Daniel Kojo Schrade

Professor of Art
Daniel Schrade
Contact Daniel Kojo

Mail Code MB
Daniel Kojo Schrade
Arts Barn 2nd floor
413.559.5794

Daniel Kojo Schrade studied in Germany and Spain. He received an M.F.A. from the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Germany.

His paintings and installations have been presented internationally, including at the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo in Oaxaca, Mexico; Alliance Francais in Kumasi, Ghana; Haus der Kunst in Munchen, Germany; Muzej Grada in Rijeka, Croatia, and the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. He has taught painting at the Kwame Nkrumah University in Ghana, the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and the State Academy Rotenfels in Germany.

His work includes repeated motifs such as the "Afronaut" figure, and textual elements in the cycle entitled "Brother Beethoven," a series he started in 1999.

Daniel Kojo Schrade was a Copeland Fellow at Amherst College and has received grants and awards from the Cusanuswerk Foundation in Bonn, Germany, the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, and the District Government of Bavaria. His work is represented in various permanent collections such as those of the Museo de Cuenca, Spain; MACO, Mexico; the Bayerische Staatsgemaeldesammlung, Munich; Collection Diehl, Silvaplana-Swiss; and Collection Morat, Freiburg-Germany.

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Recent and Upcoming Courses

  • The Art Barn Studio Colloquium will address and ask participants to critically negotiate the importance of curatorial thinking. The colloquium is mandatory for students who were granted individual studio space in the Arts Barn;, students who maintain an independent studio practice may apply to the colloquium for a limited number of additional spaces.* Students will learn through readings, reviews of exhibitions/sites, and studio visits, how to best take advantage of their studio spaces and also apply gained knowledge to their projected final thesis exhibitions. During this course, students will have the opportunity to attend discussions and visit museums, galleries, and exhibitions across the Five Colleges. As part of the course, students will develop their artist statement and photograph their work in order to advance their professional practice skills. The colloquium will culminate in an Open Studio show curated by participants in the final week of the semester. * In order to guarantee students planning certainty, the Art Barn Studio application process will be held during preregistration in the Spring 2024 semester. For more information about this process, email Greg Kline at gkline@hampshire.edu.

  • Sondra Perry, Rashid Johnson, William Pope L, Sonya Clark, Ghada Amer, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Ingrid Mwangi, Anish Kapoor, Helen Mirra, El Anatsui, Eva Hesse. Since the 1960s, the increasing variety of media options has created more diverse working fields for artists. While this may make it easier for more artists to find areas of expression, it may also be more challenging for students to map their own artistic language. This course is designed for students who are beginning to develop their own personalities as artists. Experimenting with materials, techniques, and styles, on the basis of collective readings and written personal statements, will be central to this class. Multimedia Crossings is a maker's course with a theory component. Readings, assigned slide presentations and class discussions will be informed by the work of non-Western contemporary artists. Students will be expected to complete assigned projects as well as independent projects outside of class time and to write and present one seminar paper. Student evaluation will be based on timely submission of coursework, attendance, and active participation in class discussions and critiques. Keywords:Studio Art, Installation, Drawing, Performance, Painting

  • Drawing Foundations will introduce students to the fundamental techniques of drawing and also guide towards more experimental, expanded drawing strategies. Focusing on perception, space, mark making, composition, and materiality, students will draw objects, the human figure, interior spaces, exterior spaces, and from imagined sources. We will explore a variety of unconventional mediums and work on various scales. Regular class critiques will assist in developing evaluation skills of work in progress and in analyzing formal composition principles. Assigned readings and one research project will focus on artistic productions with non-Western context. Students will be expected to maintain an active sketchbook

  • This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of visual art in general and drawing in particular. While focusing on perception, composition, line and materiality, students will draw from objects, the human figure, interior/exterior spaces, and from imagined sources. We will work with a variety of materials and challenge the limits of scale, by investigating the navigation of landscapes as accumulative drawn lines. We will develop strategies to visualize histories, topographies, individual perspectives and inner worlds embedded in landscape. Regular class critiques will assist in developing evaluation skills of work in progress, and in analyzing formal composition principles. Assigned readings and one research project, contextualizing work and life of an assigned artist, will be as well a segment of this course. Students will be evaluated based on class participation, timely submission of assignments, and their artist presentation. Keywords:Drawing / Studio Art / Introductory / Foundation / Art The content of this course deals with issues of race and power.

  • Scavenging Color & Light: Introduction to Representational Painting and Collective, Abstract Work. This course will introduce students to the fundamentals of painting, such as composition, value, and color. Students will learn about material and the technical issues of painting. Drawings will often be produced in tandem with paintings in order to illuminate visual ideas. We will work with water based and oil based paint on various surfaces. Besides creating individual paintings, students will collectively prepare and work on large-scale canvases. This course will develop from individual representational set-ups towards collective, abstract work. Regular class critiques will assist in examining formal composition principles. While we will discuss historic work examples from a post-colonial perspective, the course will focus on the work of non-western contemporary artists. Readings artist presentations will be assigned. Assignments require students to work independently outside of class. KEYWORDS:Painting, Studio Art, Drawing, Contemporary, Color

  • Vagabonding Images invites students to investigate the indistinct borders between two dimensional art and installation art through studio work. Assignments will emanate from drawing. With a focus on abstraction and nonrepresentational studio art practice, students will learn to develop an individual approach to a subject matter through research, readings, films and digital image presentations. While we examine visual art productions from a transcultural perspective, we will also engage in critical art theory and topics such as media diversity, materiality, and composition. Students will be required to present a collaborative artist presentation on an assigned artist. Student evaluation will be based on participation in studio sessions, class discussions, timely completion of assignments and the artist presentation. Vagabonding Images is affiliated with the Learning Collaborative Time & Narrative. KEYWORDS:Studio Art, Multimedia, Installation, Painting, Drawing

  • "The Repair" is preceded by the injury. Injuries on the landscape, the environment, on objects, architecture, on the body, on the psyche. In this studio art course students are going to develop multimedia art projects based on their engagement in questions concerning the human impact on land, objects, waters, architecture, plants, animals, and humans. Athorough research phase, lectures, and exhibition visits in the beginning of the semester will require students to engage with the work of artists who are contemplating the human, social, and environmental havocs of our times and their intersections with superiority, destruction, colonialism, displacement, commerce, migration, appropriation, power structures, etc. By writing and presenting course papers, students are first going to collaboratively research the work of artists like Mona Hatoum, Kader Attia, Philip Guston, Jean Dubuffet, El Anatsui, Satch Hoyt, Yinka Shonibare, Ghada Amer, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Wangechi Mutu, Anish Kapoor, David Hammons, Joseph Beuys - and then draft, carry out, and curate their own studio art projects. Keywords:Studio Art, Multimedia Art, Research, Critical Art Theory, Curation