Course Listing

AR 109 Survey of Art: A Cross-cultural Approach 3
This course provides students with a basic understanding of the visual arts from a cross-cultural perspective. The first half of the course deals with the nature of art, the evaluation of art, and the principles, processes, and materials of art. The second half of the semester is spent in a study of world art including an overview of western art from pre-historic times through the 20th century.

AR 115 Making Your Mark: Drawing as Revelation 2 Lecture/ 2 Studio/ 3
This class will be based on the assumptions that seeing and drawing are directly related and that drawing is a learnable skill. In a contemporary approach to drawing, we will explore questions such as: Why do humans make art? What is the relationship of media, process, and formal element of presentation to visual communication?

AR 120 History of American Crafts 3
This survey course traces the development of American crafts from the late 19th century beginning with the Arts and Crafts Movement and touches upon the major international craft/art movements of the 20th century. Emphasis is placed on the relationship among period stylistic trends in craft, the arts, architecture, and larger societal/multi-cultural influences.

AR 125 Body Adornment: Transforming the Human Figure 2 Lecture/ 2 Studio/ 3
This course examines how the human body has been physically altered and adorned throughout history and in different cultures for the purpose of beauty, status, and/or identity. Various forms of body adornment will be discussed through lectures, research assignments, and hands-on projects. Using the body as subject matter, students will focus on creating works that transform the human figure to express and confront modern society's ideals and beliefs.

AR 202 Ceramics I 2 Lecture/ 2 studio/ 3
Clay as a creative medium emphasizing the aesthetic and personal solution of ceramic design from hand-built pieces to throwing on the potter’s wheel. Technical knowledge concerning clays, glazes, kilns, and firing is included.

AR 205 Fabric/ations: Artistic Expressions in Cloth & Fiber 2 Lecture/ 2 Studio/ 3
Through lectures, research, and a series of hands-on projects, which may include tapestry weaving, appliquè, surface design techniques, dyeing, spinning, papermaking, embroidery, and basket making, students will learn about cultures around the world for whom fabric-making and fabric-weaving is essential to their social status and spiritual well-being.

AR 230 Painting 2 Lecture/ 2 Studio/ 3
The principles of painting techniques using oil media are introduced through assigned and individual problems. Color harmony, pictorial composition, and the preparation of supports and grounds are stressed.

AR 245 Drawing on Her Imagination: A Survey of Women and Their Art 3
This course, which is organized chronologically and thematically, will focus on women as creators, collectors and the subjects of art. This historical survey of women artists and their artistic contributions will include 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 due to various social, economic, psychological and intellectual conditions.

AR 250 Native American Pottery 2 Lecture/ 2 Studio/ 3
Information on Native American culture and landscape will be covered with an emphasis on the study of historic and contemporary clay pieces. This course will also include digging and processing local clay, forming clay vessels and storytellers in traditional southwest pueblo coil method, including scraping, slip layering, stone polishing, and slip-decorating with a yucca brush inspired by but not limited to Native American designs. Clay vessels will be oxidation fired (red) and reduction fired (black) using traditional materials.

AR 301 Modern Art 3
This class presents a critical study of the major movements in Western art from the nineteenth century to the present, including Post-Impressionism, Expressionism, Fauvism, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop Art, Performance Art, Graffiti and Post-Modernism. The course examines the aesthetic theories of modern artists of each movement and discusses their use of media and materials.