Art (Major, Minor)

Introduces the fundamentals of free-hand drawing and explores a variety of materials, techniques and subject matter such as still life, landscape and the human form as students identify individual areas of interest and artistic expression. Informal slide presentations and class critiques will expose students to the diversity of drawing and its manifestations in contemporary art and culture. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Introduces the fundamental elements and principles of color and design as a communicative tool. The course is designed for students with limited studio background and explores a wide variety of mediums and techniques as students develop technical virtuosity and personal aesthetic. The concepts and design strategies explored in this course can be applied in related areas of computer design, interior design and fashion design. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Explores the sculptural organization of form in three dimensions through the use of a wide variety of materials such as found objects, paper, wire, wood, clay and metals. Projects are developed that consider the relationship of the sculptural object to its perception in time and space. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Provides hands-on experience with the fundamental controls of the photographic process for black and white photography. Students learn the use of the camera, film development, darkroom printing and the presentation of mounted photographs. Includes lectures and presentations on photographic technique, illustrated lectures on the history and aesthetics of photography, assistance in the darkroom and critiques of work in progress. Lecture plus lab. Fulfills the general education requirement in fine arts. [3 credits]

Introduces the art of digital photography. Through lectures, demonstrations and assignments students will learn the fundamentals of camera selection and usage, image editing using Adobe Photoshop software and photographic composition. Students must have their own camera. While a digital camera is preferable, any camera is suitable. Open to CAUS students only. Fulfills General Education Requirement in Fine Arts for CAUS students. [3 credits]

Introduces seminal works of painting, sculpture, and architecture made in Europe and the Near East from prehistoric times to 1400 CE. Traces the evolution of the roles of art and artists in society, whether mystical, practical, aesthetic, or spiritual. Students will examine significant original artwork from this period firsthand in area museums, including ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman statuary; Medieval manuscripts, stained glass, jewelry and metalwork; and paintings depicting early Christian imagery. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Introduces seminal works of painting, sculpture, printmaking, and architecture made in Europe and the United States from 1400 to the 1990s. Identifies regional styles and follows the evolution of subject matter and technique over the centuries. Considers the impact of changes to artistic training and patronage, as well as political and social change, on attitudes about art and artists. Students will examine significant original artwork from this period firsthand in area museums, including the Renaissance and Baroque collections at the Walters Art Museum and the modern and contemporary collections at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts.  [3 credits]

Explores the major art mediums of China, Japan and India from Neolithic times to the present, contrasting it with that of the Western tradition and examining the influence of Buddhism and Hinduism upon it. Among the art forms to be studied are Chinese landscape painting, Japanese screen painting, the Japanese tea service, silkscreen painting, bronze vessels, ceramic pottery, Indian rock-cut temples, and the vast burial complexes of China and Japan, which include life-sized pottery soldiers. Students will examine fine examples of Asian works in The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Explores art of the major geographic regions and cultures of sub-Sahara Africa. Various mediums are examined, including both wood and bronze sculptural figures, painted sculpture, ceremonial objects, power images, and bush spirit and ancestor worship objects. In addition, the evolving role of the artist in society is discussed. Students will examine significant African artworks in the National Museum of African Art in Washington, D.C. or other local collections. Fulfills the general education requirement in fine arts. [3 credits]

Introduces the fundamentals of oil and acrylic painting. Through an exploration of traditional and contemporary techniques of painting, students will develop their powers of observation and artistic expression. Informal slide presentations and class critiques will expose students to the diversity of painting and its manifestations in contemporary art and culture. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Combines tours of Baltimore area museums, such as The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore Museum of Art, the Maryland Historical Society, the Maryland Arts Place (MAP) and the Visionary Art Museum, as well as local art galleries, with classroom lectures and discussions. Explores the history of art, perceptions of art as presented in museums of the past and present, as well as the museums' role in interpreting art for the public. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Combines tours of Washington-area museums, such as the National Gallery of Art, the National Museum of American Art, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Phillips Collection, with classroom lectures and discussions. Explores the history of art, perceptions of art as presented in museums of the past and present, as well as the museums' role in interpreting art for the public. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Introduces the fundamentals of digital imaging using Adobe Creative Cloud with an emphasis on camera vision. Through assigned readings and classroom discussions, students also will gain a critical perspective of the impact of digital imaging on photographic practice.  Fulfills General Education Requirement in Fine Arts.  [3 credits]

