Panting and Drawing
Drawing has always been a large part of the curriculum as a fundamental base and training where students from all areas of the Fine Arts Department are encouraged but not required to take at least two basic drawing classes included figure drawing. After basic drawing classes, students may elect to take upper-division drawing which has a wide range of classes and instructors to choose from. Drawing is a training of form and process of sensibility which is designed to help students make the transition from artistic practice of classwork to an independent body of work. Emphasizing studio practice, students are provided with full-time, shared studio space and are expected to develop rigorous and consistent work habits. Our aim is for students to leave the program with an understanding of their own intentions and visual language, some strategies for sustaining an artistic practice, critical thinking skills, an understanding of the historical context and contemporary possibilities of painting and drawing.
Course Content-Drawing
Course Content-Drawing
Painting offers a range of major courses in painting and drawing. Drawing introduces students to the relationships between seeing, thinking and making, which are central to artistic practice. Through an exploration of many drawing modes and materials, students investigate ways of seeing, visual problem solving, the construction of space and how meaning is experienced through visual language. Beginning Painting introduces students to the basic techniques and practices of oil painting, as well as ways of seeing and translating visual experience and constructing meaning through painting. All courses are taught by a range of Painting faculty, exposing students to many different ways of thinking, approaches and intentions. Upper division courses in painting and drawing explore more complex problems of meaning, form, materials and language, and emphasize the development of an independent practice. Courses incorporate intensive studio work, individual, group discussions and critiques, as well as slide lectures and presentations. Our objective is for students to develop critical thinking skills and an understanding of the history and context of painting and contemporary concerns, as they cultivate their own work. By experiencing a broad range of approaches and ideas, individuals are encouraged to develop a painting practice that is relevant to their ideas and sensibility.
