Visual Arts
Courses
For course descriptions not found in the 2005-2006 General
Catalog, please contact the department for more information.
Note: The following list of courses represents all visual
arts offerings; not all courses are offered each year.
Lower-Division
1. Introduction to Art-Making: Two-Dimensional Practices (4) An
introduction to the concepts and techniques of art making with specific
reference to the artists and issues of the twentieth century. Lectures
and studio classes will examine the nature of images in relation
to various themes. Drawing, painting, found objects, and texts will
be employed. Prerequisite: none. This course is offered only
one time each year.
2. Introduction to Art Making: Motion and Time Based Art (4) An
introduction to the process of art making utilizing the transaction
between people, objects, and situations. Includes both critical
reflection on relevant aspects of avant-garde art of the last two
decades (Duchamp, Cage, Rauschenberg, Gertrude Stein, conceptual
art, happenings, etc.) and practical experience in a variety of
artistic exercises. This course is offered only one time each year.
3. Introduction to Art-Making: Three-Dimensional Practices (4) An
introduction to art making that uses as its base the idea of the
conceptual. The lecture exists as a bank of knowledge
about various art world and non-art world conceptual plays. The
studio section attempts to incorporate these ideas into individual
and group projects using any material. This course is
offered only one time each year.
20. Introduction to Art History (4) This
course examines history of Western art and architecture through
such defining issues as the respective roles of tradition and innovation
in the production and appreciation of art; the relation of art to
its broader intellectual and historical contexts; and the changing
concepts of the monument, the artist, meaning, style, and art
itself. Representative examples will be selected from different
periods, ranging from Antiquity to Modern. Content will vary with
the instructor. Prerequisite: none.
21. Introduction to Non-Western Art (4) This
course offers a comparative and thematic approach to the artistic
achievements and cultural productions of societies with widely divergent
structure and political organization from the ancient kingdoms and
empires of Central America and Asia to the tribes of Africa and
the chiefdoms of Native American and Oceanic peoples. Topics vary
with the interests and expertise of the instructor. Prerequisite:
none.
22. Formations of Modern Art (4) Wide-ranging
survey introducing the key aspects of modern art and criticism in
the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, including Neo-Classicism,
Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Symbolism,
Fauvism, Cubism, Dada and Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism,
Earth Art, and Conceptual Art. Prerequisite: none.
23. Information Technologies in Art History (4) This
seminar introduces fundamentals of art historical practice such
as descriptive and analytical writing, compiling annotated bibliographies
with traditional and online resources, defining research topics,
and writing project proposals. Prerequisite: none.
Note: Prerequisite for VIS 112 and highly recommended
for all other seminars. Must be taken within a year of declaring
major or transferring into the art history program.
40. Introduction to Computing in the Arts (4) (Cross-listed
with ICAM 40.) An introduction to the conceptual uses and historical
precedents for the use of computers in art making. Preparation
for further study in the computer arts area by providing overview
of
theoretical issues related to the use of computers by artists.
Introduces the students to the programs computer facilities
and teaches them basic computer skills. Prerequisite: open
to visual arts and ICAM majors and computing and ICAM minors only. Materials
fee required.
60. Introduction to Photography (4) An
in-depth exploration of the camera, combining darkroom techniques
in black and white, and color photography. Emphasis is placed on
developing reliable control of the fundamental materials and procedures
through lectures, field, and lab experience. Basic discussion of
image making included. Prerequisite: open to visual arts art
history, ICAM, media, studio, and music ICAM majors and photography
minors only.
Materials fee required.
70N. Introduction to Media (6) Operating
as both a lecture and production course, this introductory class
provides a technical foundation and theoretical context for all
subsequent production-oriented film and video studies. In the laboratory,
the student will learn the basic skills necessary to initiate video
production. Completion of Visual Arts 70N is necessary to obtain
a media card. Prerequisite: none. Materials fee required.
84. History of Film (4) A survey
of the history and the art of the cinema. The course will stress
the origins of cinema and the contributions of the earliest filmmakers,
including those of Europe, Russia, and the United States. Materials
fee required. This course is offered only one time each year.
87. Freshman Seminar (1) The Freshman
Seminar program is designed to provide new students with the opportunity
to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small
seminar setting. Freshman seminars are offered in all campus departments
and undergraduate colleges, and topics vary from quarter to quarter.
Enrollment is limited to fifteen to twenty students with preference
given to entering freshmen.
Upper-Division
104A. Performing the Self (4) Using
autobiography, dream, confession, fantasy, or other means to invent
ones self in a new way, or to evoke the variety of selves
in our imagination, the course experiments with and explores the
rich possibilities available to the contemporary artist in his or
her own persona. Prerequisites: two from VIS 1, 2, 3 and either
22 or 111.
104BN. Verbal Performance (4) The
course is designed to introduce the student to the part played by
language in contemporary performance art. Monologues, musically
derived sound poetry, vocalizations, verbally inscribed installations,
and the uses of language and voice in film and video are some of
the areas explored. Prerequisite: VIS 104A.
104CN. Personal Narrative (4) The
course will explore primary experiential materials to more fully
understand the relationship of voice, style, language, and personality,
to issues of memory, identity, self-awareness, and desire. Instructor
and student will discuss student work as well as published personal
narrative. Prerequisite: VIS 104BN.
105A. Drawing: Representing the Subject (4) A
studio course in beginning drawing covering basic drawing and composition.
These concepts will be introduced by the use of models, still life,
landscapes, and conceptual projects. Prerequisites: two from
VIS 1, 2, 3 and either 22 or 111.
105B. Drawing: Practices and Genre (4) A
continuation of VIS 105A. A studio course in which the student will
investigate a wider variety of technical and conceptual issues involved
in contemporary art practice related to drawing. Prerequisite:
VIS 105A.
105C. Drawing: Portfolio Projects (4) A
studio course in drawing, emphasizing individual creative problems.
Class projects, discussions, and critiques will focus on issues
related to intention, subject matter, and context. Prerequisite:
VIS 105B.
105D. The Aesthetics of Chinese Calligraphy (4) This
course examines Chinese calligraphy as an art form. This conceptually
based introductory course combines fundamental studio exercises
with creative explorations. Students are exposed to traditional
and contemporary forms of Chinese calligraphy while encouraged to
experiment with basic aesthetic grammars. Prerequisite: VIS 105A.
105E. Chinese Calligraphy as Installation (4) This
course concerns EastWest aesthetic interactions. What are
the conceptual possibilities when calligraphy, an ancient form of
Chinese art, is combined with installation, a contemporary artistic
Western practice? Emphasis is placed on such issues as cultural
hybridity, globalization, multiculturalism, and commercialization.
Prerequisite: VIS 105D.
106A. Painting: Image Making (4) A
studio course focusing on problems inherent in paintingtransferring
information and ideas onto a two-dimensional surface, color, composition,
as well as manual and technical procedures. These concepts will
be explored through the use of models, still life, and landscapes.
Prerequisites: two from VIS 1, 2, 3 and either 22 or 111.
106B. Painting: Practices and Genre (4) A
continuation of VIS 106A. A studio course in which the student will
investigate a wider variety of technical and conceptual issues involved
in contemporary art practice related to painting. Prerequisite:
VIS 106A.
106C. Painting: Portfolio Projects (4) A
studio course in painting emphasizing individual creative problems.
Class projects, discussions, and critiques will focus on issues
related to intention, subject matter, and context. Prerequisite:
VIS 106B.
107A. Sculpture: Making the Object (4) A
studio course focusing on the problems involved in transferring
ideas and information into three-dimensions. Course will explore
materials and construction as dictated by the intended object. Specific
problems to be investigated will be determined by the individual
professor. Prerequisites: two from VIS 1, 2, 3 and either 22
or 111.
