This studio art course fosters a hands-on approach to basic drawing and composition. Students explore, comprehend, and employ the basic elements and principles of art, use various graphic media, and become familiar with the vocabulary, concepts, and techniques of drawing. Projects emphasize composition and guide students toward mastering the skills needed to produce an effective and expressive drawing.

This is a course for all levels of students, including students with no previous studio art experience. The course introduces students to a variety of approaches to the watercolor medium through the use of hands-on experience, demonstrations, instructor and peer feedback, and discussions. Students will develop watercolor painting skills and visual literacy through recognizing and practicing common watercolor techniques leading to a portfolio of work by the end of the term.

This course introduces the design elements, principles, and skills needed to succeed in the graphic design industry. Students will have the opportunity to learn the fundamentals of professional layout using Adobe Creative Cloud while demonstrating an understanding of composition, color, typography, vectors, and bitmap creation, along with other essential attributes of graphic design. The design process, design as visual communication, and the designer's role in concept development for media, web, and video will also be emphasized.

This course explores the fundamentals of digital photography. It is structured to help the student master the technical tools of digital photography and image-editing software while cultivating the ability to perceive and understand the world visually and artistically. Students practice constructively critiquing their own work and that of others. This course also examines the unique place photography has within the context of other art forms, such as painting, cinema, music, and literature.

The primary goal of this course is to develop an appreciation of the important role that the arts and the individual artist have played through the ages, giving the student a more complete understanding of the role of arts and artists in Western society. The course examines the formal qualities and technical achievements of important works from each major period in Western art, as well as the historical and cultural context in which they were created.

View Course Outcomes:

1. Recognize and understand major methods and theories of artists in Western art history, and be able to assess the qualities of works of art and architecture in their historical and cultural context.
2. Analyze the formal, technical, stylistic, compositional characteristics of artistic movements and individual pieces of art in Western culture and the various influences that contribute to a works overall appearance and structure.
3. Demonstrate the ability to describe works of art objectively and interpret artistic movements from a range of historical periods, respectful of each culture.
4. Identify the subject matter of works of art, their potential meaning and significance, and the larger intellectual, historical, or political trends.
5. Gain knowledge in art appreciation and make unbiased aesthetic and critical judgments, and apply learned skills of observation in assessing works of art.