Art

Chair: Joel Fisher
Administrative Coordinator: Alison Walcott

The Department of Art offers students an exciting learning environment to practice the visual arts and study art in its historical and theoretical contexts. Our faculty work to ensure all students graduate with the ability to think creatively and critically, both about the art they produce and the art they study. We are committed to helping students achieve the visual literacy essential to negotiating the world today by preparing students for careers as visual artists; for work in galleries, museums, and arts administration; and for a life enriched by the visual arts.

Our studio art program is supported by outstanding facilities and faculty. Our artists have a commitment to craft and to introducing students to the key critical questions and themes in artistic practice today. Our art history program exposes students to a wide variety of art from East Asia, Europe, and the Americas, from the ancient world to the present day. Faculty offer rigorous introductions, advanced courses in specific art-historical periods, and thematic seminars on topics including art and the environment and art history and memory.

Resources for Nonmajors

Most art courses are available to nonmajors and are well integrated with the curricula of many other departments and programs, such as Asian studies, Latin American and Latino studies, and classical studies. For nonmajors, we have a minor that combines both studio art and art history. Students without previous exposure to art history or studio art should begin with any of our 100-level courses, which may be taken in any sequence.

Facilities

The Fred W. Fields Center for the Visual Arts houses the Arnold Gallery for students; painting, drawing, ceramics foundations, photography, and sculpture studios; and well-equipped classrooms for studio critique, digital art production, and art history lectures. Our students frequently take advantage of exhibitions at local art galleries and engage the facilities and collections of the Portland Art Museum, the Lan Su Chinese Garden, the Portland Japanese Garden, and the Oregon Historical Society, among many other sites. Students also make use of the Ronna and Eric Hoffman Gallery of Contemporary Art, across the Alumni Circle from the Fields Center. The year-end show of senior projects is held there each spring.

The Major Programs

The department offers two majors: studio art and art history. Students are not permitted to double-major in studio art and art history because there is significant overlap in courses required for each major.

Students majoring in studio art must complete at least one 300-level studio art course in ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, digital media, or sculpture before enrolling in ART 491 Senior Art Practice. (The course cannot be an internship or independent study.) To meet the studio art major requirements, students must declare the major and select a full-time faculty member as an advisor by the end of their sophomore year (preferably the faculty advisor the student will work with at the 300 level).

All studio art majors must take ART 311 Studio Seminar on Contemporary Art Theory and Practice in the junior year. Art majors are required to have completed one art history course before ART 311. In the spring semester of the senior year, all senior art majors are required to take ART 492 Senior Art Projects and work with their advisors on finalizing the installation of their proposed project(s) in the Senior Art Exhibition on campus.

Art history majors should complete either ART 401 Art After 1945 or ART 451 Theory in Practice before registering for the required ART 493 Senior Seminar: Art History. The senior seminar must be taken in the fall semester of a student’s senior year. In addition, art history majors are strongly encouraged to complete their interdisciplinary requirement by taking HIST 300 Historical Materials, PHIL 203 Philosophy of Art and Beauty, SOAN 245 Visual Anthropology, ENG 241 Text and Image, or ENG 281 From Scroll to Codex: Working With Medieval Manuscripts before registering for the ART 493 Senior Seminar: Art History.

Major Requirements: Studio Art

A minimum of 44 semester credits, distributed as follows:

  • Two courses in art history; at least one in non-Western art. At least one must be at the 200 level or higher.

  • One course in drawing, painting, photography, or digital media chosen from the following:

    Drawing I
    Painting Fundamentals
    Figure Painting
    Photography I
    Digital Media I
  • One course in sculpture, ceramics, or digital media chosen from the following:

    Sculpture I
    Ceramics I
    Digital Media I
  • Two elective courses in studio art (any level).

  • Two 300-level elective courses in studio art.

  • ART 311 Studio Seminar on Contemporary Art Theory and Practice. Must be taken in the junior year.

