Color is science- the science of light- but color is also magical, mysterious, and meaningful. Color is a crossover field of study in that it impacts and is informed by many different disciplines. The way color is seen and interpreted has been so informed by (often misguided) biases and social norms. This course focuses on both facts and fictions of color but comes from an impulse that is playful and curious.

More than just a practicum, a course emphasizing the practical application of a field of study, this color impracticum is not bound by usefulness and applicability. Color Impracticum is an immersive and interactive digital experience of light, color and their many traits through both rational and irrational applications in the context of historical precedence and speculative interpretation. It is a laboratory and a playground. Through a series of interwoven prompts, we explore color and its visual, aesthetic, and conceptual effects. A video library and reading list meditate on a range of topics from traditional color theory to color in science, pseudo-science, and the spiritual.

Babbit, Edwin D. / The Principles of Light and Color; the Classic Study of the Healing Power of Color / University Books, 1967

Birren, Faber / Color; A Survey in Words and Pictures, from Ancient Mysticism to Modern Science / University Books, 1963

Birren, Faber / Color and Human Response: Aspects of Light and Color Bearing on the Reactions of Living Things and the Welfare of Human Beings / Wiley, 1978

Birren, Faber / Functional Color: a Book of Facts and Research, Meant to Inspire More Rational Methods in the Solution of Color Problems / Crimson Press, 1937

Burnie, David / Light / Dorling Kindersley, 1999

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von / Theory of Colours / M.I.T. Press, 1970 reprint of 1840 ed.

Ittelson, William H. / The Ames Demonstrations in Perception: A Guide to their Construction and Use / Princeton University Press, 1952

Jones, Tom Douglas / The Art of Light and Color; Featuring Mobile Color Expression, Lumia, Kinetic Light--with Instructions for the Creation of Dramatic Color and Light Instruments / Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1972

Küppers, Harald / The Basic Law of Color Theory / Barron's, 1982

Küppers, Harald / La Couleur: Origine, Méthodologie, Application / Office Du Livre, 1975

Lüscher, Max / The Luscher Color Test / Washington Square Press, 1971

Minnaert, M. G. J. / The Nature of Light & Colour in the Open Air / Dover Publications, 1954

Munsell, Albert Henry / A Color Notation: A Measured Color System, Based on the Three Qualities, Hue, Value and Chroma, with Illustrative Models, Charts, and a Course of Study Arranged for Teachers / G.H. Ellis, 1907

Nelson, Maggie / Bluets / Wave Books, 2009

Rihs, Tatiana Ed. / Under The Rainbow / ECAL Publishers, 2018

Sloane, Patricia / Color: Basic Principles and New Directions / Reinhold Book, 1966

Vanderpoel, Emily Noyes / Color Problems: A Practical Manual for the Lay Student of Color / Longmans, 1902

Whittlesea, Ian / Becoming Invisible / The Everyday Press, 2019

Whittlesea, Ian / On Colour… / The Everyday Press, 2019

Wittgenstein, Ludwig / Remarks on Colour / University of California Press, 1978