107B. Sculpture: Practices and Genre (4) A
studio course in which the student will investigate a wider variety
of technical and conceptual issues as well as materials involved
in contemporary art practice related to sculpture. Prerequisite:
VIS 107A.
107CN. Sculpture: Portfolio Projects (4) A
studio course in sculpture emphasizing individual creative problems.
Class projects, discussions, and critiques will focus on issues
related to intention, subject matter, and context. Prerequisite:
VIS 107B.
108. Advanced Projects in Art (4) A
studio course for serious art students at the advanced level. Stress
will be placed on individual creative problems. Specific orientation
of this course will vary with the instructor. Topics may include
film, video, photography, painting, performance, etc. May be repeated
twice for credit. Prerequisite: consent of instructor, department
stamp required.
109. Advanced Projects in Media (4) Individual
or group projects over one or two quarters. Specific project organized
by the student(s) will be realized during this course with instructor
acting as a close adviser/critic. Concept papers/scripts must be
completed by the instructor prior to enrollment. Prerequisites:
VIS 180A and VIS 180B for media majors, or consent of instructor
for ICAM majors. Open to media and ICAM majors only. Two production
course limitation.
110A. Contemporary Issues and Practices (4) An
examination of contemporary studio art practice. The course is divided
among research, discussion, and projects. Field trips to galleries
and discussions with artists will combine with the students moving
their work into a dialogue with the issues raised. Prerequisites:
two from VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN and 147B.
110B. New Genre/New and Old Technologies (4) Advances
the idea of different materials, methods, and practices raised
at
the intermediate level in drawing, painting, and sculpture, and
explores and utilizes new and traditional media in studio production
of work. Emphasis on multiple media, combining traditional and
electronic media, as well as different genres, in an attempt to
create new
directions for the students ideas. Prerequisites: two
from VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN and 147B.
110C. Proposals, Plans, Presentations (4) Explores
the use of the maquette, or sketch, in the process of developing,
proposing and planning visual works in various media for public
projects, site specific works, grants, exhibition proposals, etc.
The student will work on synthesizing ideas and representing them
in alternate forms that deal with conception, fabrication and presentation.
Prerequisites: two from VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN and 147B.
110D. Visual Narrative/Tableau (4) Examination
and use of multi-media in exploring narrative issues in art making.
The identification of subject leads to the determination of choice
or mix of media and construction of narrative. Traditional studio
practice surrounding narrative painting and sculpture, forms such
as comic drawing or story boards, and the use of photo, video, and
computing. Prerequisites: two from VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN
and 147B.
110F. Installation: Cross-Disciplinary Projects (4) Attempts
to expand the idea contained in a singular work, or object, into
the use of multiple objects, images, and media that redefines the
idea as well as the space for which it is intended. Examination
of historic, modern, and contemporary works would be brought into
discussion of project development and execution. Prerequisites:
two from VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN and 147B.
110G. The Natural and Altered Environment (4) Explores
the natural and altered environment as a basis for subject as well
as placement of work pertaining to the environment. Prerequisites:
two from VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN and 147B.
110H. Image and Text Art (4) Devoted
to the study and practice of the multiple ways in which writing
and other forms of visible language have been incorporated into
contemporary and traditional artworks, including artists books,
collaging and poster art, visual and concrete poetry, typographical
experiments, and calligraphies. Prerequisites: two from VIS
104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN and 147B.
110I. Performing for the Camera (4) The
dematerialization of the performer into a media based imagevideo,
film, slides, still photographs, using the camera as a spy, a co-conspirator,
a friend or a foeemploying time lags, spatial derangement,
image deconstruction, along with narrative, text, history, to invent
time based pieces that break new ground while being firmly rooted
in an understanding of the rich body of work done in this area over
the last three decades. Prerequisites: two from VIS 104CN, 105C,
106C, 107CN and 147B.
110J. Ritual Performance (4) The
course will explore forms of art making that use dream and myth,
body art, dance, social drama, happenings, story telling, and enactments
of contemporary and traditional forms of performance art that involve
a crossing of the lines between different arts and genres. Prerequisites:
two from VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN and 147B.
110K. Installation Performance (4) The
artist as performer working with materials, objects, props, technology,
to create multi-layered, experimental, interesting three-dimensional
art spaces in which the artists body, voice, actions, or memory,
moves through, enlivens, or haunts the physical space. Prerequisites:
two from VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN and 147B.
110M. Studio Honors I (4) An advanced
studio course intended for the productive, motivated, and self-disciplined
student with a clear and unified body of work. The intent is to
help refine and expand the students work and ideas towards
an exhibition and verbal written position. Prerequisite: consent
of the instructor, department stamp required. Note: The
Studio Honors I and the attached Studio Honors II count as one course
toward the fulfillment of a Group IV requirement.
110N. Studio Honors II (4) The second
advanced studio course in the Honors Program in Studio, the successful
completion of which will lead towards an honors degree in the studio
major. The course builds on the critical and technical issues raised
in Studio Honors I. Prerequisite: VIS 110M.
111. The Structure of Art (4) This
course will address the structure of signification in art. We
will
consider the modes of signification in a wide range of representational
and nonrepresentational artworks from architecture through drawing,
painting, sculpture, photography, video, and film to performance.
Examples will be selected from various places and epochs. This
course
is required for transfer students. This course is offered during
winter quarter only.
112. Art Historical Methods (4) A
critical review of the principal strategies of investigation in
past and present art-historical practice, a scrutiny of their contexts
and underlying assumptions, and a look at alternative possibilities.
The various traditions for formal and iconographic analysis as well
as the categories of historical description will be studied. Required
for all art history and criticism majors. Prerequisites: VIS
23 and one upper-division art history course; two recommended.
113AN. History of Criticism I: Early Modern (4) Introducing
Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance theories of the image, we
concentrate
on developments in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries: Neo-Classicism,
Romanticism, Realism, and Symbolism. Prerequisite: upper-division
standing; VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in art history
strongly
recommended.
113BN. History of Criticism II: Early Twentieth Century (19001950)
(4) The principal theories of art and
criticism from Symbolism until 1945: formalism and modernism, abstraction,
Surrealism, Marxism, and social art histories, phenomenology, existentialism.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in
art history strongly recommended.
113CN. History of Criticism III: Contemporary (1950Present)
(4) Recent approaches to the image in
art history and visual culture: structuralism, semiotics, psychoanalysis,
post-structuralism, post-modernism, feminism, post- colonialism,
cultural studies. Prerequisite: none; VIS 112 or two upper-division
courses in art history strongly recommended.
117A. Narrative Structures (4) How
can a fixed image represent events in time? The strategies of storytelling
and their consequences for the meaning of works of art will be investigated.
Content of the course will vary. May be repeated twice for credit
with permission of the instructor. Prerequisite: none; VIS 112
or two upper-division courses in art history strongly recommended.
117B. Theories of Representation (4) A
discussion of major Western theories of representation with a critique
of their applicability to art. Material is drawn from a wide variety
of historical periods from Antiquity to Modern. Emphasis is given
to theories special significance for art history, but some attention
is given to representation theories in other contexts. Readings
may include selections from such modern theorists as Peirce, Panofsky,
Gombrich, Bernheimer, Barfield, Barthes, Goodman, Foucault, Bryson,
Summers, and Mitchell and from classic texts by Plato, Aristotle,
John of Damascus, Alberti, and Leonardo. Prerequisite: none;
one or more upper-division courses in art history strongly recommended.
Note: Majors must have taken VIS 23.
