Visual Arts
[ Undergrad Program] [ Graduate Program] [ Professors] [ Courses]
OFFICE: 216 Mandeville Center for the Arts
http://visarts.ucsd.edu
The Department of Visual Arts offers courses in painting, drawing, sculpture, performance, computing in the arts, film, video, photography, and art history/criticism (including that of film and video). A bachelor’s degree from this department provides students with a solid liberal arts background and is preparatory training for careers as artists, art historians, filmmakers, video artists, photographers, digital media artists, and art critics. It also provides students the initial skills required for teaching and work in museums, television, and the commercial film, photography, and internet industries.
By its composition, the Department of Visual Arts is biased in the direction of actively producing artists and critics whose presence at the center of the contemporary art world necessitates reconsideration and reevaluation of artistic productions, their information structure, and significance. Consequently, a flexible introductory program of historically based courses has been devised mainly to provide the student an opportunity to concentrate on areas involving significantly different aesthetic and communication structures. A series of studio courses, in which painting and sculpture are included, is presented to bring the student into direct contact with the real contingencies compelling redistribution of aesthetic attitudes and reinterpretation of genres. Because of the exploratory nature of our program, the department is prepared to emphasize new media that would traditionally be considered to have scant relation to the visual arts. Thus, courses in theatrical events, linguistic structures, etc., are provided. In this context, theoretical courses with a media orientation, as in film, video, photography, or computing, are also offered.
The Department of Visual Arts is located in the Mandeville Center for the Arts. In addition, the master of fine arts program office, as well as faculty and graduate students’ studios/research spaces are located in the Visual Arts Facility sited in Sixth College. Ph.D. student offices are located in the Literature Building. Facilities and equipment are available to undergraduates in both the Mandeville Center and at the campus-wide Media Center, providing the opportunity to study painting, drawing, photography, computing in the arts, 16mm film, performance, sculpture, and video. Facilities at the Media Center include portable video recording equipment, video and audio editing suites, non-linear editing, and production studios. Additional film equipment available includes an animation stand, optical printer, two sound-mixing studios, and numerous film editing suites. Courses in computing in the arts take place in the Silicon Graphics/Mac/NT lab located at the Visual Arts Facility, the INTEL-shared lab in the Applied Physics and Mathematics building, and a dedicated ICAM lab in building 201 University Center.
The University Art Gallery displays a continually changing series of exhibitions, and the Mandeville Annex Gallery, located on the lower level, is directed by visual arts undergraduate students. A gallery and performance space, located in the Visual Arts Facility, are directed by graduate students.
The Undergraduate Program
College Requirements
The Department of Visual Arts teaches courses applicable toward the Muir, Sixth, and Warren general-education requirements, the Marshall humanities requirement, the Eleanor Roosevelt and Revelle fine arts requirements. Optional minors may be taken within any college.
Minor in Visual Arts
The Department of Visual Arts offers minors in seven areas of study: studio painting/drawing/ sculpture, photography, computing, art history, media history/criticism, film/video, and ICAM. A minor consists of seven specific courses, of which at least five must be upper-division. Because the requirements differ for each minor, prospective visual arts minors should consult with the departmental advisor for a complete list of appropriate classes acceptable for the minor.
Students are advised to begin their program in the second year; otherwise, they cannot be guaranteed enough time to complete the classes required for a minor.
Education Abroad Program
Students are often able to participate in the UC Education Abroad Program (EAP) and UCSD’s Opportunities Abroad Program (OAP) while still making progress toward completing their major. Financial aid is applicable to study abroad and special study abroad scholarships are readily available. Students considering this option should discuss their plans with the director of Undergraduate Studies before going abroad, and courses taken abroad must be approved by the department. More information on EAP/OAP is detailed in the Education Abroad Program of the UCSD General Catalog or on their Web site http://ucsd.edu/icenter/pao. Interested students should contact the Programs Abroad Office in the International Center.
Residency Requirements
A minimum of two-thirds of the course work completed for the major must be taken at UCSD. Students who transfer to UCSD in their second or third year may petition to substitute courses taken at other colleges and universities for major requirements.
