Course Search Results

Themes in Global Art is designed for students with no art history background. It is a cross-cultural course that explores key themes in art from a global perspective. We will be comparing and contrasting the many ways that different nations and ethnic populations throughout history have expressed their social, political, and religious values in visual form. Some of the international themes in art that we will study include: propaganda and power, social functions of art, ritual and self-expression (such as tattoos and body mutilation), and religion and the divine realm. The course requirements include unit assessments that are partly multiple-choice and true/false questions and partly short-answer essays.

This course has online proctored exams, all of which will be administered via Proctorio, an online proctoring service. Generally, students will need: a computer with 2 GB of free RAM a reliable internet connection a webcam capable of scanning the testing environment a working microphone a quiet, private location the Google Chrome browser with the Proctorio extension installed. More information will be available on the syllabus.

This is an undergraduate introduction to the visual arts of Africa. No prior study of art history is necessary. This is a one-semester study of the sculpture, pottery, weaving, architecture, and other art forms of Africa from the Sahara to the Cape of Good Hope. The focus is on arts in cultural context. That means you will learn a great deal about the lives and history of many African peoples. You will see many, many slides of objects being made and used by African peoples to understand what the objects meant to the people who created them, and how the objects mirrored their social, educational, political, and economic systems.

Requirements for the online class include written participation in discussion sections, a midterm exam,  a final exam, several short quizzes and a short paper.  All readings will be available on ICON. Please note: There is a lot of writing in the discussion sections, and it will be very difficult for late enrollments to catch up after the first week of classes.

Survey of the Western world's visual arts from Renaissance (ca. 1400) to present; major movements and principal masters of Western Europe and the United States in their social and historical contexts; focus on stimulation of visual literacy and familiarity with outstanding cultural monuments.

This is the foundational course for the study of art history.  No prior study of art history is necessary. The course is a survey of Western Art from the European Renaissance to the contemporary world. It introduces some of the most famous and exciting works of art produced in the West from the Renaissance to the present day, including works of painting, sculpture, architecture, prints, photography, performance and installation art. We follow artistic developments through the centuries, looking at major artists and works from the Renaissance and Baroque periods, 18^th and 19^th-centuries, and from the world of modern and contemporary art.  Art is presented in historical, cultural, and aesthetic contexts.

A beginning-level course for nonmajors, this course is designed to encourage students who have had little or no formal studio experience. Drawing is the principal means for considering a range of expressive opportunities. Using wet (e.g., ink) and dry (e.g., charcoal) mediums, students work from the human figure (clothed), still life, and landscape. Students are given instruction in the skills of representation and principles of abstraction as an introduction to form, creativity, and greater discrimination of the visual world.

This course offers and introduction to basic metalworking techniques, including: sheet metal fabrication, hammer forming, hydraulic die forming, soldering, riveting, texturing, roll printing, stone setting, patination; creation of jewelry, functional, and nonfunctional objects using metals and other materials.  

Grading is based on the completion of 3 major projects along with samples related to primary skills. Students will also engage in research in contemporary Jewelry and Metal Artists and complete a short presentation on them. Grading is also based on execution of learned skills, personal effort, attendance, and participation. 

Introduction to methods, materials, and concepts of printmaking.

This course is designed for students with no prior art experience or those who enjoy art and want the opportunity to take a college-level studio class. Elements of Printmaking covers relief and monoprint printmaking techniques and how to use tools and materials specific to fine art printmaking. We will discuss the history and contemporary practice of printmaking by looking at works of art for inspiration and visiting important art collections containing printmaking examples on campus. A sense of community is at the core of every printmaking class. Participants will complete three print projects working in a communal print studio setting.

Topics related to artist books, hand bookbinding, letterpress printing, papermaking, and lettering arts.

