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Art and Art History Current Courses

Spring 2024

Course Code Title/Instructor Meets
ARTH 102-01 An Introduction to the History of Art
Instructor: Ty Vanover
Course Description:
This course surveys art of the European renaissance through the contemporary period. Art will be examined within the historical context in which it was produced, with attention to contemporary social, political, religious, and intellectual movements. Students will examine the meaning and function of art within the different historical periods. In addition, students will learn to analyze and identify different artistic styles.
03:00 PM-04:15 PM, TF
WEISS 235
ARTH 122-01 Fundamentals of Composition and Drawing
Instructor: Eleanor Conover
Course Description:
Working from observation and using a variety of media, this basic studio drawing course will explore issues common to both representational and non-representational art. This course serves as the foundation to upper-level two-dimensional offerings.
09:30 AM-11:30 AM, TR
WEISS 343
ARTH 123-01 Fundamentals of Sculpture
Instructor: Anthony Cervino
Course Description:
A studio course covering basic elements of three-dimensional composition and sculpture. Students will construct sculptures examining a range of media and fabrication techniques.
09:30 AM-11:30 AM, TR
GDYRST DOWN
ARTH 204-01 American Art: Power, Place, Identity
Instructor: Elizabeth Lee
Course Description:
This course begins with the earliest depictions of indigenous people by European explorers and expands to consider how artists responded to the colonization and domestication of North American land. It considers how tensions around slavery in nineteenth-century American imagery played out differently across audience, medium and context and how slaves resisted narratives of white dominance and oppression. It also examines the impact of urbanization, immigration and the rise of consumer culture on the content and circulation of art, concluding with the social dislocation of the 1930s Depression and the onset of WW2. Students can expect to leave the course with a more complex understanding of American identity and cultural politics, while also developing crucial skills in critical reading, writing and visual analysis across a range of artifacts and media. Prerequisite: 101 or 102, AMST majors, or permission of the instructor.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, MR
WEISS 221
ARTH 205-01 Buddhist Art in East Asia
Instructor: Wei Ren
Course Description:
Cross-listed with EASN 205-01. This course introduces students to the study of the history of the visual culture of Buddhism in East Asia, and to the study of pre-modern visual culture more generally. Each week will be devoted to the discussion of a particular keyword in Buddhist art, beginning with the basics such as "Buddha," and "Bodhisattva," toward more specialized topics, including "transformation tableau," and "pagoda." In conjunction with the investigation of keywords in Buddhist art, we will also address theories of iconography/iconology, space, spectatorship, etc.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
WEISS 235
ARTH 205-02 Vienna 1900: Modern Art in the City of Dreams
Instructor: Ty Vanover
Course Description:
Cross-listed with GRMN 250-02. This course examines the creative landscape of Vienna around the turn of the twentieth century with a focus on remarkable developments in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, the decorative arts, architecture, and urban development. We will explore what made this capital city of the bustling and diverse Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867-1918) a "laboratory of ideas" and examine how new conceptions of gender and sexuality, the advent of psychoanalysis, anti-Semitism and Jewish nationalism, and class and ethnic conflict shaped a new generation of creative Austrians eager to leave their mark on the city. Topics will include depictions of sexuality in the works of Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, art and "madness," and the modern market for luxury goods, furniture, and jewelry. Students will have the opportunity to pursue their own original research project and interact with masterworks of Viennese modernism on a field trip to the Neue Galerie in New York City.
01:30 PM-02:45 PM, TF
WEISS 219
ARTH 206-01 Museum Studies
Instructor: Shannon Egan
Course Description:
Cross-listed with ARCH 206-01. Introduces students to the history, theory, practice, and politics of American museums. The course examines museums historical relationships with colonization and considers issues of nationalism, audience accessibility, curatorial activism, and social justice initiatives in the US. Case studies consider controversies and changes in museums, including: the creation of national museums, artists as activists, censorship and the culture wars, and art and identity politics, specifically how gender, race, class, sexuality, ethnicity, religion, feminism, and disability might determine inclusion in or access to exhibitions. This course is open to all students and is especially relevant to those studying the arts, history, archaeology, American Studies, and public policy. Offered every year. This course is cross-listed as ARCH 206.
10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
WEISS 221
ARTH 209-01 The Japanese Woodblock Print
Instructor: Wei Ren
Course Description:
