Studio Art Recent Course Offerings

Fall 2024▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Drawing I

ARTS 111 - Beavers, Leigh A.

Development of skills and visual awareness through the study of the basic elements of drawing. Variety of media, including pencil, charcoal, ink and crayon. Lab fee required.

Light Studies and Optical Culture

ARTS 121 - Smigrod, Claudia M.

Light and optics are the fundamental elements of photographic media and of contemporary media culture. This foundational course introduces students to the formal characteristics of light and lenses by surveying a variety of image-making practices, from primitive photographic devices to digital photography and video. Through a combination of classroom talks and hands-on projects, students encounter principles of black-and-white and color photography, as well as learning camera controls that open up a wide range of expressive possibilities. Historical antecedents, contemporary practices, and strategies of critical interpretation are discussed in relation to specific assignments throughout the term. Lab fee required.

Design I

ARTS 131 - Gholamrezaei, Niloofar

An introduction to the elements and concepts of two-dimensional design within the context of current digital technology, with an emphasis on contemporary computer software programs.

Painting I

ARTS 217 - Gholamrezaei, Niloofar

Emphasis on color, design and spatial relationships. Work from observation and imagination in oil and acrylic. Lab fee required.

Printmaking I

ARTS 227 - Beavers, Leigh A.

A survey of fine art printmaking media, with emphasis on beginning techniques and the artistic potential of the print. Media include a selection of techniques from intaglio, relief, and planographic printmaking.

Introductory Sculpture: Materials and Methods

ARTS 231 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

An introduction to sculpture techniques, tools and materials. Developing skills in working with wood, metal, clay, as well as new media technologies. Lab fee required.

Intermediate Sculpture: Expanded Material Practice

ARTS 232 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

Students broaden their understanding of what sculpture can be through projects that materialize memory and imagine new futures. Emphasis is on studio projects in wood, metal, fabric, and non-traditional materials, responding to the ways contemporary sculpture pushes at the edges of what defines it. The course compels students to add significant experience in materializing sculptural projects while deepening perceptions of their own practices. Lab fee required.

Special Topics in Photography: Experimental Photography

ARTS 292B - Bowden, Christa K.

An exploration of methods for creating art using photographic materials and tools in non-traditional ways. Techniques covered may include camera-less, Holga, and pinhole photography, photo collage and montage, liquid emulsions, chemigrams, Sabatier, lumen and chlorophyll printing. Students will create a portfolio of prints that includes examples of the methods covered in class, as well as a final project specializing in one experimental approach of their choosing. The course will also include several visiting artists who specialize in experimental approaches to photography.

Directed Studio Projects: Projection Mapping

ARTS 421A - Lepage, Andrea C.

Students enrolled in this course will learn advanced techniques in projection mapping and graphing to plot digital video onto random surfaces. The student participating in this project will develop skills necessary for the fabrication of surfaces, converting of images, and video, and designing timing loops.

Senior Thesis

ARTS 473 - Bowden, Christa K.

A studio art thesis. The culmination is an exhibition of the thesis project in the Staniar Gallery.

Spring 2024▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Drawing from the Environment

ARTS 214 - Beavers, Leigh A.

This intensive, place-based drawing course allows students to practice drawing skills, encourages students to think about the conceptual content of drawings, and requires students to produce a series of drawing projects informed and constrained by a specific natural environment.  The class includes instruction on the environmental context of our course location, including instruction in the ecology, natural history, and geology.  Nearly all of the course occurs outside.  Image presentations, readings and discussions about place-based and site-oriented art provide a conceptual foundation.

