Creative Practices
ICP's One-Year Certificate programs provide advanced students with an intensive yearlong course of study to strengthen personal vision, refine skills and technique, and explore the many disciplines informing media and art today.
About the Program
The Creative Practices program embraces a diverse range of photographic approaches for innovative expression in an atmosphere of cooperative learning. Students are not only encouraged to explore and define their own goals, but also challenged to situate their work within the broader context of the cultural, artistic, sociopolitical, and psychological use of images.
Featuring an accelerated investigation into the history of photography, contemporary theory, and craft, the curriculum also boasts a large selection of electives. Through these varied offerings, students can let their curiosity and passions lead them in new directions, ranging from nontraditional documentary narrative to experimental image production to other media, including video, sound, performance, and installation. By solidifying each student’s technical skills and broadening their vision, we build a foundation for ongoing, meaningful, and content-driven individual and collective practice.
The Curriculum
Fall
Required Classes
Creative Practices Seminar
Photography, Art, and Media: A History
Digital Seminar
Analog Technical Seminar
Five- and 10-Week Electives
The Experience of Place
Light and Shadow
Understanding Portraiture
Still Life for Real Life
Images and Ideas
Color Darkroom
Black-and-White Darkroom
Alternative Processes
Introduction to Experimental Film and Video
Digital Video Projects 1
Large-Format Photography
Weekend Workshops
An Emphasis on Light and Style
Views from Home
Picturing Stories: Myths of New Narrative
Intimacy and Distance
Performance: In, of, and from the Feminine
January Workshops
Off the Wall and Into the Box: Experiments in Installation Practices
Another Photo Class About Truth?
The Photographer on Mars
Winter
Required Classes
Creative Practices Seminar
Photography, Art, and Media: A History
Digital Seminar
Analog Technical Seminar
Five- and 10-Week Electives
Illusions of Veracity
Photographing the Familiar
Postcards from Real Worlds
Issues in Contemporary Video
Light and Shadow
Image Strategies for Human Rights
Color Darkroom
Black & White Darkroom
Approaches to Portraiture
Visual Resistance
Sound Art and Design
Location Lighting
Digital Video Projects 1 & 2
Large-Format Photography
Weekend Workshops
The Hand and the Machine
More Than a Witness: Photographic Activism
Writing to Images (required)
Spring
Required Classes
Creative Practices Seminar
Production Seminar
The Fine-Art Digital Print
Analog Technical Seminar
Five- and 10-Week Electives
Photography Meets the Cinematic
Towards a Philosophy of Photography
Still Life for Real Life
Working with Editorial Concepts
Conversations: Guest Lecture Series
Color Darkroom
Black-and-White Darkroom
Alternative Processes
Contemporary Commercial Practices
Intermediate Large-Format
The Art and Science of Experimental Photography
The Logistics of Dreams
Stories and Style: A Narrative Approach to Fashion
What is an Archive?
Weekend Workshops
Introduction to Digital Sound Design, Sound Editing, and Sound Art
Performance for the Camera: Radical Juxtapositions and Choreographic Images
Shelf Awareness: the Contemporary Photo book
Picturing Stories: Myths of New Narrative
The Art of Photographic Bookmaking
Alternative Art
OYC End-of-Year Exhibition
Portfolio Review Day
Alumni Work
