4 session 2-hour workshop | $200 | Saturdays @Lista Studios
“Everyday Optics”
Ages 12 and up
This course explores how everyday objects and daily observations of light and optics can bloom into inventions and abundant sources of creativity and learning. We will study optical phenomena that surround us such as refraction, transparency, and reflection, and examine examples of contemporary artists who have experimented with light and optics in their work. Through this process, students will be introduced to key ideas and concerns in contemporary art and the ways artists navigate ideas, materials, and perception today.
Over four weeks, each student will explore their own way of creating with light and optics using everyday materials. The final outcome may take various forms:It can be an optical device or a sculpture, but it may also take the form of a time-based drawing, a performance, or a photographic work as long as it reflects each student’s own way of exploring light, optics, or everyday objects and practices.
Objective
- Encourage students to see light and optics as primary media for artistic exploration.
- Provide a framework that supports individual practice by identifying and developing a personal approach to art-making, considering the relationship between concept, material, and process.
- Foster self-discovery and reflection through exploration within the course themes and art making.
- To cultivate awareness that creativity can arise from ordinary things and acts of observation
Expectations
- Weekly experimentation, development, and creative invention.
- Active and attentive participation in group discussions, sharing, and the collective making process.
- Preparation of materials and research for each project.
- A 5 to 10 minute presentation in Week 4 to share and discuss completed works.
- Respectful engagement with peers and openness to feedback, curiosity about others’ ideas, and willingness to take creative risks.
Materials
Below are suggested materials for this workshop. You do not need to purchase everything on this list. To purchase materials directly through Lista, please contact mikayla@listastudios.com.
Provided Materials
- gloves
- scissors
- nipper
- long nose
- metal wires
- safety glasses
- transparent tape (for clear objects)
- Paper tape (for opaque objects)
- hot melt glue
- glue stick
- mylar sheet
- Colored ink, dye, or food coloring (for color/light experiments)
Students’ materials
- food wrap
- aluminum foil
- parchment paper (oil paper)
- Recycled cardboard boxes and opaque containers
- Empty glass bottles or jars
- Clear or translucent colored plastic recyclables (bottles, lids, packaging, etc.)
- Sparkling or reflective found objects
- Bubble wrap
- Mirror
- old lens
- old CD (for diffraction/rainbow effects)
Jungeun Park (b. 1999) is an interdisciplinary artist based in New York and Seoul. She earned her BFA in Visual Arts from the Korea National University of Arts, studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, and completed her MFA in Glass at the Rhode Island School of Design. Her practice focuses on easily overlooked scenes and biological traces from everyday lives, turning what we tend to skip into precise, durable objects in glass, ceramics, and various media. Her work proposes attention as a practice of care, reflecting our interdependence among other living beings.
Jungeun was selected as a fellow at the Haystack Mountain School of Crafts in 2025, and her work has been exhibited at the Gelman Gallery in RISD Museum (Providence), Gallery 175 (Seoul), Accent Sisters (New York), and Site 003 (Brooklyn).