117C. Art in Time: The Historical Dimensions (4) How
does a work of art live in time? What connects it with art past,
present, and future? Where does tradition and innovation intersect?
Why is past art always an issue for contemporary practice? This
seminar considers these and other questions as well as different
theoretical models for understanding arts historical dimension.
Specific issues and readings may vary from year to year. Prerequisite:
none; VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in art history strongly
recommended.
117D. Portraiture (4) Portraiture
appeals to the human interest in human beings. This seminar explores
how portraits from different periods (potentially ancient through
modern) reflect cultural ideas about citizens even as they purport
to convey actual appearances. Content may vary with instructor.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in
art history strongly recommended.
117E. Problems in Ethnoaesthetics (4) This
seminar will address and critique various approaches to studying
the art of non-Western societies with respect to their own aesthetic
and cultural systems. Students are encouraged to explore comparative
philosophies of art and test paradigms of Western aesthetic scholarship.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 21 or 112 or two upper-division courses
in art history strongly recommended.
120A. Greek Art (4) Greek classical
civilization was a turning point in the history of humanity. Within
a new kind of society, the idea of the individual as free and responsible
was forged, and with it the invention of history, philosophy, tragedy,
and science. The arts which expressed this cultural explosion were
no less revolutionary. The achievements of Greek art in architecture,
sculpture, and painting will be examined from their beginnings in
the archaic period, to their epoch-making fulfillment in the classical
decades of the fifth century B.C., to their diffusion over the entire
ancient world in the age of Alexander and his successors. Prerequisite:
none; VIS 20 recommended.
120B. Roman Art (4) Roman art was
the modern art of antiquity. Out of their Italic tradition
and the great inheritance of Greek classic and Hellenistic art,
the Romans forged a new language of form to meet the needs of a
vast empire, a complex and tumultuous society, and a sophisticated,
intellectually diverse culture. An unprecedented architecture of
shaped space used new materials and revolutionary engineering techniques
in boldly functional ways for purposes of psychological control
and symbolic assertion. Sculpture in the round and in relief was
pictorialized to gain spatial effects and immediacy of presence,
and an extraordinary art of portraiture investigated the psychology
while asserting the status claims of the individual. Extreme shifts
of style, from the classicism of the age of Augustus to the expressionism
of the third century A.D., are characteristic of this period. The
new modes of architecture, sculpture, and painting, whether in the
service of the rhetoric of state power or of the individual quest
for meaning, were passed on to the medieval and ultimately to the
modern West. Prerequisite: none; VIS 20 recommended.
120C. Late Antique Art (4) During
the later centuries of the Roman Empire, the ancient world underwent
a profound crisis. Beset by barbarian invasions, torn by internal
conflict and drastic social change, inflamed with religious passion
which was to lead to a transformed vision of the individual, the
world, and the divine, this momentous age saw the conversion of
the Roman world to Christianity, the transfer of power from Rome
to Constantinople, and the creation of a new society and culture.
Out of this ferment, during the centuries from Constantine to Justinian,
there emerged new art forms fit to represent the new vision of an
otherworldly reality: a vaulted architecture of diaphanous space,
a new art of mosaic which dissolved surfaces in light, a figural
language both abstractly symbolic and urgently expressive. The great
creative epoch transformed the heritage of classical Greco-Roman
art and laid the foundations of the art of the Christian West and
Moslem East for the next thousand years. Prerequisite: none;
VIS 20 or 120B recommended.
120D. Prehistoric Art (4) Tens of
thousands of years before the dawn of history, the hunting peoples
of Ice Age Europe invented the first language of visual images.
Their painted cave sanctuaries, such as Lascaux and Altamira, are
dazzling in their expressive vitality and mystifying in meaning.
This course link cave art with what is known about contemporary
conditions of nature, society, and human life. Prerequisite:
none; VIS 20 recommended.
121AN. The Idea of Medieval Art (4) This
course introduces the art and architecture of Western Europe from
the fourth through the thirteenth centuries. A leading theme is
the changing idea of what medieval has come to mean,
from the coining of the terms Middle Ages and Dark
Ages by Renaissance humanists, to the Romantic fascination
with Gothic ruins, and finally to the fantasy medievalisms of twentieth
century popular culture and current approaches to medieval art in
art historical scholarship. Prerequisite: none; VIS 20 recommended.
121B. Castles, Cathedrals, and Cities (4) This
course explores European art and architecture of the twelfth
through
the fourteenth centuries against the background of the rituals
of chivalry, church, and civic life that made a dazzling spectacle
of art and life in the High Middle Ages. Prerequisite: upper-division
standing; VIS 20 recommended.
121C. Art and Gender in the Middle Ages and Renaissance (4) This
seminar explores how different representational traditions involving
women and men reflected but also contributed to the formation of
period beliefs about gender difference. It also considers the differential
roles of women and men as producers and patrons of art and period
expectations and practices involving male and female spectatorship.
Specific content may vary from year to year. Prerequisite: none;
VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in art history strongly recommended.
121D. The Illuminated Manuscript in the Middle Ages (4) This
seminar charts the changing pictorial problematics presented by
the illuminated manuscript from its origins in late antiquity to
the disintegration of the manuscript tradition under the impact
of the first printed books. Works such as the Book of Kells and
the Tres Riches Heures of the Duke of Berry, among the most brilliant
achievements of Western painting, are among those considered. Prerequisite:
none; VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in art history strongly
recommended.
121E. Pursuit of the Millennium (4) (Cross-listed
with HIEU 115) The year 2000 provokes questions about the transformation
of time, culture, and society. Taking the year 1000 as a touchstone,
this class examines the history of apocalyptic expectations in the
Middle Ages through a close scrutiny of both texts and art. Prerequisite:
none.
122AN. Renaissance Art (4) Italian
artists and critics of the fourteenth through sixteenth centuries
were convinced that they were participating in a revival of the
arts unparalleled since Antiquity. Focusing primarily on Italy,
this course traces the emergence in painting, sculpture and architecture,
of an art based on natural philosophy, optical principles, and humanist
values, which embodied the highest intellectual achievement and
deepest spiritual beliefs of the age. Artists treated include Giotto,
Donatello, Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Jan van Eyck, Mantegna, Botticelli,
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Bramante, Durer, and Titian.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 20 recommended.
122CN. Defining High Renaissance Art (4) Since
the sixteenth century, the names of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael,
and Bramante have conjured up images of the highest artistic achievement.
This course shows the intellectual concerns common to the artist
and scientific productions of Leonardo help illuminate the distinctive
character of the art of two of his greatest contemporaries. Prerequisite:
none; VIS 20, 122AN, or 122BN recommended.
122D. Michelangelo (4) This course
offers new approaches to understanding Michelangelos greatest
creations. By considering how each work relates to the setting for
which it was intended, by regarding critical literature and artistic
borrowings as evidence about the works, and by studying the thought
of the spiritual reformers who counseled Michelangelo, new interpretations
emerge which show the artist to be a deeply religious man who invested
his works with both public and private meanings. Prerequisite:
upper-division standing; or one of the following courses: VIS 20,
21, 22 or 23; or any upper-division course in art history and criticism
or in European history.
122E. The City in Italy (4). (Cross-listed
with HIEU 124.) Each Italian city takes pride in having a style
and history all its own. This lecture course, usually taught in
conjunction with the history departments HIEU 124, considers
various approaches to and models for understanding the social, political,
economic, and artistic fabric of such renowned medieval and Renaissance
cities as Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, Milan, and Sienna. Content
varies from year to year. May be repeated three times for credit.
Prerequisite: none; an upper-division course in Pre-Modern or
Early Modern art history or Pre-Modern or Early Modern European
history is strongly recommended. Note: May be used to
fulfill the seminar requirement for art history majors.