Visual Arts 111, Structure of Art, must be taken at UCSD by all students, including transfer students, in the art history, media, and studio majors.
Honors Programs
The department offers honors programs in art history, in media, and in studio for outstanding students.
The art history honors program will provide outstanding students with pre-professional experience. It consists of an issue-oriented seminar followed by a directed group study and will result in an exhibition with catalogue, a scholarly conference with a mock publication and/or series of research papers. Students who meet the criteria may, with permission of the art history faculty advisor or the art history honors seminar instructor, enroll in the art history honors program during the last quarter of their junior year or as a senior. This program is open to juniors and seniors who meet eligibility requirements: minimum major GPA of 3.5 (3.3 overall), completion of all lower-division art history requirements, completion of all upper-division art history distribution requirements, and completion of Art Historical Methods (VIS 112) and at least one additional art history seminar. The level of distinction will be determined by the faculty committee on the basis of work in the honors seminar and on the research project.
The media honors program will help students develop high quality professional portfolios. The honors thesis project is a sequence of individual studies that runs the length of an academic year to provide sufficient time for ideas to develop and critically aware work to be produced. Students may arrange to work with different faculty advisors each term or may engage a single advisor for the year. To be eligible for the honors thesis sequence, students must have at least a 3.5 GPA in the major and have approval of all the advisors with whom they will work. Qualified students may begin their sequence the last quarter of their junior year or during their senior year. At the end of the third quarter, all involved media faculty will meet to critique the overall quality of the final thesis work to determine level of distinction.
Through exhibition, verbal and written presentations and course work, the studio honors program is intended to give the student as strong a technical, critical, and theoretical base as possible. The program is open to juniors and seniors with a minimum 3.5 GPA in the major (3.0 overall), who have completed all lower-division studio requirements and all upper-division groups I, II, III, and IV (subgroup A) requirements.
Students interested in participating in an honors programs should consult with the departmental advisor.
Double Major within the Department
There are three double majors within the Visual Arts department: Art History/Theory/ Criticism paired with either studio, media, or ICAM. Students interested in a double major within the department must have at least ten upper-division courses that are unique to each departmental major and the remaining courses may overlap with other major requirements. Students should consult with the departmental advisor for additional information.
Major Requirements
Twenty courses are required in studio, media, and ICAM and eighteen courses in art history for the attainment of the bachelor of arts degree. A minimum of twelve of these courses must be upper-division, however, some majors may require more upper-division courses.
All courses taken to satisfy major requirements must be taken for a letter grade, and only grades of C– or better will be accepted in the visual arts major.
Studio Major
The studio major is aimed at producing a theoretically based, highly productive group of artists. Lower-division courses are structured to expose students to a variety of ideas in and about the visual arts. Introductory skills are taught, but their development will occur at the upper-division level in conjunction with the student’s increasing awareness of the range of theoretical possibilities in the field. The curriculum includes courses in drawing, painting, sculpture, performance, photography, video, 16mm film, many offerings in art history/criticism, as well as new courses in digital imaging and electronics.
Group I: Lower-Division Foundation Level
Five courses required
1 |
Introduction to Art Making: Two-Dimensional Practices |
Choose one from:
20 |
Introduction to Art History |
Group II: Upper-Division Entry Level
Five courses required
111 |
Structure of Art |
Note: Required for Visual Arts studio, media, and art history majors. VIS 40, 60, or 70N can be taken to fulfill Group II entry level studio requirements, but will not count toward the fifteen upper-division courses needed to fulfill the major requirements.
Choose four from:
40/ICAM 40 |
Introduction to Computing in the Arts |
Group III: Upper-Division Intermediate Level
Two courses required
104BN |
Verbal Performance |
Group IV: Upper-Division Advanced Level
Five courses required
Group A:
Choose two from:
104CN |
Personal Narrative |
Group B:
Group A must be completed before Group B can be taken.
Choose three from:
108 |
Advanced Projects in Art |
Group V: Upper-Division
Non-Studio
Three courses required
Upper-division art history, film history, and theory/ criticism courses such as:
113CN* |
History of Criticism III: Contemporary (1950–present) |
*seminar
Honors Program in Studio
110M |
Studio Honors I |
The Studio Honors I and the attached Studio Honors II count as one course towards the fulfillment of a Group IV requirement.
