Cultivate a Deeper Curiosity 51±¬ÁĎąŮÍř’s Liberal Arts program provides students with the essential problem-solving and critical-thinking skills which all artists need. Within historical, social, cultural, and creative contexts, the liberal arts curriculum deepens your understanding of artistic and visual traditions and cultivates creativity in a wide range of fields. Instructors encourage you to articulate creative and critical ideas to a variety of audiences. Study in the liberal arts provides the skills and knowledge necessary to make insightful critiques of your creative practice. Bachelor of Fine Art Requirements for Graduation Art History (15 credits) Humanities and Sciences (24 credits) Bachelor of Science Requirements for Graduation Humanities and Sciences (30 credits) AH 1701 Introduction to Art and Design: History 1 The objective of this course is to familiarize students with the major stylistic, thematic, cultural, and historical transformations in art history from prehistoric times to the nineteenth century. This course helps students develop critical tools for the interpretation and understanding of the meaning and function of art objects, architecture, and design artifacts within their original historical contexts. Class sessions consist primarily of lecture with some discussion. Students take in-class examinations and complete short essay assignments. AH 1702 Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 This course introduces students to issues in modern art, popular culture, and contemporary art and design. Topics might include the expanding audience for art, the transformation of the art market, the impact of new technologies, the changing status of the artist, and the role of art in society. This course is taught as a seminar with some lecture. Students take in-class examinations and complete short essay assignments. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design History 1 or faculty permission AH 2101 Interrogating Post Modernity: The Fine Arts Since 1945 This course introduces students to global fine arts production (drawing, painting, sculpture, artists’ books, performance, public, and socially engaged) since 1945. Using a series of case studies this class examines the historical, theoretical, and aesthetic developments in and relationships between fine arts media. Students engage with a combination of primary and secondary texts, apply visual analysis skills, contextualize artworks, and investigate various political and aesthetic points of view. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 2103 Applied Arts and Designed Objects This course traces the history of applied arts and designed objects through furniture, products, packaging, and multidimensional forms of graphic design. Students examine applied arts and designed objects as part of an evolving human culture of habit, convenience, and status. Various movements and styles within the histories of design genres, as well as the processes and manufacturing of consumer objects are considered. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 2105 Print Culture, Art, and Communicati on in the Age of Mass Reproduction Since the advent of print and the printing press, text, image, graphic design, comics, and advertising have played significant roles in cultural formation. This course examines the history of mass reproduction of printed matter from the advent of modernity, including books and periodical designs, to the present. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 2107 Photography, the Moving Image, and Digital Culture The production and reproduction of static, moving, and digital images have grown from work produced by an exotic technology used only by specialists to a socially ubiquitous representational form that generates millions of images, clips, cartoons, gifs, shorts, and films daily. This course surveys the development of (re)produced and moving images from their commercial applications, entertainments, and art to the all-pervasive media in which our popular cultures and artistic cultures exist. Individual artists and makers, as well as their works and contextualized movements within changing technological, economic, and institutional frameworks, are considered. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 2108 Screenings for Photography, the Moving Image, and Digital Culture AH 3330 Art and Social Change Can art change the world? This course presents a history of artistic practice as a tool for social change. Presented both as a chronology and as a thematically organized set of forms that artists have mobilized (agitprop, activist, performance, participatory, ephemeral), students explore how artists have created new modes of life by considering the medium of life itself as that which requires change. Topics to consider: the use of art as a tool by social, civil, ecological, and economic movements; the use of art to envision futures during times of political transformation; the use of art to construct alternative ways of life and community; artists as alternative knowledge producers; the tendency of power to co-opt resistant practices; and the role of the (alternative) art school as crucible and catalyst. Students learn to contextualize art practices by considering theoretical questions regarding the artist’s role in society. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3365 History of Animation This course surveys the history of the animation medium explored through various methods and techniques, as well as through shared themes from various countries and filmmaking traditions. Central topics include propaganda, personal filmmaking, abstraction, technical innovations, and politics and social protest. Connections between animation and editorial caricature, the fine arts, the avant-garde, illustration, and media other than film are made throughout the course. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission AH 3367 Histories of the Book: From the Codex to Hypertext Faced with a digital revolution in progress, in 1992 Robert Coover famously predicted the “end of books.” Yet in recent years, the number of books published worldwide has hovered around 2 million per year, suggesting the enduring appeal of the physical, portable, and printed object. This course examines the histories of the book, globally, from its origins in the Middle Ages to the present. It covers not only bound, paper tomes, but also their 21st-century progeny, including e-books, audiobooks, and other digital formats. This course will also take advantage of local collections like those held by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts; the Kerlan Collection and the Gorman Rare Art Books and Media Collection at the University of Minnesota; 51±¬ÁĎąŮÍř; Walker Art Center; and Mia. Questions examined are: How has the book functioned as an agent of historical change, one often associated with political turmoil and social controversyff What can the study of the book tell us about the lives of those who made, illustrated, and read printed works in the pastff How have books helped communities forge shared identities, individuals achieve social mobility, and immigrants celebrate their heritageff Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission AH 3394 Focus on Film: Science Fiction Science fiction is the future talking to the present. It is the movie genre which was, at first, taken least seriously, and now is seen as not only a metaphor of where we are today but also a glimpse into the future. This class looks at science fiction films historically, artistically, philosophically, technologically, and even religiously. The class begins by looking at the earliest science fiction movies from the silent era. The course then proceeds decade by decade, from the Golden Age of sci-fi in the 1950s, to the archetypal adventures of the 1970s, to the present day with its investigations of humanity's attempt to discern an ultimate reality. Each week students examine a seminal film that has mapped out new realms, both scientifically and thematically, in a journey that can lead us into the darkest reaches of our science and our souls. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3395 Screenings for Focus on Film: Science Fiction ​​AH 3430 Neuroaesthetics Can a particular form or set of stimuli always or reliably bring about a particular result? While there is still divided opinion as to how far an understanding of neurological functions can go in explaining “how art works,” scientists and artists alike have turned to neuroaesthetics to develop a way to explain the aesthetic experience through a science of the mind. The new awareness of how cognition builds up, how synaptic leaps are created, and how viewers notice schematic elements in a given work are all evidence that neuroaesthetics provides an interdisciplinary nexus to bridge art and science, body and mind. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3440 Curation and Conservation: Science in the Gallery This course allows students a close look at the materials and techniques used in both historical and contemporary art conservation. The class will work with conservators from the Midwest Art Conservation Center and items in local collections to gain an overview of the technical study of art history through hands-on experience studying and evaluating works of art, lab experiences, and readings and discussions of issues and debates in art conservation. Combining science, art history, and museum studies, this course seeks to explore the materiality of art-making from the perspective of both artist and audience. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission AH 3442 Curating for Artists and Designers This course introduces artists and designers to the history, theory, and diverse practices of contemporary curation. Through readings, discussions, writing, research, and field work, students consider the evolving roles of museums, galleries, and other emerging curatorial spaces, both virtual and real, as well as the history and contemporary practices of collecting and display. Throughout the course students assess the roles of curators and their audiences, paying special attention to issues of power and politics. The course provides students with the requisite vocabulary for understanding how curators produce knowledge and the ways in which aesthetics, history, culture, and society are explored through exhibition practices. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission AH 3500 Visual Perspectives Visual perspectives are systems for creating space and distance on a flat surface. Different cultures position the viewer in varied ways that condition what they see and the way they see it. Linear perspective is a seminal event in Western art history in which the position of the individual observer became an engine for the development of Modernity. This course focuses on the historical development of various visual perspective systems and their impact on conceptions of space and time. Class sessions are an equal mix of lecture and discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3519 Visual Geometry This course explores the languages, structures, and principles of mathematical systems as they relate to the visual arts. It offers a view of geometry’s pivotal role in giving form to fundamental postulates underlying the study of visual art and design, such as linear perspective, composition, the Fibonacci sequence, and the golden section. Through hands-on study supplemented by drawing and paper-folding exercises, students learn to translate geometry’s spatial concepts into visual forms, while also gaining an appreciation for this mathematical tool’s enduring utility at the hands of artists, architects, and designers since ancient times. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3570 Focus on Textiles: Global Dress and Fiber Arts This course introduces students to a global history of textiles, dress, and fiber arts, from prehistory to the present. We will explore the materiality of fibers such as wool, linen, silk, and cotton alongside specific techniques (e.g. dyeing, embroidery, felting, weaving) that makers from diverse historical, cultural, economic, political, and environmental contexts and artistic traditions makers have used to create textiles. We will consider elements of design involved in making historic textiles and dress as well as explore the work of contemporary fiber artists who draw upon rich global traditions of textile-making. within which textiles are produced and consumed. To complement our exploration of textiles and its related historiography, we will look at textiles in collections in the Twin Cities to better understand this vibrant and enduring medium. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission AH 3606 World Film: Art Film and Independents For the last half-century, the look, language, and subject matter of films have been blown wide open. This change is the work of dedicated and curious cinematic visionaries from every continent. This course explores several of their works, beginning in the 1950s and advancing to the present day. The ultimate goal is to see how these artists have challenged expectations of classical form or appropriated themes and how a globally interconnected world cinema has developed. Works by acclaimed directors are shown and compared to lesser-known filmmakers’ equally vital and influential works. Classes are primarily lecture and discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3607 Great Directors This course examines the work of expert American film directors from the dawn of the talkies to the present day and explores what made these individuals great filmmakers. The faculty may take a chronological, thematic, national, or international approach to the subject. Each week students study the work of a director and consider the technique, structure, and themes of the director’s work as well as the broader disciplinary and cultural significance of the work. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3608 Screenings for Great Directors AH 3614 Screenings: World Film: Art and Independents AH 3618 Documentary Film in Focus In this course, students focus on non-fiction cinema. Examining different modes of documentary film which may include the expository, the observational, the participatory, the performative, the reflexive, and the poetic, students investigate how these modes shape manners in which non-fiction cinema may adopt a critical stance toward the presentation of an idea. Filmmakers and works analyzed in this course include a wide variety of perspectives from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries employing differing modes of documentary film. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3619 Screenings for Documentary Film in Focus AH 3657 History of Comic Art Although comics now include a vast collection of different articulations of image and text, their shared history reflects the movement from strictly pulp publications on cheap paper created by assembly line artists to complex stories with provocative images. This course follows the global history of comic art from its origins to the contemporary moment. The development and range of image and textual forms, styles, and structures that differentiate the vast compendium of such work inform the discourse in class. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission AH 3665 Art in the Cities Art in the Cities explores the relationship between art and urban space with the Twin Cities as its primary site of investigation. This seminar-style course focuses on current exhibitions and curatorial practices in museums, galleries, artist-run spaces, and other project spaces located throughout the Twin Cities. In-class discussions examining the history and contemporary practice and politics of display in urban contexts with some emphasis on social, public, interventionist, and community-based practices is equally balanced with activities outside the classroom such as exhibition visits, artist talks, and performances. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission. AH 3681 Topics in Cinema: Artists' Film and Video This survey offers an extensive history of how artists have brought various projected and moving-image practices into their work. Not just an introduction to “experimental film” or “video art,” this course presents work being produced at the border between the fine arts and film production. Students look at the work produced in relation to historical artistic movements of the avant-garde such as Constructivism, Dada, and Surrealism, then study work related to the neo-avant-garde with Pop, Fluxus, and Minimalism. The class contextualizes that work with lyrical, poetic, and structural approaches to filmmaking as discussed in the histories of experimental cinema. Students examine the relation of artists’ film and video production to larger social and cultural issues such as feminism, postcolonialism, and globalization. Screenings include works by a range of artists such as Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Hans Richter, Dziga Vertov, Maya Deren, Andy Warhol, Nam June Paik, Yoko Ono, Richard Serra, and many others. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2. AH 3683 Screenings for Topics in Cinema: Artists' Film and Video AH 3839 The Body in Art and Visual Culture In this course students critically examine the cultural meanings of representations of the body in art and visual culture. Organized in roughly chronological order, the course comprises a series of case studies in the history of representation of the body in art, science, and popular culture. Topics that may be addressed include the classical nude in Greek sculpture, female saints, mystical visions of the body, aesthetic dismemberment of the body in modern and contemporary art, the transgender body, and cyber bodies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission AH 3862 Bauhaus Design Even after the Nazis closed its doors in 1933, the Bauhaus remains a fascinating cultural phenomenon. This experimental design school challenged the relationship between art, technology, and industrial production, creating a design philosophy that has been emulated across the world. Simultaneously a school, an idea, and a movement, the Bauhaus embodies a complex narrative shaped by contradictory responses to twentieth-century modernism. While focusing on the major designers whose works and artistic philosophies shaped the Bauhaus in Germany, this course also examines the dissemination of the Bauhaus idea in the United States. Students follow these discussions with an investigation into the role of the Bauhaus idea today. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3864 Readings in Photographic Culture This seminar-style course explores photographic culture through focused readings in the theory and history of photography, covering the period from 1839 to the present. These texts facilitate discussions of the ways in which technological transformations and concepts like truthfulness, documentary ethics, and authorship are presented and negotiated in the work of specific photographers. This course is an opportunity for students to discuss the historical and changing philosophical nature of the photographic medium. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3867 Readings in Contemporary Art Since the 1960s, new paradigms for art, its presentation, and its discussion have emerged. In this course students consider major issues in contemporary art through reading key critical texts and engaging with a selection of museum and gallery exhibitions, while also exploring historical contexts. Class sessions consist of seminar-style discussions, some lecture, and museum visits. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission. AH 3868 Readings in Contemporary Design In this course students consider major issues in contemporary design across a range of design fields as articulated through critical texts and contemporary developments. Students examine contemporary design theory along with related work and processes. This course is taught as a seminar with some lecture. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission AH 3875 Readings in the Graphic Novel The graphic novel is an art form that offers the best of both worlds. While gaining legitimacy as a literary/art form, it retains the excitement and unique properties of reading a comic book. Students in this course read, discuss, and analyze graphic novels, as well as engage in critical scholarship on and about the graphic novel form. Looking at graphic novels in genres like mystery, superhero, manga, memoir, history and politics, or works beyond categorization, students examine how these stories are structured: the forms of novel, novella, and short story help differentiate and explain the subtleties of these forms. The class focuses on social, structural, and thematic issues of these specific texts and explores the possibilities of the form itself. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission. AH 4325 Native American Art Most Native American tribes do not have a word in their languages for “artist,” yet the arts are a living part of both daily life and ceremonial tradition. Focusing on the works of selected tribes, students in this course look at Native American art, architecture, and aesthetics. Emphasis is placed on the nineteenth century to the present. The impact of outside forces on continuities and changes in traditional forms is also explored. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission AH 4722 Asian Art History This course examines the art of Asia from its beginnings to the present day. It involves a regional approach, focusing on representative works from India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. While regional characteristics are emphasized, cross-cultural influences are also studied. Through a variety of media, including sculpture, architecture, and painting, students gain an understanding of the broad themes and concepts that run throughout Asian art. Students consider the role of religion, for example, and gain a basic comprehension of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Islam, Taoism, and Shinto. The structure of the class includes lectures, large and small group discussions, and visits to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission AH 4725 Islamic Art This course will examine Islamic art and architecture through religious, historical, political, and cultural practices from the seventh century to the present. Combining a thematic approach (such as kingship, gift exchange, identity, etc.) with the more traditional chronological and geographical approaches, this course will trace the visual and material culture of Islam and its global influence. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission AH 4728 African American Art This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the visual art of African Americans from the Colonial period to the present. The course examines a variety of visual media from painting, sculpture, and photography to popular culture objects and mass media images. In addition, students critically examine the ways in which the constructed meanings of "blackness" intersect with representational practices of gender, sexuality, and class, as well as the training and education of artists, public and private patronage, and the history of arts criticism and art history. Class sessions include both lectures and discussions. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission. AH 4729 Art and Globalization in the Atlantic World This course examines the impact and effects of globalization on the visual culture of the Atlantic world (defined by Europe, Africa, and the Americas) from the period of the Columbian encounter to the contemporary moment. Students examine the circulation and exchange of goods, ideas, knowledge, culture, and peoples across the Atlantic world through an investigation of visual representations, performance, and collecting practices. The course narrative is guided by thematic issues of gender, race, the politics of display, and national and cultural identities, tracing the movement of visual cultures across the Atlantic through individual case studies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission. AH 4731 Returning the Gaze: Art and Identity in the Age of Empire How did 19th-century artistic practices both support and challenge European imperialismff How did those living in Africa, Asia, and Latin America respond to, appropriate, and reuse European forms of picture-making in order to craft local, hybrid identities and resist colonial oppressionff This course examines how art served as a cultural and social arena for the crafting—and contesting—of identity for both the colonizer and the colonized. Through a series of case studies in Algeria, China, India, Japan, the Caribbean, and Egypt, students will examine how artists negotiated both modern and traditional artistic practices in their struggle to define new identities in the context of global trade, migration, and exchange. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission. AH 5913 Art History Seminar Cultural definitions of art shift from one historical moment to the next. The practice of research in art history can help make these transformations explicit, understandable, and in some cases predictable. This course introduces the practice of art history through some of the significant theories, methodologies, and key concepts that inform contemporary and historical art criticism. In completing this course, students conduct their own research in an art history topic and gain familiarity with the historical and theoretical frameworks within which to place art and artistic practice. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and one AH or one cross-listed AH/HU elective, or faculty permission AH IS99 Independent Study: Liberal Arts AHW 3365 History of Animation - Writing Intensive A Liberal Arts course prefix with a W appended as the final character indicates that the student took this course as a writing-intensive course. See the course schedule for the appropriate year and term to find the general course description for this course. AHW 4725 Islamic Art - Writing Intensive A Liberal Arts course prefix with a W appended as the final character indicates that the student took this course as a writing-intensive course. See the course schedule for the appropriate year and term to find the general course description for this course. CPW 3043 Magical Realism This class involves a close study of novels and short stories in the genre of magical realism within the context of an introductory writer’s workshop. Magical realism engages a combination of traditional realism infused with the fantastic, the mythical, and the nightmarish. Students will read novels and short fiction from different cultural contexts in order to compare the workings of magical realism around the world, examine other contemporary manifestations of magical realism in media, and create their own writing in the style of the genre. Prerequisite: Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission. CPW 3045 Introduction to Poetry In this hands-on class, students read the work and advice of contemporary poets, along with selected examples from the past, to hone the crafts of sound, the line, metaphor, voice, imagery, and revision in their own poems. Through guided exercises students deepen their understanding of the creative process. By viewing live and videotaped interviews and readings and exploring the publishing process, students gain a sense of the many forms in which contemporary poets appear. Class sessions are discussion-based. Prerequisite: Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission CPW 3065 Narrative and Storytelling Storytelling is humankind's oldest art form, and in many ways we define and know ourselves best by the creation of a series of events that almost magically transform themselves into plot, characters, and themes. How we invent and tell a story is how we see the world. This class develops students’ appreciation for plot, story arc, and character development, and familiarizes students with the various techniques of sequential narrative, non-sequential narrative, and experimental narrative. Prerequisite: Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission CPW 3905 Writing for Screen and Performance This class provides powerful tools that help students understand how effective narratives written for time-based media or performances work from a range of perspectives. It teaches the basics of various film structures, writing dialogue, creating characters and dramatic situations, and experimental methodologies. Class sessions are discussion-based. Students turn in weekly assignments, starting with short scenes and problems and moving on to several short scripts. Prerequisite: Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission. CPW 3915 Science Fiction and Fantasy This class combines a close study of the works of classic and contemporary fantasy/science fiction writers with a writing workshop component. The primary focus of this class is the creation of altered realities—worlds that present a reality as different, yet connected and meaningful to our own. A series of assigned writing exercises give participants in the class the chance to build their own worlds and begin the process of peopling them with appropriate characters. Class exploration focuses on developing students' own unique logic, questions, interrogations, and approaches to fantasy/science fiction genre writing. Class sessions are discussion-based. Prerequisite: Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission. CPW 3920 Creative Writing This course investigates the aesthetic issues at the heart of writing as an art in itself. Course topics illuminate the kind of thinking that guides and inspires. Students develop presentations and are encouraged to explore creatively, engaging in deep investigations into the nature of communication and the role of language. The class may include trips to and possibly participation in local events to enhance the classroom experience and students’ understanding of the creative writing process. Prerequisite: Writing and Inquiry or faculty permission. CPW 5910 Advanced Writing for Screen and Performance In Advanced Writing for Screen and Performance, each student develops and structures a long-form narrative, story, or script for a time-based or performative project. In a workshop setting, students orally present their ideas for feedback from the class, then write iterative drafts of their pieces to be read for class critiques. Feedback is rigorous but supportive, and each student is expected to write at a high level. It is recommended that students complete Writing for Screen and Performance before enrolling in this course. Prerequisite: Writing for Screen and Performance or faculty permission. CPW 5950 Advanced Poetry Workshop The main undertaking in this class is to discuss, create, edit, critique, and revise poetry. Members of the advanced poetry workshop hone their craft and gain a deeper sense of themselves as poets through the analysis of their own work, their peers’ work, and the work of practicing poets. Students are required to explore a variety of poetic voices and modes by writing and submitting one new poem each week and to perform in-depth, weekly critiques of their colleagues’ work. Prerequi