123AN. Between Spirit and Flesh: Northern Art of the Early Renaissance
(4) The art of the Early Renaissance
in Northern Europe is marked by what appears to be striking conflict:
on the one hand, a new love of nature and of the pleasures of court
society; and on the other, an intensified spirituality and focus
on personal devotion. This course explores these provocative cross-currents
in works by master painters like Jan van Eyck and Hieronymous Bosch
as well as in lesser known mass-produced objects of everyday use.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 20, 121AN, and/or 122AN recommended.
123BN. Jan van Eyck (4) Intensive
study of the career of Jan van Eyck, whose magical paintings have
always fascinated viewers with their microscopically detailed naturalism
and subtly disguised spiritual meanings. Masterpieces such as the
Arnolfini Wedding are emphasized. Prerequisite: none;
VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in art history recommended.
123CN. Early Print Culture: The First Media Revolution (4) During
the fifteenth century, two inventionsprinted pictures and
books printed with moveable type revolutionized both Western
art making and information technologies. This seminar considers
the conditions that made possible this first media revolution,
its immediate impact and its continuing resonances in early modern
visual culture. Prerequisite: none; VIS 112 or two upper-division
courses in art history recommended.
124AN. Baroque Art (4) This course
discusses the achievement of such major artists as Caravaggio, Gentileschi,
Bernini, Borromini, Rubens, Rembrandt, Velasquez, and Vermeer within
a culture marked by increasing intellectual specialization, the
entrenchment of modern national boundaries, the co-existence of
rival religious organizations, the formations of artistic academies,
and the rise of an art market serving the flourishing middle class.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 20 recommended.
124BN. Art and the Enlightenment (4) Eighteenth
century artists and critics were convinced that art could be a force
to improve society. This course places Roccoco and Neo-Classical
artists such as Watteau, Fragonard, Tiepolo, Hogarth, Reynolds,
Vigee Lebrun, Blake, and David, within the context of art academies,
colonialism, the Grand Tour, Enlightenment conceptualizations of
history and nature, and the American and French Revolutions. Prerequisite:
none; VIS 20 or 22 recommended.
124CN. Nineteenth Century Art (4) A
critical survey discussing the crisis of the Enlighten-ment, Romanticism,
Realism and Naturalism, Academic Art and History Painting, representations
of the New World, the Pre-Raphaelites, Impressionism, international
Symbolism, Post-Impressionism, and the beginnings of Modernism.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 20 or 22 recommended.
125A. Twentieth Century Art (4) A critical
survey outlining the major avant-gardes after 1900: Fauvism, Cubism,
Metaphysical Painting, Futurism, Dada, Surrealism, Neo-Plasticism,
Purism, the Soviet avant-garde, Socialist Realism, and American
art before Abstract Expressionism. Prerequisite: none; VIS 20
or 22 recommended.
125BN. Contemporary Art (4) Art after
Abstract Expressionism: Happenings, Post-painterly Abstraction,
Minimalism, Performance, Earth Art, Conceptual Art, Neo-Expressionism,
Post-Conceptualism and development in the 1990s, including non-Western
contexts. We also explore the relation of these tendencies to Postmodernism,
Feminism, and ideas of Postcoloniality. Prerequisite: none; VIS
20 or 22 recommended.
125CN. Histories and Contexts of Conceptual Art (4) A
detailed exploration of the history, theories, and social contexts
of the Conceptual Art movement from mid-1960s to the 1980s. Artists/theorists
discussed include Duchamp, Kosuth, Weiner, Baldessari, Barry, Piper,
Darboven, Huebler, Art and Language, Beuys, Holzer, and Neo-Conceptualism.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 20 or 22 recommended.
125DN. Marcel Duchamp (4) A critical
examination of the work of one of the most radical twentieth century
artists. In Duchamps four dimensional perspective, the ideas
of art-object, artist, and art itself are deconstructed. The Large
Glass and Etant Donnees . . . are the twin foci of an oeuvre without
boundaries in which many twentieth-century avant-garde devices such
as chance techniques, conceptual art, and the fashioning of fictive
identities, are invented. Prerequisite: none.
125E. History of Performance Art (4) The
novel, perplexing, outrageous, and witty modes of performance by
such contemporary artists as Acconci, Anderson, Antin, Beuys, Jonas,
Kaprow, and Lacy will be examined in the critical framework of earlier
twentieth-century experiments in music, theater, and dance as well
as in the visual arts. The movements of futurism, dada and surrealism,
the Russian avant-garde, the Bauhaus, abstract expressionism, and
happenings provide antecedents for performance art. So do the fields
of anthropology, sociology, and psychology as well as the theater
practices and theories of Artaud, Brecht, Piscator, Meyerhold, and
Stanislavsky, and the experimental dance of Duncan, Wigman, Laban,
Graham, Cunningham, and Rainer. Prerequisite: none.
126AN. Pre-Columbian Art of Ancient Mexico and Central America
(4) An introduction to the cities and
monuments of the ancient civilizations which flourished in Mexico
and Central America before the Spanish Conquest. This course will
cover the major cultures of Mesoamerica, including the Olmec, Aztec,
and neighboring groups. Prerequisite: none; VIS 21 recommended.
126BN. The Art and Civilization of the Ancient Maya (4) This
course offers a history of Maya society from its formative stages
to the eve of the Spanish Conquest through an investigation of its
art and archeology. Special attention is given to its unique calendar
and writing systems. Prerequisite: none; VIS 21 recommended.
126CN. Art of the North American Indians (4) This
course discusses the artistic legacy and cultural diversity of the
ancient, historic, and surviving Native American people of the United
States and Canada. Prerequisite: none; VIS 21 recommended.
126DN. African and Afro-American Art (4) The
dynamic, expressive arts of selected West African societies and
their subsequent survival and transformation in the New World will
be studied. Emphasis will be placed on Afro-American modes of art
and ceremony in the United States, Haiti, Brazil, and Suriname.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 21 recommended.
126E. Oceanic Art (4) An examination
of the relation of art to ritual life, mythology, and social organization
in the native Polynesian and Melanesian cultures of Hawaii, New
Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and Australia. Prerequisite: none;
VIS 21 recommended.
126F. Western and Non-Western Rituals and Ceremonies (4) This
course will examine the process of image-making within specific
ceremonies and/or rituals. Selected ceremonies from West Africa,
Melanesia, Nepal, and the United States, including both Christian
and non-Christian imagery, will be considered. Performance art and
masquerade will be analyzed within a non-Western framework. Prerequisite:
none; VIS 21 recommended.
126G. Problems in Mesoamerican Art History (4) Topics
of this seminar will address special problems or areas of research
related to the major civilizations of ancient Mexico and Central
America. Course offerings will vary in order to focus upon particular
themes, subjects, or interpretive problems. Prerequisite: none;
VIS 21 recommended.
126H. Problems in Ancient Maya Iconography and Inscriptions
(4) This seminar focuses upon the art,
architecture, and inscriptions of the ancient Maya. Topics will
vary within a range of problems that concern hieroglyphic writing,
architecture, and visual symbols the Maya elite used to mediate
their social, political, and spiritual worlds. Prerequisite:
none; VIS 21 recommended.
127A. Curatorial Practices Workshop (2) Students
will be exposed to the professional context of institutional art
research, preparation, exhibition, and publication. The content
of the course will revolve around the curatorial experience of a
particular faculty member. May be repeated once for credit. Prerequisite:
VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in art history. Note: Two
two-unit curatorial practices workshop courses count as one course
towards the fulfillment of a Group III elective requirement in the
major.
