ARTS 150 - Special Topics in Studio Art

ARTS 150.1 Special Topics In Studio Art: Art & Activism

The arts have a long history of engagement with social movements and political activism. Notably, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP), the Environmental Art movement, the Guerrilla Girls projects, and the Black Lives Matter protests all demonstrate what a powerful tool art can be for raising public awareness and inspiring change. This course will explore the role of artists working in the pursuit of justice and provide a laboratory setting for students’ creative production. Coursework will include research of various artworks as part of larger historical movements as well as students’ individual projects addressing contemporary topics in the public discourse.

ARTS 150.2 Special Topics In Studio Art: Performance Art

Through an immersion in studio projects and performance art history, this course focuses on the conceptual and the fundamentals of performance art. The historical component of this course tracks the evolution of performance as a response to the theatre establishment via Happenings and Interventions, utilizing new technologies, aka magnetic videotape. This portable technology gave portability and readiness for the artist, which in turn shaped the development of alternative storytelling, performance, installation, and conceptual art movements around the world. Students are required to complete four performance projects, subject to critique and contextualization. These projects will explore the formal strategies of performance, installation, and sound art. This course will review and discuss the works of Lorraine O’Grady, Senga Nengudi, Marina Abramovic, Maren Hassinger, Vito Acconci, Yoko Ono, Zack Fabri, Augusto Boal, Nick Cave, Tameka Norris, Adrian Piper, and Bruce Nauman, among others. Requirements include participation in class critiques and discussions, readings, keeping journals/sketchbooks, and exercises, which will culminate in a final thesis performance. 

Fall 2025 Topic:

ARTS 150 The Collage Aesthetic: Bits and Pieces Make a Whole

This course explores collage as a means of making images as an aesthetic and conceptual form of discovery. As a formal exploration, collage encourages the innovative juxtapositions of materials from both high and low culture across a range of media. As a conceptual investigation, collage examines the ways in which joining fragments of information and sensory experiences reimagine our perception of the world. 

Students will work with two-dimensional media (small objects, photographs, drawings, etc.) found in both the natural world and the built environment. Various methods of locating, extracting, dissecting, arranging, reassembling, and interpreting will provide a context for the compositions. Assignments will draw on the work of artists Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, Romare Bearden, Betye Saar, Lawerence Weiner, John Baldassari, Arturo Herrera, and Wangechi Mutu, among other historic and contemporary collagists.  

This course addresses current or timely topics in the area of Studio Art. Topics can vary from semester to semester.

Students will be charged a V & PA lab fee upon registering for this course.

May be repeatable for credit with new topic.

Prerequisites: Any ARTS course

Course Designation/Attribute: AP

Anticipated Terms Offered: Periodically