The Doel Reed Center in Taos is an educational site that extends Oklahoma State University's reach to culturally rich northern New Mexico. Located in the former home and studio of Doel Reed, a noted print-maker and founding chair of OSU's art department, the Center is a hub for creativity in teaching, research and outreach.

Doel Reed Center offers summer academic credit courses

Monday, February 10, 2020

Want to earn college credit while traveling this summer?

Oklahoma State University is offering three Summer Academic Credit courses at the Doel Reed Center in Taos, New Mexico, for students who want to travel, learn and explore new cultures.

“It was an amazing learning experience. Getting to study in a such a culturally rich environment was a real eye-opener,” said Jenna Corso, an OSU art junior who took a two-week course at the Taos center. “Being able to visit the art museums and meet many of the local artists in Taos has made an impact on me in many ways that I would’ve never realized in the traditional academic setting.”

This summer’s courses include:

• DHM 3423: Styling for Merchandisers, May 18-29, with Cosette Joyner Armstrong, Ph.D.

This course reviews the elements of editorial and commercial styling, including photography basics, with an emphasis on editorial styling for digital and print fashion merchandising applications. This course will employ the aesthetics and historical references of New Mexico as well as on-location styling competences, including working with natural light, location scouting and “roadside” photo shoot management. This hands-on experience gives students the opportunity to gather inspiration broadly, develop a concept for an editorial fashion photo shoot appropriate for a current fashion magazine, create a detailed implementation plan, work with retailers to source garments, and work with a professional photographer on an on-site photo shoot. Students should come away having learned how to foster a deep conceptual process for editorial work, develop an authentic styling point of view and storytelling, design compelling visual communication for print and digital media, handle photo shoot scouting and effectively interact with industry partners.

• English 4080/6270: Narratives of Identity: Language, Community and Place, May 18-29, with Michael Amory, Ph.D.

This course will focus on narratives and storytelling and how they construct individual and community identity as a historically and culturally grounded experience. Through exploring constructs such as “identity,” “self,” and “subjectivity,” this course will analyze how narratives and storytelling illuminate the nature of access, agency and power as individuals come to understand and express themselves. Students will relate narratives to community and place through multicultural visits and field trips in both Taos and Santa Fe. As a multicultural community, Taos provides an ideal location for students to experience and explore multicultural and multilingual communities and the stories that shape, conceptualize and contextualize them.

• ART 4450: Motion Design Studio: New Mexico as an Inspiration for Motion Design, July 6-17, with Justen Renyer, MFA.

The course will cover technical and conceptual skills in design, videography, motion graphics, narrative structure and sound editing. Students will be creating an opening title sequence using video footage and images shot at various locations in and near Taos, inspired by the region’s diverse landscape and culture. Some experience with Adobe After Effects and/or video editing software (Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro) is required.

Some scholarships are available.

Jeaneen Canfield, a doctoral student in rhetoric and writing studies at OSU, credits the scholarships for her experience at Doel Reed.

“I really appreciate the opportunity to be able to participate in classes at the Doel Reed Center in Taos,” she said. “The environment and atmosphere is so conducive to art, thinking, writing, to doing things that make our work so important at an intellectual level.”