Art History/Theory/Criticism Major
The major in art history, theory, and criticism is designed both for students who desire a broadly based education in the humanities and for those who plan to pursue a career in an art-related profession. In both cases, the foundation for study is proficiency in the languages of artistic expression. Through the study of art history, students learn to treat works of art as manifestations of human belief, thought, and experience in Western and nonwestern societies from prehistory to the present day. Courses in criticism review the theoretical approaches which are used to understand artistic achievement. By combining art historical and critical study, the program promotes in the student an awareness of the cultural traditions which have shaped his or her intellectual outlook and provides a framework for informed judgment on the crucial issues of meaning and expression in contemporary society.
Majors are encouraged to take relevant courses in allied disciplines such as history, communication, anthropology, and literature, and in such area programs as classics and Italian studies. In addition, students who plan to apply to graduate schools are strongly advised to develop proficiency in one or more foreign languages, as is dictated by their area of specialization.
FOUNDATION LEVEL—Lower-Division
Five courses required
20 |
Introduction to Art History |
Choose one from:
21A |
Introduction to the Art of the Americas or Africa
and Oceania |
Choose one from:
1, 2, 3 |
Introduction to Art-Making |
Note: VIS 23 should be completed by the end of the sophomore year or taken the first time it is offered after a junior declares an art history major or transfers into the program. VIS 23 is a prerequisite for VIS 112.
ADVANCED LEVEL—Upper-Division
Thirteen courses required
GROUP I—Required Courses
Two courses
These two courses are required for all art history and criticism majors:
111 |
Structure of Art* |
Note: Majors must complete VIS 112 by the end of their junior year and are strongly advised to do so earlier.
* Required of Visual Arts art history, media, and studio majors.
GROUP II—Distributional Requirement
Six courses
Choose one course from each of the following areas:
A. European Pre-Modern: Ancient and Medieval
120A |
Greek Art |
B. European Early Modern: Renaissance and Baroque
122AN |
Renaissance Art |
C. Modern and Contemporary
124BN |
Art and the Enlightenment |
D. Arts of the Americas
126AN |
Pre-Columbian Art of Ancient Mexico and Central America |
E. Arts of Asia
127B |
Arts of China |
F. Theory
113AN* |
History of Criticism I: Early Modern |
*seminar
Students must take at least three upper-division seminars in addition to VIS 112. These three additional seminars may come from any area and be taken in fulfillment of the distribution requirements or as open electives.
In accordance with standard university policy, the department requires that students take two-thirds of the upper-division courses in their major at UCSD. The distribution requirement must be fulfilled with courses taken at UCSD. Courses taken abroad or at other U.S. institutions do not count towards, and will not be substituted for, the six-course distribution requirement.
GROUP III—Electives
Five courses
Students are required to take five upper-division courses in addition to VIS 111, VIS 112 and those used to fulfill the distribution requirements. At least three of these must be courses in art history or theory. For the remaining two, choose from the following:
- Any upper-division art history course(s) in history or theory
- any upper-division course(s) in media history and criticism (e.g., VIS 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156N, 157);
- up to two upper-division courses in studio or media production; or
- with permission of art history faculty advisor, one upper-division course in a related department or program such as anthropology, history, literature, or critical gender studies.
- two two-unit curatorial practices workshop courses (VIS 128P) count as one course towards the fulfillment of an elective.
Honors Program in Art History
129G* |
Art History Honors Seminar |
*seminar
The completion of both the Art History Honors Seminar and the Art History Honors Directed Group Study counts as one course towards the fulfillment of the Group III requirement.
Students who meet the criteria may, with permission of the art history faculty advisor or the Art History Honors Seminar instructor, enroll in the Art History Honors Program during the last quarter of their junior year or as a senior. This program is open to juniors and seniors who meet eligibility requirements. Please consult with the departmental advisor for these requirements.
