Courses In Art and Art History
ART 100.
Concepts in the Visual Arts.
Addressing the basic question "What is art?" this course explores the physical, perceptual and philosophical elements of visual art and architecture. Materials and methods, the role of artists, cultural ideals and changing ideas of beauty are studied as the basis for looking at, and discussing, art throughout the ages. 3 credits.
ART 105.
Fundamentals of Drawing.
Using traditional methods in a variety of media, this essential studio course explores drawing as a way of seeing and recording visual information from the world around us. Principles of composition and explorations of personal expression are also introduced. 3 credits.
ART 112.
Art Survey: Ancient - Gothic.
An introduction to art and architecture in its historical and cultural context from the ziggurats of Mesopotamia and the pyramids of dynastic Egypt to the temples of ancient Greece and Rome, the mosaics of Byzantium and the illuminated manuscripts and soaring cathedrals of medieval Europe. Attention is paid to skills in critical description and visual analysis. 3 credits.
ART 120.
Introduction to Art Therapy.
A practical introduction to art therapy. This course explores the history of the art therapy profession and the development of creative expression in young people up to the age of fourteen. Emphasis is placed on the use of different art media, approaches, and techniques.
ART 209.
Fundamentals of Sculpture.
Through the use of time-honored materials - plaster, clay and wood - this studio course investigates three-dimensional form as a basis for art and design. Modeling, carving, mold-making and assemblage are introduced as essential sculptural processes in a variety of projects. 3 credits.
ART 211.
Photography.
This course explores the technical and conceptual elements of fine-art, film-based photography. Students are introduced to the operation of the camera, processes of film development and black-and-white printing, compositional and aesthetic principles, and thematic explorations. Single lens reflex camera with manual mode required. 3 credits.
ART 212.
Art Survey: Renaissance - Postmodern.
From Giotto to Giacometti, Fragonard to Frank Lloyd Wright, an examination of the visual and material culture of the Western world from the fourteenth century to the present day. Special attention is paid to aesthetics, economics, gender, and nationalism. Writing process. 3 credits.
ART 213.
Fundamentals of Design.
An introduction to the fundamental elements of art and design. Students work with graphic symbols, theories of visual perception, principles of composition and color interaction in a variety of studio projects. 3 credits. {Cross-listed as DCOM 255.}
ART 217.
Figure Drawing.
This course calls on traditional methods of anatomical study for an intensive exploration of human form as a central component of drawing and expressive mark-making. Students explore historical and contemporary figurative art as a basis for the development of individual concepts. Prerequisite: ART 105 or permission. 3 credits.
ART 219.
Fundamentals of Painting.
Using art-historical examples, this course introduces the physical and visual properties of paint. Through a variety of projects, students explore the expressive potential of this medium and learn basic techniques of professional studio practice, such as constructing a painting support and working safely with paint. Prerequisite: ART 105 or permission. 3 credits.
ART 221.
Watercolor.
This course introduces the unique physical and visual properties of watercolor paint. Individual pictorial development is emphasized through a variety of subjects, with a focus on historical and contemporary used of the medium. Prerequisite: ART 105 or permission. 3 credits.
ART 223.
Ceramics.
Students explore a number of essential ceramic techniques, such as pinch, coil and slab construction, wheel-throwing and a range of low- temperature surface treatments. The course focuses on fundamental principles of design, with reference to ceramic history and contemporary uses of the medium. 3 credits.
ART 225.
Printmaking.
In this studio course students explore a variety of techniques and approaches central to the history of printmaking, including relief printing, intaglio, collographs and monotypes. Students also learn how prints are handled and exhibited. Prerequisite: ART 105 or permission. 3 credits.
ART 305.
Intermediate Drawing.
Students move beyond Fundamentals of Drawing to explore the expressive and thematic potential of a variety of media and subjects. Attention is paid to the history of drawing and to the development of individual concepts and professional studio practices. Prerequisite: ART 105 or permission. 3 credits.
ART 309.
Pastel.
