An introduction to processes dependent on the lens as an imaging device, including wet-lab photography, digital photography, video editing and installation-based sequencing. The course incorporates the fundamental theoretical, technical and aesthetic principles of working with photography as an expressive medium. Assignments include darkroom laboratory work, studio projects, discussions, written analyses, and class presentations.
An introduction to media involving spatial and temporal dimensions, including sculpture, video, sound, installation, computer-aided design, and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) fabrication. The course incorporates the fundamental theoretical, technical and aesthetic principles of composition in space and time. Assignments involve design of sound; video production; computer modeling; traditional and non-traditional sculpture techniques.
An introduction to media involving spatial and temporal dimensions, including sculpture, video, sound, installation, computer-aided design, and Computer Numerical Control (CNC) fabrication. The course incorporates the fundamental theoretical, technical and aesthetic principles of composition in space and time. Assignments involve design of sound; video production; computer modeling; traditional and non-traditional sculpture techniques.
Though its content will vary from semester to semester, this class always focuses on an intermediate-level topic in Digital Arts, Drawing, Painting, Photography, Sculpture or Video, not fully covered in existing courses. Examples might include courses on artistic movements, disciplines or traditions, a genre, or a theme. This course may be repeated for credit when the topic differs.
Using found and self-generated imagery, this course explores collage and assemblage as means for developing artistic concepts. Through the understanding and juxtaposition of materials such as magazine clippings, wallpaper, texts, objects, photographs, and drawings, students establish a heightened sensitivity to the meaning of specific materials, explore various methods of combining them, and critically address how collage and assemblage have been used and created in both past and present. Through studio assignments, writing exercises, readings, discussions, and critiques, students explore forms of both historical and contemporary collage processes.
This seminar course involves the production of video, sound, and the moving image. Students pursue a combination of advanced assignments and self-directed projects aimed towards furthering the study of these art forms through a focused set of methods and technologies. This course can be repeated twice for credit.
In this seminar, students engage in a combination of advanced assignments and self-directed projects aimed towards furthering the study of drawing, painting and mixed media in both traditional and non-traditional materials. Content will vary from semester to semester. This course may be repeated twice for credit.
Participants will have already developed advanced skills in at least one of the five media offered (drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, video production). This seminar further enhances studio skills by referencing individual, self-defined project work to readings that explore the theory and practice of the visual arts, the societal role of the artist, contemporary issues and interdisciplinary approaches.
Art History
A continuation of ARTH 103, beginning with the art of the Italian Renaissance and concluding with the major artistic developments of the 20th century.
A continuation of ARTH 103, beginning with the art of the Italian Renaissance and concluding with the major artistic developments of the 20th century.
This survey course introduces the art and architecture of ancient, colonial, modern, and contemporary Latin America spanning approximately 4000 years (c. 2000 BCE- 2000 CE) and two continents (North, Central, and South America from Mexico to Brazil). We examine the style, iconography, and context of key works of art and consider enduring regional legacies and the adaptation of outside influences.
Using gender as a lens for examining works of art in the Japanese tradition from the thirteenth through twentieth centuries, this course examines a wide variety of formats and mediums, including corpse paintings, cross-dressing performers, and prints of the modern girl. Participants will identify and analyze varying interpretations of gender through time and across culture and address issues associated with applying contemporary gender theory to pre-modern works. Topics to be covered include: Buddhist ideas of the feminine, voyeurism in early modern woodblock prints, and the role of gender in contemporary art.
This course examines major artistic currents in China from 1980 to the present day. Explores connections between artistic production, political movements, and political structures. Considers the position of Chinese artists in a global society, issues of diaspora, and the role of art institutions and markets in the production and reception of Chinese contemporary art.
Providing students with a survey of museology and the museum field, this course covers the history of museums, contemporary museum practice, and theories of representation. It explores the role of museums in society through readings, lectures, site visits, and class projects, and introduces the fundamentals of collections, exhibitions, the curatorial process, museum education, and administration.
This course explores the early modern art movement known as “Baroque.” It begins with an historiographical examination of the term “baroque” and considers how and why the baroque visual language of delectare et movere appears across the globe from Europe to Asia and Latin America. (Of note: “global” in this sense would be excluding Africa.) The course examines and compares key works of painting, sculpture, architecture, and the decorative arts in consideration of their motivations and meanings. We conclude with an examination of the extension of baroque forms and styles in contemporary art in what has been referred to as the “Neobaroque” and “Ultrabaroque.”
A survey of European painting and sculpture from the 1780s to 1900, with an emphasis on the social and political contexts in which the works were created. While the focus is on the art of France, that of Germany, Spain, and England is also discussed.
This course examines how people of different races and ethnicities in Latin America were represented in art during the period of Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule (approximately 1500-1820). The course focuses primarily on how Europeans used both religious and secular art to maintain a vision of a complex and diverse set of indigenous ethnic groups (Nahua, Taino, Aztec, Maya, Inca, etc.), as well as people of Asian and African descent as simply the colonial “other.” We will explore how these images were informed by broader social, political, and religious motivations, while also examining if and how some representations confronted and challenged hegemonic identity norms.
Asian Studies
Using gender as a lens for examining works of art in the Japanese tradition from the thirteenth through twentieth centuries, this course examines a wide variety of formats and mediums, including corpse paintings, cross-dressing performers, and prints of the modern girl. Participants will identify and analyze varying interpretations of gender through time and across culture and address issues associated with applying contemporary gender theory to pre-modern works. Topics to be covered include: Buddhist ideas of the feminine, voyeurism in early modern woodblock prints, and the role of gender in contemporary art.
This course examines major artistic currents in China from 1980 to the present day. Explores connections between artistic production, political movements, and political structures. Considers the position of Chinese artists in a global society, issues of diaspora, and the role of art institutions and markets in the production and reception of Chinese contemporary art.
This course examines Chinese literary and cultural practices related to gender and sexuality from the turn of the twentieth century to the present. Using primary texts in translation, theoretical works, films, and visual materials, students explore the personal and collective politics involved in constructions of gender, sexuality, desire, and identity. Taught in English.