128AN-EN. Topics in Art History and Theory These
lecture courses are on topics of special interest to visiting and
permanent faculty. Topics vary from term to term and with instructor
and many will not be repeated. These courses fulfill upper-division
distribution requirements. As the courses under this heading will
be offered less frequently than those of the regular curriculum,
students are urged to check for availability and descriptions of
these supplementary courses in the annual catalogue listings. Like
the courses listed under VIS 129, below, the letters following the
course number designate the general area in which the courses fall.
Students may take courses with the same number but of different
content, with consent of instructor and/or program adviser. May
be repeated three times for credit. Prerequisite: none; courses
in art history recommended.
128AN. Topics in Pre-Modern Art History (4) A
lecture course on a topic of special interest in ancient or medieval
art. Prerequisites: upper-division standing; courses in art
history recommended.
128BN. Topics in Early Modern Art History (4) A
lecture course on a topic of special interest in Renaissance or
Baroque art. May be repeated three times for credit. Prerequisites:
courses in art history recommended.
128CN. Topics in Modern Art History (4) A
lecture course on a topic of special interest on Modern or Contemporary
art. May be repeated three times for credit. Prerequisites:
courses in art history recommended.
128DN. Topics in Non-Western Art History (4) A
lecture course on a topic of special interest in Pre-Columbian,
Native American, Oceanic, Asian, or African art. May be repeated
three times for credit. Prerequisites: courses in art history
recommended.
128EN. Topics in Art Theory and Criticism (4) A
lecture course on a topic of special interest in art theory, art
criticism, or the history of literature on art. May be repeated
three times for credit. Prerequisites: upper-division standing;
courses in art history recommended.
129AN-EN. Special Problems in Art Criticism and Theory (4) These
seminar courses provide the opportunity for in-depth study of a
particular work, artist, subject, period, or issue. Courses offered
under this heading may reflect the current research interests of
the instructor or treat a controversial theme in the field of art
history and criticism. Active student research and classroom participation
are expected. Enrollment is limited and preference will be given
to majors. The letters following 129 in the course number designate
the particular area of art history or theory concerned. Students
may take courses with the same number but of different content more
than once for credit, with consent of the instructor and/or the
program adviser. May be repeated three times for credit. Prerequisite:
VIS 112 or two upper-division courses in art history.
129AN. Special Problems in Pre-Modern Art History (4) A
seminar on an advanced topic of special interest in ancient or medieval
art.
129BN. Special Problems in Early Modern Art History (4) A
seminar on an advanced topic of special interest in Renaissance
or Baroque art.
129CN. Special Problems in Modern Art History (4) A
seminar on an advanced topic of special interest in Modern or Contemporary
art.
129DN. Special Problems in Non-Western Art History (4) A
seminar on an advanced topic of special interest in Pre-Columbian,
native American, oceanic, Asian, or African art.
129EN. Special Problems in Art Theory and Criticism (4) A
seminar on an advanced topic of special interest in art theory,
art criticism, or the history of literature on art.
129G. Art History Honors Seminar (4) This
research seminar, centered on a series of critical, thematic, theoretical,
and/or historical issues that cut across subdisciplinary specializations,
provides outstanding advanced students with the opportunity to undertake
graduate-level research. The first part of a two-part sequence completed
by Art History Honors Directed Group Study (VIS 129H). Prerequisite:
consent of instructor or art history faculty adviser, department
stamp required. Note: The Art History Honors Seminar
and the attached Art History Honors Directed Group Study counts
as one course towards the fulfillment of the Group III requirement.
129H. Art History Honors Directed Group Study (4) The
second part of the honors program sequence, this course provides
a forum for students engaged in research and writing to develop
their ideas with the help of a faculty adviser and in conjunction
with similarly engaged students. Prerequisite: consent of instructor
or art history faculty adviser, department stamp required.
130. Special Projects in Visual Arts (4) Specific
content will vary each quarter. Areas will cover expertise of visiting
faculty. May be repeated twice for credit. Prerequisite: consent
of instructor, department stamp required.
131. Special Projects in Media (4) Specific
content will vary each quarter. Areas will cover expertise of visiting
faculty. May be repeated twice for credit. Two production course
limitation. Prerequisites: VIS 104CN, 105C, 106C, 107CN, or 147B
for studio majors, or VIS 180A and VIS 180B for media majors. Open
to studio, media, and ICAM majors; ICAM minors only.
132. Installation Production and Studio (4) Through
discussions and readings, the class will examine the issues and
aesthetics of installation art-making. Using media familiar to them,
students will produce several projects. May be repeated once for
credit. Studio and media majors only. Prerequisites: VIS 104CN,
105C, 106C, 107CN, or 147B for studio majors, or VIS 180A and VIS
180B for media majors. Open to studio, media, and ICAM majors; ICAM
minors only. Two production course limitation.
140. Digital Imaging: Image and Interactivity (4) (Cross-listed
with ICAM 101.) Introduction to digital image involving images,
texts, and interactive display and operates both within computer-mediated
space (i.e., Web site) and in physical space (i.e., artist book).
Interactive narrative and computer programming are explored. Materials
fee required. Prerequisite: VIS 40 or ICAM 40. Open to media,
ICAM, and studio majors; computing and ICAM minors only. Two
production course limitation.
141A. Computer Programming for the Arts I (4) Computer
programming as a tool and conceptual framework for art-making. Course
will use Silicon Graphics workstations to teach fundamental aspects
of using C programming language and UNIX operating system to create
computer graphics, audio, and text-based works. Materials fee required.
Prerequisites: VIS 40 or ICAM 40; and VIS 140 or ICAM 101. Open
to ICAM majors and minors only. Two production course limitation.
141B. Computer Programming for the Arts II (4) Continuation
of VIS 141A. Students extend their programming capabilities to include
image processing, multimedia, and interactive 3-D graphics programming
contextualized by a further exploration of topics in algorithmic
and procedural modeling. Materials fee required. Prerequisite:
VIS 141A. Open to ICAM majors and minors only. Two production
course limitation.
145A. Digital Media I: Time, Movement, Sound (4) (Cross-listed
with ICAM 102.) Exploration of time-dependent media components.
Creation and manipulation of digital sound as well as moving images
and their integration in multimedia work. Use of computer programming
to control time is emphasized. Materials fee required. Prerequisites:
VIS 40 or ICAM 40 and VIS 140 or ICAM 101. Open to media and ICAM
majors; ICAM minors only. Two production course limitation.
145B. Digital Media II (4) Second
course in the sequence where students will implement projects under
direction of faculty. Projects involve interactive narrative media,
Internet-based publishing (Web site), distributable media (CD-ROM),
and/or computer-based interactive environment (virtual reality).
Materials fee required. Prerequisite: VIS 145A or ICAM 102.
Open to media and ICAM majors; ICAM minors only. Two production
course limitation.
147A. Electronic Technologies for Art I (4) Develop
artworks and installations that utilize digital electronics. Techniques
in digital electronic construction and computer interfacing for
interactive control of sound, lighting, and electromechanics. Construction
of devices which responsively adapt artworks to conditions involving
viewer participation, space activation, machine intelligence. Purchase
of components kit required. Prerequisite: VIS 1. Open to media,
studio, and ICAM majors; ICAM minors only. Two production course
limitation.
147B. Electronic Technologies for Art II (4) Continuation
of the electronics curriculum. Design of programmable microcontroller
systems for creating artworks that are able to respond to complex
sets of input conditions, perform algorithmic and procedural processing,
and generate real time output. Purchase of components kit required.
Prerequisite: VIS 147A. Open to media and ICAM majors; computing
and ICAM minors only. Two production course limitation.