  • ART 491 Senior Art Practice

  • ART 492 Senior Art Projects

Major Requirements: Art History

A minimum of 44 semester credits, distributed as follows:

  • Two courses chosen from the following:

    European and North American Art
    Chinese Art
    Pre-Columbian Art
  • Any two studio art courses.

  • One interdisciplinary course chosen from the following:

    Text and Image
    From Scroll to Codex: Working With Medieval Manuscripts
    Historical Materials
    Philosophy of Art and Beauty
    Visual Anthropology
    Space, Place, and Landscape
  • One course in pre-1800 art history chosen from the list below. ART 150 or ART 207 may only be applied once to the major.

    Chinese Art
    Pre-Columbian Art
    Ancient Greek and Roman Art
    Global Baroque
    Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture
    Visual Perspectives on Dante's Divine Comedy
  • Three additional elective courses in art history.

  • ART 401 Art After 1945, ART 451 Theory in Practice, or ART 452 Memory as Representation, ideally taken before ART 493.

  • ART 493 Senior Seminar: Art History to be taken the fall semester before graduation.

Minor Requirements: Art and Art History

(Students majoring in studio art or art history may not pursue the combined minor.)

A minimum of 24 semester credits (six courses), distributed as follows:

  • Two courses in art history; at least one in non-Western art. At least one must be at the 200 level or higher.

  • One course in two-dimensional studio art chosen from the following:
    Digital Media I (may only be used once to fulfill minor requirements)
    Drawing I
    Painting Fundamentals
    Figure Painting
    Photography I
  • One course in three-dimensional studio art chosen from the following:
    Digital Media I (may only be used once to fulfill minor requirements)
    Sculpture I
    Ceramics I
  • Two elective courses in studio art or art history.
Studio Art Courses
ART 106Introduction to Video Art
ART 112Digital Media I
ART 212Digital Media II
ART 312Digital Media III
ART 113Sculpture I
ART 213Sculpture II
ART 313Sculpture III
ART 115Drawing I
ART 215Drawing II
ART 315Drawing III
ART 116Ceramics I
ART 216Ceramics II
ART 316Ceramics III
ART 117APainting Fundamentals
ART 117BFigure Painting
ART 217Painting II
ART 317Painting III
ART 120Photography I
ART 220Photography II
ART 320Photography III
ART 229Art & Ecology: Material Matters
ART 311Studio Seminar on Contemporary Art Theory and Practice
ART 327Special Topics in Studio Art
ART 491Senior Art Practice
ART 492Senior Art Projects
TH 102Scenic Art: Techniques in Application (only two credits)
Art History Courses
ART 100European and North American Art
ART 150Chinese Art
ART 201Modern European Art
ART 204The History of American Art
ART 207Pre-Columbian Art
ART 208Ancient Greek and Roman Art
ART 230Global Baroque
ART 301Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture
ART 303Realism, Photography, and Print Culture in the 19th Century
ART 309Art of New York
ART 319Modern Architecture
ART 325Ovid and the Visual Arts
ART 333Visual Perspectives on Dante's Divine Comedy
ART 361Modern China
ART 367Special Topics in Art History
ART 401Art After 1945
ART 451Theory in Practice
ART 452Memory as Representation
ART 493Senior Seminar: Art History
Other Art History Electives
ELI 310Curatorial Affairs in the Visual Arts

Honors

To earn honors, students must have a 3.500 GPA overall. Honors in studio art are awarded to those students whose final senior projects are judged by the department faculty to be of superior quality. In art history, faculty may nominate students for honors on the basis of exceptional work in the major. Students who accept nomination undertake an honors thesis that expands on the senior seminar paper. Honors are awarded to those students whose completed projects are judged by a faculty committee to be of superior quality.

Faculty

Yaelle Amir. Adjunct professor. Curatorial studies.

Debra Beers. Senior lecturer emerita in art. Drawing. MFA University of Iowa.

Benjamin David. Associate professor of art history. Late Medieval and Italian Renaissance art history, Greek and Roman art history. PhD 1999, MA 1993, BA 1991 New York University.

