Class Schedules

This course is an introduction to fundamental drawing materials and techniques. Students explore a variety of themes and subjects, including still life, architecture, figure drawing, portraiture, and imagination. Formal elements covered include: line, value, volume, space, proportion, perspective, mark-making, and composition. Context for assignments is given through frequent discussion of both historical and contemporary artworks. In group critiques and discussions, we consider composition, representational accuracy, creative expression, content, and intention.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This introductory course will provide a supportive studio environment for the exploration of diverse approaches to the ceramic field, ranging from investigation of utilitarian object making to sculptural practice. Techniques and applications for both handbuilding and wheel throwing will be presented. Emphasis is placed on development and understanding of strong three-dimensional forms as well as the relationship with surface decoration. Content-based assignments allow for individual expression through creative problem solving. The course goal is to present students with a historical perspective and the understanding of contemporary ceramics, building an appreciation for the spirit of the handmade object as well as preparing students for upper level self-directed work. Lectures, demonstrations, critiques and gallery/museum visits will supplement studio work. Learning will be assessed primarily through portfolio production and review, along with class participation. Three two-hour periods per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course introduces students to the history of art from Renaissance to Modern Art. The course focuses on the developments in art in Europe and the United States but within a larger global context in order to de-center privileges of Western artistic traditions. The course will introduce students to art periods such as Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and a wide spectrum of modern art movements, including Fauvism, Expressionism, Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art, and Post-Modern Art but always with a critical interpretive lens that reveals deeply entrenched cultural, social, and political hierarchies in the art word and complex relationships between diverse cultures and artistic traditions. This course will provide students with tools how to look at art and interpret meaning in individual works of art.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course introduces the conceptual, technical, and historical aspects of photography within a fine-arts context. The emphasis throughout is on photography as a creative and expressive medium and will introduce strategies and methods related to this goal through assignments and class activities. Students will learn the foundational aspects of digital photography from manual camera operation to the editing of images through Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Along the way, students will be introduced to the digital workflow, the critique process, and how to take their images from screen to print. Presentations and assigned readings will help students develop the critical and creative skills needed to understand how artistic photographs function in society and culture. $75 materials fee charged for course to cover printer paper and ink. Note: A digital SLR camera is required for this course--students may be able to rent one from the department on a first-come, first-served basis.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

An introduction to the studio practice of painting, using oil paint on a variety of supports ranging from paper, board and canvas to non-traditional painting surfaces. Exploration of the practical techniques and mechanics of painting as well as a consideration of content and meaning will be studied. Topics that will be studied include: paint-mixing, color matching, composition, design and a variety of painting styles. Readings and class discussions of historical and contemporary painting practices and issues will develop a visual vocabulary as well as critical/theoretical knowledge to complement technical skills. Lectures, demonstrations, critiques and a gallery/museum visit will supplement studio work.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This hands-on studio class serves as an introduction to the rich and diverse field of inquiry we call sculpture. Over the course of the semester we will investigate a variety of concepts, materials, and fabrication methods employed in the realization of sculptural works. Examples of fabrication methods may include basic woodworking techniques, carving, basic sewing techniques, "non-traditional" techniques, and others. The early part of the semester is devoted to brief exercises that introduce materials, processes, techniques, tools/equipment, and ways of thinking/unthinking. The latter part of the semester is devoted to fully realized individual projects. Final projects are self-assigned and self-directed via prompts. In addition to the formal and spatial aspects of the sculptures we create, we will consider their symbolic, sociopolitical, ethical, material, and tactile dimensions. Slide presentations, short readings, critiques, group discussions, and gallery/museum visits supplement our studio research. The goal of this class is to conduct a serious and sustained - yet playful - inquiry into the question of sculpture while nurturing individual expression. This class is appropriate for any and all curious students interested in play, thinking with the hands, and reflecting on the results. $150 materials fee charged.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

