the source of innovation, of creativity, of enhanced perception. Composition is the foundation of all creative fields such as painting, drawing, photography, film, graphics, design, sculpting or architecture. All those areas are ruled by the laws of composition. Being aware of and consciously applying these rules with the desired effect enables the artist to creatively develop his own field of work or profession.
- Painting
A painting is the unleashed materialization of a symbiosis of craftsmanship and mind. All paintings aspiring to be more than samples are a mirror of the individuality of the artist as well as his or her experiences with composition and chromatics.
The core of the wfk painting course consists of theory of composition and chromatics, which are mandatory and taught as separate courses. Therefore painting is an interdisciplinary course. The wfk course in chromatics offers established facts with a new and unusual approach. The use of color goes much further and beyond simple coloring. It is an immersion into the infinite depths of color which activates its true potential and sanguine being. It includes specific requirements on graduates to activate and cultivate their innovative talent. The new approach to knowledge of the laws of color results in more precise artwork and perception. Sensual realms of meaning are revealed and serve as an essential basis for independent creative work.
Both course programs of painting and chromatics require the simultaneous attendance of theory of composition. Color equals shape. As long as the principles taught in theory of composition are not well-exercised, working with color will not be successful. The same applies for painting, where intensive training of a wide range of technical skills in sensual expression should culminate in independent works applying basic rules of composition theory and chromatics.
- Drawing
The basis for this discipline is also theory of composition. Additionally it is of particular importance – besides the mastery of “reproduction” - to find innovative artistic and individual graphical solutions. The course wants to teach sensibility and analytical skills needed to implement one’s own artistic ideas. The combination of experiences made in composition and synthetical drawing enable the student to develop an individual artistic point-of-view.
- Photography (classic / digital):
At wfk photography is seen as an artistic medium. The required teaching content therefore centers around both technical and art-historical facts.
Art photography must go beyond a simple portrait of reality to become a medium of concise spatial and chronological relevance.
The artistic potential of photography lies only in the screening performance of the photographer. Accordingly, knowhow of intuitive recognition of a potent situation needs the conscious training of perception. This is guaranteed by the integrated study course of composition (a course in chromatics is optional).
To sign up for classic photography basic skills in film processing are required, for digital photography basic computer knowledge is mandatory.
- Video Art:
This is the department for all who wish to discover the artistic possibilities of the medium video and to develop an artistic film language of their own. Besides the basics of video technology and basic knowledge of filmmaking (camera work, lighting, screen-play, conceptual design, interview, editing, and post-production) participants will learn in hands-on experimental sessions to use this medium in a creative way.
Within this correspondence course individual projects are to be developed and executed. The graduate receives professional guidance and advice in all areas of the film production process from script development to questions of technical realization and finishing touches.
- Sculpting:
Three-dimensional artwork educates areal perception. In sculpting, seeing and shaping go hand in hand. In the creative act of shaping, cognition develops into action and results in creation.
The ability of clear graphic thinking is the core qualification needed to artistically deal with three-dimensional art. Consequently, the theory of composition is again an indispensable supporting discipline.
- School of semantization (History of Art / Objective analysis of artwork):
The school of art history taught at wfk is decisively different from the common concept of bare history of art styles. Rather than including merely statements of artistic activities of present and past generations of artists, it is highly devoted to a scientifically proven appraisal of artistic achievements. The wfk school of art history tries to select and focus on truly important pieces of art over all inconsequential, and therefore failed creations. Our goal is to teach an interested audience and future artiststhe criteria for evaluation. Those criteria allow for an independent and innovative evaluation concerning all-embracing questions and issues of existence, articulated in an artistical approach of questions and themes. The distance learning courses history of art and objective contemplation of art work focus on hermeneutic methods of artwork analysis by analyzing either known or unacquainted historical art or your own work, under expert supervision and monitoring. The courses history of art and objective contemplation of artwork are based on compendia I and II “Art Historical Contemplation” (Kunstgeschichtliche Werkbetrachtung) and “Method of Objective Art Work Analysis”, (Methode der objektiven Werkanalyse), ISBN: 978-3-8423-4316-0 / (currently only available in German language).