Dru Donovan. Assistant professor with term of art. Photography. MFA 2009 Yale University. BFA 2004 California College of the Arts.

Joel W. Fisher. Associate professor of art, chair of the Department of Art. Photography. MFA 2006 Rhode Island School of Design. BA 1997 University of New Hampshire.

Matthew N. Johnston. Associate professor of art history, director of the Latin American and Latino Studies Program. Modern art history. PhD 2004, MA 1994 University of Chicago. BA 1992 Yale University.

Dawn Odell. Associate professor of art history. Early modern East Asian and European art history. PhD 2003 University of Chicago. MA 1992 Harvard University. BA 1986 Carleton College.

Jess Perlitz. Associate professor of art. Sculpture. MFA 2009 Temple University. BFA 2000 Bard College.

Nicole Seisler. Assistant professor of art. Ceramics. MFA 2011 School of the Art Institute of Chicago. BFA 2004 School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Tufts University.

Cara Tomlinson. Associate professor of art. Painting. MFA 1993 University of Oregon. BA 1986 Bennington College.

Courses

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ART 100 European and North American Art

Content: Overview of painting, sculpture, and architecture produced in Europe and North America, focusing on work created between the 14th and 21st centuries. Exploration of key theoretical problems and ways of looking especially important to the history of art. Multiple perspectives and methods of analysis provided through lectures, scheduled discussions, and museum fieldwork. Key works situated in a variety of contexts: the role of art in religious and memorial practices; the rise of the social status of the artist; drawing as a form of thinking; art as a tool of power and politics; art as constructor of gender and identity; visual narrative; the potentials and limitations of various technical media; definitions of "modernism"; the uses of "classicism."
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 105 Introduction to Visual Art and Culture

Content: Hands-on exposure to working methods of contemporary visual artists from an interdisciplinary perspective. Intensive studio workshops and experimental exercises in two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and time-based media are accompanied by lectures, screenings, readings, discussion, and off-campus events. Emphasis on inventive and exploratory approaches to relevant issues of contemporary society and culture.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 106 Introduction to Video Art

Content: Introduction to history of video art and fundamentals of digital video production. Exposure, analysis, and critical thinking of course topics through lectures, artist/critic talks, readings, written assignments, discussion, journaling, field trips, group presentation, and feedback. Basic technical production skills, lab assignments, and creative projects explore video as an expressive medium within the context of historical, experimental, and contemporary art strategies.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 112 Digital Media I

Content: Introduction to the aesthetics and form of digital media. By writing code to generate graphics and text, students will explore the qualities intrinsic to artistic expression with computers, such as nonlinearity, indeterminacy, glitch, and emergence. Accompanying critical discussion will consider key practitioners in the field. Through progressive weekly projects, students will gain a foundation for working with code in art. Designed for students with little to no programming experience.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Open to freshmen and sophomores. Juniors and seniors require instructor consent.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 113 Sculpture I

Content: Form and space explored through a variety of media and techniques such as wood, plaster, found object, and assemblage. Short exercises to explore materials and techniques, opening up a broader discussion about the possibilities and complexities of the three-dimensional form. Readings, critiques, and more involved assignments leading to in-depth discussions and approaches to understanding and exploring sculpture.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 115 Drawing I

Content: The rigorous investigation of drawing elements, techniques, and design principles. Students are introduced to a variety of drawing approaches and media informed by reference to historical, modern, and contemporary drawings. Development of observational and eye-hand coordination skills is achieved primarily through still life subjects and occasional life drawing. The ability to analyze a drawing utilizing drawing terms and critical thinking skills takes form in classroom discussions and group critiques.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 116 Ceramics I

Content: Ideas and basic techniques exploring clay as an art material: pinch, coil, slab, modular construction, and wheel throwing, with focus on nonfunctional art. Introduction to glaze techniques, kiln loading, firing, and basic concepts of three-dimensional design. The aesthetics of form, visual thinking, the history of ceramics.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 117A Painting Fundamentals