149. Seminar in Contemporary Computer Topics (4) (Cross-listed
with ICAM 130.) Topics relevant to computer-based art- and music-making,
such as computer methods for making art/music, design of interactive
systems, spatialization of visual/musical elements, critical studies.
Topics will vary. May be repeated twice. Materials fee required.
Prerequisite: VIS 140 or ICAM 101, VIS 145A or ICAM 102, and MUS
170 or ICAM 103 recommended. Open to media and ICAM majors; ICAM
minors only. Two production course limitation.
151. History of the Experimental Film (4) An
inquiry into a specialized alternative history of film, consisting
of experimental works made outside the conventions of the movie
industry and which in their style and nature are closer to modernist
painting, poetry, etc., than to the mainstream theatrical cinema.
Works by such film artists as Man Ray, Salvador Dali, Maya Deren,
Stan Brakhage, and Michael Snow will be examined in depth. Materials
fee required. Prerequisite: VIS 84 or consent of instructor.
152. Film in Social Context (4) This
collection of courses gathers, under one cover, films that are strongly
marked by period, geography, and the culture within which they received
their dominating local quality. These courses pay particular attention
to the stamp of placeclimate, dress, habitation, language,
music, politicsas well as the filmic moves that helped color
such works as environmental. The series takes in the following subjects:
Third World films, the Munich films (the new wave of Germans who
made their first features in Munich following 1967), Japanese movies,
films of the American thirties and their relationship to current
thought, American Westerns, Ethnographic Film, Brazils Cinema
Novo, etc. Specific topics to be covered will vary with the instructor.
May be repeated twice for credit. Materials fee required. Prerequisite:
VIS 84 or consent of instructor.
153. The Genre Series (4) A group
of related courses exploring the conventions within such generic
and mythic forms as the cowboy, shamus, chorus girls, and vampire
films. May be repeated twice for credit. Materials fee required.
Prerequisite: none; VIS 84 recommended.
154. Hard Look at the Movies (4) Examines
a choice of films, selected along different lines of analysis, coherent
within the particular premise of the course. Films are selected
from different periods and genres among Hollywood, European, and
Third World films. May be repeated once for credit. Materials fee
required. Prerequisite: VIS 84 or consent of instructor.
155. The Director Series (4) A course
that describes the experiences, looks, and structure of director-dominated
films. A different director will be studied each quarter. The student
will be required to attend the lecture in the course and to meet
with the instructor at least once each week. May be repeated three
times for credit. Materials fee required. Prerequisite: VIS 84
or consent of instructor.
156N. Special Problems in Film History and Theory (4) Seminar
on an advanced topic in the history and theory of film. Content
will vary from quarter to quarter. Prerequisite: VIS 84 or consent
of instructor. Note: Materials fee required.
157. Video History and Criticism (4) A
lecture course that examines video as an art form, its relationship
to the development from television and other art forms, and surveys
current work in the medium. Materials fee required. Prerequisites:
VIS 22, 84, and 111.
158. Histories of Photography (4) Photography
is so ubiquitous a part of our culture that it seems to defy any
simple historical definition. Accordingly, this course presents
a doubled account of the medium; it explores both the historical
and cultural specificity of a singular photography as well as some
of the multitude of photographies that inhabit our world. Will examine
a number of the most important photographic themes from the past
200 years. Prerequisite: none.
159. History of Art and Technology (4) (Cross-listed
with ICAM 150.) Aims to provide historical context for computer
arts by examining the interaction between the arts, media technologies,
and sciences in different historical periods. Topics vary (e.g.,
Renaissance perspective, futurism and technology, and computer art
of the 1950s and 1960s). Prerequisite: none. Note:
Materials fee required.
164. Photographic Strategies (4) Introduction
to the aesthetic problems in photography. Portfolio required for
admission. Materials fee required. Two production course limitation.
Prerequisites: VIS 60 and consent of instructor. Open to media
majors and photography minors only.
165. Camera Techniques (4) An intermediate
course on refined control over different films, developers, papers,
and other photographic techniques. Portfolio required for admission.
Materials fee required. Two production course limitation. Prerequisites:
VIS 60 and consent of instructor. Open to media majors and photography
minors only.
166. Advanced Camera Techniques (4) Advanced-level
course involving new techniques and processes as well as refined
control over different films, developers, papers, and other photographic
materials. Portfolio required for admission. Materials fee required
(photo lab).Two production course limitation. Prerequisites:
VIS 164, 165, and consent of instructor. Open to media majors and
photography minors only.
168. Color Techniques in Photography (4) Instruction
in color photography and printing. Lectures on theory and demonstration
in shooting and printing color negatives. Prerequisites:
VIS 60, 164, 165. Open to media majors only. Note: Portfolio
required for admission. Materials fee required.
172. Studio Video (4) A production
course of video as a creative medium and the video studio as a production
and post-production tool. Covers lighting, studio sound, the switcher
and special effects, directing and editing in the controlled environment
of the video studio. Prerequisites: VIS 174. Open to
media majors only. Two production course limitation.
174. Media Sketchbook (4) Video medium
used both as production technology and as device to explore the
fundamental character of film-making and time-based computer art
practices. Students perform all aspects of production with attention
to developing ideas and building analytical/critical skills. Prerequisite:
VIS 70N. Open to media and ICAM majors only. Two course limitation.
175. Introduction to Digital Media Editing (Visual and Sound)
(4) Technical as well as a creative context
for understanding the principles of editing and the manipulation
of media files in nonlinear editing softwares, focusing on organizational
strategies for image and sound and for projects of various lengths.
Prerequisites: VIS 40/ICAM 40, 60, 70N and 174, plus one from
VIS 1, 2, 3, 22 or 84. Open to media majors only. Two production
course limitation.
176. Introduction to Filmmaking (4) Technical
foundation, creative, theoretical context to 16mm film production.
Motion picture camera (Bell & Howell, Bolex, Arriflex S), lightmeter,
frame composition, sound recording, picture and sound editing. Film-making
process of shooting, lighting, to editing, mixing. Produce short
film (1–2 minutes) with post-synchronized soundtrack. Prerequisites:
VIS 174; VIS 60 and 177 recommended. Open to media majors only.
Two production course limitation.
177. Scripting and Editing Strategies (4) Conceptual
structures of scripting and editing. Script writing on reading and
analysis of traditional and experimental works. Students write several
short scripts. Editing as structural partner to scripting, studying
strategies and grammars shaping film on videotape. Analytical papers
produced. Prerequisites: VIS 70N and VIS 174. Open to media
majors only. Two production course limitation.
180A. Documentary Evidence and the Construction of Authenticity
in Current Media Practices (4) Exploration
of concepts in representational artworks by critically examining
“found” vs. “made” recorded material. Advanced
film/video, photography, computing work. Issues of narrative and
structure; attention to formal aspects of media work emphasized.
Cannot be taken same quarter as VIS 180B. Prerequisites: VIS
174 and one from VIS 140/ICAM 101, 145A/ICAM 102, 145B, 164,
165, 172, 175, 176, 177; VIS 177 strongly recommended. Open to
media majors only. Two production course limitation.
180B. Fiction and Allegory in Current Media Practices (4) Exploration
of choices in invention, emphasizing “made” over “found.”
Advanced film/video, photography, and computing. Issues of narrative
and structure, and formal aspects of media work emphasized. Cannot
be taken same quarter as VIS 180A. Prerequisites: VIS 174
and one from VIS 140/ICAM 101, 145A/ICAM 102, 145B, 164, 165, 172,
175, 176, 177; VIS 177 strongly recommended. Open to media majors
only.
Two production course limitation.
181. Sound and Lighting (4) Advanced
course to gain sophisticated control of lighting and sound recording
techniques with understanding of theoretical implications and interrelation
between production values and subject matter. Interactions between
sound and image in various works in film, video, or installation.