This course introduces students to the visual and tactile properties of pastel and explores the expressive potential of the medium through a variety of techniques, from non-directional mark making to edge building. Attention is paid to the history of pastel and to basic rules of conservation and framing. Prerequisites: ART 105 or by permission. 3 credits.
ART 312.
Renaissance Art.
Focusing on the late thirteenth to the end of the sixteenth century, this course offers a comprehensive survey of the major monuments, themes and developments of Renaissance art in Europe. Works by Giotto, Van Eyck, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Durer, Michelangelo, Raphael and Titian, among others, are examined. Particular attention is paid to the antique tradition in the arts, development of the professional artist, church patronage, and the development of modern political and economic systems. Prerequisites: ART 100 or ART 112 or ART 212. Writing process. 3 credits.
ART 314.
Art in the Age of Romanticism.
This course uncovers the roots of modernism by tracing patterns of change in the art of France, Spain, England, and the German states from the 1780s to the 1860s. Painting and sculpture are examined in the context of political unrest, urban and industrial expansion, colonialism, the lure of the Orient, new criticism and the burgeoning art market. Artists include David, Goya, Friedrich, Constable and Courbet. Prerequisites: ART 112 or ART 212. Writing process. 3 credits.
ART 315.
Intermediate Sculpture/Ceramics.
This course offers an intensive exploration of the making of sculpture, extending beyond fundamental processes to more advanced areas of thematic study. Historical and contemporary viewpoints are examined. Prerequisite: ART 209 or permission. 3 credits.
ART 318.
Greek & Roman Art & Architecture.
A survey of ancient Greek and Roman art and architecture, highlighting major stylistic phases, monuments and objects of art from the Greek Archaic period to the fall of Rome. The cultural, philosophical, political and economic contexts from which Greek and Roman art emerged, and classical revivals in post-medieval Europe and in America, are also explored. Prerequisite: ART 100 or ART 112. 3 credits.
ART 319.
Intermediate Painting.
This course takes a thematic approach to painting, focusing on such areas of study as figuration and abstraction. Emphasis is on process, technique and individual conceptual investigations within historical and contemporary models. Prerequisite: ART 219 or permission. 3 credits.
ART 322.
Italian Baroque Art & Architecture.
This course surveys painting, sculpture and architecture in a social, political and cultural context in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Italy. The work of the Carracci, Caravaggio, Bernini and Borromini will be examined. Students explore such issues as patronage by private citizens, nobles, and popes; the interconnection of art and religion; the classical tradition; and art and architectural theory. Prerequisites: ART 112 or ART 213. 3 credits.
ART 324.
Dutch Art 1600-1800: the Golden Age.
An introduction to the art of the Low Countries and France, including the work of Rubens, Rembrandt, and Vermeer; the French Caravaggisti, Poussin, Claude, Watteau and Boucher. Particular attention is paid to questions of stylistic, geographical and political difference and to the social circumstances in which works were produced, viewed and sold. Prerequisite: ART 112 or ART 212. 3 credits.
ART 326.
Impressionism & Post-Impressionism.
An examination of the origins, making and meaning of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the context of momentous social and economic change in nineteenth-century France. Artists include Manet, Degas, Monet, Cezanne, Gauguin and Van Gogh. Particular attention is paid to artist training; the exhibition, sale and collection of art; and new choices of subject matter. A variety of reading assignments takes particular account of different critical approaches to this field of study. Prerequisite: ART 100 or ART 212. 3 credits.
ART 328.
Modern Art.
An overview of modern and postmodern art from the 1890s to the present, including important stylistic movements such as Cubism, Dada and Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop Art and a number of postmodern approaches since 1960. The focus will be on the ideas, works and critical reception of specific artists, widened to include issues of race and gender and related developments in politics and literature. Prerequisite: ART 212. 3 credits.
ART 331.
American Art.
An introduction to American art from 1650 to the present day. The course offers a critical grounding in selected themes, with an emphasis on cultural history and stylistic change. Includes painting, architecture, film, photography and sculpture. [Cross-listed with AMS 331]. 3 credits.
ART 334.
East Asian Art.