Nature through Many Lenses: A Cross-Cultural Exploration of the More-than-Human World

ARTS 216 - Steinkraus, Emma / Van Loan, Theodore

In this class we will explore how different artistic traditions have interfaced with the natural world. Team­-taught by an art historian and a painter, the class includes diverse projects drawn from both disciplines. Each week is structured around a different art historical tradition. We will study depictions of the natural world in Arab, Persian, and Mughal painting traditions, Japanese byobu screens, women's contributions to European scientific illustration, and Hudson River School plein-air painting. These units will blend art historical lectures, discussions, readings, and research with related studio art exercises. Studio art activities will include workshops on miniature painting, gold leaf, cyanotypes, botanical illustration, and painting from life outdoors. The class will also include a field trip to the Oak Spring Garden Foundation in Upperville, VA, to visit their rare books library, artist-in-residence program, and gardens. The term will culminate in a collaborative exhibition for students to present both their art works and art historical contexts for their work. 

Photography in the Environment

ARTS 242 - Bowden, Christa K.

This intensive, place-based course allows students to practice photography skills, encourages students to think about the conceptual content of photographs, and requires students to produce a series of photo-based projects informed and constrained by a specific natural environment. The class includes instruction on the environmental context of our course location, including instruction in the ecology, natural history, and geology. Most of the course occurs outside. Image presentations, readings and discussions about place-based and site-oriented art provide a conceptual foundation. 

Directed Studio Projects: Projection Mapping

ARTS 421A - Lepage, Andrea C.

Students enrolled in this course will learn advanced techniques in projection mapping and graphing to plot digital video onto random surfaces. The student participating in this project will develop skills necessary for the fabrication of surfaces, converting of images, and video, and designing timing loops.

Winter 2024▲

See complete information about these courses in the course offerings database. For more information about a specific course, including course type, schedule and location, click on its title.

Drawing I

ARTS 111 - Beavers, Leigh A.

Development of skills and visual awareness through the study of the basic elements of drawing. Variety of media, including pencil, charcoal, ink and crayon. Lab fee required.

Photography I

ARTS 120 - Bowden, Christa K.

An introduction to the methods and materials of photography, with an emphasis on composition, exposure, and light. The course includes a combination of image presentations, technical demonstrations, studio instruction, and group critiques. Lab fee required; cameras are available for check-out.

Design I

ARTS 131 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

An introduction to the elements and concepts of two-dimensional design within the context of current digital technology, with an emphasis on contemporary computer software programs.

Figure Drawing I

ARTS 211 - Steinkraus, Emma

Drawing from the human figure using a variety of media. Lab fee required.

Color Photography

ARTS 224 - Bowden, Christa K.

An exploration of the visual and technical principles of color photography, as applied through digital and hybrid approaches. Students learn the concepts of color photography through demonstrations, studio projects, and group critiques, as well as image presentations, readings, and discussions of artists and trends in contemporary color photography. Lab fee required; cameras are available for check-out.

Introductory Sculpture: Materials and Methods

ARTS 231 - de Lissovoy, Sandy B.

An introduction to sculpture techniques, tools and materials. Developing skills in working with wood, metal, clay, as well as new media technologies. Lab fee required.

Special Topics in Painting: Portraiture and Figuration

ARTS 291A - Steinkraus, Emma

The human body has been a source of enduring interest and creative challenge for artists throughout history. In this course, students will learn both traditional observational techniques for painting the human form as well as gain familiarity with a range of more contemporary approaches. The course will include units on anatomy, figure drawing, portraiture, history painting, and narrative. During the second half of the semester, students will also have opportunities to develop work that is more personal, expressive, or driven by ideas. 

Studio Seminar: Methods in Contemporary Art Practice

ARTS 309 - Beavers, Leigh A.

This course is a critique-based studio seminar designed to prepare students for the senior thesis in studio arts and built around a term-long visual arts project responding to current trends in contemporary art. This seminar introduces a theme or topic, supported by readings, films, and image presentations, as the focus of class discussions exploring and highlighting the work of relevant contemporary artists. Students develop and plan a body of work inspired by or in response to this theme. Group and individual critiques assess each student's progress towards this goal. Lab fee required.

Directed Studio Project in Printmaking: Relief Prints

ARTS 422A - Beavers, Leigh A.

Guided studio work in printmaking to produce a suite of relief prints.