Cross-listed with EASN 209-01. This course provides a thorough introduction to the woodblock print Japans most celebrated artistic mediumfrom its emergence in the mid-17th century to the modern era. Technical developments, major genres, and master designers are explored within the context of the prints relationship to the urban culture of early modern and modern Japan. Topics including censorship, theatricality, the representation of war, nationalism, and Japonisme. Special emphasis is placed on an examination of habits of pictorial representation and protocols of viewing unique to the Japanese print medium. Lectures are supplemented by viewing sessions in the Trout Gallery.This course is cross-listed as EASN 209.
10:30 AM-11:45 AM, TR
WEISS 235
ARTH 216-01 Goddesses, Prostitutes, Wives, Saints, and Rulers: Women and European Art 1200-1680
Instructor: Melinda Schlitt
Course Description:
Cross-listed with WGSS 201-06. How has the representation of women been constructed, idealized, vilified, manipulated, sexualized, and gendered during what could be broadly called the Renaissance in Europe? How have female artists, such as Sofanisba Anguissola (1532-1625) or Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1653), among others, represented themselves, men, and other familiar subjects differently from their male counterparts? How have female rulers, like Queen Elizabeth I of England, controlled their own political and cultural self-fashioning through portraiture? What role do the lives and writings of female mystics, like Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) or Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) play in depictions of their physical and spiritual identity? How was beauty and sexuality conceived through the imagery of mythological women, like Venus, or culturally ambivalent women, like courtesans and prostitutes? What kind of art did wealthy, aristocratic women or nuns pay for and use? Through studying primary texts, scholarly literature, and relevant theoretical sources, we will address these and other issues in art produced in Italy, France, Spain, Northern Europe, and England from 1200-1680. The course will be grounded in an understanding of historical and cultural contexts, and students will develop paper topics based on their own interests in consultation with the professor. A screening of the documentary film, A Woman Like That (2009), on the life of Artemisia Gentileschi and a trip to the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. will take place during the second half of the semester. Offered every year.
03:00 PM-04:15 PM, TF
WEISS 221
ARTH 221-01 Introduction to Photography
Instructor: Andy Bale
Course Description:
Cross-listed with FMST 220-01. An entry-level course in black-and-white photography emphasizing theory, history, and practice. Students learn how to create images, use cameras, develop film and make prints using conventional darkroom processes. Students will also be introduced to Photoshop as well as the basics of scanning and digital printing.
09:30 AM-11:30 AM, TR
GDYRST 101
ARTH 221-02 Introduction to Photography
Instructor: Andy Bale
Course Description:
Cross-listed with FMST 220-02. An entry-level course in black-and-white photography emphasizing theory, history, and practice. Students learn how to create images, use cameras, develop film and make prints using conventional darkroom processes. Students will also be introduced to Photoshop as well as the basics of scanning and digital printing.
01:30 PM-03:29 PM, TR
GDYRST 101
ARTH 224-01 Wheelwork Ceramics
Instructor: Rachel Eng
Course Description:
A studio course exploring expressive possibilities offered by the potters wheel. Students will examine both utilitarian and sculptural aspects of the medium. A variety of clays, glazes and firing approaches will be examined.
01:30 PM-03:29 PM, TR
GDYRST CERAMICS
ARTH 226-01 Ceramic Sculpture
Instructor: Rachel Eng
Course Description:
This introductory course examines the principal attributes of sculpture with a focus on clay as the primary fabrication material. Students will examine a range of firing, glazing, and construction techniques. Satisfies 3D requirement for the studio art major.
09:30 AM-11:29 AM, MW
GDYRST CERAMICS
ARTH 230-01 Life Drawing
Instructor: Eleanor Conover
Course Description:
The course will be devoted to working from the human form during which the students will be expected to develop a sense of two-dimensional line and three-dimensional illusionistic form through the use of such graphic media as pen and ink, pencil, charcoal, Cont crayon, etc. Prerequisite: 122 or permission of the instructor.
01:30 PM-03:29 PM, MW
GDYRST UPST
ARTH 235-01 Post Studio Projects
Instructor: Anthony Cervino
Course Description:
The course provides an introduction to a variety of art making processes and philosophies outside a traditional studio context. Projects focus on individual and collaborative experiences that are not media specific; students create site-specific interventions, text-based installations, and performances, among other explorations, to consider critical and conceptual approaches to art.Prerequisite: One studio course or permission of instructor.
03:30 PM-05:29 PM, TR
GDYRST DOWN
ARTH 300-01 Artists, Audience, Patrons: Art & Architecture of the Italian Renaissance
Instructor: Melinda Schlitt
Course Description:
This course examines painting, sculpture, and architecture in Italy from 1250 to 1570. The work of Giotto, Lorenzetti, Donatello, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Botticelli, Leonardo, Raphael, Titian, and Michelangelo, among others will be addressed. Students will study the significance of style, subject-matter, function, patronage, and artistic practice within historical and cultural contexts, and will also address Renaissance interpretations and responses to works of art. Discussion of art-historical theory and criticism as well as Renaissance theory and criticism based in primary texts will be an intrinsic part of the course. Students will acquire the ability to analyze and interpret works of art from the period within the framework outlined above, and will gain a working knowledge of the most significant works and the meaning(s) they have acquired over time. Analysis of primary and secondary sources will be a central focus of the research project, and students will be expected to construct a clear and well-supported interpretive argument over the course of the semester. The course includes a field trip to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., which has the largest collection of Italian Renaissance painting outside of Europe. Prerequisite: 101 or 102 or permission of the instructor. Offered every year.