A hands-on introduction to original printmaking in the media of relief, intaglio, lithography and handset type. Included are discussions of esthetics, the impact of printed imagery on society, the political power of prints, printmaking practices from diverse cultures and from around the world. Learn hand printing technologies as well as use of printing presses and tools in the service of developing your ideas in printed form. Trips to local exhibits and museums frame contemporary and historic understanding of the field. Emphasis is on personal expression and appropriate techniques for the content. Students edition one print at the end of the semester to trade in a portfolio with classmates. Contact the instructor directly for more information.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

Contemporary Ceramics is an expansive art form. This hands-on studio course will reach beyond functional pottery and examine experimental approaches to working with clay that prioritize content, emotional impact and aesthetic experience. Slab building and solid building techniques will be introduced to provide a deeper understanding of the physical properties of earthenware clay. Students will study the work of key innovators in the field of ceramic sculpture including Peter Voulkos, Jun Kaneko and Arlene Shechet. Slide presentations, group discussions and a field trip will supplement studio work and provide context for deeper understanding of the diverse and expanding field of contemporary Ceramic Art.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this foundations course we explore the fundamentals of two-dimensional design through a series of hands-on and digital projects. Topics such as the design process, pattern development and application, typography and branding are explored through both fine-art and commercial design projects. Demonstrations, presentations, and artist talks are included in addition to lab time and class discussions.  Students will finish the semester with a sketchbook full of ideas, a self-directed final project, and a well-rounded design portfolio. Software introduced includes Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. Three two-hour periods per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course will examine the key developments of the modernist period in visual arts, tracing different avant-garde practices and the key players in art movements such as Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, German Expressionism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism as well as Minimalism and Pop Art, and analyze them in the context of philosophical, artistic, social and political developments. These include the catastrophes of World War I and World War II, and the ever-increasing powers of capitalism and mass culture. Throughout the semester, we will look at modernism from multiple perspectives, critically examining its "master narratives" and re-evaluating its various "oversights" with regards to class, ethnicity, race, and gender. We will discuss how the tropes of Orientalism and Primitivism functioned within the modernist discourse and consider tensions between nationalism/ internationalism/cosmopolitanism as well as "avant-garde" and popular/mass culture.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course examines the art and visual culture of China from the Neolithic era to the twenty-first century. Lectures and readings will teach methods of formal visual analysis as well as provide the opportunity for students to think critically about how scholars write the artistic history of the region. Through this class, students will engage with a broad array of media, from jade carvings, Buddhist cave painting, architecture, calligraphy and monumental landscape paintings to ceramics, imperial palaces, and contemporary installations. While examining the intended meanings and functions of these objects and spaces, we will discuss the varied contexts and value systems that have informed visual production in China.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course examines the art, architecture, and visual culture of Japan, spanning a broad temporal frame from the ancient Neolithic era to our own contemporary moment.  We will discuss a diverse array of art and architecture from ancient Jomon pottery, Shinto shrines, and print media to Buddhist sculpture, painting practices during World War II, anime (cartoons) and manga (comics). In addition to learning methods of formal visual analysis, students will gain insight into how these works articulated complex artistic, social, economic, political, and religious trends. Through this course, students will develop skills to reflect critically on the production of narratives of Japanese culture, while considering concepts such as tradition, hybridity, value, authority, authenticity, sexuality, commodity flows, nationalism, and militarism.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course will focus on interactions between artist, viewer, and object with special attention to time, place and the situated body. Students will engage with a multi-disciplinary sculpture and design practice while exploring the potential for activation of this work. This may include kinetic and immersive sculptural installations, sound, site specific durational performances, socially engaged activities and more. Classes will include discussions of readings, embodied warm-up exercises, demonstrations of technical skills, field trips and class critiques of student work.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this team-taught, creative writing/studio art hybrid course, students will contribute to the rich medium of graphic novels by writing, drawing, and inking their own original comic book story. The stories will then be mass-produced into individual zines, and collected into a class-wide graphic novel anthology and ebook. This course has two fundamental goals: To help students work individually on a graphic storytelling project of their own devising: from the cultivation of an initial idea, to the further exploration of that idea through multiple drafts and storyboards, and then finally to sending it out into the world as a “completed” project, which is to say a project that is “good enough for now.” Our second, equally important goal, is to work collectively to build a mutually supportive artistic community dedicated to helping everyone achieve their best work. Along the way, students will also strengthen their technical drawing and design skills, view and analyze examples of visual storytelling from diverse artists, investigate a range of storytelling structures, learn how to communicate more effectively through images, and gain hands-on experience in the publishing process. Prerequisite(s): ART 130 or ENGL 150.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course explores the art, architecture, and religious institutions produced in Iran, broadly conceived, from the Dalma culture of the 5th millennium BCE to the end of the Sasanian empire in the 7th century CE. We will explore topics such as the evolution of trade relations between the Mediterranean basin, Western Asia, India, and Central Asia along the Silk Road, the rise and spread of Iranian religions like Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and the cult of Mithras, as well as the exchange and development of visual culture between the great empires that existed from the first millennium BCE to the first millenium CE. This course requires no prior knowledge of art, archaeology, religion, or of Western Asia and is open to all students wanting to learn about the land between the Nile and the Indus.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

