This course takes, as its critical object, trans representation in film. We will consider how visibility functions and operates in trans films, from The Silence of the Lambs (which shaped trans representation in the mainstream media for decades), to early trans films like Behind Every Good Man (which served as pseudo-documentaries for a curious cis public, exposing the lives of Black and Brown trans people), to contemporary trans film (geared to both arthouse and mainstream audiences).

In this course, students will explore the practice of making and interpreting comics. The ability to draw is not required as our focus will be on learning how comics works as a language unto itself and the things it can uniquely do as a medium over and beyond synthetically bringing together text and images. We'll spend the first half of the class developing lessons in the craft of comics based on our reading and analysis of artists like Emil Ferris, Lynda Barry, Alan Moore, Michelle Perez & Remy Boydell, Simon Hanselmann, Jaime Hernandez, or others.

Mechanical Motion for Artists and Designers: We will learn how to build objects that move! Using wire, sheet metal, paper, wood, and a range of other media, we will examine and build mechanisms. We will contemplate the basic ingredients of mechanical forces and motion such as bearings, cams, cranks, gear ratios and more. Each student will develop an independent project that incorporates some type of physical motion.