Builds on the skills gained in ART-101 and provides a progressive investigation of personal expression. The course emphasizes an evolution from traditional methodologies toward contemporary nonrepresentational approaches to the making of art. Prerequisite: ART-101 or ART-204, or permission of the instructor. [3 credits]

Builds on the skills gained in ART-142 and provides a progressive investigation of personal expression. The course emphasizes an evolution from traditional methodologies toward contemporary nonrepresentational approaches to the making of art. Prerequisite: ART-142 or ART-204, or permission of the instructor. [3 credits]

Introduces fundamental techniques and possibilities of transparent and opaque watercolor. Special emphasis is placed on a broad understanding of the medium and the development of personal expression. Fulfills the general education requirement in fine arts. [3 credits]

Introduces fundamental processes of relief and planographic printing. Particular emphasis is placed upon technical mastery and clarity of printed image. [3 credits]

Demonstrates the use of creative arts and their integration into the curriculum. Basic understand-ing of the ways children use the fine arts (dance, theatre, music and visual arts) as a means of learning. Skills in analyzing and interpreting young children's art expressions will be presented from preschool through the elementary levels. A review of art skills and processes will be presented and practiced in order to effectively use art experiences as learning vehicle in the classroom. Basic skills in drawing, painting, printmaking, lettering, sculpture and crafts will be included. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Explores aesthetics of black and white photography. Employs a variety of methods techniques and materials for negative and print development. Investigating various genres, students build visual literacy through interpretation of subject matter and the preparation of a portfolio, lecture plus lab. [3 credits]

Explores underlying currents of human purpose, thought and feeling in art through reflection upon examples from the earliest human attempts at expression in prehistoric times; the ancient Egyptian focus upon death and the afterlife, as understood through the elaborate contents of King Tut's tomb and the mystery of the Great Pyramids; the intriguing Goddess culture of the Aegean, exemplified by Cycladic idols and other ceremonial objects; the Greek realization of self as reflected in representations of the human figure; the Mesopotamian sense of deities as natural forces; the divine, yet very human, sculptural portrayals of Greek gods and goddesses; the Roman love of things Greek melded to imperial desires evident in sculpture and architecture. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Explores the transformations evident in Western European art spanning from the age of Constantine to the late Gothic period. Special areas of interest include Early Christian attempts to visualize a new religion in the varied images of Jesus and the saints, and through mysticism and the world of symbols; Byzantine elegance and grandeur; the melding of Roman style with Christian thought in the Romanesque; chivalry and love in the courtly society of the Gothic and the cult of the Virgin Mary; the great cathedrals of the Gothic, viewed as immense prayers in stone; the late medieval return to the humanism of antiquity with the school of Giotto; and the role of women, and ways women are represented in medieval art. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Traces the evolution, definition and dissemination of Mannerist, Baroque and Rococo art from 1510-1750 A.D., including absolutism and the bourgeois in the age of Rembrandt. Examines 17th-century architecture; the influence of the Counter-Reformation; the Italian translation of stone to flesh and heavenly vistas; Rubens and the artist as celebrity, and Caravaggio: the bad boy as artist; absolutism in France and its aristocratic art; Rembrandt and the Little Dutch Masters; Vermeer's ethereal imagery; Rococo and the Salon: wit and subtlety; Rousseau's back-to-nature movement and the Enlightenment; and the expressive and spiritual use of light in images by Caravaggio, Rembrandt and Vermeer. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Examines the art of Western Europe from the advent of the Renaissance to the 1530s through topics such as the artist as hero; the lingering Gothic influence in art of Italy and the North; the greater emergence of women in the world of art; the convergence of science and art: Renaissance artists as theorists and the complete investigation of human anatomy; the individual and a sense of self; and The Last Supper and The Sistine Ceiling: controversies of restoration. Also explores such artist-centered topics as lyricism and classicism: the beauty of Botticelli; Leonardo da Vinci: the Renaissance man and artist; Michelangelo: a revival of the classical humanism of classical Greece; Jan van Eyck and Durer: the Italian Renaissance in the North; and Titian and the Venetian: school of color and sensuality. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Examines collaboration through series of exercises, group projects and assignments that explore the interplay of photography and literature. Students make and edit their own photographs and creative writing in response to instructor prompts and class critique. Students will collaborate on a final publishable portfolio of photographs and creative writing. Prerequisite: Morrissy scholar or permission. Fulfills General Education Requirement in Fine Arts.  [3 credits]