Content: Fundamentals of using oil paints in a representational and abstract manner. Emphasis on gaining technical proficiency with color and paint handling, finding self-direction, and identifying precedents in the history of painting. Topics explored include representation, abstraction, postmodernism, collage. Students will develop and use critical language that addresses the inherent issues in painting.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall, spring, and summer.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 117B Figure Painting

Content: Fundamentals of using oil paints through a focus on the study of the human body. We address both historical and contemporary contexts and include specific approaches to figure painting such as old master, alla prima, direct observation, abstraction, color and pattern, and collage. Emphasis is on gaining technical proficiency with paint handling, finding self-direction, and identifying both contemporary and historical precedents. Through short readings, slide lectures and discussions, students will develop and use critical language that addresses inherent issues in figure painting including representation, phenomenology, post-structuralism, and feminism.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall, spring, and summer.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 120 Photography I

Content: In this introductory course, students will be introduced to photographic equipment, materials, analog and digital processes, and historical and contemporary photographic practice. Photography I will concentrate on the skills and technologies used for making 35mm SLR film photographs, from image capture to print. Students can expect to learn to analytically and critically discuss photographically generated images through a series of critiques, lectures, discussions, and demonstrations.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 150 Chinese Art

Content: Overview of ceramics, calligraphy, painting, prints, sculpture, and architecture produced in China, focusing on select key works created from the neolithic to the contemporary moment. Exploration of key theoretical problems and ways of looking especially important to the history of art. Multiple perspectives and methods of analysis provided through lectures, scheduled discussions, and museum fieldwork. Key works are situated in a variety of contexts: the role of art in religious and memorial practices, the social status of the artist, art as a tool of power and politics, art as constructor of gender and identity, the potentials and limitations of various technical media.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 201 Modern European Art

Content: Developments in the European tradition, 1860 to 1940, that culminate in experiments in abstraction in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. Realism, impressionism, postimpressionism, expressionism, fauvism, cubism, dada, surrealism.
Prerequisites: ART 100 recommended.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 204 The History of American Art

Content: History of American art and architecture from the colonial period until the Great Depression. How social concerns were represented in the arts, including formative debates about nation, identity, environment, and industrialization. Special emphasis given to art that can be viewed within Washington, D.C., and its environs.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Participation in the Washington, D.C., off-campus program.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 207 Pre-Columbian Art

Content: Overview of the art of the Aztec, Maya, and Inca civilizations and other major early Central and South American cultures. Examination of architecture, sculpture, ceramics, painting; how the arts played a key role in developing a sense of continuity within these societies across time and distance.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 208 Ancient Greek and Roman Art

Content: An introduction to art and architecture of the ancient Mediterranean, focused on Greece and Rome. Special attention given to the intersections of art and literature and the role of art as a tool of politics. Theories in classical culture about the visual image, the artist, and the practice of narrative; how our definition of classical art is often shaped by the early modern period's views.
Prerequisites: None.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 212 Digital Media II

Content: Hybrid worlds studio. Further development of digital media techniques with an emphasis beyond the screen: sensors and data collection, 3-D fabrication, and automated systems. Seminar-style reading and discussion will center on conceptual issues arising from everyday life in a digitally mediated society. Students will work on individual projects for studio critique.
Prerequisites: ART 112.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 213 Sculpture II

Content: Advanced study of form and space through more self-directed assignments. Developing technical skills learned in ART 113, with an introduction to metalworking and welding. Creating sculpture that demonstrates technical proficiency and radical explorations of content, materials, and context as it relates to form.
Prerequisites: ART 113.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 215 Drawing II

Content: Further development of the student's observation, conceptual, and expressive skills. The refinement of drawing abilities and visual organization skills are heightened through the study of the human figure and additional subjects. A variety of drawing media is explored, including color. Traditional conceptions of drawing are challenged as the term progresses. Visual literacy and historical context is further advanced through examination of classical, modern, and contemporary drawing. Oral and written analysis is a critical component in this course.
Prerequisites: ART 115.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 216 Ceramics II