09:00 AM-10:15 AM, TR
WEISS 221
ARTH 305-01 Topics on Modern Design in East Asia
Instructor: Wei Ren
Course Description:
Cross-listed with EASN 305-01. Traditional Chinese and Japanese art and design served as an important source of inspiration for European modernism. But what happened to art and design within China and Japan during the modern period? Despite Chinas traditional stronghold in modular design and Japans current prestige in design culture, the two countries faced incredible challenges during the late 19th and early 20th century as they struggled with their own cultures pasts and the modern concept of art and design. This class offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of modern East Asian art and examines how the concept of design emerged and developed in Japan and China in relation to both fine arts and industry in a broad cross-cultural nexus. While design connected modern China and Japan in ways unprecedented, the two cultures also adopted different design strategies defined by their respective cultural and historical conditions. The class is discussion based and is supplemented by a fieldtrip to Washington D.C. Prerequisite: ARTH 108 or ARTH 209 or two art history or two non-language EASN courses.
03:00 PM-04:15 PM, MR
WEISS 219
ARTH 313-01 Modern Art
Instructor: Elizabeth Lee
Course Description:
This course surveys key artistic movements and styles in a period of roughly one hundred years, beginning with Realism in the 1840s France and ending with Abstract Express-ionism in 1950s America. Much of the course focuses on painting, though discussions of architecture, design, sculpture and photography also play an important role. We begin with the question of what modernism is: When did it begin? What makes a work of art "modern"? How is modernism different from what preceded it? Students learn to recognize, understand and discuss the defining features of modernism in its major manifestations, while also developing an understanding of themes such as the role of African art in modernism, the changing dynamics between the fine arts and popular culture, the role of technology as an influence on art, and the place of particular critics, galleries, and museums in shaping the discourses of modernism. Individual research projects give students the chance to explore a specific artist, style or theme in depth, while a field trip to National Gallery of Art and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C. provide an opportunity to see significant works of modern art firsthand. Assigned reading incorporate both secondary sources as well as artist's manifestos and aesthetic philosophies as primary source text. Prerequisite: 102 or permission of the instructor.
03:00 PM-04:15 PM, MR
WEISS 221
ARTH 327-01 Advanced Painting
Instructor: Eleanor Conover
Course Description:
A second-level studio painting course concentrating on the figure, and covering advanced techniques, alternative materials, and aspects of contemporary and historical practice. Prerequisite: 227.
01:30 PM-03:29 PM, TR
WEISS 342
ARTH 330-01 Advanced Life Drawing
Instructor: Eleanor Conover
Course Description:
Advanced problems and issues in drawing the human form. Prerequisite: 230 or permission of the instructor.
01:30 PM-03:29 PM, MW
GDYRST UPST
ARTH 360-01 Out of the Darkness: Reinventing the Darkroom in a Digital Age
Instructor: Andy Bale
Course Description:
This course will focus on the use of Analog Photography, from capturing an image, to the final print. Students will be introduced to photographic materials dating back to 1850 and cameras ranging from Pinholes to Large Format. Throughout the semester students will experiment with B&W film, which will include, 35mm, 120mm and even 4x5 film formats. At the end of the semester each student will create a portfolio of images based on a process and format of their choosing.
09:30 AM-11:29 AM, MW
GDYRST 101
ARTH 411-01 Senior Studio, Part 2
Instructor: Anthony Cervino
Course Description:
Second half of the required, yearlong capstone for senior studio art majors. This course will continue with the critique-based model of independent studio practice as established in the first semester. The main focus of this course will be completing a fully developed body of thesis work for exhibition in the Trout Gallery, and the production of a supporting catalog. Prerequisite: 410
01:30 PM-04:30 PM, W
GDYRST DOWN
ARTH 500-01 Advanced Sculpture II: Woodworking and Metalworking
Instructor: Anthony Cervino
Course Description:

ARTH 500-02 Glaze Chemistry
Instructor: Rachel Eng
Course Description:

ARTH 500-03 Ceramic Sculpture and Glaze Study
Instructor: Rachel Eng
Course Description:

ARTH 500-04 Beyond Courage: An Exploration in Clay and Performance
Instructor: Rachel Eng
Course Description:

ARTH 500-05 Explorations of Sculptural Design and Advanced Structures
Instructor: Anthony Cervino
Course Description:

ARTH 500-06 Advanced Painting Projects 2: Exploring Self-Reconstruction within Spaces
Instructor: Eleanor Conover
Course Description:

ARTH 500-07 Ceramics
Instructor: Rachel Eng
Course Description: