Courses

Introduction to Art History

An introduction to the discipline of art history through a critical survey of the Western canon of art and architecture, beginning with the prehistoric period and leading up to the present day. The course teaches visual literacy and familiarizes students with the basic skills and critical discourses of art history. This course should prepare students for all subsequent art history electives. Art majors should complete this course by the end of their sophomore year. Fall and Spring. 3 hour(s).

History and Theory of Photography

This course provides an overview of the history of photography as well as an introduction to critical writings on photography from the nineteenth century to our current digital age. We will consider the history of technical developments in photography as well as its relationship to fine art and mass culture. In particular, we will explore photography’s many functions throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: as a tool for scientific research, a means of establishing identities, a stage for projecting the impossible, a purely formal medium, and an index of social realities. We will also examine the ethics of photography, on the part of the photographer as well as the viewer, and question how the history of photography and photography theory might impact the way in which we as Christians take, view, and distribute our own photographs today. Prerequisite(s): ART 270 or permission of instructor. Fall. 3 hour(s).

Women, Art, and Culture

This course will focus on women both as the subjects and creators of art, particularly in the West but also in other cultural contexts. This will involve a historical survey of women artists and their artistic contributions, as well as an examination of the religious, mythological, and secular images of women in art. Extensive attention will be given to the creation, modification, and persistence of these images throughout history in the context of various social, economic, psychological, and intellectual conditions. Prerequisite(s): ART 270 or permission of instructor. Spring. 3 hour(s).

Race in American Art and Visual Culture

This course explores the visual construction of race in American art and culture from the Colonial period through the Civil Rights era. We will consider how the creation and circulation of painting, sculpture, photography, and the graphic arts intersected with developing anthropological and sociological theories of race and ethnicity. While the focus will primarily be on categories of blackness and whiteness, specific racialized depictions of Native American, Latino, and Asian subjects will also be considered. 3 hour(s).

Art and the Church: Catacombs to Counter Reformation

A thematic and historical examination of the changing uses of and attitudes towards the visual arts in the Christian church. Beginning with paintings in the Roman catacombs and continuing through the present, this course considers how theological and socio-political concerns have shaped the ways in which the Church has understood the role of art in both public and private religious contexts. While the focus of the course will be on Roman Catholicism and western Evangelicalism, we will also look at some examples from Eastern Orthodox churches and from artists working in specific non-western contexts. 3 hour(s).

Global Modernisms

A historical examination of the asynchronous but global development of Modern art from 1860 to 1960, in Europe, the United States, East Asia, Latin America, Africa, and India. The course will explore artistic modernism as an inherently hybrid mode of cultural production and consider themes of industrialization and technology, national identity, gender identity, and political uses of art. Prerequisite(s): ART 270 or permission of instructor. Fall. 3 hour(s).

Contemporary Art and Theory

A thematic and historical examination of the development of contemporary art and theory globally, particularly as defined against modernism. The course offers an introduction to dominant methodologies and critical frameworks of the late 20th and early 20th century, including: feminist criticism, structuralism, poststructuralism, Neo-Marxism, multiculturalism, queer theory, and the like. Extensive attention will be given to building a redemptive approach to contemporary art and theory. Prerequisite(s): ART 270 and an Art History Elective, or permission of the instructor. Spring. 3 hour(s).

Senior Seminar Capstone

Topics include discussions about the integration of faith and art, contemporary problems in visual arts with an emphasis on preparation for the Capstone, senior exhibition, and developing of a portfolio.