Today the city of Naples is largely known within the American consciousness for its food, its ruggedness, and its links to organized crime. Yet during the Medieval and Renaissance eras, it was one of the largest cities in Europe, home to diverse populations, and the seat of a kingdom whose riches compelled France, Germany, and Spain to invade Italy and compete amongst each other for control of the center of the Mediterranean. Historically biased narratives that center Italian art in Rome, Florence, and Venice, have largely ignored the importance of the only kingdom on the Italian Peninsula. This class will explore the layered history of Southern Italy; one that includes Muslim Kingdoms, Norman Conquests, and Spanish colonization. We will also explore the historiography of Southern Italy to address why it has been ignored by international scholars for so long, and how its location, surrounded by three seas, is critical to understanding the culture of the region. In addition to painting, sculpture, and architecture, this course will consider the porous nature of the sea to include the presence of Catalan, Venetian, and Genoese maritime interests that saw goods and peoples of all kinds pass through the many ports of the south.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course will investigate the works of some famous and not so famous artists working in Italy from c. 1350 - 1600. We will investigate cities like Rome, Florence, and Venice and examine how different communities employed images for the expression of identity, status, and as a strategic means of producing consensus or exploiting social division. We will consider the role that images occupied in political and religious culture as well as in private life, bearing in mind the competing interests of those who commissioned works of art and those who encountered them as beholders. We will also consider how artists working in Italy and its environs engaged in and responded to an expanding cultural world. From this multiplicity of uses and responses emerged highly varied conceptions of the nature of images and the role of the artist. The artists we will study include: Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo, and Donatello, Botticelli, Titian, Danti, Carpaccio, and Brunelleschi, among many others.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In Motion is an introduction to modern African American History from slavery to contemporary times. In Motion emphasizes the idea that both African Americans and the stories of their lives in the United States are fluid, varied and continually being reinterpreted. Rather than a strict chronological survey, this course is organized thematically. Some of the important themes include movement/mobility/migration; work/labor; resistance to systems of oppression; gender/sexuality/culture/performance; politics/citizenship; and sites of (re)memory. While the course is geographically situated in the United States, we will also consider African American life, culture, thought and resistance in global perspectives. In this course, students will read important historical texts, both primary and secondary, engage in discussion, write essays, and make and analyze creative work in digital and traditional art media to critically engage the history of African Americans in the US. Note for Art and Art History majors/minors: this course will count as a Studio Art Elective if taken as ART 294: please ask the Art and Art History Chair to submit a note in Degree Works upon successful completion of the course.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
U.S. Identities and Differences

Distribution Requirements:
Humanities

Course Materials

A continuation of ART 234, expanding both technical and critical/theoretical knowledge through projects which demand the development of each student's individual interests. Required projects will encourage increasing self-direction and development of the students' own artistic vision. Readings will supplement students'  critical and theoretical understanding of historical and contemporary art practices. Frequent group discussions and critiques, as well as museum/gallery field trips. Three two-hour periods per week. Offered every other semester. Prerequisite(s): ART 234 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