Media Major
With a visual arts foundation, the program is designed for students who want to become creative videomakers, filmmakers, photographers, and computer artists, encouraging the hybridity of media. The curriculum combines hands-on experience of making with practical and theoretical criticism, provides historical, social, and aesthetic backgrounds for the understanding of modern media, and emphasizes creativity, versatility, and intelligence over technical specializations. It should allow students to go on to more specialized graduate programs in the media arts, to seek careers in film, television, computing, or photography, or to develop as independent artists. All media majors should see the Visual Arts Undergraduate advisor upon entrance into UCSD.
FOUNDATION LEVEL—Lower-Division
Six courses required
Group A
1 or 2 or 3 |
Introduction to Art Making |
Group B
40/ICAM 40 |
Introduction to Computing in the Arts |
All six courses listed under Groups A and B above are required. VIS 70N is prerequisite for use of the Media Center facilities; no further production courses may be taken until VIS 70N is completed.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL—Upper-Division
Nine courses required: six from Group A and three from Group B
Group A
Two courses required.
Required courses for all emphases
111 |
Structure of Art |
VIS 174 is a prerequisite for all production classes below.
Choose One Emphasis
Four courses required
Computing Emphasis
Three courses plus one from photography or video and digital cinema
140/ICAM 101 |
Digital Imaging: Image and Interactivity |
Photography Emphasis
Two courses plus two from computing or video and digital cinema
164 |
Photographic Strategies |
Video and Digital Cinema Emphasis
Three courses plus one from computing or photography
171 |
Digital Cinema—Theory and Production |
GROUP B—History, Criticism, and Theory
Three courses required
113BN |
History of Criticism II: Early Twentieth Century
(1900–1950) |
Note: Any courses in the art history distributional requirement may be taken to fulfill the Group B requirement.
VIS 158 is required for all students with a photography emphasis.
VIS 159/ICAM150 is required for all students with a computing emphasis.
ADVANCED LEVEL—Upper Division
Five courses required
180A |
Documentary Evidence and the Construction of
Authenticity in |
Three of the above are required for the photography and video and digital cinema emphases and two are required for the computing emphasis. The A and B portion of VIS 180 and VIS 183 courses cannot be taken concurrently.
Electives
Three courses required
Computing Emphasis
Three courses required.
145B |
Time- and Process-Based Digital Media II |
Photography Electives
Two courses required
166 |
Advanced Camera Techniques |
Video and Digital Cinema Electives
Two of the courses below required
181 |
Sound and Lighting |
If not taken previously, one of the 180A, 180B, 183A, or 183B courses may be used toward the upper-division elective requirement.
Students must have senior standing before any of the following four courses may be taken and instructor approval is required to enroll.
109 |
Advanced Projects in Media |
Note: Enrollment in production courses is limited to two per quarter. Production courses are numbered VIS 109, 131, 132, 140/ICAM 101, 145A/ICAM 102, 145B, 147A-B, 164-184.
Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts (ICAM)
The Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts major in the Music and Visual Arts departments draws upon, and aims to bring together, ideas and paradigms from computer science, art, and cultural theory. It takes for granted that the computer has become a metamedium and that artists working with computers are expected to combine different media forms in their works. All of this makes the program unique among currently existing computer art or design programs which, on the one hand, usually focus on the use of computers for a particular media (for instance, specializing in computer animation, or computer music, or computer design for print) and, on the other hand, do not enter into a serious dialogue with current research in computer science, only teaching the students “off-the-shelf” software.
The program also recognizes that creating sophisticated artistic works with computers requires a new model of the creative process, one which combines traditional artistic procedures with the experimental research characteristic of the sciences. All in all, it aims to train a new type of cultural producer, who is familiar with art and media history, who is equally proficient with computer programming and artistic skills, who is always ready to learn new technologies, and who is comfortable interacting with scientists and computer industry resources.