This course serves as an introduction to the ceramic arts and focuses on hand-building techniques and surface decoration. Students will learn to create original work through five assignments. Students load and fire electric and gas kilns, with occasional wood, soda, and raku firing as time and scheduling permit. Students mix glazes and make clay throughout the semester. There are lectures on artists relevant to the field of ceramics, basic glaze and clay formulation and preparation, along with lectures on technical information and contemporary ceramics discourse. Short papers may be assigned for research. Several critiques concerning class assignments will be conducted throughout the semester.

Introduction to filmmaking principles; how to shoot and edit short videos utilizing smartphone technology; methods to produce high-quality work without professional equipment.

This class (General Education - Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts) introduces students to the multi-faceted language of film studies. Over the course of the semester, we’ll explore questions such as: what is the aesthetic language/toolkit of film analysis? How have filmmakers around the world and across history experimented with various film styles, narratives, and genres? How can we, as scholars, critically investigate film in a way that considers the particularities of various viewing experiences and practices? We’ll take up these and other questions as we study a range of film styles, production modes, and cultural contexts. Throughout, we’ll also consider how film has and continues to engage with discourses about race, gender, sexuality, class, etc. Students are required to attend two lectures, one discussion section, and one in-person screening per week.

Ancient Greek and Roman culture have inspired movies and TV shows for nearly 100 years. In this course students will examine representations of the ancient Mediterranean world, both mythical and historical, in American cinema and television from the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Students will gain insight into the filmmaking process, but they will spend most of their time analyzing film content and context, using primary and secondary sources, to determine the filmmaker’s intent and the meaning or effect of the film. This course also fulfills the Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts General Education requirement.

Hercules, Odysseus, Achilles and Oedipus all share one major characteristic: they are all heroes whose adventures and stories are chronicled in timeless Greek and Roman sacred stories, or myths. This course looks at these heroes (and more!), in addition to the gods and goddesses whom these peoples believed ruled their world. The study of Greco-Roman mythology offers an excellent window into the past by providing us with a unique opportunity to examine how the Greeks and Romans attempted to answer questions about the nature of the universe and mankind’s place in it.  The myths of any people betray attitudes concerning life, death, life after death, love, hate, morality, the role of women in society, etc.; we will pay particular attention to how Greco-Roman mythology addresses these important issues.
This course is designed to offer a general introduction to the myths of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Because ancient myths have come down to us in various works of literary and physical art, this course will also introduce you to some of the most influential works produced in ancient Greece and Rome. Moreover, because the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome have exercised such an influence in the shaping of the modern western world, we will equip ourselves with the background necessary to make modern literature, philosophy, religion, and art intelligible and meaningful. By examining and scrutinizing the myths of the ancient Greeks and Romans, we will learn not only a great deal about their cultures, but we will also put ourselves in a position from which to question, criticize, and (hopefully) better understand the foundations of the world in which we find ourselves.
This course meets the Literary, Visual, and Performing Arts general education requirement, as well as the Values and Culture requirement, through its use of ancient works of art (literary and visual) and focus on the ways in which ancient Greek and Romans managed the human experience.

Exploration of creative nonfiction genres through readings, discussion, and writing exercises; introduction to workshop environment.

A course exploring genres of creative nonfiction through readings, discussions, writing exercises, and writing itself. Students experience a workshop environment in which class members read, discuss, respond to, and critique the drafts their fellow students produce. Course readings, assignments, and exercises model the many modes of nonfiction for student writers. For beginning non-English majors.

In this beginner-friendly course, students of any background can learn about literature from the writer’s perspective and develop a familiarity with the basic components of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction literature. Students will study published writing and produce their own creative work, which they will share with their peers for feedback. Class time will emphasize discussion. Course work includes: completing weekly reading and writing assignments, submitting at least one complete creative piece for peer feedback, participating in peer feedback, and revising creative work for an end of semester final portfolio. Final grades will depend on attendance, participation in discussion and peer feedback, and completing all written assignments.

This course does not count toward the English Major, but it does count toward the General Education requirement.