Sculpture 2 offers a hands-on studio experience that builds on the tools, processes, concepts, and conversations introduced in Sculpture 1. This class supports the development and creation of individually-designed sculptural projects and research, with an emphasis on experimentation and ideation. Students will have the opportunity to explore both contemporary and traditional fabrication methods such as carving, assemblage, mold-making, and casting, and well as engage sculptural concerns such as context and display, materiality, mimesis, and ephemerality. Slide presentations, short readings, critiques, group discussions, and gallery/museum visits supplement our studio research. $150 materials fee charged. Prerequisite(s): ART 235

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course is a continuation of Printmaking I, with the introduction of new techniques appropriate for the content. Advanced printers can explore known media in more depth and learn new processes such as photo polymer relief, laser stencil cuts, collagraphs, pronto plate lithography or photo screenprint. Individually generated concepts are explored with expanded forms such as monoprinting, printing on unusual surfaces, or installation and performance work involving printed components. Trips to local galleries, printshops and museums add depth to understanding the diverse contexts in which contemporary prints are made, as well as the vital role prints play in social movements. In addition to exchanging prints within the class, students research and identify an external opportunity to share their prints. Contact the instructor directly for more information.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course is for students with a passion for clay! Designed to engage and build on students' previous ceramic experiences, advancing their knowledge, techniques and concepts of contemporary ceramic art. Course content will be both assignment based and self-directed whether created on the wheel or through handbuilding. Through thoughtful discussion, critical examination and evaluation of concepts and ideas the class encourages students to develop a better understanding of their relationship to the rich tradition of ceramics and ceramic sculpture. Students will develop an understanding of glaze and clay materials while also taking on responsibilities for electric, gas and raku kiln firings. Lectures, demonstrations, critiques and gallery/museum visits will supplement studio work. Learning will be assessed primarily through portfolio production and review, along with class participation. May be taken without an introductory class with instructor's review and approval. Can be taken for credit multiple times. Three two-hour periods per week. $100 materials fee is required. Prerequisite(s): ART 131 or approval of instructor.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

Photo Books are a dynamic and intimate way to create and share art work. This course explores the use of multiple photographic images arranged in series and book form. Students will learn to select and sequence photographs that convey narratives across time and place and deepen their relationship to images, while cultivating an understanding of visual and conceptual ideas. They will also use photography and design principles to explore layout, typography, and color theory as methods to enhance the visual impact of their work. In this course students will divide time between taking photographs, designing, editing, and creating a variety of book formats. We will experiment with analog and digital methods from handmade books to print on demand while utilizing creative programs such as Photoshop, InDesign, & Illustrator. Through lectures, demonstrations, and creative assignments students will learn about historical and contemporary uses of photo based art books and how their own discovery and understanding of the medium can result in a meaningful extension of the practice of photography. Previous photography experience is strongly recommended.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course is designed for graduating art history majors and it exposes them to methods and theories of art history, with a particular focus on the transformation of the discipline that began in the 1970s and continues to the present. The course will expose the students to both conventional methods of art historical analysis (style, form, iconography)  and to the so called "revisionist" perspectives of "new" art history. The course surveys a wide range of approaches used in the discipline, beginning with writers such as Vasari, Riegl, Panofsky, Gombrich, and ending with the more recent art historical studies informed by Marxism, feminism, and  postmodern and postcolonial theories. Prerequisite(s): Art History seniors only.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course provides a setting in which art studio majors complete their capstone projects, including mounting a professional exhibition of recent work. It provides a look ahead to post-Macalester opportunities and the challenges of graduate school, jobs, and career opportunities in art. Arts professionals make presentations to the class and readings provide theoretical grounding for putting contemporary art in context. Students learn professional practices for studio artists, how to write artist statements, professional resumes and applications for grants, residencies and graduate school. Two three-hour sessions per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course is an introduction to fundamental drawing materials and techniques. Students explore a variety of themes and subjects, including still life, architecture, figure drawing, portraiture, and imagination. Formal elements covered include: line, value, volume, space, proportion, perspective, mark-making, and composition. Context for assignments is given through frequent discussion of both historical and contemporary artworks. In group critiques and discussions, we consider composition, representational accuracy, creative expression, content, and intention.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This introductory course provides a supportive studio environment for the exploration ofdiverse approaches to the ceramic field, ranging from investigation of utilitarian objects, potteryand sculpture. Techniques for both handbuilding and wheel throwing are presented. Emphasisis placed on development of strong three-dimensional forms and surface decoration. Thematicassignments allow for individual expression and creative problem solving. The course goal is tointroduce students to historical examples and contemporary perspectives on ceramic art,building an appreciation for the spirit of the handmade object. This course prepares studentsfor upper level self-directed work. Discussions, demonstrations, critiques and gallery/museumvisits will supplement studio work. Learning will be assessed primarily through portfolioproduction and review, self-assessment and class participation.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