The goals of the program are:
- to prepare the next generation of artists who will be functioning in a computer-mediated culture
- to give students necessary technical, theoretical, and historical backgrounds so they can contribute to the development of new aesthetics for computer media
- to prepare students to mediate between the worlds of computer science and technology, the arts, and the culture at large by being equally proficient with computing and cultural concepts
- to give students sufficient understanding of the trajectories of development in computing so they can anticipate and work with the emerging trends, rather than being locked in particular software currently available on the market
LOWER-DIVISION
Eight courses required
Arts
Four courses required
MUS 4 |
Introduction to Western Music |
Computer Science
One course required
CSE 11 |
Introduction to Computer Science: JAVA |
Note: CSE 11 is an accelerated course in the JAVA programming language. CSE 8A/8L and 8B, which cover the same material in a non-accelerated format, may be substituted.
Mathematics
Two courses required
MATH 20A |
Calculus for Science and Engineering |
Note: MATH 20A and 20B are accelerated calculus courses for Science and Engineering. MATH 10A, 10B, and 10C, which cover similar material in a non-accelerated format, may be substituted.
Computing and the Arts
One course required
ICAM 40/VIS 40 |
Introduction to Computing in the Arts |
UPPER-DIVISION
Twelve courses required
Survey
One course required
ICAM 110 |
Computing in the Arts: Current Practice |
Foundation
Three courses required
ICAM 101/VIS 140 |
Digital Imaging: Image and Interactivity |
Advanced
Four courses required
Choose three from:
ICAM 120 |
Virtual Environments |
Choose one from:
VIS 141B |
Computer Programming for the Arts II |
Theory and History
Two courses required
ICAM 150/VIS 159 |
History of Art and Technology |
and one of:
VIS 123CN |
Early Print Culture: The First Media Revolution |
Senior Project
Two courses required
ICAM 160A |
Senior Project in Computer Arts I |
Note: Enrollment in production courses is limited to two per quarter. Production courses are numbered VIS 109, 131, 132, 140/ICAM 101, 141A-B, 145A/ICAM 102, 145B, 147A-B, 174. ICAM 120, 160A-B.
Master of Fine Arts Program
The program is designed to provide intensive professional training for the student who proposes to pursue a career within the field of art—including art making, criticism, and theory. The scope of the UCSD program includes painting, sculpture, performance, installation art, photography, film, video, and digital media. The program is unique in that the course of study provides for and encourages student mobility within this range of traditional and media-based components. It also offers opportunities for collaborative work.
The educational path of students is focused around their particular interests in art. The department seeks to provide an integrated and comprehensive introduction to the possibilities of contemporary art production, the intellectual structures which underlie them, and the “world view” which they entail. All art-making activities are considered serious intellectual endeavors, and all students in the program find themselves confronted by the need to develop their intellectual and critical abilities in working out their artistic positions. A body of theory-oriented courses is required. Therefore, we have no craft-oriented programs or facilities; nor do we have any courses in art education or art therapy. The courses offered are intended to develop in the student a coherent and informed understanding of the past and recent developments in art and art theory. The program also provides for establishing a confident grasp of contemporary technological possibilities, including those involved in film, video, photography, and the electronic media.
The program includes formal education in lecture and seminar courses as well as study groups, studio meetings, and quarterly departmental critiques. Course work is intended to place art making in critical and intellectual context but doesn’t underestimate the central importance of the student’s own work. In fact, this aspect of the student’s activity is expected to be self-motivated and forms the core around which the program of study operates and makes sense.
No two students will necessarily follow the same path through the degree program, and the constitution of individual programs will depend upon the analysis of their individual needs and interests, worked out by students in collaboration with their individual faculty advisors.
Admission Requirements
Grade-Point Average—An overall GPA of 3.00 and a 3.50 in a student’s undergraduate major is required.
Art History—Students are expected to have had at least four semester courses or six quarter courses in art history and/or film history/criticism at the undergraduate level. Those who have a broader art history background will have a better chance of being awarded teaching assistantships. Students without this requirement can be admitted, but they may be expected to make up the six courses in excess of the seventy-two units required for the degree. If there are questions concerning this requirement, check with the department student affairs advisor.
Statement—Students are required to submit an essay of one-to-three pages on the direction of their work and its relationship to contemporary art. This essay should be critical in nature, refer explicitly to the student’s own work, and may refer to other artists, recent events in art history, and issues in domains other than art that have bearing on the student’s process, thought, and work.