Examines European and American art from 1750 to 1900, in the context of the vast political and social changes in the Age of Revolutions and the development of modernity. Themes include Rococo and aristocratic taste; Neoclassicism and the rediscovery of classical antiquity; Romanticism and the pursuit of originality; Orientalism and the lure of the exotic; photography and positivism; Realism and social revolution; Impressionism and the painting of modern life; American expatriates in Europe; and Post-Impressionism and the avant-garde. Students will examine artwork firsthand in the Cone Collection of the Baltimore Museum of Art. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Interprets the work of European and American artists working from the turn of the 20th century through the 1990s. Focuses on the development of style, theoretical and philosophical concerns, and social contexts of modern art movements, including Cubism, Dada, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, and Pop. Special topics include the impact of art criticism, the challenges of public art, the influence of non-Western art, the role of the museum, and more. Students examine artworks firsthand at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Explores two-dimensional media and processes. Covers planning, safety and instructional strategies for use in elementary and secondary schools. [3 credits]

Explores three-dimensional media and processes. Covers planning, safety and instructional strategies for use in elementary and secondary schools. [3 credits]

Explores the beauty of watercolor painting while on location in natural settings. A variety of methods and applications of the medium are demonstrated in each class as students practice and develop technical skills, selectivity and personal expression. Students must provide their own transportation to and from the painting sites. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Explores the materials and techniques used by the Great Masters of drawing and painting. Materials such as silverpoint, charcoal, bistre ink and egg tempera will be fabricated from raw substances and used in drawings and paintings. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Provides practical study of elementary principles and problems in creating ceramic art. Technical study of glazes, clay and methods of firing. [3 credits]

Analysis and discussion of the art of photography to increase skills in critical observation of relationships, styles, structure, composition and content in photographs. Lecture/seminar format. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [ 3 credits ]

Exploration of media and processes for students in PreK-12. Includes studio activities, planning, and instructional strategies for the elementary and secondary schools. [ 3 credits ]

This course explores the effective use of imagery, application technique, and graphic medium that visually communicate literary scenes and ideas, advertising text, products and reflect and master each students’ graphic style.  Special attention will be given to graphic illustration techniques used specifically for reproduction and commission work.

Students Prerequisites: ART-101, OR  ART-102 or permission of instructor. [ 3 credits]

Introduces new ideas and concepts stemming from a particular period and/or movement in society, becoming the "fireworks" that stir the artistic spirit to react to those ideas consciously, vibrantly, intuitively and with unique creativity. This class will use audio-visuals, readings and shared dialog to examine works of art and varied aesthetic concepts. It will address the artist as a gendered translator of history, as a visionary, and as a social documentarian within the context of significant periods in Western art. Prerequisite: Morrissy scholar or permission. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [3 credits]

