ARTS 150 - Special Topics in Studio Art

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.  

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