Work—Students are asked to submit documentation of their best work in a suitable format such as slides, videotape, film, diskettes, CD, DVD, photographs, etc. These will be returned upon review of the application. It is necessary to include a self-addressed, stamped envelope for return of work.
Regular University Admission Policies
Please note that no application will be processed until all required information has been received. Students should submit applications with the application fee to the graduate admissions office using the UCSD online application on or before Thursday, January 15, 2009. Portfolio and official transcripts should be sent directly to the department and postmarked no later than January 15, 2009. The statement of purpose and letters of recommendation may be sent electronically, or can be sent directly to the department.
Requirements for the Degree
The M.F.A. is considered a terminal degree in studio work, and is a two- to three-year program. The following requirements must be completed in order to receive the M.F.A.:
First Year Review—This review takes place in the third quarter in residence. Students make a formal presentation of their work to a faculty committee; this includes a position paper and an oral examination. This presentation is considered a departmental examination, and if at its conclusion the student’s work is judged to be inadequate, the student may be dismissed regardless of GPA, or may be reviewed again in the fourth quarter.
Seventy-two units of course work, including a four-unit apprentice teaching course, are required. Students may select sixteen of these units (four courses) from upper-division undergraduate course offerings. (See listings in this catalog.) There are six required Visual Arts core seminars:
- Introduction to Graduate Studies in the Visual Arts (VIS 200)
- Contemporary Critical Issues (VIS 201)
- Art Practice Seminar (VIS 202)
- Working Critique Seminar (VIS 203)
- Introduction to Graduate Studies in Art Practice (VIS 205)
- one course in either Art Practice/Theory group or the Art History/Theory/Criticism group
Specific information on other course distribution requirements can be obtained from the department. One additional graduate course is required and must be taken in another department.
Students who remain registered in the third (optional) year must average one graduate course per quarter.
The M.F.A. Final Presentation
Presentation of Work—During the last quarter in residence, each student is required to present to the public a coherent exhibition or screening of his or her work.
Oral Examination—A committee of three Department of Visual Arts faculty members and one faculty member from another department will administer an oral examination to each student covering the student’s work and its relationship to the field of art.
Thesis—Students are required to submit some form of written work for the M.F.A. degree. Four options are available:
- Catalog—The student would design and have printed an actual catalog. This would include a critical essay of approximately 1,500 words.
- Critical paper—The student would write a critical paper of 3,000 words analyzing his or her process and the relationship of his or her work to recent art history, with references to contemporary styles and specific artists.
- Analytical essay on some phase of art—Students who have focused on both art production and art criticism would write a 3,000 word critical essay on any current art position. A brief discussion (750 words) of the student’s work would also be included.
- Critical thesis—Students whose emphasis is essentially criticism and who do not present an M.F.A. exhibition would write a forty- to fifty-page thesis—the topic to be decided by the student and his or her advisor.
Additional information can be obtained from the graduate office of the Department of Visual Arts.
Ph.D. Program
The Department of Visual Arts offers the Ph.D. degree in art history, theory, and criticism with concentrations in any of the areas in which faculty do research (see below). Offering a distinct alternative to existing Ph.D. programs in art history, the program centers on a unique curriculum that places art objects and practice at the center of inquiry, both past and present, and encompassing fine art, media, and mass culture, even as it encourages examination of the larger frameworks—historical, cultural, social, intellectual, and theoretical—within which the category “art” has been contextualized in the most recent developments in the discipline.
This program is also distinctive in that it is housed within a department that has been for many years one of the nation’s leading centers of art practice and graduate education in studio, media, and—most recently—digital media. The offering of the Ph.D. and M.F.A. degrees is based on the department’s foundational premise that the production of art and the critical, theoretical, and historical reflection upon it inherently and necessarily participate in a single discursive community. This close integration of art history and art practice is reflected in the inclusion of a concentration in art practice within the Ph.D. in art history, theory, and criticism.