Provides students with the opportunity to identify and develop their specific conceptual, aesthetic and technical areas of interest within the context of advanced drawing. Prerequisite: ART-101, 201, 204 or permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Provides students with the opportunity to identify and develop their specific conceptual, aesthetic and technical areas of interest within the context of advanced painting. Prerequisite: ART-142, 202, 204 or permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Examines the art created in the United States from Colonial times to the 1970s, exploring its relationship to European styles, and the question of what constitutes an American style. Mediums studied include painting, sculpture, architecture and photography. Artists such as Gilbert Stewart, Thomas Cole, Thomas Eakins, Mary Cassatt, James Whistler, Jackson Pollack and Andy Warhol will be discussed. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [ 3 credits ]

Focuses upon the significant contributions of women artists to the history of art and the traditional duality of gender. Emphasis will vary in different sessions; some may focus primarily on topics applicable to art made by women of the nineteenth or twentieth centuries, while others may address topics related to feminism in European and Asian traditions, women as subjects in art, and/or women as artists. The seminar format will emphasize class presentations and discussions. Students will also examine artwork in local collections, particularly the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, D.C. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts and Gender Studies. [ 3 credits ]

Large Format provides the serious photography student with a strong background in 4x5 view camera technique, the Zone system, and studio lighting and practices. The aesthetics and disciplines of the large format camera are applied to portraiture, still life, architecture, and landscape. View cameras and meters are provided by the college. Prerequisite: ART 209. 3 credits.

Provides individualized instruction in the study of the nude with special emphasis on observation, movement, proportion, figural composition and pictorial space. All sessions will include short and sustained poses. Prerequisite: ART-101 or permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Explores the history, theory and practice of the picture story through readings, discussions and the production of a photographic essay. Considers documentary, photojournalistic and narrative traditions. The service-learning option offers the advanced photography student an opportunity to combine her exploration of the photograph as document with a practical experience in community engagement. ART-109 or permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Examines works created by African-American artists from the Antebellum era to the present, and situates those works in the contexts of American history, African tradition, and cultural politics. Explores the evolution of artistic responses to such issues as identity, race, class, ethnicity, and representation. Topics of study include folk art, decorative art, and fine art produced by African-Americans from the early slave communities to the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement to the emergence of a modern black aesthetic. The seminar format will emphasize class presentations and discussions. Students will also examine artwork in local collections, including the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African-American History and Culture, and/or the National Museum of African-American History and Culture. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts and Cross-Cultural Studies.  [3 credits]

Presents an overview of the history and development of art theory and criticism from antiquity to the present. The course explores a wide range of art forms and ideas from traditional art to controversial contemporary art and art censorship. With the knowledge gained through the study of aesthetic evolution, students will assess the art of the 20th and 21st centuries, and formulate critical judgments and aesthetic positions of their own. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [ 3 credits ]

Explores the art of photography from its pre-history to the present. The course will deal with the effects of changing technology, interrelationships with the other arts, and the impact of photography on society. Major photographers and movements will be covered, including study of local exhibitions. Fulfills the General Education Requirement in Fine Arts. [ 3 credits ]

Studies the aesthetics of color photography. Lectures and demonstrations cover techniques and issues related to digital, film and alternate processes. Group discussions and critiques will focus on the development of color vision, the psychology and effective uses of the unique characteristics of color photography. Lecture plus lab. [ 3 credits ]

Practices photographic lighting using continuous and strobe lights, as well as portable flash. Artistic and professional procedures using 35mm as well as departmental 4x5 view camera systems are covered. Topics include studio and location assignments such as still life and portraiture, culminating in a portfolio. H31 [3 credits]

Applies historical, non-silver printing techniques of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as innovative approaches to making photographic images. Numerous methods of making an enlarged negative (for Cyanotype, Vandyke Brown, Palladium), including the use of graphic art film, copy camera, pinhole camera and the digital negative will be explored. Prerequisite: ART-209 or permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

As a sequel course to Illustration I, this course continues use and personal development of imagery, application technique, and graphic medium that visually communicate literary scenes and ideas, advertising texts and products. Special attention, time, and focus, will be given to graphic illustration techniques that reflect students’ individual stylistic development. 

