ACADEMICS
The department of fine arts offers courses in the history of art and the studio practice of art and provides an education in the visual arts for both majors and non-majors. It strives to clarify the relationship of the visual arts to other liberal arts disciplines, and to stress their importance as a humanizing force in both the past and present.
The fine arts faculty feel the above can best be accomplished by study in both the history and practice of art, and require that majors involve themselves in both components of the department’s offerings. The department offers courses to a large number of undergraduates each term; these are intended to satisfy the needs of both majors and non-majors. Fine Arts 116, 117, 215, 217 and 218 (Survey of Art, Survey of Western Art, West African Arts, Buddhist Art and Ritual, and Arts of South Asia) satisfy distribution in humanities; Fine Arts 121 (Introduction to Studio Art) satisfies distribution in arts and forms of expression; Fine Arts 215, 217, 218 and 246 (West African Arts, Buddhist Art and Ritual, Arts of South Asia, and Art and Politics in Nigeria) satisfy distribution in diversity. For descriptions of all of these courses, please refer to the Fine Arts Department section of the University Catalog. You may also be interested in seeing what special topics are being offered in our department.
As a complement to the fine arts program, the Richard F. Brush Art Gallery sponsors a program of thematic and contemporary exhibitions, including alternating faculty and alumni exhibitions and annual student shows. Students are often employed in the gallery program so they may develop a working knowledge of aspects of gallery management, including registration, installation, conservation and writing exhibition catalogs. Students are also employed as teaching assistants and in other areas supporting the department’s programs.
For more specifics about our department, degree requirements and more, please use the links to the left.