A survey of the art and architecture of China and Japan from the Neolithic age to the twentieth century, examined in a social, cultural and political context. Among the topics covered: Jomon pottery in Japan; Buddhist caves in China; imperial palaces in Chang'an and Beijing; Japanese castles; landscape, figure, scroll and screen printing; and Eastern gardens. Foreign studies. 3 credits.
ART 336.
East West: Art & Cultural Interchange from Hellenism to the Modern Era.
An examination of the impact of Eastern culture, aesthetics, and formal design on Western art and architecture, from the Hellenistic Greek embrace of Persian and Indian motifs to the intersection of Iberian art and the oeuvre of Picasso. The presence of Western motifs in Japanese art in the nineteenth century is also explored. Attention is given to Western historical conceptions of "otherness" and to the limitations of Western critical approaches to art history. Prerequisite: ART 100 or ART 212. 3 credits.
ART 338.
Rome.
This course investigates the art, culture and architecture of Rome from the pre-Republican era to the twentieth century. Organized thematically and chronologically, the course considers such topics as: images of authority (Republican & Empire); subterranean Rome: the catacombs; the path of the medieval pilgrim; antiquity and its reinterpretations in the Renaissance; the papacy and urban planning in Counter-Reformation Rome; the Grand Tour; and Mussolini and fascist architecture. Prerequisite: ART 112 or ART 212. 3 credits.
ART 340.
Museum Studies.
This course examines the history, principles and practices of art museums. Students investigate issues related to the development, care and use of museum collections; the function, management and operation of museums of art; museum education; curatorial methods and exhibition development; and catalog research and writing. Participants plan, organize and mount a temporary exhibition at the Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery. Prerequisite: ART 112 or ART 212. 3 credits.
ART 345.
Digital Video.
This course introduces students to the basic principles and practices of digital video creation and production. This course allows the student to build their digital video making skills by having them conceive, storyboard, film, edit, and author projects in DVD format. To complement their practical knowledge, the course gives the students theoretical understanding of how moving and time-based imagery function both conceptually and expressively. [Cross-listed with DCOM 345]. 3 credits.
ART 350.
Paris: Art, Culture & Urban Development.
An exploration of the art, architecture, culture and urban planning of Paris from Roman settlement to modern capital city. Students assess the ways in which the demands of patrons, the vision of urban administrators and the increasing power of the middle class tempered the aims of artists in the city over the centuries. "Visits" include Notre Dame, the Louvre palace, Montmartre, and even the Paris sewers, with excursions to Versailles and other royal chateaux. Writing Process, Disciplinary Perspective. 3 credits.
ART 351.
Color: Art and Cultural Context.
This course immerses students in a thematic investigation of color as a dynamic force in human perception, the natural world and popular contemporary culture. Perceptual exeriments, readings and film screenings help to uncover the vital role color plays in our understanding of the world around us. Disciplinary perspective. 3 credits.
ART 353.
Visual Art & Religious Experience.
An exploration of the way in which the visual arts have come to embody religious experience in Native American, Buddhist and Abrahamic traditions. A series of comparative studies introduces students to socioreligious content in art and diverse impulses to worship. Disciplinary perspective. 3 credit.
ART 355.
Digital Graphic Design.
The course will focus on blending the creative and technical aspects of developing electronic images. Students will apply traditional art methods and techniques to the electronic canvas. Additionally, the course will serve to provide a historical perspective of electronic imaging and examine the limitations and possibilities of working in the electronic medium. 3 credits.
ART 360.
Teaching Art in the Elementary and Secondary School.
Using skills in drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, and ceramics, certification candidates learn how to address all ability levels in the elementary- and secondary-school art classroom. The course addresses the needs of student with disabilites, as well as classroom management and organization, approaches to school administration, budgeting, lesson planning, grading, special events, and ways to establish assignment deadlines. Prerequisites: open only to Art Education Certification candidates. 3 credits.
ART 405.
Advanced Study.
The focus on this course is an extensive research project in art history or the creation and exhibition of a unique body of work in the art studio, facilitated by individual tutorials and group discussion. 3 credits.