Prerequisite: VIS 174, and three of the following courses depending
on emphasis: VIS 164, 165, 172, 175, 176, 177. Open to media majors
only. Two production course limitation.
182. Advanced Editing (4) Film/video
editing and problems of editing from theoretical and practical points-of-view.
Films and tapes analyzed on a frame-by-frame, shot-by-shot basis.
Edit stock material and generate own materials for editing final
project. Aesthetic and technical similarities/differences of film/video.
Repeated twice for credit. Prerequisites: two required from
VIS 164, 165, 172, 176, 177; VIS 177 strongly recommended. Open
to media majors only. Two production course limitation.
186. Advanced Filmmaking Strategies (4) Presents
techniques of sync sound recording, shooting, crew work, planning
pre-production and production; links technical decisions with creative
and theoretical understanding of film production. Prepare, produce,
edit short 16mm film (3–5 minutes). Recommend fully developed
script to enroll. Repeated once for credit. Prerequisites: VIS
176, 177, and consent of instructor. Open to media majors only.
Two production course limitation.
194. Fantasy in Film (4) This course
will explore the path of the deliberately unreal in
movies. Fantasy in Film will be considered both in terms of its
psychological manifestations and also in terms of imaginary worlds
created in such willfully anti-realistic genres as science-fiction,
horror, and musical films. Prerequisite: none. Offered in
summer session only.
197. Media Honors Thesis (4) This
advanced-level sequence coordinates three consecutive independent
research courses to culminate in a completed thesis project in the
third quarter of study. After the projects public presentation,
the faculty involved in the project will determine whether the student
will graduate with departmental honors. Prerequisite: consent
of instructor. Note: Requires a written proposal, 3.5 GPA in the
major, prior consent from all involved and approvals by the department
chair and provost.
198. Directed Group Study (2-4) Directed
group study on a topic or in a group field not included in regular
department curriculum, by special arrangement with a faculty member.
Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Note: Open only to upper-division
students. Requires instructors, department chairs, and
provosts approval. Pass/Not Pass grades only.
199. Special Studies in the Visual Arts (4) Independent
reading, research, or creative work under direction of a faculty
member. Prerequisite: consent of instructor. Note: Open only
to upper-division students. Requires instructors, department
chairs, and provosts approval. Pass/Not Pass grades
only.
ICAM 103. Musical Acoustics (4) (Cross-listed
with MUS 170.) An introduction to the acoustics of music with particular
emphasis on contemporary digital techniques for understanding and
manipulating sound. Prerequisites: MUS 1A, 2A, or 4
ICAM 110. Computing in the Arts: Current Practice (4) Designed
around the presentations by visiting artists, critics, and scientists
involved with contemporary issues related to computer arts. Lectures
by the instructor and contextual readings provide background material
for the visitor presentations. Prerequisite: none. Note:
Materials fee required.
ICAM 120. Virtual Environments (4) Students
create virtual reality artworks. Projects may be done individually
or in groups. Exploration of theoretical issues involved will underlie
acquisition of techniques utilized in the construction of virtual
realities. Materials fee required. Prerequisites: VIS 145A or
ICAM 102; CSE 11 recommended. Open to ICAM majors and minors only.
Two production course limitation.
ICAM 160A. Senior Project in Computer Arts I (4) Students
pursue projects of their own design over two quarters with support
from faculty in a seminar environment. Project proposals are developed,
informed by project development guidelines from real-world examples.
Collaborations are possible. Portfolio required for admission. Prerequisites:
VIS 141B or VIS 145B or VIS 147B or MUS 172. Open to ICAM majors
only. Department stamp required.
ICAM 160B. Senior Project in Computer Arts II (4) Continuation
of ICAM 160A. Completion and presentation of independent projects
along with documentation. Prerequisites: ICAM 160A. Open to
ICAM majors only. Department stamp required.
ICAM 198. Directed Group Study (2-4) Directed
group study on a topic or in a group field not included in regular
department curriculum by special arrangement with a faculty member.
May be repeated twice for credit. Prerequisites: consent of instructor.
Note: Only open to upper-division students. Requires instructor
approval. Pass/Not Pass grades only.
ICAM 199. Special Studies (2/4) Independent
reading, research or creative work under direction of faculty member.
Prerequisites: department stamp and upper-division standing required.
Graduate
Core Seminars
200. Introduction to Graduate Studies in the Visual Arts (4) Introduces
incoming students to the work of art history, studio, and media
faculty as it engages key common and comparative themes. Required
of all first-year students in both the Ph.D. and M.F.A. programs.
(Required, M.F.A., Ph.D.)
201. Contemporary Critical Issues (4) An
exploration of a range of issues important on the contemporary critical
scene through readings and writing assignments. Topics will vary
from year to year. Offered every fall. (Required, M.F.A.)
202. Art Practice (4) A workshop/seminar
devoted to a particular materials practice (e.g., media, painting,
digital media, etc.) that engages with critical questions arising
within that discipline. Content will vary from quarter to quarter.
May be repeated once for credit. (Required, M.F.A.)
203. Working Critique (4) Workshop
in which students engage in an extensive evaluation of each others
ongoing work in preparation for either the First Year Review or
MFA Review. Offered every winter. May be repeated once for credit.
(Required, M.F.A.)
204. Re-Thinking Art History (4) Critical
evaluation of the methods, practices, and disciplinary commitments
of art history, encompassing both revisionist interventions of the
late twentieth century and earlier paradigms, in order to envision
new discipline-specific and interdisciplinary directions for the
future of art history and visual culture. (Required, Ph.D.)
205. Introduction to Graduate Studies in Art Practice (4) This
seminar introduces art practice students to the graduate program
in a workshop environment. Emphasis is on the production of new
work and on situating that work in relation to a larger art context.
(Required, M.F.A.)
Art Practice/Theory
210. Narrative (4) Examination
of narrative issues in contemporary art-making. Traditional and
experimental narrative practices in painting, drawing, sculpture,
and performance are explored alongside narrative strategies in media
and digital media.
211. Fact and Fiction (4) This seminar
addresses the space between narrative work generated from a factual
base and that generated from a fictional one. Special attention
will be given to discussing work that confounds the assumed gap
between the two.
212. History and Memory (4) This
seminar will engage the space between personal and larger histories.
How is ones own past both intertwined with and determined
by larger social histories?
213. Public Space (4) An exploration
of what public space is and how it operates, with a view toward
an expanded context for considering how public artwork can operate
within it. Included are areas such as mass media, activism, community
action, computer networks, ecology, and alternative forums.
215. Human Interface (4) Examines
human interface as it informs or transforms how we read and participate
in culture at large. Concepts such as subject/author/object relationships,
abstraction, metaphor, analogy, visualization, and complexity are
discussed to establish context.
216. The Object (4) An
investigation of the world of artifacts (“works of art”
and others) and how they function as agents of communication and
modifiers of consciousness. Contemporary perspectives drawn from
the fields of art theory, anthropology, contemporary art, and semiotics
will be utilized.
217. Communities and Subcultures (4) A
critical examination of the practices of self-defined communities
(e.g., Bauhaus, Shaker, Surrealists) which have attempted to change
the social and spiritual quality of life by aesthetic means and
of communities and subcultures defined by other means.
218N. Imaging Selves and Others (4) Explores
various strategies exhibited in a wide range of contemporary art
practices engaging in the representation of personality, spirituality,
and the physical self.
219. Special Topics in Art Practice/Theory (4) Examines
a topic of special interest to permanent and visiting faculty that
is not addressed in the regular curriculum. As in other Art Practice/Theory
seminars, students will both produce work and read and write critically
about the topic. Topics will vary.
