Courses

The objective of the Foundation core is to develop and expand students' visual thinking through a critical examination and practice of methods and processes of creativity. The Foundation core is a prerequisite to the Fine Arts and Communications Design programs. The Foundation core helps first-year students evaluate their previous art experience and become grounded in the underlying concepts, principles and history of the visual arts. Students move on to specialization in their sophomore year.

FDC-140
Visualization/Representation
3 credits
In Foundation, drawing is the process of creation structures on the page that are analogies to structures both in the world and the imagination. The practice of drawing is a means of investigation to develop visual thinking and spatial and structural awareness. Students gain proficiency in the drawing process and develop analytical and expressive fluency in the language of the mark. Figure drawing is a critical practice to realize complex arrangements of parts as a unified whole with vitality, empathy and movement. In studio practice and extended projects students develop a range of abilities to visualize and communicate three-dimensional information on the two-dimensional surface.

FDC-141
Visualization/Representation/Concept
3 credits
Visualization/Representation/Concept builds on and extends the concepts and skills for the first semester. Students learn to use value in conjunction with line to achieve a synthesis of form, space, composition, and content. Projects will increase in ambition and the development of concept will be addressed through increased emphasis on student agency, analysis, iteration, evaluation, and group critiques. The course is designed to address the range of formal issues, processes, and material practices students will encounter s they move into the more specialized areas in the school. Prerequisites: FDC-140.

FDC-150
Space, Form, Process
3 credits
Space, form and process introduces the student to the fundamental principles and dynamics of the physical world. Students will work with a range of materials and develop an understanding of their character and appropriateness for particular solutions. The training of the eye (observation), mind (analysis) and hand (realization) will result in comprehension and sensitivity to the three-dimensional experience. Pragmatic application will provide context, connections and meaning. Project based learning will parallel cognition of fundamental principles. Students work will demonstrate the ability to analyze and articulate principles, materials and relationships.

FDC-160
Light/Color/Design Lab
3 credits
In Light, Color, and Design Lab the student is immersed in the experience of light, sensitized to color and it attributes, and familiarized with the elements, principles, and process of design. Through a series of cumulative and interwoven exercises, students explore how color and design are interlinked, and design are interlinked, and apply this understanding to projects in a wide range of media. Skills and concepts mastered in this semester allow students to conceive and create work the applies color and design with purpose.

FDC-164
Light/Color/Design Studio
3 credits
Light Color & Design Studio is a workshop to develop ideas independently and collaboratively through an extended studio process, to create authentic new work that applies the elements, principles, and relationships of light, color, and design to communicate purpose and intent. LCD Studio follows and builds on the work of LCD Lab. Through applying their knowledge to new challenges; students grow in conceptual ability, visual awareness, initiative, and self-knowledge, informing their lives and their future studies. Prerequisites: FDC-160.

FDC-180
Time and Movement
3 credits
Introduces the student to the fundamentals of ordering information in time. Students will create, acquire, manipulate, animate, choreograph, and distribute digital content across multiple platforms and outputs. The course begins with construction the illusion of movement with sequences of still images, and moves through various modes of filming and editing sound and moving images from the linear to the interactive. The student will learn the basic and fundamental principles of animation and motion design, digital photography and videography, sound design, and interactivity. Students will have a basic proficiency in the tools needed to create time-based work, and understand ideas of order and interaction. In a world where increasingly everything moves and interacts these skills and concepts are essential for all artists and designers.

HAD-111
Themes in Art and Culture I
3 credits
This course is the first in a required two-semester sequence. It covers the history of art and architecture in Non-Western cultures and in the West from Paleolithic to the Early Renaissance. Works of art are studied in their social, political and economic contexts along with considerations about patronage and stylistic influences. The three-hour sessions will be organized into two hours of lecture and an hour of group discussion on assigned readings or special topics.

HAD-112
Themes in Art and Culture I
3 credits
This course is the second in the two-semester sequence of required courses for students in the School of Art and the School of Design. It covers the history of art and design in Western and non-Western cultures from the fifteenth century to the present. Works of art are studied in their social, political and economic contexts along with considerations about patronage and stylistic influences. Students are introduced to major themes of Humanism from the Renaissance through the Modern period and into the Postmodern world. Non-Western cultures, their art forms, and traditions, are studied during a similar time-frame for students to become aware of similarities and contrasts for a balanced and wide-ranging view of world cultures and to expand their definition of what constitutes art.

HMS-101A
Intro to Literary/Critical Studies I
3 credits
This class serves as an introduction to reading and writing about literary texts and critical theory, with a concentration on composition, critical analysis, and research. Students are requires to write essays based on the critical analysis of texts across a range of genres. Emphasis is placed on using writing as an extension of the thought and creative process, and as a tool that can be integrated across academic and artistic disciplines. There will be a focus on mastering the elements of the thesis-centered essay and developing research skills.

HMS-201A
Intro to Literary/Critical Studies II
3 credits
While students continue to practice the critical thinking and writing skills acquired in HMS 101a, emphasis is placed on exploring literature and its relation to the other arts in greater depth, and on developing a writing style characterized by coherency, clarity of expression, and analytical rigor. Students are required to take HMS 103a in the semester following the one in which they took HMS 100a or HMS 101a.