Teaching College Art (ART515) - This course investigates the practical issues and challenges of teaching art in a college setting, including teaching studio art, art appreciation, and art history. Students will learn to develop effective syllabi, identify and articulate learning objectives, design effective projects, teach with artifacts and objects, facilitate engaging discussions, and methods of assessment in the arts and the critique process. Students will develop a portfolio that includes a teaching philosophy, syllabi, and sample lesson plans. Problem solving on the individual and group level will be stressed. Note: This course will require several scheduled Live Chat sessions.
Creativity and Its Development (ART524) - This course is a study of how artists, writers, composers, and scientists develop creativity and how to generate new ideas, considered from psychological, educational, and artistic points of view. Readings from psychologists, philosophers, artists, and student contributions will help examine this broadly defined field. In this seminar-style course, the creative process will be examined from various angles. Students will participate in the analysis of theories of creativity, experiments in their own creative processes, and through examination of the work of other artists. This course investigates artistic decision-making by involving students in the creative process and examining the psychology, sociology, and biology of creation. A combination of independent study and seminar, students design, research, and produce artistic work focused on their individual interest within the arts; collectively, the students examine the nature of creativity and art. Students analyze artistic choice by examining works of art, researching and discussing the artist and his/her context, and participating in workshops with visiting teaching artists.
Survey of Western Art History (ART561) - This course is an introduction to the art of the West from prehistory to the present. Works will be studied within their historical, religious, political, economic, aesthetic, and social contexts. Methodologies of the discipline of art history will be explored, as well as primary source texts from the cultures in which these works were created.
Digital Media Production (ART622) - This course is a learning laboratory for digital art-making processes and an exploration of their potential for story-telling. Students will use mobile devices to acquire material for digital collage, video editing and sound design. This course builds on digital art concepts such as image compositing, appropriation, and remixing, and projects move from concept to output. Models to using these processes as teaching tools are explored.