Fine Arts

About the Major

Required Courses

Concentration in Studio Art

FA 114: Basic Drawing

Introduction to ideas and techniques in drawing in a wide range of subject matter. Media may include pencil, ink, charcoal and pastel. ART

FA 320: Advanced Studio Workshop

Students work in a self-selected medium or variety of media at an advanced level in a workshop atmosphere under supervision of the instructor. Designed for students with some background and experience in studio art techniques. Prerequisite: at least two studio courses. Can be taken twice for credit.

Six studio art courses

Three art history courses

Concentration in Art History

Nine art history courses

Two studio art courses

Student Learning Goals

Relevant Goals of the Program

• Provide theoretical and creative experiences to help the student to develop an understanding of the art of dance
• Provide exceptional training in choreographic methods, modern and ballet techniques and historical perspectives
• Produce graduates who have versatility, a strong aesthetic and dance skills and life-long appreciation of dance and other arts

Student Learning Objectives

Students will:

1. Obtain an appreciation for high level of technical mastery
2. Acquire a significant body of theoretical and historical knowledge pertaining to the dance field
3. Be capable of producing work and solving professional problems independently, and develop a coherent set of artistic/intellectual goals, which are evident in their work.

Studio Art Departmental Learning Goals

Goal #1: Acquisition and comprehension of content knowledge

Outcomes: Competency in the field will be demonstrated by the student’s ability to:

• explore and employ a variety of materials and media to produce well executed works of art;
• approach the technical, emotional, and intellectual perspective of study;
• demonstrate proficiency in at least one discipline and practice skills necessary to show improvement;
• be aware of audience.

Goal #2: Attainment of skills: written & oral communication, critical & creative thinking, analysis & synthesis, and appropriate use of media

Outcomes: Competency in the field will be demonstrated by the student’s ability to:

• identify and define concepts and terminology;
• apply and relate historical/cultural/aesthetic traditions to their artwork;
• solve complex problems using critical & creative thinking and originality;
• analyze, synthesize, validate, evaluate and revise their own artwork as well as that of their peers.

Art History Departmental Learning Goals

Goal #1: demonstrate effective written and oral communication to convey concepts and conclusions developed through critical and creative thinking; (overlaps W1 and W2 Institutional but with discipline specific emphases)

Outcomes: Competency in the field will be demonstrated by the student’s ability to:

• use discipline appropriate research methods, terms, and formats to describe and discuss cultural productions;
• write clearly and concisely to convey analysis and independent judgments
• speak clearly and concisely in a group context to convey analysis and independent judgments
• analyze, synthesize, validate, evaluate and revise their own judgments as well as that of their peers.

Goal #2: critically observe and analyze art from many periods and locals to identify problems and form independent judgments.

Outcomes: Competency in the field will be demonstrated by the student’s ability to:

• identify key concepts and terminology from a period or culture;
• identify and place in context key monuments/artistic productions of a period or culture;
• describe key formal and contextual components of cultural productions.

Goal #3:  develop a broad cultural and social literacy in order to relate diverse cultures and methods of thought to one another and to cultural productions.

Outcomes: Competency in the field will be demonstrated by the student’s ability to:

• identify and discuss connections from her own culture to a time period or culture;
• identify and discuss social, political, economic, historical elements affecting a time period or culture.

Goal #4:  recognize and convey an understanding of diverse viewpoints and interpretations of cultural productions.

Outcomes: Competency in the field will be demonstrated by the student’s ability to:

• identify locate cultural productions as the work of a time or culture;
• critique cultural productions without undue cultural bias;
• identify and evaluate assumptions and questions about the artistic productions of a time period or culture.
• describe and discuss the purpose, meaning, and uses of a cultural production including shifts in those functions over time.

Studio Facilities

Lortz Hall: drawing, painting and design studios, seminar room, lecture room, slide library, art storage room, faculty offices and faculty studios.

