Courses

This introductory class explores the nature and value of the arts through an examination of aesthetic theory, select art movements and their context and through hands-on projects that acquaint students, in an embodied fashion, with how artists make meaning. It considers art’s powers and limits, its benefits and potential dangers, the nature of artistic mediums and unpacks the mechanisms through which art communicates a particular vision. At the end of this course, students will be able to define and utilize key terms and concepts particular to the visual arts, and able to create compelling and researched arguments that synthesize theoretical, historical, iconographical and technical frameworks. They will also be able to perform in-depth analysis of artworks and visual media and create and defend their own artworks.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Major Requirement Foundations/Introductory Courses 

Instructor: Maya Kramer

Foundations in Visual Arts introduces students to the basic elements of art making and visual art terminology through hands-on experimentation with materials supplemented by tutorials, workshops, and lectures. Students will work on various projects that explore line, shape, form, space, light/value, color, texture, across 2D and 3D forms. In the process, they will also examine artistic media and genres through a conceptual and critical lens. Foundations in Visual Arts gives students an overview of how basic principles in concert with different media, subjects, ideas and techniques, create meaning in the visual arts. After completing this course students will be able to: demonstrate basic proficiency in drawing and painting using graphite, pen, and acrylic, gain a basic knowledge of color, and be able to plan and execute simple 3D constructions using casting methods, cardboard, wire and paper-mache.

Prerequisite: None. Anti-requisite: ART-SHU 310/9210 Introduction to Studio Art Fulfillment: General Elective.

Instructor: Kazi Ishmam Ishraki

What is performance? How do we make embodied art in our technologically mediated world? These questions will guide us as we create performance art in conversation with archival theory, film, new media, and scientific research. Students will encounter the works of Yoko Ono, Marina Abramovic, Joseph Beuys, Laurie Anderson, Adrian Piper, Robert Wilson, Tehching Hsieh, Chris Burden and other pioneers of the genre of performance art. This course will delve deeply into investigating the cultural and technological contexts that inform contemporary performative practices. Students will create their own works using bodies in spaces, archival collection methods, image-capture technologies, and post-production tools to explore the art of performance in the phygital realm. At the end of semester students will organize a performance festival to share their final projects with the campus community. No performance or technological experience necessary.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective

Instructor: Kazi Ishmam Ishraki

This course surveys art and architecture of East Asia with a particular focus on the early modern and modern periods (1500s to the present) from global perspectives. We will study how artistic traditions transmit and develop in distinctive yet interconnected societies in and beyond East Asia, as well as how those traditions interact with specific political, religious, social, and cultural contexts in which they grow. Issues investigated include the spread and metamorphosis of Buddhist art in China, the rise of “national” painting in twentieth-century Japan and China, chinoiserie and japonisme, and the idea of traditional and modern architecture in public spaces in colonial Korea.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Other Introductory course; GCS China and the World.

Instructor: Hyoungee Kong

Painting is a remarkable medium whose dynamic evolution across cultures and through millennia continues up until the present. In this class, students will get an introduction to the basic technical, formal, and conceptual principles of painting while exploring how contemporary practitioners are utilizing the medium to address contemporary concerns. Using watercolor, gouache, and acrylic, students will learn about color theory, composition, texture, form, and surface. Through select readings, students will also examine the theoretical questions and historical precedents that have informed painting’s development, analyze the work of historical and contemporary painters and be able to see how their own practice connects to larger art historical and societal concerns. In addition to acquiring basic technical skills and conceptual know-how, students will also gain competency in art critiques and writing artist statements.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective

Instructor: Maya Kramer

Painting is a remarkable medium whose dynamic evolution across cultures and through millennia continues up until the present. In this class, students will get an introduction to the basic technical, formal, and conceptual principles of painting while exploring how contemporary practitioners are utilizing the medium to address contemporary concerns. Using watercolor, gouache, and acrylic, students will learn about color theory, composition, texture, form, and surface. Through select readings, students will also examine the theoretical questions and historical precedents that have informed painting’s development, analyze the work of historical and contemporary painters and be able to see how their own practice connects to larger art historical and societal concerns. In addition to acquiring basic technical skills and conceptual know-how, students will also gain competency in art critiques and writing artist statements.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective

Drawing is one of the earliest ways humans attempted to understand the world, and it remains a remarkable tool for perceiving, recording, negotiating, and inventing our relationship with our surroundings. Drawing is not a privilege of the talented but a teachable skill acquired through the continued practice of specific techniques. In this class students will learn basic drawing methods such as contour, gesture, negative space, value and perspective, and will study why and how these techniques aid draughts persons in creating a three-dimensional illusion on a surface. Students will also examine contemporary drawing concerns and tackle two longer drawing projects centered around narrative and different materials and drawing methods. At the end of this course, students will have acquired basic drawing skills, learned some of the ways artists have practiced and conceptualized drawing and started to build their own personal visual vocabulary and approaches to the medium.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: General Elective.