Students Prerequisites: ART- 273 or permission of instructor. [3 credits]

Presents an overview of art history and the evolution of art theory and visual aesthetics from antiquity to our present post-modern world. To many viewers, the art of the 20th and 21st centuries has become difficult to understand and conceptually esoteric. This course will examine the history and interplay of aesthetic notion, critical analysis and the art object. [ 3 credits ]

Provides students with the opportunity to continue to develop and refine their specific conceptual, aesthetic and technical areas of interest within the context of advanced drawing. Prerequisite: ART-301 or ART-321. [ 3 credits ]

Provides students with the opportunity to continue to develop and refine their specific conceptual, aesthetic and technical areas of interest within the context of advanced painting. Prerequisite: ART-204 or ART-302. [ 3 credits ]

Guides the student towards fluency in the language of photography as a means of personal expression. Students propose and produce a photographic project that synthesizes personal vision, ideas, techniques and processes learned in previous courses. Prerequisite: junior/senior status and permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Investigates and analyzes selected topics in Western art from diverse periods in a seminar format that emphasizes class presentations and discussions. Students may examine architecture in Baltimore, various painting styles represented in Baltimore museums, and medieval manuscripts in the collection of The Walters Art Museum, among other possibilities. May be taken for credit more than once as the topics vary. Fulfills the general education requirement in fine arts. [ 3 credits ]

Investigates and analyzes selected topics in American art and architecture from Colonial America and the United States in a seminar format that emphasizes class presentations and discussions. Particular attention is given to nearby monuments that reflect American interpretations of earlier styles, and to local collections of American art, including the Baltimore Museum of American Art and the Maryland Historical Society. May be taken for credit more than once as topics vary. Fulfills the general education requirement for fine arts. [ 3 credits ]

Investigates and analyzes selected topics in the art of India, China or Japan, depending upon the semester, focusing on the architecture, painting and sculpture of each area from prehistoric times through the 20th century. May be taken for credit more than once as topics vary. Asian art will be examined firsthand during visits to local collections. Fulfills the general education requirement in fine arts. [ 3 credits ]

Deepens experience in digital photography and investigates the relationships between communication through photographs and digital images and other electronic media such as the digital press, World Wide Web and the virtual environment of the video game. Students enhance their skills and personal aesthetic using Adobe Photoshop and choose projects from still photography, graphic design or motion graphics. Prerequisite: ART-162. [3 credits]

Provides individualized instruction in the advanced study of the nude with special emphasis on observation, movement, proportion, figural composition, pictorial space and the development of personal interpretation of the figural form. All sessions will include short and sustained poses. Prerequisite: ART-321. [ 3 credits ]

Explores Art in various external settings.

Provides an opportunity for senior art majors from all concentrations to meet together as a group and examine the nature of art in contemporary society and explore topics such as morals and ethics in art, artists and critics, and the business of art. Students present their thesis project at the senior exhibition. To be taken in senior year. [ 3 credits ]

Creates self-directed projects under the supervision of the instructor. The aim of the course is the production of a body of work for exhibition and the compilation of a portfolio for professional use. Course content includes discussions, readings, research, studio and gallery visits and critiques. Prerequisite: Senior status and permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Provides an opportunity to pursue an individual project in consultation with an art faculty member. [ 3 credits ]

Creates an individual study opportunity that is pursued under the guidance of a faculty member of the department. The directed readings format enables the student to make an intensive examination of a personally selected area of intellectual interest. The selected area of focus may be a specific topic, medium, artist, theme, style or approach; includes pre-museum studies requirement. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. [ 3 credits ]

Provides the opportunity to gain credit for work experience with professional art organizations with the consent of the advisor. The site is chosen according to the student's field of concentration. Permission required. [ 3 or 4 credits ]

Provides the opportunity to gain credit for work experience with professional art organizations with the consent of the advisor. The site is chosen according to the student's field of concentration. Permission required. [ 3 or 4 credits ]