Seeing Color in Cincinnati: UC Students Build a Book

“A Field Guide To Color” is the third occasional publication created as part of the cross-college Critical Visions certificate program at the University of Cincinnati.

The program includes classes from the McMicken College of Arts & Sciences and the College of Design, Art, Architecture & Planning.

The program is the brainchild of Stephanie Sadre-Orafai, assistant professor of anthropology, and Jordan Tate, assistant professor of fine arts. They launched the certificate in 2012, and it combines coursework in critical theory, social analysis and art, media and design practice.

“The whole point of the certificate is that students are doing all of those things,” said Sadre-Orafai. 

Learn about the birth of CVSN from its founders.

Students currently enrolled in the Critical Visions program hail from Arts & Sciences, DAAP and the College Conservatory of Music, which allows for plenty of interesting cross-pollination and cross-training, Sadre-Orafai said.

The 12-student capstone class that created The Field Guide included graduate and undergraduate students from those three colleges.

“They really work across disciplines here,” she said.

Learn why students are flocking to learning opportunities that cross traditional disciplinary boundaries. 

This latest publication includes

• A scathingly honest and unofficial guide to navigating the Uptown Campus.
• A pull-out poster homage to Drake’s “Hotline Bling” video.
  
• A psychology major’s treatise on how adults view children’s play

Learn about the book launch on Thursday, May 26, 2016, from 6-8 p.m. at the Littlefield in Northside. 

For Kelly Logan Walter, who recently graduated with a baccalaureate degree in psychology and minors in anthropology and sociology, the Critical Visions capstone class proved challenging and inspiring. “I’m so happy I got to end my undergraduate career making something substantial,” said the 22-year-old West Chester native. 

Sadre-Orafai praised the resourcefulness of her students, who spent the last three weeks of the semester literally getting their hands dirty by printing, trimming and gluing the 160-page Field Guide together. “They went through tremendous transformations in this class, even when they weren’t having fun,” she said. 

“They really came together and made an amazing product,” Sadre-Orefai added.

Pick up a free copy of the third CVSN on Thursday, May 26, from 6-8 p.m. at The Littlefield in Northside.