​This course surveys the visual and material culture of Europe, the Middle East and the broader Mediterranean world from prehistory through the late Medieval period, including early Christian, Jewish and Islamic cultures. We consider the artistic and archaeological remains from the Near East, Egypt, the Aegean, Greece, Etruria, Rome, and western Europe from a contextual perspective in order to understand each culture's ideologies, and the diverse social and artistic purposes for which art and architecture was created and used.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This interdisciplinary course explores the intersection of biology and art, by combining the study of plant ecology with a range of studio art practices. Students will investigate how plants respond to the environment, while developing skills in observational drawing, botanical illustration, visual journaling, and uncovering the uses of plants for pigments and drawing material. In addition, we will learn about plant form, function, physiology, and ecology across a range of environments, explore the history of artmaking as a type of scientific inquiry, and spend plenty of time outdoors. Fieldwork sessions will allow students to observe seasonal changes in plants, and the diversity of plant adaptations, while laboratory and studio sessions will facilitate experimentation and creativity in translating these observations into visual form. No prior drawing or biology experience is required, but an openness to integrating science and art is essential.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this team-taught, creative writing/studio art hybrid course, students will contribute to the rich medium of graphic novels by writing, drawing, and inking their own original comic book story. The stories will then be mass-produced into individual zines, and collected into a class-wide graphic novel anthology and ebook. This course has two fundamental goals: To help students work individually on a graphic storytelling project of their own devising: from the cultivation of an initial idea, to the further exploration of that idea through multiple drafts and storyboards, and then finally to sending it out into the world as a “completed” project, which is to say a project that is “good enough for now.” Our second, equally important goal, is to work collectively to build a mutually supportive artistic community dedicated to helping everyone achieve their best work. Along the way, students will also strengthen their technical drawing and design skills, view and analyze examples of visual storytelling from diverse artists, investigate a range of storytelling structures, learn how to communicate more effectively through images, and gain hands-on experience in the publishing process. Prerequisite(s): ART 130 or ENGL 150.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course introduces the conceptual, technical, and historical aspects of photography within a fine-arts context. The emphasis throughout is on photography as a creative and expressive medium and will introduce strategies and methods related to this goal through assignments and class activities. Students will learn the foundational aspects of digital photography from manual camera operation to the editing of images through Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. Along the way, students will be introduced to the digital workflow, the critique process, and how to take their images from screen to print. Presentations and assigned readings will help students develop the critical and creative skills needed to understand how artistic photographs function in society and culture. Note: A digital SLR camera is required for this course--students may be able to rent one from the department on a first-come, first-served basis.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

An introduction to the studio practice of painting, using oil paint on a variety of supports ranging from paper, board and canvas to non-traditional painting surfaces. Exploration of the practical techniques and mechanics of painting as well as a consideration of content and meaning will be studied. Topics that will be studied include: paint-mixing, color matching, composition, design and a variety of painting styles. Readings and class discussions of historical and contemporary painting practices and issues will develop a visual vocabulary as well as critical/theoretical knowledge to complement technical skills. Lectures, demonstrations, critiques and a gallery/museum visit will supplement studio work.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This hands-on studio class serves as an introduction to the rich and diverse field of inquiry we call sculpture. Over the course of the semester we will investigate a variety of concepts, materials, and fabrication methods employed in the realisation of sculptural works. Examples of fabrication methods may include basic woodworking techniques, 3D modeling with cardboard, basic sewing techniques, and more. The early part of the semester is devoted to brief exercises that introduce materials, processes, techniques, tools/equipment, and ways of thinking/unthinking. The latter part of the semester is devoted to fully realised individual projects. In addition to the formal and spatial aspects of the sculptures we create, we will consider their symbolic, sociopolitical, ethical, material, and tactile dimensions. Artist presentations, short readings, critiques, group discussions, and gallery/museum visits may supplement our studio research. The goal of this class is to conduct a serious and sustained - yet playful - inquiry into the question of sculpture while nurturing individual expression. This class is appropriate for any and all curious students interested in play, thinking with the hands, and reflecting on the results.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