In addition to the theoretical basis, the course school of semantization is highly interactive. Depending on the individual agreement with the graduate, pieces of historical art or art books, from the internet, or even originals will be selected and analyzed in writing. In the course of this intensive analysis, theoretical and methodical findings will be expanded and amplified. Gradually the graduate will be able to write independent objective analysis of artwork, which is comprehensible and scientifically proven. Furthermore the graduate will gain informed access to the history of art.
Procedures
Together, per ongoing critical and supporting communication, we will enter a world which is often manipulated by our day to day routines - and bring it back to life. Together we are going to look for a way to help your character, your intentions and your ideas to find your own striking expression. We aim high and we don’t give up until we bring you to the origin of genuine creativity.
We will pick you up at the point where you are right now. At the same time we will communicate inherited regulations of human perception and feelings, which are given by our physical senses and perception. Comparable to the search for the distinctive tonal sound in music, we are searching for the unique melody, using methodic and determined individual strategies of composition. Strategic research and ebullient spontaneity and agility are balanced and inspire each other.
- The wfk has developed globally unique methods and pedagogical practices which teach - in a clear manner - verifiable rules of composition and activate the creative realization of ideas within the different distance learning courses. The wfk also cooperates closely with the Bauhaus Academy of Arts, Dessau, which is a symbol for historical cultural development.
- All subjects in this correspondence course are based on the teaching material of composition. Each lesson is based on the lesson before. Every lesson gives you special theoretical knowledge, examples and tasks that you will be working with. After presenting your solutions, they will be assessed before you will be able to attend the next lesson. Only your continuous practical work in every lesson guarantees your continuous success in every following lesson. Education in your elective subject will start after completion of lesson 5 in theory of composition. In case of the subject painting chromatics – also subdivided into parts – will be a required subject after completion of 5 lessons of composition theory. Every other subject (drawing, photography, video art, sculpting) has theory of composition as requirement and chromatics as required subject.
- The support in your elective subject (after completion of the 5th lesson theory of composition) is individually designed depending on the student. While working on the first 5 lessons of composition theory you should advice us on which level of knowledge you are at the moment and which expectations you have towards your elective subject and education (you can do this by sending random ideas, graphical material or work sampling).
- For students of every subject the wfk offers two terms of technical studies which can be an elective subject. Within this technical studies technical assistance, important advice and works order are offered for a reasonable completion of this interdisciplinary study course. For all that is a difference in price. For the entire first term the fee is EUR 133 monthly; without elective technical studies EUR 95 monthly.
- The very special benefit of the study course at LIS besides teaching the educational material is the intensive appreciation of your work in every lesson or term by your wfk instructor. You will experience a very individual and personnel care through experienced experts. During the process of working on a lesson you will face many questions, which you can ask anytime you want. Upon request we will share contacts of other students who are working on the same subjects as you do. This offers an alternative to working together at a studio.
- Events and lessons in Wiesbaden will intensify your basic knowledge which you acquire with your education. If you can’t attend scheduled events you may request individual appointments.
- Especially the alternative of electronic mailings has proven successful for the review of intermediate results. Your mission is downright to send every sketch, every idea – even if in your eyes as much ragged – via mail, after you just photographed or scanned your work. Make use of this chance that improves your study at wfk and gives such value to this course, as many times as possible. You will receive answers as soon as possible, with comments and suggestions, usually on the very same day. Such an individual study program couldn’t be found again in Germany.
- Only a lively, active and continuous involvement allows successful learning. That is why you don’t only present your final work results but every step you are taking on the way. And those will be immediately reviewed and detailed commented by us.
- After submitting your genuine solutions, you will receive the material for the next lesson, etc. At the end you will enter a broad examination, where you will answer theoretical questions and carry out practical tasks. When you decide to go through examinations you will receive a graduation certificate (credentials and evaluation). Without examination you will receive a certificate of participation.
The wfk distance learning course can be started anytime.