Photography I is a praxis course that provides students with an introduction to photography as an artistic medium in the field of Contemporary Art. The course will examine documentary, pictorial, and conceptual photographic works that are exhibited in museums and galleries starting from the post-war era and continuing to the present day. Students will learn to shoot, edit, and print digital photographs using professional photographic equipment and software. In the studio, students are required to critique the work of their peers, their own work, and work sourced from current contemporary art exhibitions. Outside the studio, students will examine major historical movements in photography. Works by artists are examined to provide the framework and vocabulary to articulate the students’ own photographic investigations. Students are expected to do about 6-8 hours of course work per week outside of class. Note that attendance in the first class meeting is mandatory, otherwise you will be dropped from the course.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective 

Moving Images I is a praxis course that provides students with an introduction to time-based practices in the discipline of Visual Art and Film. The focus of the class is on the exploration of experimental film and video art in the context of museums, galleries, and art fairs, as well as independent film houses and film festivals. Students will experiment with essayist, abstract, and narrative and non-narrative moving image practices in both single-channel and multi-channel formats, and learn to shoot and edit moving image works using professional equipment and software. In the studio, students are required to critique the work of their peers, their own work, and work sourced from current contemporary art exhibitions and film screenings. Outside the studio, students will examine major historical movements in contemporary moving image practices. Works of practicing artists are examined to provide the framework and vocabulary to articulate the students’ own moving image investigations. Students are expected to do about 6-8 hours of course work per week outside of class. Note that attendance in the first class meeting is mandatory, otherwise you will be dropped from the course.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: IMA elective; IMB major IMA/IMB elective.

This introductory class explores the nature and value of the arts through an examination of aesthetic theory, select art movements and their context and through hands-on projects that acquaint students, in an embodied fashion, with how artists make meaning. It considers art’s powers and limits, its benefits and potential dangers, the nature of artistic mediums and unpacks the mechanisms through which art communicates a particular vision. At the end of this course, students will be able to define and utilize key terms and concepts particular to the visual arts, and able to create compelling and researched arguments that synthesize theoretical, historical, iconographical and technical frameworks. They will also be able to perform in-depth analysis of artworks and visual media and create and defend their own artworks.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Major Requirement Foundations/Introductory Courses

Foundations in Visual Arts introduces students to the basic elements of art making and visual art terminology through hands-on experimentation with materials supplemented by tutorials, workshops, and lectures. Students will work on various projects that explore line, shape, form, space, light/value, color, texture, across 2D and 3D forms. In the process, they will also examine artistic media and genres through a conceptual and critical lens. Foundations in Visual Arts gives students an overview of how basic principles in concert with different media, subjects, ideas and techniques, create meaning in the visual arts. After completing this course students will be able to: demonstrate basic proficiency in drawing and painting using graphite, pen, and acrylic, gain a basic knowledge of color, and be able to plan and execute simple 3D constructions using casting methods, cardboard, wire and paper-mache.

Prerequisite: None. Anti-requisite: ART-SHU 310/9210 Introduction to Studio Art Fulfillment: General Elective.

This course surveys Asian art and architecture from the earliest civilizations to the present day through several themes. It focuses more on the arts and monuments from China, Japan, and India but also introduces those from Korea and Southeast Asia. We will study how artistic traditions transmit and develop in distinctive yet interconnected societies in Asia, as well as how those traditions interact with specific political, religious, social, and cultural contexts in which they grow. Issues investigated include (but are not limited to): the spread and metamorphosis of Buddhist art, the artistic exchanges between the “East” and the “West” (and the formations of the ideas of the “East” and the “West”), the production and consumption of art as related to various forms of power such as political authority, social hierarchy, and gender, and the “Asian-ness” in the contemporary world.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Other Introductory course.

This Praxis course is an exploration of contemporary and traditional artistic printmaking practices, with an emphasis on expanding notions of conventional printmaking techniques and forms. Students will be introduced to various printmaking techniques, and experiment with traditional and non-traditional forms, in conjunction with their histories and consider what constitutes a hand-made print in an artistic framework. Students will gain an understanding of printmaking - its history based in China, development across the globe and inventive contemporary practices which include sculptural forms. They will learn techniques, modes, forms, and applications of printmaking – with an emphasis on relief prints (stamps and wood cuts) – in a conceptual framework of contemporary printmaking practices and global visual culture. Note: attendance in the first class meeting is mandatory, otherwise you will be dropped from the course.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: This course satisfies IMA elective; IMB major IMA/B elective.

Drawing is one of the earliest ways humans attempted to understand the world, and it remains a remarkable tool for perceiving, recording, negotiating, and inventing our relationship with our surroundings. Drawing is not a privilege of the talented but a teachable skill acquired through the continued practice of specific techniques. In this class students will learn basic drawing methods such as contour, gesture, negative space, value and perspective, and will study why and how these techniques aid draughts persons in creating a three-dimensional illusion on a surface. Students will also examine contemporary drawing concerns and tackle two longer drawing projects centered around narrative and different materials and drawing methods. At the end of this course, students will have acquired basic drawing skills, learned some of the ways artists have practiced and conceptualized drawing and started to build their own personal visual vocabulary and approaches to the medium.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: General Elective.

