Aug 22, 2024

2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog

Art and Design, B.A.

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This program’s approach to the arts incorporates our belief in the importance of educating critical thinkers, inspired makers, and engaged citizens. As a closely-knit interdisciplinary, project-based program seated in a dynamic liberal arts institution, the visual arts program offers an intimate conversation in the history, purpose and process of making art. Learning, experimenting, and engaging ideas is a collaborative adventure taken on by students and faculty alike. While developing the skills necessary to become practiced makers, students also gain a thorough understanding of the contemporary and historical ideas surrounding studio practice as well as the role art plays in the local and global community.

Students are asked to choose from one of the five concentrations in order to focus their studies. The contemporary environment demands that graduates in the arts have a broad skill base and understanding of a variety of mediums. To meet this demand, all of our students are required to take classes across disciplines. Our program builds a sense of community through group trips, collaborative projects, student clubs, and our senior studios. The senior studios provide each student a private studio with common spaces where students work together to write their senior thesis paper and prepare a body of work for their senior exhibition.

The UMF Art Gallery provides students the opportunity to form a sustained relationship with contemporary art focused on global social and aesthetic concerns. Through working directly with guest artists of national and international reputation and exhibiting their own work in annual student and Senior Thesis exhibitions, students build a strong context for their own artwork.

A degree in the arts provides students with a broad interdisciplinary lens that can be applied to a variety of real life applications. UMF Art graduates go on to pursue careers in studio art, education, advertising, community development, curating and museum studies, media production, film, and animation, etc. Students are not restricted to simply follow a fine-arts pathway. An undergraduate degree in the visual arts provides students with a foundation that supports a career in a variety of extended fields, including law, business, and community development.

Concentrations:

Digital Media
Graphic Design
Painting and Sculpture
Socially Engaged Art
Integrated Arts

Total Major Requirements 42 Credits

Art History Core: 9 Credits

ARH 274 - Modern Art Credits: 3
ARH 276 - Contemporary Art Credits: 3
ARH Elective Credits: 3

Studio Art Core: 9 Credits

ART 120 - C. R. A. P. P. (Creative Relationship of Art and the Personal Politic) Credits: 3
ART 320 - Contemporary Theory and Practice Credits: 3
ART 430 - Senior Project and Studio Practice Credits: 3

Choose One Concentration: 24 Credits

Digital Media 24 Credits

Additional Requirements

3 ART or ARH courses at the 100-400 Level that is not offered in your concentration, no more than 6 credits at the 100 level. Credits: 9

Graphic Design 24 Credits

Required Courses:

ART 112 - Digital Imaging Credits: 3
ART 234 - User Experience Design Credits: 3
ART 244 - Graphic Design I Credits: 3
ART 344 - Graphic Design II Credits: 3

One of the Following:

ART 229 - Digital Photography Credits: 3
ART 239 - Animation Credits: 3
ART 241 - Video I Credits: 3

Additional Requirements

3 ART or ARH courses at the 100-400 Level that is not offered in your concentration, no more than 6 credits at the 100 level. Credits: 9

Painting and Sculpture 24 Credits

One of the Following:

ART 119 - Introduction to Sculpture Credits: 3
ART 121 - Painting I Credits: 3

Four of the Following (with at least one course numbered 300 or higher):

ART 209 - Installation Art I Credits: 3
ART 219 - Sculptural Experiments I Credits: 3
ART 223 - Robotic and Kinetic Art Credits: 3
ART 224 - Surrealism: The Permanent Revolution Credits: 3
ART 225 - Painting II Credits: 3
ART 226 - Painting off the Wall Credits: 3
ART 228 - Space and Place Credits: 3
ART 277 - Topics in Art Credits: 3
ART 309 - Installation Art II Credits: 3
ART 319 - Sculptural Experiments II Credits: 3
ART 323 - Robotic and Kinetic Art II Credits: 3
ART 324 - Surrealism II Credits: 3
ART 325 - Painting III Credits: 3
ART 326 - Painting off the Wall II Credits: 3
ART 328 - Space and Place II Credits: 3
ART 377 - Topics in Art Credits: 3