This course introduces the basic movement fundamentals, terminology, and performance skills of jazz dance.  It is intended to enhance beginning student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through jazz technique.  Class is structured around a warm-up leading to locomotion across the floor and center combinations.  Content may also include the history of jazz dance.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques.  

This course introduces the basic movement fundamentals, terminology, and performance skills of ballet.  It is intended to enhance the beginning student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through ballet technique.  Activities will include barre and center combinations.  Terminology will be stressed during class, detailed in handouts, and included in exams.  Content may include the history of ballet.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques. 

This course introduces the basic movement fundamentals, terminology, and performance skills of modern dance.  It is intended to enhance the beginning student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through modern dance technique.  Activities will include warm-up, locomotion and center combinations.  Content may include the history of modern dance.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques.  Assignments are given according to the instructor’s discretion.  

This course builds on the foundation of skills necessary for the technique and performance of jazz dance.  It is intended to enhance the continuing student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through jazz technique.  Class is structured around a warm-up leading to locomotion across the floor and center combinations.  Content may include the history of jazz dance.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques.  Assignments are given according to the instructor’s discretion.  

This course is a continuation of DANC:1030, building a foundation of skills necessary for the technique and performance of ballet.  It is intended to enhance the continuing student’s flexibility, strength, body alignment, coordination, balance, kinesthetic awareness, personal range of motion, and musicality through ballet technique.  Class is structured around barre and center combinations.  Terminology will be stressed during class, detailed in handouts, and included in exams.  Content may include the history of ballet.  Students are graded on the basis of participation, attendance, movement exams, written exams and/or quizzes, and performance critiques.  Assignments are given according to the instructor’s discretion.  

This course explores the role of the performing arts in the human experience, and examines the nature of the creative impulse in different performance media, cultures, societies and historical contexts.  Much of the class work is based on attendance at live performances of theatre, music, and dance on campus and in the community.  Readings, films and videos will augment live performances. Emphasis is on analyzing performance and the experience of the audience through writing and in-depth class discussions. 

Intermediate technique and performance training in jazz dance, including hip-hop; flexibility, strength, body alignment, and coordination as foundation for more advanced dance artistry, including mobility, musicality, style; warm-up, locomotion, center combinations; may include history of jazz and hip-hop dance.

Theories related to human development and visual arts; use of visual arts to make meaning out of experience; ways to integrate visual arts into everyday life; cognitive and physical processes involved in making, understanding, and looking at visual art; theories of cognitive development; role of visual art in education; introduction to art production, art history, art criticism, and aesthetics.

Is worldly success possible without a pact with the devil? Can you achieve your goals without selling your core values? Your soul? And what was the original Faustian bargain? We will follow the development of various devilish pacts through the characters of Job (The Book of Job), Satan, Adam and Eve, the legendary necromancer Faustus and his iconic modernizations from Marlowe to Goethe and Klaus Mann. What are the consequences, and can we interpret them in today's terms of mental health? What are gender aspects? We will also examine the fate of the characters who confront the assorted devils of 20th century totalitarian states. In the second half of the semester students will have the opportunity to explore devilish pacts in their own culture, major, or other interest, from Milton to Bulgakov, visual and performing arts to film, music, and gaming by doing research and a presentation.

Develop literary community while generating new work, invigorating works-in-progress, and learning to navigate writer's block. Using carefully structured writing prompts, intuition exercises, and guided meditations, students develop a significant portfolio of creative work in any genre. Additionally, students learn actionable strategies for developing a productive writing practice based on traditional and non-traditional techniques.

Italy is home of an estimated 60% of the world’s art treasures. It is also the 8^th largest economy in the world by GDP. How are these two factors related? How do the Italian art and business spheres interact? This course will explore Italy’s centuries-old artistic tradition with a twofold purpose: first, to familiarize students with some of the most important manifestations of Italian culture; second, to help them reflect on how the arts have been informing business initiatives. By encompassing different periods and forms of expression, this course will investigate the works that have made Italy synonymous with beauty and will examine how Italy’s artistic tradition has influenced the country’s industrial and business development. Through detailed analyses of literary and visual texts, students will learn how to critically approach a work of art and will consider how arts-based inquiry can enhance value-creation capacity and business success."