The innovative character of this program is most evident in a unique curricular structure that is broadly organized into three groups of seminars. The importance of critical theory to the field today is reflected in the seminars under the Theories/New Visions group, while the study of art in its concrete historical, social, and cultural contexts, across different cultures and media, is emphasized in time, place, and media specific seminars listed under Times/Terrains.
The program builds most distinctively on recent developments in the field in the seminars under the heading Categories/Constructs. These seminars address the core questions about artworks and practices that the department believes every doctoral student in art and media history, whatever his or her area of specialization, should engage. How is the category “art” itself produced, now and in the past, in the urbanized west and in other cultures, in the context of ever-changing technologies? How are artistic identities constructed across distinct epochs and societies, and with reference to categories such as gender and ethnicity? What are the circumstances and contexts (social, intellectual, institutional, and the like) within which art is both produced and disseminated? What are the alternative modes of engaging art objects and practices and what are the histories and theoretical assumptions of the specialized discourses used to describe and analyze them?
Seminars in the Categories/Constructs group are unique in the degree to which they foreground the self-critical turn in recent art and media history by making reflection upon the central concepts, constructs, categories, and languages of art historical inquiry a key programmatic concern. They are also distinctive in that they are designed to cut across traditional categories of history and contemporaneity, art and media (film, video, photography, digital media), history and theory, and to promote cross-cultural inquiry insofar as they center on questions crucial to the study of art of diverse cultures as well as diverse art forms and historical epochs.
Admission
Applicants may apply to the Ph.D. program only. The policy of UCSD is to admit in the fall quarter only. Applications for admission must be postmarked January 2, 2009, and selections will be made by April 1. For circumstances under which the M.A. is granted, see below. Prior to matriculation, students must have obtained a bachelor’s or master’s degree in art history, art practice, or another field approved by the departmental committee on graduate studies, such as (but not limited to) history, literature, anthropology, or philosophy.
Applicants must submit their academic transcripts, scores on the Graduate Record Examination, three letters of recommendation, a statement of purpose (no more than 750 words), and a sample of written work (e.g., senior honors thesis, M.A. thesis, or other research or critical paper, preferably in art or media history). An overall GPA of 3.00 and a 3.50 in a student’s undergraduate major are required. The Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) is required for international applicants. Applicants must have a good reading knowledge of at least one foreign language at the time they enter the program.
Please note that no application will be processed until all required information has been received. Students should submit applications with the application fee to the graduate admissions office on or before Friday, January 2, 2009. The Statement of Purpose and letters of recommendation may be submitted online along with the application. If submitting hard copies they are to be sent directly to the department graduate coordinator.
Areas of Concentration
During the first year of study, each student must declare an area of major concentration in consultation with his or her individual faculty advisor and with the approval of the Ph.D. graduate advisor. The major concentration may be selected from the following: ancient art; medieval art; renaissance art; early modern art; modern art (nineteenth and twentieth centuries); contemporary art; media studies (film, video, photograph, digital media); Meso-American art; and art practice. A student may also choose, in consultation with his or her advisor and the Ph.D. Graduate advisor, a field of emphasis that cuts across the areas within the department (e.g., art or media theory and criticism) or, with appropriate approvals, one that involves another department (e.g., early modern art history and history). Once the field of emphasis is established, it will be the responsibility of the student and his or her advisor to devise a program of courses, independent study and outside reading, over and above the required program, that will ensure that the student will attain command of the major field of emphasis.
Course Work
A normal full-time program consists of twelve units per quarter. Prior to the qualifying examination, students will be expected to complete eighty-four units, equivalent to twenty-one four-unit courses (normally accomplished in seven to nine quarters). This twenty-one-course requirement will normally be satisfied by a combination of graduate seminars, reading courses, independent study, and apprentice teaching. No more than three may be apprentice teaching; no more than two may be reading courses; and no more than two may be graduate seminars in art practice or art practice/theory. By reading course, we mean an upper-division undergraduate course which a student takes with additional reading and writing requirements. Full-time study is expected. Graduate seminars in Art History, Theory, and Criticism should comprise the bulk of the student’s twenty-one-course requirement.