Additional Requirements

3 ART or ARH courses at the 100-400 Level that is not offered in your concentration, no more than 6 credits at the 100 level. Credits: 9

Socially Engaged Art 24 Credits

Required Courses

ART 228 - Space and Place Credits: 3

Four of the Following:

ART 219 - Sculptural Experiments I Credits: 3
ART 223 - Robotic and Kinetic Art Credits: 3
ART 224 - Surrealism: The Permanent Revolution Credits: 3
ART 234 - User Experience Design Credits: 3
ART 241 - Video I Credits: 3
ART 244 - Graphic Design I Credits: 3
ART 319 - Sculptural Experiments II Credits: 3
ART 323 - Robotic and Kinetic Art II Credits: 3
ART 324 - Surrealism II Credits: 3
ART 328 - Space and Place II Credits: 3
THE 264 - Art and Social Change Credits: 3
THE 271 - Making Original Performance Credits: 3

Three of the Following:

ARH 110 - Art and Environment Credits: 3
ART 220 - Film: A Cultural Affair Credits: 3
THE 275 - Social and Political Theatre and Film Credits: 3
THE 278 - Commedia dell’arte Credits: 3
THE 316 - Feminist Theatre and Performance Credits: 3

Integrated Arts 24 Credits

Any 100 Level ART Course Credits: 3
Any 5 200-Level ART Courses Credits: 15
Any 2 300-Level ART Courses Credits: 6

Other Requirements

General Education Requirements

For specific information about general education requirements and expectations, see the General Education Requirements in the Academic Programs section of this catalog.

Graduation Requirements

Completion of at least 120 credits and all requirements for this specific program, with a cumulative grade point average of at least 2.000.

Minimum Total Credits for The Degree: 120

Learning Goals and Assessment

Learning Goals:

UMF students graduating with a degree in art will be able to:

Create a dynamic and intellectually sound body of work within their chosen medium that demonstrates a high skill level and functions both conceptually and technically
Express the context of their work orally, in writing, and through research
Prepare appropriate packages to send out to galleries, graduate schools and/or potential employers
Understand the conceptual and technical aspects inherent in a given medium
Find a context for their work and ideas in contemporary art and art history
Construct meaning that is relevant to the contemporary art dialogue as well as art history
Formulate content for their work that is both relevant and complex
Identify their own perspective, community, and role in the world
Approach a variety of opportunities and connections in the real world
Identify their relevance as artists and makers in a wider context
Evaluate and critique the communicative and conceptual strength of their own work as well as the work of their peers
Continue to develop problem-solving skills (both technical and conceptual) within a given medium

Digital Media

Digital Media is the study of art-making processes that were invented after 1950. In our program instruction centers around digital tools such as video, animation, and print. Students will be able to use the formal, technical, and conceptual aspects of new media to approach concepts, construct meaning and take part in the contemporary dialog.

Graphic Design

Graphic Design is often thought of as a discipline that describes the ideas of others, and a designer is only a tool for creating consumer desire. This is not historically the role of design, and we embrace its power to communicate as well as critique.

Sculpture and Painting

Many changes have taken place in traditional media over the last 100 years. Students will engage the disciplines of Painting and Sculpture by investigating its complex history and experimenting with new and exciting ways of working that employ new tools and practices and develop new ideas, in order to create new meaning in our contemporary dialog.

Students will be able to use the formal, technical, and conceptual aspects of 3D and 2D media to approach concepts, construct meaning and take part in the contemporary dialog.

Socially Engaged Art

Foregrounding social issues, activism, and community collaborations, Socially Engaged Art is an art that acts as a catalyst for social change.

Students will be able to use the formal, technical, and conceptual aspects of live/performance art to approach concepts, construct meaning and take part in the contemporary dialog.

Integrated Arts

In this concentration, students begin with the idea and investigate the material and mediums that best represent the idea to their audience. Skills are learned in service to the idea and working across the concentrations is essential to creating a meaningful and successful body of work.

Students will be able to use the formal, technical, and conceptual aspects of a variety of media to approach concepts, construct meaning and take part in the contemporary dialog.