No previous knowledge of art or business is required

This course surveys selected folk and popular musical traditions within their historical and social contexts in Latin America and the Caribbean. Students examine the three principal musical sources of indigenous America, Europe and Africa, and the ensuing stylistic mixtures and combinations through select music cultures from the region, including the indigenous music of the Andean highlands, musics of the Afro-Hispanic Caribbean (Cuba and Puerto Rico), Trinidadian calypsos and steel pan, and samba and bossa nova in Brazil. The course is designed to broaden students' exposure to other musical systems and explore the interrelationship of music and its social meaning.

Introduction to growing literary production of varied Latinx communities (e.g., Chicano, Puerto Rican American/Nuyorican, Cuban American) that have a strong presence in the United States; recent literary production from borderland transcultural spaces with physical, cultural, economic, political, and mythical elements; visions of the United States from contemporary Latin American writers who recently have become U.S. residents. Class will consist of short lectures, class discussions, various class and group activities, reading responses to the assigned readings, two short analysis papers, and a final individual project. Taught in English.

This course counts toward the Latina/o/x Studies minor. See the Latina/o/x Studies website for more information about the minor.

Since World War II, jazz has spread to every corner of the globe producing unique interpretations and practices as it interacts with local traditions. Similarly, jazz musicians in America have found musical sources for their compositions outside of the traditional jazz mainstream. This course will investigate a number of ways that jazz music is interpreted with particular attention to the contexts in which music is created, transmitted and received. Each year the class compares the American jazz tradition to a unique international region that has a strong jazz scene. 

One thirty-minute weekly lesson in one of the following areas: bassoon, cello, clarinet, composition, euphonium, flute, harp, horn, jazz studies instruments, oboe, organ, percussion, piano, saxophone, string bass, trombone, trumpet, tuba, viola, violin, or voice.

The course is for non-music majors only and consists of one half-hour weekly lesson plus a weekly seminar. 

While exact requirements vary by discipline (e.g. piano, voice, cello) students should expect to rehearse a minimum of three hours a week.

For permission to register please email the Course Supervisor listed for the specific instrument of interest. Registration is under separate section numbers for bassoon, cello, clarinet, composition, euphonium, flute, horn, oboe, organ, percussion, piano, saxophone, string bass, trombone, trumpet, tuba, viola, violin and voice. 

Unless noted it is the responsibility of the student to arrange lesson times with the instructor before the end of the first week of classes. 

Students enrolling for Voice will be contacted by the Instructor to arrange the private lesson time no later than the first week of classes. 

This course is a survey of Major 20th-century styles, artists, seminal works, and recordings; developments between 1900 and today. Course materials include a written text, ICON listening list, films and live performances. Requirements include online quizzes, two exams and writing assignments.

The Beatles are arguably the most influential popular music artists in history.  In many ways, their careers reflected and shaped the culture of their time.  In this course students will explore the impact influences such as rock ‘n’ roll, gigs in Hamburg, world tours, the drug culture, the Avant Garde, non-western instruments and philosophy, anti-war sentiments, and world politics had on the Beatles’ music. We will examine the development, maturation, and demise of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership as well as the role George Martin and his engineers played in turning the Beatles’ sonic explorations into hit singles and groundbreaking records. Concurrently students will critique the impact Beatlemania had on British and American cultures as well as its role in opening up Eastern Europe to the West.  Innovations made in the recording and marketing of albums and films, and the difficulties the group encountered in managing royalties, copyrights, and various business ventures are covered.  Students will view several of the Beatles’ various television appearances and films and develop an in-depth understanding of their music.  Students will gain knowledge of British and American cultural history through the “window” the Beatles and their music provide. 

