Contemporary Art Courses in France

Pont-Aven School of Contemporary Art:
Discover your depth and breadth as an artist.

Thematic, Concept-driven and Multi-disciplinary: a dynamic curriculum designed to integrate your skills, passion and motivation as an artist.

At the core of PASCA’s curriculum are courses in Painting, Sculpture and Site work, Printmaking, Digital and time-based strategies, Illustration, Drawing, Mixed Media and Art History/Contemporary Criticism. Specifics of the courses vary each semester, but typically include:

* A 2-D studio ( e.g. painting, drawing, print)
* A 3-D studio ( e.g. sculpture, installation, site work)
* A 4-D studio (time-based strategies that may include video, performance, photo, digital)
* An Art History/Critical Studies offering
* French Culture and Language study
* Two six-day Cultural Site Seminars, Paris and Berlin , Venice in Biennale years, or Madrid Barcelona, or London

The delivered courses are developed by a rotating faculty who are chosen on the merits of their pedagogical experience, active professional career and ability to deliver curriculum in a reactive, immersive environment.

Commitment to several basic concepts underlies every PASCA course, regardless of medium or approach. These include:

1. Establishment of a studio practice that demands that each artist explores and strengthens his or her commitment to art and art making.
2. Diverse semesters that take advantage of revolving faculty members. Small classes and fluid boundaries between the courses facilitate PASCA’s mission as a “teaching lab,” where teaching, as well as learning, is a creative experience.
3. Courses are all designed to encourage experimentation, thereby challenging students to stretch the definition of each particular medium.
4. English as the language of instruction.
5. A curriculum that addresses professional issues such as exhibitions, artist’s statements, political engagement, interaction and responsibility to the audience, as well as issues of gender, race, communication, evolving aesthetics and critical concepts current in the contemporary art world.
6. Courses that integrate the local environment in ways that promote not only understanding of this unique place, but also incite individual reflection in each student.
7. Courses that are directed at 3rd year level students who already have strong foundation skills and basic artistic practices. Courses in Liberal Arts, French language and contemporary criticism reinforce the studio courses as the faculty works together to create a unified and challenging environment.

Undergraduate coursework delivered during the study abroad semester at PASCA is accredited through Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon. PASCA courses satisfy National Association of Schools of Art and Design 300 level studio, art history/critical studies and French culture and language requirements.