Content: Intermediate study of clay and its properties as an art material. Students may pursue hand-building, wheel throwing, mold making, glazing techniques, and kiln firing, with focus on nonfunctional art. Emphasis on design, form, visual thinking.
Prerequisites: ART 116.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 217 Painting II

Content: This course focuses on critical questions of contemporary painting by exploring a variety of approaches to pictorial space from 20th-century modernism through postmodernism and contemporary practice. Students will strengthen technique and material knowledge of working in oil paints, identify individual working processes, expand critical language through discussion and readings, and develop a significant and informed body of work.
Prerequisites: ART 117A or 117B.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 220 Photography II

Content: Students build upon existing photographic skills and further investigate the making and meaning of photographically based images through a series of readings, lectures, discussions, demonstrations, and critiques. Students will explore problems leading to the mastery of technical skills regarding camera usage, exposure, film- and digital-image processing, lighting, printing, and photographic finishing with an emphasis on the development of craft and cultivation of a visual vocabulary. Students must have a 35 mm manual or DSLR camera.
Prerequisites: ART 120.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 229 Art & Ecology: Material Matters

Content: Exploration of what it means to live and build an artistic practice in a time of climate change and ecological crises. As artists, how do we think through the material, environmental, and psychological costs of our production? What kinds of thinking are embodied in place? How can place-based embodied knowledge teach resilience? What does a sustainable practice look like in terms of material and immaterial resources? Utilizing expertise from regional eco-artists, field trips in and around Portland, research, and practice, we will explore the relationship between place, the agency of material, and the intention of the artist.
Prerequisites: Any 100-level ART course.
Usually offered: Annually.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 230 Global Baroque

Content: Baroque and rococo art as a global style characterized by theatricality, dynamism, and reality effects. Exploration of European art created 1600-1800 and its conversation with related monuments produced in Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Investigation of the role of colonialism, commerce, and empire in the construction of a global aesthetic. Close examination of examples of art and architecture crafted for individual monarchs, missionaries, merchants, and common citizens by artists such as Rembrandt, Bernini, and Artemisia Gentileschi.
Prerequisites: ART 100 recommended.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 244 Practicum

Content: Internship or practicum to be arranged with instructor.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.

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ART 299 Independent Study

Content: Independent study topic to be arranged with instructor.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.

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ART 301 Italian Renaissance Art and Architecture

Content: Italian Renaissance art and architecture from 1300 to 1550. The working practices of artists; the changing social status of the artist; developments in artistic theory; the cultural engagement with classical antiquity; the crisis in religious art in the context of the Reformation; controversies of conservation (for example, the cleaning of the Sistine Chapel); the problems of visual narrative; conflicting interpretations of Christian iconography; representation of gender, among other themes.
Prerequisites: ART 100 or ART 208.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 303 Realism, Photography, and Print Culture in the 19th Century

Content: The intertwined history of realism and mass media as integral components of an emerging modernity in the United States and Europe during the 19th century. Focus on technical innovations and the examination of primary writings by artists, critics, authors, and other cultural figures to assess their aspirations for and anxieties about the innovations' social and cultural implications. Realism as a movement in academic art; debates about the artistic value of mass media and the impact on artistic practice; early mass media and the pursuit of political change; the relationship between art and science; the shaping of national, racial, class, and gender identities; the emergence of the modern commercial market and industrial production.
Prerequisites: ART 100.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 309 Art of New York

Content: Art and art history through the cultural resources of New York City. Exploration of how art gets made, how it reaches the public, and the process of its interpretation and display. Taught only on the New York off-campus program. Art majors may participate in the New York program only during their sophomore or junior year, because they must be on campus during the senior year.
Prerequisites: ART 100 recommended.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required. Acceptance into the New York City off-campus program required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 311 Studio Seminar on Contemporary Art Theory and Practice