Photography I is a praxis course that provides students with an introduction to photography as an artistic medium in the field of Contemporary Art. The course will examine documentary, pictorial, and conceptual photographic works that are exhibited in museums and galleries starting from the post-war era and continuing to the present day. Students will learn to shoot, edit, and print digital photographs using professional photographic equipment and software. In the studio, students are required to critique the work of their peers, their own work, and work sourced from current contemporary art exhibitions. Outside the studio, students will examine major historical movements in photography. Works by artists are examined to provide the framework and vocabulary to articulate the students’ own photographic investigations. Students are expected to do about 6-8 hours of course work per week outside of class. Note that attendance in the first class meeting is mandatory, otherwise you will be dropped from the course.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective

Painting is a remarkable medium whose dynamic evolution across cultures and through millennia continues up until the present. In this class, students will get an introduction to the basic technical, formal, and conceptual principles of painting while exploring how contemporary practitioners are utilizing the medium to address contemporary concerns. Using watercolor, gouache, and acrylic, students will learn about color theory, composition, texture, form, and surface. Through select readings, students will also examine the theoretical questions and historical precedents that have informed painting’s development, analyze the work of historical and contemporary painters and be able to see how their own practice connects to larger art historical and societal concerns. In addition to acquiring basic technical skills and conceptual know-how, students will also gain competency in art critiques and writing artist statements.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective

This introductory class explores the nature and value of the arts through an examination of aesthetic theory, select art movements and their context and through hands-on projects that acquaint students, in an embodied fashion, with how artists make meaning. It considers art’s powers and limits, its benefits and potential dangers, the nature of artistic mediums and unpacks the mechanisms through which art communicates a particular vision. At the end of this course, students will be able to define and utilize key terms and concepts particular to the visual arts, and able to create compelling and researched arguments that synthesize theoretical, historical, iconographical and technical frameworks. They will also be able to perform in-depth analysis of artworks and visual media and create and defend their own artworks.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Major Requirement Foundations/Introductory Courses

Foundations in Visual Arts introduces students to the basic elements of art making and visual art terminology through hands-on experimentation with materials supplemented by tutorials, workshops, and lectures. Students will work on various projects that explore line, shape, form, space, light/value, color, texture, across 2D and 3D forms. In the process, they will also examine artistic media and genres through a conceptual and critical lens. Foundations in Visual Arts gives students an overview of how basic principles in concert with different media, subjects, ideas and techniques, create meaning in the visual arts. After completing this course students will be able to: demonstrate basic proficiency in drawing and painting using graphite, pen, and acrylic, gain a basic knowledge of color, and be able to plan and execute simple 3D constructions using casting methods, cardboard, wire and paper-mache.

Prerequisite: None. Anti-requisite: ART-SHU 310/9210 Introduction to Studio Art Fulfillment: General Elective.

This course surveys Asian art and architecture from the earliest civilizations to the present day through several themes. It focuses more on the arts and monuments from China, Japan, and India but also introduces those from Korea and Southeast Asia. We will study how artistic traditions transmit and develop in distinctive yet interconnected societies in Asia, as well as how those traditions interact with specific political, religious, social, and cultural contexts in which they grow. Issues investigated include (but are not limited to): the spread and metamorphosis of Buddhist art, the artistic exchanges between the “East” and the “West” (and the formations of the ideas of the “East” and the “West”), the production and consumption of art as related to various forms of power such as political authority, social hierarchy, and gender, and the “Asian-ness” in the contemporary world.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: Humanities Other Introductory course. 

Drawing is one of the earliest ways humans attempted to understand the world, and it remains a remarkable tool for perceiving, recording, negotiating, and inventing our relationship with our surroundings. Drawing is not a privilege of the talented but a teachable skill acquired through the continued practice of specific techniques. In this class students will learn basic drawing methods such as contour, gesture, negative space, value and perspective, and will study why and how these techniques aid draughts persons in creating a three-dimensional illusion on a surface. Students will also examine contemporary drawing concerns and tackle two longer drawing projects centered around narrative and different materials and drawing methods. At the end of this course, students will have acquired basic drawing skills, learned some of the ways artists have practiced and conceptualized drawing and started to build their own personal visual vocabulary and approaches to the medium.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: General Elective.

Photography I is a praxis course that provides students with an introduction to photography as an artistic medium in the field of Contemporary Art. The course will examine documentary, pictorial, and conceptual photographic works that are exhibited in museums and galleries starting from the post-war era and continuing to the present day. Students will learn to shoot, edit, and print digital photographs using professional photographic equipment and software. In the studio, students are required to critique the work of their peers, their own work, and work sourced from current contemporary art exhibitions. Outside the studio, students will examine major historical movements in photography. Works by artists are examined to provide the framework and vocabulary to articulate the students’ own photographic investigations. Students are expected to do about 6-8 hours of course work per week outside of class. Note that attendance in the first class meeting is mandatory, otherwise you will be dropped from the course.

Prerequisite: None. Fulfillment: general elective