Capstone Courses

IMG_3999IMG_4007As the capstone course(s) in art and art history, the Senior Seminar/Advanced Studio combination is designed to be a summative experience for art and art history majors, offering each student the opportunity to hone her communication skills—visual, written, oral—through a variety of opportunities to communicate about/with art in formal and informal contexts. We will engage in critical reading, field-specific writing, intensive research and creative work, both in and with words and images. This course will compel students to consider the practices required of professional artists and art historians. We (professors and students) in both classes will be working alongside one another and interacting at critical points throughout the semester, giving us the opportunity to follow the creative process from our complementary perspectives.

IMG_4017This course balances joint and individual projects with semester-long assignments in both classes, directed by each student’s particular interests; it is also intended to be an environment in which art and art history majors can share their research and ideas with students who have comparable experience with the subject matter. The class will, therefore, involve collective projects and peer teaching. As a result, the class’s success depends on everyone’s engaged participation not only in class discussions but also in attentive preparation of assigned readings and in considered responses to others’ work. Some class sessions will be devoted to tasks related to your final project and presentation; others will address different aspects of art and art-historical practices, focusing on contemporary art and utilizing the current exhibition at the Dalton Gallery.