All students are required to take the following seminars in their first year of study: VIS 200 Introduction to Graduate Studies in Visual Art and VIS 204 Re-Thinking Art History. For students in the art practice concentration, VIS 206 Seminar in Art Practice Research must also be taken in their first year of study. Students must also take, at some point, one seminar from the Art Practice/Theory group, VIS 210-VIS 219. One four-unit apprentice teaching course, VIS 500, is also required.
In order to ensure that students attain a reasonable measure of historical and cultural breadth, all students are required to take one seminar from at least four of the following areas: 1) ancient or medieval art; 2) renaissance or early modern art; 3) modern or contemporary art; 4) media studies; 5) non-western art.
If a student has completed some graduate work in art history, theory, and criticism before entering UCSD, there may be some appropriate adjustments in course work as approved by petition to the Ph.D. Graduate advisor and the department chair.
Foreign Language Requirements
Students will be required to demonstrate reading knowledge of at least two of the foreign languages required for advanced study in art history, theory, and criticism. One should be the language most directly relevant to the student’s area of specialization. The student and his or her individual advisor will jointly determine the examination languages.
Foreign language requirements will normally be satisfied by passing examinations requiring sight translation of texts in art history, theory, and criticism. Students are required to pass their entering language examination in order to be advanced to their second year in the program. The first-year language examination will be offered during the fall quarter of the entering year. The second required language examination will be offered during the fall quarter of the second year in the program. Students must pass both language examinations by the end of their second year to continue in the program.
Examinations
No later than the first quarter of the third year, the student, in consultation with his or her individual advisor, will form a qualifying examination committee which will consist of four members drawn from the visual arts department faculty and one tenured faculty member outside the department. The composition of the qualifying examination committee and the dissertation defense for students in the Art Practice degree program is: four department faculty (two art history, theory, and criticism faculty, and at least one tenured studio faculty) and one tenured faculty member outside the department. This committee will conduct the qualifying examination required by university policy and oversee completion of the dissertation. The membership of the committee must be approved by the Ph.D. Graduate advisor and ultimately the dean of Graduate Studies. The qualifying examination will consist of a three-hour written examination, followed within the next two days by a two-hour oral examination, in the student’s major field. A student must have completed all required course work and passed all language examinations before taking the qualifying examination, which will be held no later than the end of the third year. Upon successful completion of the qualifying examination, the student will be advanced to candidacy.
A student who fails either the written or the oral examination may petition the committee and Ph.D. Graduate advisor to repeat the examination. Any student who fails a second time will not be advanced to candidacy. In some cases, the committee and graduate program director may judge such student eligible to receive a terminal M.A. (see below).
Dissertation
Following successful completion of the qualifying examinations, the student will complete a doctoral dissertation in his or her field of emphasis. Upon selection of the dissertation topic, a colloquium will be held at which the student will present a prospectus that outlines the topic and program of research for discussion by the graduate group and for approval by his or her committee. After the committee has reviewed the finished dissertation, the student will defend his or her thesis orally. Students in the art practice concentration will submit a written dissertation that observes the same regulations and conventions, except that its length may be reduced by one quarter. In addition, the student will present the visual component, the nature of which will be decided by the student and his or her committee.
Normative Time from Matriculation to Degree
The student will normally advance to candidacy in two and one-half to three years and must be advanced to candidacy by the end of four years. He or she will normally complete the research for and writing of the dissertation by the end of his or her sixth year of study. Total university support may not exceed seven years, and total registered time at UCSD may not exceed eight years.
M.A. Degree
All students will apply for and be admitted to the Ph.D. Program An M.A. degree may be awarded to continuing Ph.D. students upon successful completion of the following: (1) at least twelve four-unit courses, including VIS 200 Introduction to Graduate Studies in Visual Art, VIS 204 Rethinking Art History, and one seminar from the group VIS 210–219; (2) a three-hour written examination in a designated field of emphasis (see Examinations above); (3) one language examination; and (4) an M.A. thesis. The M.A. is not automatically awarded; students must apply in advance to the Ph.D. Graduate advisor and in accordance with university procedures, no later than the first two weeks of the quarter in which they expect to receive the degree.
Students interested in an M.A. only are not admitted to our program.