Content: Issues in contemporary art critical for developing artists. Practical and theoretical questions artists face today: how art is defined and understood (or misunderstood) in our culture, varieties of theoretical practices, and the artist's relation to the institutions of art. Discussions of contemporary art theory, visiting artist lectures, and visits to exhibitions, performances, and other art-related events are crucial components of the studio seminar.
Prerequisites: None.
Corequisites: Upper-division studio course.
Restrictions: Studio art majors with junior standing.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 312 Digital Media III

Content: Artistic research on the expressive role of technology in society. Self-directed projects will be designed by the student in consultation with the instructor. Students will be expected to develop technical skills to support critical work and to contextualize their practice through writing and presentation. May be taken twice for credit.
Prerequisites: ART 212.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 313 Sculpture III

Content: Advanced study of form and space through self-directed projects designed by the student in consultation with the instructor. In-depth exploration of advanced sculptural concerns, as directed by the student and presented through writing, presentation, and installation of artwork. May be taken twice for credit.
Prerequisites: ART 213.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 315 Drawing III

Content: Further exploration of contemporary drawing and the development of an independent body of drawings. The major portion of the course is primarily designed to prepare the student for the senior thesis project, where an in-depth series of works is created and exhibited. Oral and written analysis, project proposals, and the artist's statement are also critical components in the furthering of the advanced student's studies. May be taken twice for credit.
Prerequisites: ART 215.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 316 Ceramics III

Content: Advanced aesthetic, technical, and conceptual problems in clay. May be taken twice for credit.
Prerequisites: ART 216.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 317 Painting III

Content: This course presents students in painting with the structure and tools needed to conduct original research and develop individual projects at the advanced painting level. Students will focus on developing a semester-long cohesive body of work through a series of advanced problems in concepts and material. Students produce writings and engage with texts for each of the projects. May be taken twice for credit.
Prerequisites: ART 217.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 319 Modern Architecture

Content: History of modern architecture from the late 18th century to the present, focusing on the way historical developments in architecture reflect and influence social values and on architecture as a unique artistic medium. Specific issues include: entirely new types of buildings and structures for a modern industrial and commercial society, new building materials, the decline of craftsmanship, the constraints and opportunities of urban planning, and the impact of new design/reproduction technologies. Provides a set of architectural concepts and terms for describing structure and space and a critical overview of the aesthetic, technical, and social issues confronting architects over the past two and a half centuries. Finally, investigates how architects themselves conceptualized the challenges facing them as architecture responded to and shaped an evolving modern world, through close readings of their writings in relation to the buildings and structures they designed.
Prerequisites: ART 100.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 320 Photography III

Content: Students will converge content with craft and polish technical analog and/or digital processing and printing skills. They will also build upon the use of lens-based media as a means to convey image intent through a proposed term-long project. The goal of this course is for each student to be engaged in a critical dialogue and discourse about his/her photographic process, and, also, to explore issues surrounding the impact of the medium on culture(s) and society as a whole. Students must have a 35 mm or larger film camera. May be taken twice for credit.
Prerequisites: ART 220.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 325 Ovid and the Visual Arts

Content: Ovid's poetry, especially Metamorphoses, has had a transformative impact on the history of art from the first decade of the Common Era to the present day. This course explores how Ovid was influenced by the visual culture of ancient Rome and how his works had a lasting influence on art and on various conceptions of representation from the Middle Ages to the present.
Prerequisites: ART 100, ART 208, CLAS 100, CLAS 201, or CLAS 202.
Usually offered: Alternate Years.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 327 Special Topics in Studio Art

Content: A studio-based class organized around themes or topics in contemporary art practice. Focus varies depending on instructor; please refer to the art department website for detailed course descriptions. Topics may include heterogeneity, hybrids, environment, time, and the human-animal relationship.
Prerequisites: One 200-level studio art course.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 333 Visual Perspectives on Dante's Divine Comedy

