ART 232 — The Design of Light and Dark: Text Art and Nōtan
Quarter: Summer
Instructor(s): Ann Balaam Miller
Date(s): Jul 16—Aug 20
Class Recording Available: Yes
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Class Meeting Time: 6:00—7:50 pm (PT)
Tuition: $385
Refund Deadline: Jul 18
Unit(s): 1
Enrollment Limit: 35
Status: Registration opens May 18, 8:30 am (PT)
What gives an artwork its balance and visual energy? This course introduces Nōtan, the Japanese principle of light and dark, as an accessible framework for exploring visual structure in text, letterform, and pattern. Working primarily in black and white, students will learn how shape and space interact to create rhythm, contrast, and visual interest—principles that extend to design, photography, and other visual arts. Through demonstrations and guided exercises, we’ll explore how proportion, placement, and contrast shape expressive quality. Projects include refining a single letterform, designing balanced word compositions, inventing a Nōtan-informed alphabet, and using negative space as an active design element. Students will also experiment with unfamiliar scripts such as Phoenician and Cherokee, using materials like pencil, monoline tools, ink, watercolor, and gouache paint. The course builds visual awareness and confidence in using shape and spacing to bring vitality to many forms of visual work.
Students must purchase their own art supplies for this course and can expect to spend an additional $85–$100 on these materials.
ANN BALAAM MILLER
Fine Artist, Calligrapher, and Designer
Ann Balaam Miller received an MA in art from Stanford, studied with Nathan Oliveira and Richard Diebenkorn, and founded M2 Design studio. She was an adjunct instructor for Academy of Art University, teaching letterform and design courses, and she created 15 book arts workshops for the San Francisco Center for the Book. Her work has been published in Letter Arts Review, Alphabet, Bound & Lettered, and The Art of Language and in corporate and private collections. Textbooks for this course:
(Required) Dorr Bothwell & Marlys Mayfield, Notan: The Dark-Light Principle of Design (ISBN 978-0486268569)
(Optional) Arthur Wesley Dow, Composition: Understanding Line, Notan and Color (ISBN 978-0486460079)
(Optional) Arthur Wesley Dow, Composition: Understanding Line, Notan and Color (ISBN 978-0486460079)