Arts
ARTS 101 INTRODUCTORY DRAWING
Fall/Spring, 3 credit hours GER 8
This course is an introduction to the fundamental principles and processes of drawing. Students will begin to develop a facility for the creative process and aesthetic expression. We will work from still-life, nature, the model and the imagination. Specific problems will be assigned to explore various drawing media, promote an understanding of pictorial structure, and cultivate good compositional judgment. Two hours lecture, two hours laboratory per week.
ARTS 201 ART HISTORY: B.C. TO 16TH CENTURY
Fall, 3 credit hours GER 7 & GER 8
This course is a study of the history of art from Cave Art to the Renaissance. Emphasis will be placed on the development of the art and architecture and its relationship to the cultural, political, social, and religious climate in which it was produced. Three hours lecture per week.
ARTS 202 ART HISTORY: 16TH TO 20TH CENTURY
Spring, 3 credit hours GER 7 & GER 8
This course is a study of the history of art from the Renaissance to modern times. Emphasis will be placed on the development of the art and its relationship to the cultural, political, and social climate of the time in which it was produced. Three hours lecture per week.
ARTS 203 ART AND SOCIETY
Fall/Spring, 3 credit hours
Art and Society explores the development of the Fine Arts and its relationship to social, political, and economic structures of both contemporary and historical cultures. Through the research, discussion, and presentation of several case studies in historical and contemporary art practices, students will develop their critical awareness of interdisciplinary relationships in present and past cultures. This course explores the artistic practice and production of several cultural epochs as both a symptom and parameter of social-political trends/events. Students will develop their understanding of significant contemporary and historical issues and explore their bearing and relationship to the Fine Arts.
Prerequisites: Composition and the Spoken Word (ENGL 101) or Oral and Written Expression (ENGL 102) or permission of instructor.
ARTS 204 INTRODUCTION TO PAINTING
Fall/Spring, 3 credit hours GER 8
Students practice basic approaches to watercolor, acrylic and oils, applying these techniques towards more accomplished works. Class work includes exercises, studies, and analysis of professional works, as well as the compilation of a painting portfolio.
ARTS 206 Digital Art History
Fall/Spring, 3 credit hours GER 3, 8
Have you ever wondered what Egyptian hieroglyphics would look like in time-based media? Or how power and class in the Roman empire would be expressed in the digital age? What does Venus of Willendorf tell us about the prehistoric idea of the feminine, and how would this play out today on social media expressed as an emoji? Today’s technology lets us take a journey through several millennia of human creative development. In this course, students will recontextualize the art and artifacts of past cultures using contemporary digital tools. Following several case studies about the artwork from different paradigms across human history, students will analyze the role that complex networks of social structures and systems play in the creation of dynamics of power, privilige, oppression, and opportunity. In addition to critical analysis, students will use digital drawing, animation, and 3-D modeling as investigative tools to research the artistic development of past cultures and what they tell us about the societal factors that shape the development of individual and group identities, specically focusing on race, gender and class.
Corequisite: ENGL 101
ARTS 301 DIGITAL STORYBOARDING
Fall/Spring 2 credit hours
This course sequentially builds on the skills, techniques, and concepts introduced in ARTS 101 and GMMD 201. Through research, demonstrations and studio-based assignments, students develop skills in conceptual schematics, sequential storyboarding, and digital illustration using industry current digital design software and digital tablets. The student projects culminate in a portfolio of digital works.
Prerequisite: ARTS 101 and GMMD 102 or GMMD 103
ARTS 305 Character and Environmental Drawing
Fall/Spring 3 credit hours
This course builds on the techniques of observational drawing in ARTS 101 with a focus on drawing from the imagination. Emphasis is placed on characterization (development, emotional expression, costume and drapery), movement and motion, and environmental interactions.
Prerequisite: ARTS 101
ARTS 291-295, 391-395, OR 491-495 SPECIAL TOPICS IN HUMANITIES
Fall/Spring, 1 - 4 credit hours
Special Topics in Humanities will fulfill the general humanities component of the distribution requirement of the College. It may be repeated for credit depending on the content of the course. It is not a course offered on a regular basis within the department. The intent of a special topics course is to offer an educational experience which is topical, not available within the regular curricular offerings, and may even be offered interdepartmentally depending on the nature of the course.