Content: Dante's "Divine Comedy" and visualizations of the poem created in a variety of media from the 14th century to the present. Exploration of how Dante's poetry was influenced by the art and visual culture of his time, and how artists such as Botticelli, Michelangelo, Blake, Delacroix, Ingres, Rodin, and Rauschenberg have engaged the complex world Dante created. Examination of contemporary film and popular culture as well as high art. Consideration of the implications of Dante's concept of visible speech.
Prerequisites: ART 100, ART 208, ENG 204, ENG 241, ENG 281, or ENG 310.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 361 Modern China

Content: Examination of art produced in China from the 17th century to 1949, with a focus on work created in four cities: Suzhou, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai. Considerations of relationships between the built environment and artist production; definitions of modernity; artistic conventions and religious beliefs of the Manchu court; impacts of trade with Europe and America on visual culture; responses to new reproductive technologies, including lithography and photography; woodblock print and film as mediums of political protest.
Prerequisites: ART 150.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 367 Special Topics in Art History

Content: Seminar course co-taught between a Lewis Clark faculty member and a faculty member at another undergraduate institution, covering topics important to the disciplines of art and art history such as: nonextant art; memory and representation; visual mathematics; art and the environment.
Prerequisites: One previous art or art history course.
Usually offered: Every third year, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 401 Art After 1945

Content: Art and art criticism from 1945 to the present, facilitated through exploration of current work, museums, galleries.
Prerequisites: ART 100. ART 201 recommended.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 444 Practicum

Content: Internship or practicum to be arranged with instructor.
Prerequisites: None.
Restrictions: Senior standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall, spring, and summer.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 451 Theory in Practice

Content: Reading and critical analysis organized around themes or problems in art history. Focus varies depending on instructor's teaching and research areas. Previous themes have included art history and memory and art and the environment. May be taken twice for credit.
Prerequisites: One 100- or 200-level art history course.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 452 Memory as Representation

Content: Exploration of memory as a form of representation and works of art especially concerned with memory. Interdisciplinary approach to the concept of memory: How art might help us understand the process by which memories are not merely recalled or retrieved, but assembled and constructed in a complex and mediated process of representation. Beginning with memory in classical antiquity and medieval European culture, ending with meditations on memory in contemporary art. Some areas of focus will include memory and the body; image and text; trauma; public memorials; who gets remembered and who does not; the "accuracy" of memory; the history of art as a practice of memory (sometimes damaging).
Prerequisites: 100- or 200-level art history course.
Usually offered: Alternate Years, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 491 Senior Art Practice

Content: First half of the capstone series in studio art. Provides a firm foundation and proficiency in a chosen medium, and fosters a critical dialogue and interdisciplinary discourse about art-making through critiques and visiting artists. Students will work on a series of writings and research including interviews and project proposals.
Prerequisites: 300-level studio art course.
Restrictions: Art major, senior standing, and instructor consent.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 492 Senior Art Projects

Content: Second half of the capstone series in studio art. Supports students' thesis work by focusing on professional practices and a professional exhibition. Students will refine their final thesis work through a series of critiques and discussions with both peers and faculty. Students will prepare artist statements; develop an understanding about gallery presentation; and design, plan, or curate an outside project with peers.
Prerequisites: ART 491.
Restrictions: Art major, senior standing, and instructor consent.
Usually offered: Annually, spring semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 493 Senior Seminar: Art History

Content: Advanced research seminar. Development of skills essential to the practices of art history: writing, researching, oral presentation, intellectual dialogue. Culminates in a 40-minute oral presentation and a 25-page thesis.
Prerequisites: ART 401 or ART 451. Two courses at the 300 level or above. HIST 300, PHIL 203, or SOAN 245 strongly recommended.
Restrictions: Senior standing required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall semester.
Semester credits: 4.

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ART 499 Independent Study

Content: Independent projects designed in consultation with department faculty.
Prerequisites: The 300-level course in the medium or art historical period.
Restrictions: Sophomore standing and consent required.
Usually offered: Annually, fall and spring semester.
Semester credits: 1-4.