
Anatomy of Learning: Students Merge Art and Science in Innovative Course
Humanities and science students recently visited Dickinson's "cadaver room" together. Their aim: To learn a memorable lesson about connections between science and art.
Art stands at the intersection of culture, politics, religion and philosophy, making it an ideal place from which to understand the liberal arts and the world at large.
At Dickinson, the Department of Art & Art History offers students two tracks for study: studio art and art history. Both concentrations foster rigorous, critical investigation through active processes of learning in which students connect historical discourse with an engagement of art from multiple contemporary perspectives.
The senior year capstone experience allows studio and art history majors to pursue intensive, original research in their respective concentrations. Senior studio majors, benefiting from individual studio spaces, each create a body of work for an exhibition in The Trout Gallery accompanied by a museum catalog they create.
Senior art history majors undertake advanced scholarly research in co-curating and producing a published museum catalog for an exhibition in the Trout Gallery drawn from works in the college's permanent collection or from work lent by established galleries and museums.
Jobs
Graduate Schools
Warith Taha is a visual artist from Oakland, Calif. Working primarily through the medium of painting, Warith creates work that addresses his Black queer relationship to time, space and material.
"Art history is the ultimate liberal art. Through studying art, we are able to learn about history, politics, economics and trade, religion, culture, philosophy, languages, architecture, environmental studies, music and more! All of the art-history faculty have different concentrations, and the variety of courses in the major gives students exposure to diverse art forms spanning numerous continents and millennia. The faculty also have high expectations and push students to produce their best work."
—Xenia Makosky ’24
Humanities and science students recently visited Dickinson's "cadaver room" together. Their aim: To learn a memorable lesson about connections between science and art.
Art history majors chose a dizzying array of objects—from Neolithic tool fragments to Warhol prints—to show side by side with faculty artworks. Their pairings create fresh new takes on faculty art.
Professor of Art History Melinda Schlitt finds a "cosmos of culture" in art, and she strives to ensure that her students experience it too.
From students to luminaries, we're highlighting work by Dickinsonians and guests at various stages of creative careers. Learn more about the can't-miss public arts events in store.
"Dickinson makes it easy to study abroad, even with two majors." Lena Rimmer '26 is weaving all of her interests into her study-abroad year in Italy.
Students learned directly from the pros while taking in a luminous exhibition in Washington, D.C.