Studio Art Recent Course Offerings

Winter 2024▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Drawing I

ARTS 111 - Beavers, Leigh A.

Development of skills and visual awareness through the study of the basic elements of drawing. Variety of media, including pencil, charcoal, ink and crayon. Lab fee required.

Photography I

ARTS 120 - Bowden, Christa K.

An introduction to the methods and materials of photography, with an emphasis on composition, exposure, and light. The course includes a combination of image presentations, technical demonstrations, studio instruction, and group critiques. Lab fee required; cameras are available for check-out.

Design I

ARTS 131 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

An introduction to the elements and concepts of two-dimensional design within the context of current digital technology, with an emphasis on contemporary computer software programs.

Figure Drawing I

ARTS 211 - Steinkraus, Emma

Drawing from the human figure using a variety of media. Lab fee required.

Color Photography

ARTS 224 - Bowden, Christa K.

An exploration of the visual and technical principles of color photography, as applied through digital and hybrid approaches. Students learn the concepts of color photography through demonstrations, studio projects, and group critiques, as well as image presentations, readings, and discussions of artists and trends in contemporary color photography. Lab fee required; cameras are available for check-out.

Introductory Sculpture: Materials and Methods

ARTS 231 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

An introduction to sculpture techniques, tools and materials. Developing skills in working with wood, metal, clay, as well as new media technologies. Lab fee required.

Special Topics in Painting: Portraiture and Figuration

ARTS 291A - Steinkraus, Emma

The human body has been a source of enduring interest and creative challenge for artists throughout history. In this course, students will learn both traditional observational techniques for painting the human form as well as gain familiarity with a range of more contemporary approaches. The course will include units on anatomy, figure drawing, portraiture, history painting, and narrative. During the second half of the semester, students will also have opportunities to develop work that is more personal, expressive, or driven by ideas. 

Studio Seminar: Methods in Contemporary Art Practice

ARTS 309 - Beavers, Leigh A.

This course is a critique-based studio seminar designed to prepare students for the senior thesis in studio arts and built around a term-long visual arts project responding to current trends in contemporary art. This seminar introduces a theme or topic, supported by readings, films, and image presentations, as the focus of class discussions exploring and highlighting the work of relevant contemporary artists. Students develop and plan a body of work inspired by or in response to this theme. Group and individual critiques assess each student's progress towards this goal. Lab fee required.

Fall 2023▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Drawing I

ARTS 111 - Beavers, Leigh A.

Development of skills and visual awareness through the study of the basic elements of drawing. Variety of media, including pencil, charcoal, ink and crayon.

Photography I

ARTS 120 - Bowden, Christa K.

An introduction to the methods and materials of photography, with an emphasis on composition, exposure, and light. The course includes a combination of image presentations, technical demonstrations, studio instruction, and group critiques.

Light Studies and Optical Culture

ARTS 121 - Smigrod, Claudia M.

Light and optics are the fundamental elements of photographic media and of contemporary media culture. This foundational course introduces students to the formal characteristics of light and lenses by surveying a variety of image-making practices, from primitive photographic devices to digital photography and video. Through a combination of classroom talks and hands-on projects, students encounter principles of black-and-white and color photography, as well as learning camera controls that open up a wide range of expressive possibilities. Historical antecedents, contemporary practices, and strategies of critical interpretation are discussed in relation to specific assignments throughout the term.

Design I

ARTS 131 - Steinkraus, Emma

An introduction to the elements and concepts of two-dimensional design within the context of current digital technology, with an emphasis on contemporary computer software programs.

Painting I

ARTS 217 - Steinkraus, Emma

Emphasis on color, design and spatial relationships. Work from observation and imagination in oil and acrylic.

Photography II

ARTS 220 - Bowden, Christa K.

A continued study of the foundational principles of fine art photography as explored through analog and digital hybrid practices. Topics may include medium and large format film cameras, advanced darkroom techniques, high-resolution scanning, large format digital printing, and approaches for editing and sequencing photographs. The course includes a combination of demonstrations, studio instruction, and group critiques, as well as image presentations, readings, and discussions related to historical and contemporary movements in the medium.

Printmaking II

ARTS 228 - Beavers, Leigh A.

Continuation of Printmaking I, with emphasis on one of the major media of printmaking (intaglio, relief, lithography). Students gain experience both with technique and the creative ability to solve visual problems and present compelling images in two dimensions.

Land and Passage

ARTS 236 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

This course demonstrates how sculpture can be expanded to include places, passing through places, ecology, and ephemeral installations. Students will develop art processes to articulate a variety of human relationships with environmental sites, and more generally, the exterior. We will study historical and contemporary examples of sculpture and art practices that utilize visual arts to express the complexities of environmental subjects. The course will include projects to develop an expanded definition of sculpture by investigating local geography, regarding comparative sites as subjects, reviewing material history, and considering the ways that passage through local places can constitute both form and meaning. Course work includes readings, in-class discussions, research, and creating projects using traditional and found materials.

Senior Thesis

ARTS 473 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

A studio art thesis. Creative work and a portfolio with a written statement of objectives must be presented to the department for consideration by September 30.

Spring 2023▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Creating Comics

ARTS 215 - Gavaler, Christopher P. (Chris) / Beavers, Leigh A.

Same as ENGL 215. A course which is both a creative-writing and a studio-art course. Students study graphic narratives as an art form that combines image-making and storytelling, producing their own multi-page narratives through the writing of images. The course includes a theoretical overview of the comics form, using a range of works as practical models.

The Cyanotype Process

ARTS 225 - Bowden, Christa K.

Discovered in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, the cyanotype (blueprint) process is an iron-based process that produces an intense deep blue when exposed to UV light such as sunlight. In this course, students will create cyanotypes in all shapes and sizes using found materials, stencils, and digital negatives on materials ranging from paper to fabric. Students will also learn the science and

Portable Radicals: Soft Sculpture

ARTS 237 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

This Spring Term course will explore moveable soft forms and lightweight structures through an expansion of sculpture that includes movement, activation and protest. We will investigate the history of artists catching the air with banners, capes, and kites and creating spaces inspired by tents, camps, and nomadic structures. We will consider how artists have used fabric and plastic to create structures that resist the permanence of architecture and take advantage of movement and color. Material skills may include dyeing fabric, fabric and plastic construction, sewing, and methods for structures. The course will culminate with performances of activated pieces and by temporarily placing structures in approved campus sites, before and during the Spring Term Fair.