This course is open to all students; including non-music majors.  

This course is an introduction to basic sculptural concepts and processes. Emphasis is placed on developing personal ideas, and acquiring basic skills and knowledge of materials. Each assignment builds upon the others, creating a solid conceptual/technical foundation. Instruction includes readings, discussions, demonstrations, and slide presentations. Attendance is mandatory and grades are based on personal development and class participation. This is a fundamental 3D art course that introduces students to a wide array of hands-on fabrication techniques including, wood assemblage, plaster/wax mold-making and fabricating with wire/metal.

This is the foundation course for Product, Furniture, and Interior Design and the introduction to 3D Design with Sustainability. Students create four project and a Digital portfolio (Website).  

They develop conceptual and critical design thinking while solving problems to make 3D structures with modular systems and sustainable material, processes, and consumption.  

Students learn traditional hand drafting and model making, use AutoCAD software and Computer Numerical Controlled (CNC) machine to create scale models, learn basic woodshop skills, research sustainable material and processes, practice how to pitch an idea and present projects, utilize map systems, take pictures using the lighting studio, edit images using Adobe software, and create a website portfolio.    

This course is intended for students who are not theatre arts majors. The course is an introduction to the elements of performance, including exercises in concentration, imagination, observation, communication, relaxation, and sensory awareness. Classes are designed to promote toning the voice and body, freeing creative expression, and developing an understanding of the dramatic situation. This is primarily a lab class; appropriate casual clothing is necessary. Play attendance with written critiques, a journal, and a final performance project with written character and scene analyses are required. The course enhances interpersonal communication and presentation skills required for a successful career in occupations such as Engineering, Business, Medicine, Marketing, Mass Communications and Education to name a few.

Representative plays as performed in social contexts of ancient Egypt; classical Greece, Rome, India, and Japan; and medieval and early modern Europe.

This course offers an engaging way to learn about world history through the theatre. We study plays not just as texts on the page but as performance events that reveal a great deal about how people in different societies through time saw themselves and their world. Considering Ancient Egyptian influences and moving into Classical Greece, Rome, India, Japan, and Medieval and Renaissance Europe, we read plays–including works by Aeschylus, Shakespeare, and Aphra Behn, one of the earliest known women playwrights–that range from shocking tragedy to bawdy comedy. Course material is covered through lectures, attendance at two University Theatre productions, and once-weekly discussion sections. Special attention is given to helping students improve their writing as they fulfill course requirements. Primary assignments periodic short writing assignments, a midterm and a final exam in short-answer and essay format, and a final research project with options for creative approaches.

This course provides an introduction to the craft of playwriting.  Students will focus on the fundamentals of writing for the stage, including playwriting structure, creating characters, writing dialogue and building plays.  Coursework includes in-class writing, regular writing assignments, and the reading of plays.

Engineering students, as well as students of other disciplines, are encouraged to enroll.

Major developments in Anglo-European, Indian, Asian, and African theatre and drama, 3000 B.C.E. to C.E. 1700; sociopolitical, economic, and cultural circumstances of original productions.

This course examines how theater has both reflected and created social structures, perceptions, and values in ancient Egypt; classical Greece, Rome, India, and Japan; and medieval and early modern Europe. Representative plays, ranging from shocking tragedy to bawdy comedy and including works by Shakespeare and the earliest known women playwrights, are analyzed as performed events within their respective historical contexts. Course material is covered through lectures and participation in once-weekly discussion sections. Assignments include weekly play and text readings, short writing assignments, a midterm and a final exam, and a research project with options for creative approaches.

In this seminar we will consider beautiful and captivating short stories and poetry written by modern and contemporary authors around the world, to examine the search for individual identity in encounters with society, nature and the divine. How does the self respond to forces outside itself while embracing beliefs in free will and self-determination?   Assignments will include creative writing and short reflection essays.