A hands-on introduction to original printmaking in the media of relief, intaglio, lithography and handset type. Included are discussions of esthetics, the impact of printed imagery on society, the political power of prints, printmaking practices from diverse cultures and from around the world. Learn hand printing technologies as well as use of printing presses and tools in the service of developing your ideas in printed form. Trips to local exhibits and museums frame contemporary and historic understanding of the field. Emphasis is on personal expression and appropriate techniques for the content. Students edition one print at the end of the semester to trade in a portfolio with classmates. Contact the instructor directly for more information.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This hands-on studio class will introduce students to the practice of making meaningful potteryfor everyday use. Studio demonstrations will introduce ceramic handbuilding and wheelthrowing techniques, surface decoration and firing. Lectures, discussions, field trips andreadings will provide further context - framing pottery as a tool for grassroots organizing,mutual aid and community care. Students will study several historical and contemporarymovements in craft activism including the Empty Bowls project and Potters for Peace, and usethem as inspiration for their own projects. Emphasis will be placed on a model of the studio asan ecosystem; a collaborative, generative space that enhances human connection andrelationship to the natural world. Learning will be assessed primarily through guidedself-assessment and class participation. No prerequisite.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

In this foundations course we explore the fundamentals of two-dimensional design through a series of hands-on and digital projects. Topics such as the design process, pattern development and application, typography and branding are explored through both fine-art and commercial design projects. Demonstrations, presentations, and artist talks are included in addition to lab time and class discussions.  Students will finish the semester with a sketchbook full of ideas, a self-directed final project, and a well-rounded design portfolio. Software introduced includes Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. Three two-hour periods per week.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course examines the ways in which gender and sexuality are understood in modern visual culture. It also covers a wide range of feminist approaches in the 20th and 21st century art and as they have been articulated in theory. Students explore social constructions of gender and sexualities, their visible and invisible representation, and discuss the impact of feminism and the changing role of women in society. The course will also cover some of the most recent global feminist trends and new directions in the feminist theory. Feminist work from Africa, India, Asia and Eastern and Central Europe and various marginalized cultural centers in Western Europe and the United States will be addressed.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WC

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course examines the ways in which gender and sexuality are understood in modern visual culture. It also covers a wide range of feminist approaches in the 20th and 21st century art and as they have been articulated in theory. Students explore social constructions of gender and sexualities, their visible and invisible representation, and discuss the impact of feminism and the changing role of women in society. The course will also cover some of the most recent global feminist trends and new directions in the feminist theory. Feminist work from Africa, India, Asia and Eastern and Central Europe and various marginalized cultural centers in Western Europe and the United States will be addressed.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WC

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This hands-on, studio class serves as an introduction to the fundamentals of organizing forms in three dimensions. Over the course of the semester we will work both independently and collaboratively to solve basic formal and spatial problems encountered in fields such as sculpture, architecture, and industrial design. We will develop a technical working vocabulary and think critically about the formal, spatial, structural, tactile, and ethical dimensions of the forms we create. This class is appropriate for any and all curious students interested in design, thinking with the hands, and reflecting on the creative process. Slide presentations, short readings, critiques, group discussions, and gallery/museum visits will supplement our studio research.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