HISTORY/THEORY/CRITICISM
Categories/Constructs
230. Art as Category (4) Explores
the complex and changing criteria by which certain (categories of)
objects and practices are designated as art in culturally
and historically diverse societies.
231N. Confronting the Object (4) Investigates
the nature and status of art objects and practices and the forms
of engagement with them through topics such as the practice and
metaphysics of description; phenomenological analysis; film analysis;
and ekphrasis and visual analysis.
232. Artistic Identities (4) Explores
the historical, theoretical, and cross-cultural concepts of the
artist/auteur and his/her varied and shifting identities as inscribed
in works of art, recorded in biography and critical literature,
and enacted through social roles.
233N. Frames of Production (4) Critical
and historical analysis of the institutions, social networks, and
communicative media that enable the production of art, including
particular institutions (art academies, workshops and studios, including
film studios), artists communities, ritual frameworks, state
and private patronage, etc.
234N. Frames of View (4) Critical
and historical analysis of the institutions, social networks, and
communicative media through which art is presented to its audiences.
May also address theories of vision and visuality, spectatorship,
public space, originality and reproduction, and public space.
235N. Frames of Analysis (4) Historical
critique and philosophical analysis of the central terminology and
constructs of art history, theory, and criticism. May address such
key terms as style, genre, and periodization or a topic such as
theories of representation and narrative.
Theories/New Visions
240. Histories of Theory and Criticism: Plato to Post-Modernism
(4) Historical and cross-cultural investigations
of art theory and criticism, antiquity to the present. May be taught
as an historical overview or focus on a particular topic, e.g.,
Critical Currents Since World War II, Renaissance Foundations, From
Culture to Popular Culture.
241. Topics in Contemporary Critical Theory (4) Focused
studies, changing from year to year, in contemporary theoretical
positions and perspectives (e.g., New Social Theory, Post-Colonialism,
Gender Theory) and one or more leading theorists (e.g., Deleuze,
C. S. Peirce, Steinberg).
242. Theories of Media and New Media (4) Critical
study of the ways in which media (film, video, photography) and
new media have been theorized. May be taught from an historical
or comparative perspective or focus on a single topic or theorist.
243. Aesthetic Theory (4) Study of
the philosophical concepts of the function of art and visual culture
and the criteria for its evaluation in diverse epochs and cultures.
May be taught as an historical overview or comparative study or
focus a single topic or theorist.
244. Studies in the Relationship of Theory and Practice (4) Investigations
of one or more artist-theorists or movements, contemporary or historical,
that put in issue the interface between theory and practice. May
also focus on a topic such as perspective, color, or narrative,
or genre such as film or new media.
Times/Terrains
250N. Seminar in Ancient Art (4) The
arts of Greece, Rome, and allied cultures in the ancient world.
Topics will vary, e.g., Roman Portraiture: Self and Social Mask;
The Invention of Perspective and Revolution in Two-Dimensional Representation;
The Modern Art of Antiquity (late third to early fourth
century A.D.).
251. Seminar in Medieval Art (4) European
art from late antiquity through the fourteenth century and the historical
processes by which medieval art has been constructed
as a category. Topics may include Devotional Vision and the Sacred
Image; Medieval Comic Genres; Neo-Medievalisms, Fifteenth Century
to Today.
252. Seminar in Renaissance Art (4) Concentrates
on the art of the Renaissance in Italy and the North through a changing
series of topics, e.g., Vision and Composition in Perspective; The
Sistine Chapel; Envisioning Jan Van Eyck; Renaissance Print-Making;
Leonardo da Vincis La Gioconda.
253. Seminar in Early Modern Art (4) European
and American art, 1580s to 1850. Topics might include Deconstructing
the Enlightenment: Images of Disorder; Escaping History: Genre Painting,
Rococo to Impressionism; Politics and Love in the Art of Jacques-Louis
David; Art and Urbanism in Baroque Rome.
254. Seminar in Modern Art (4) European
and American art, ca. 1850 to 1960. Questions in Impressionism and
Post-Impressionism; The Cubist Revolution: Marcel Duchamp and the
Anti-Formalist Tradition; American Modernism; Reckoning with Abstract
Art; Issues in Dada and Surrealism; Soviet Avant-Gardes.
255. Seminar in Contemporary Art (4) Thematic
and critical discussions of recent U.S. and international art, 1960s
to the present. Art/Text; Mixed Media Practices; Conceptual Art;
Art After Appropriation; Global Art at the Millennium; New Genres
of Public Art; Mike Kelly and the Conceptual Vernacular: Art and
Activism.
256. Seminar in Media and New Media (4) Topics
in media (photography, film, video) and new media, contemporary
or historical. Coverage may be broad or addressed to a particular
topic such as Film Remakes; Silent Cinema; Photography and American
Social Movements; The Language of New Media.
257. Seminar in Meso-American Art (4) Topics
relating to the art and civilizations of Precolumbian Mexico and
Central America, either specifically art historical (such as iconographic,
formal, and stylistic analysis) or encompassing a spectrum of interdisciplinary
and cultural/historical problems.
258. Seminar in Chinese Art (4) Advanced
studies in the secular and religious art traditions of China. From
year to year, the seminar may focus on early China (Neolithic to
the end of the Tang dynasty), on later dynasties (Sung, Yuan,
Ming) or on art of the Peoples Republic.
259. Seminar in Latin American Art (4) Historical
and theoretical problems in the art of Mexico, Central, and South
America art from the colonial period to today, as well as from the
Hispanic traditions of the American Southwest.
269. Contextual Studies: Special Topics (4) Studies
in the art of cultures and time periods not covered in the currently
published curriculum (e.g., African Art, Japanese Art, Byzantine
Art, Islamic Art) or of issues and genres crossing epochal, cultural,
and media boundaries.
OTHER
280. Workshop in Critical Writing (4) Practice
in writing about art (both ones own and others) accompanied
by analysis of selected contemporary critical writings.
281. Curatorial Practice (4) Methodological
investigation of and training in the practices of art museums, galleries,
film and digital environments, public arts organizations, and the
like. Instruction by museum and gallery curators and opportunities
for participation in ongoing programs at local art institutions.
282. Special Projects in Art Practice (4) Advanced
workshop in specialized areas of art practice (e.g., Sound and Lighting,
Editing).
295. Individual Studies for Graduate Students (1-12) Individual
research with the students individual faculty adviser in preparation
for their comprehensive exhibitions for the M.F.A. degree or qualifying
exam for the Ph.D. These units are intended to be with the chair
of the students review committee. For the M.F.A. degree, these
units can only be taken after completing the First Year Review.
(Required, M.F.A., Ph.D.)
298. Directed Group Study (1-12) Directed
group study on specific topics not covered at present in the normal
curriculum. Used as an experimental testing of courses that may
be given regular course numbers if proved successful. Special arrangement
with faculty member. Prerequisite: consent of department.
299. Graduate Research (1-4) Graduate-level
research under the direct guidance of a faculty member. Prerequisite:
consent of instructor.
500. Apprentice Teaching (1-4) Apprentice
teaching in undergraduate courses given by the Department of Visual
Arts. Graduate students are required to teach a minimum of one quarter
(four units) within the department to fulfill degree requirements.
501. Apprentice Teaching in Culture, Art, and Technology (CAT)
(4) Consideration and development of
pedagogical methods appropriate to undergraduate teaching in the
interdisciplinary Sixth College Core Sequence, Culture, Art and
Technology. Supervised by the Core Program faculty, director and
associate directors for the Writing and Thematic Programs. Prerequisites:
graduate student and consent of instructor.
Visual Arts Courses
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