Lortz Hall

Drawing/Painting Studio

Design/Watercolor Studio

Lecture Room

Faculty Office

Fine Arts

The Fine Arts program introduces students to a complex and important area of human culture. In art history courses, they learn how to evaluate works aesthetically and to comprehend and recognize influences of contributing forces (physical, political, intellectual, spiritual) on artists and the viewing public. In studio courses, the creative experience is offered and concerns of artistic activity are made more vivid. As Fine Arts majors, students concentrate in either Studio Art or Art History. Minors are offered in Studio Art, Art History, and Archaeology. All students should plan their program of study in consultation with the Fine Arts program chair. Courses may include field trips to museums and galleries in nearby cities.

Internships are encouraged for all students in the major or minor, especially those planning careers in museums, galleries, educational or cultural institutions, commercial art or arts administration. The program benefits from several campus resources including the Bogigian Art Gallery and the Hunnicutt Classics Collection. An Artist in Residency program helps to expose students to visual and performing artists. These resources are described under the section on Academic Resources.

Courses in related disciplines may be recommended for academic enrichment or career goals. The following courses may be credited towards the Art History requirement: CLS 215 Women in Antiquity and CLS 270 Topics in Classical Civilization.

Career Opportunities

• Archaeology
• Arts Administration
• Commercial Art
• Cultural Institutions
• Dance Production
• Education
• Gallery Industry
• Graphic Design
• Museum Industry
• Fine Artists:
• Dancer
• Graphic Artist/Designer
• Illustrator
• Painter
• Photographer
• Potter
• Printmaker
• Mixed Media Artist

Resources

ART TABLE: Every Tuesday at Noon in the Dining Hall

As a student interested in Visual or Performing Arts, Art History, Archeology, or Classics, the Department of Fine Arts offers you a number of distinctive opportunities, including:

• Studio Facilities: Beautifully renovated dance studio, two well-lit drawing and painting studios, a new wet darkroom, a comfortable seminar room with large couches and giant critique wall, a 20 station Dell computer lab featuring the Adobe Creative Suite, a ceramics studio with two electric kilns and five wheels, a printmaking studio with a mechanized press, and semi-private studio space for seniors.
• Summer Artist-in-Residency Program : Permits artists from across the country to visit Wilson for two-week residencies. While here, they engage current art students in conversation about work, art and life as an artist. They conduct formal and informal critiques with students and fellow residents, and have the opportunity to exhibit in the Wilson College Bogigian Gallery or perform in either the Appenzellar-Buchanan Dance Studio or Laird Hall.
• Visiting Artists: Each semester, professional visual and/or performing artists are invited to campus to talk about and perform their own professional work and meet with students to discuss student work. They come with varied backgrounds as professional artists and educators working in a variety of media, and bring new perspectives to current Wilson students.
• The Bogigian Gallery: Two exhibitions are hosted each semester, with a concentration on women artists. The schedule includes the annual juried Student Show held at the end of the Spring semester and a Biannual Faculty/Staff Show, along with a variety of local, regional and nationally known artists.
• The Hunnicutt Gallery of Classical Antiquities . A wonderful collection of artifacts from Egypt, Greece, Rome, and other great civilizations of the Western world. Students have the opportunity to study the collection in depth, and are invited to physically engage the objects.
• The Orchesis Modern Dance Ensemble : Sponsors and performs a concert at the end of each semester, presenting a broad range of historical and modern dance. All Wilson students are eligible to enroll in Orchesis.
• Regular field trips: To museums, galleries, and artist studios in Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York.
• Major areas of study in Studio Art and Art History,  Minors in Dance, Archaeology and Music.
  - An outstanding group of dedicated, diverse and broadly published and exhibited full-time faculty.
  - A senior Capstone project for studio majors designed to prepare the student for life after Wilson as a graduate student or working artist.
• Independent Study: Allows upper level students to design their own courses. Such courses have included: Defining the Portrait, Experiments in Collage, Concepts of Modern & Contemporary Art, Portfolio Preparation and Contemporary Concepts
• Special majors: Is designed with major area directors. Past special majors have included Dance and Graphic Design.
• Internships: Has included positions as Photographer at Busch Gardens Amusement Park in Williamsburg, VA , an Administrative Assistant at The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore,  and a graphic designer with a firm in  Washington, DC.
• Preparation for graduate study: Fine Arts Majors have enrolled in recent graduate programs at Mt. St. Mary's University, Slippery Rock University, and Temple University.