Coined as a term in the late 19th century by the German geographer, Ferdinand von Richthoven (1833-1905), the “Silk Road” was neither a singular road nor strictly occupied with silk. Rather, it was a complex web of overland and maritime trade of multifarious luxury goods including jade, porcelain, prints, paintings, metalwork, sculpture, furniture, and (of course) textiles. These goods moved along routes extending geographically from the Far East through Central, North, and South Asia to the Mediterranean. This course examines how art and artifacts moved along these trade routes from around the 2nd c. BCE to the 19th c. CE (inspiring the evolution of culture and taste in many regions) and how religions such as Buddhism and Islam contributed to these cultural flows. Through a study of the art and treasure associated with the Silk Road, we will learn about the muddy, complicated, and fascinating nature of ancient, pre-modern, and early modern trade and the formative role it has played in shaping visual cultures we see and understand today.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course examines the art and visual culture of China from the Neolithic era to the twenty-first century. Lectures and readings will teach methods of formal visual analysis as well as provide the opportunity for students to think critically about how scholars write the artistic history of the region. Through this class, students will engage with a broad array of media, from jade carvings, Buddhist cave painting, architecture, calligraphy and monumental landscape paintings to ceramics, imperial palaces, and contemporary installations. While examining the intended meanings and functions of these objects and spaces, we will discuss the varied contexts and value systems that have informed visual production in China.

General Education Requirements:
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course explores the making and function of art and architecture in ancient Egypt along with its socio-economic and political context from pre-dynastic times (ca. 5300 - 3000 BCE) to the Roman era (30 BCE - 391 CE). The lectures and class discussions will focus on concepts of design, representation and aesthetics in Egypt, and explore the uses of art objects and monuments in politics, religion, private and state cults, and burial practices. Addressing topics such as pharaonic ideology, imperialism, gender, and afterlife, this course will help students comprehend the fundamental place of art and visual culture in the creation and sustenance of one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

From the ancient world to the early modern era, Babylon, Rome and Constantinople served as the centers of great empires, and thus controlled vast demographic, material, intellectual and artistic resources. This course will explore the formation and transformation of these metropolises through centuries. What kind of social, political and economic conditions stimulated their rise? In what ways did their urban layout change through time? What forms of art and architecture defined them as imperial centers?  Keeping these main questions in mind, this course will explore the impact of politics, religion and other historically and culturally specific conditions on the formation of the three cities that has inspired Western imagination for millennia.

General Education Requirements:
Writing WA
Internationalism

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course will consider the role of art in manifesting power by analyzing its role in visualizing the power of the individual, the power of the state, and the power of resistance in Early Modern Europe. Beginning with questions about the shifting status of the artist in Renaissance Europe, we will consider how the ability to create was historically considered and represented within art, looking at works by Michelangelo, Velasquez, Artemisia Gentileschi and others. We will also consider the role of art in manifesting State Power, and how the deployment of art operated within a political, in addition to aesthetic, realm. Finally, we will look at examples of resistance within art, thinking about how the production of art and the circulation of images provided a means for individuals and collectives to shape identity and subvert conventional wielders of power.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

A continuation of ART 234, expanding both technical and critical/theoretical knowledge through projects which demand the development of each student's individual interests. Required projects will encourage increasing self-direction and development of the students' own artistic vision. Readings will supplement students'  critical and theoretical understanding of historical and contemporary art practices. Frequent group discussions and critiques, as well as museum/gallery field trips. Three two-hour periods per week. Offered every other semester. Prerequisite(s): ART 234 .

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials

This course is a continuation of Printmaking I, with the introduction of new techniques appropriate for the content. Advanced printers can explore known media in more depth and learn new processes such as photo polymer relief, laser stencil cuts, collagraphs, pronto plate lithography or photo screenprint. Individually generated concepts are explored with expanded forms such as monoprinting, printing on unusual surfaces, or installation and performance work involving printed components. Trips to local galleries, printshops and museums add depth to understanding the diverse contexts in which contemporary prints are made, as well as the vital role prints play in social movements. In addition to exchanging prints within the class, students research and identify an external opportunity to share their prints. Contact the instructor directly for more information.

General Education Requirements:

Distribution Requirements:
Fine arts

Course Materials