Major
Art
Chairman and Associate Professor: JULIO C. SUAREZ
Associate Professor: ANTHONY FRUDAKIS
Assistant Professor: CHRISTINA LAMB CHAKALOVA
Visiting Assistant Professor: ROXANNE KAUFMAN
Artist/Teacher: BRIAN SHAW
The art curriculum is a foundation program for both studio art and art history. It provides training for students with professional promise in addition to students who desire art as an avocation. All of the faculty members are flourishing professional artists whose career insights enrich their teaching. The department maintains an active program of professional art exhibits and student exhibits throughout each academic year. Off-campus experiences include field trips to art museums and other artistic destinations in the region. The art curriculum involves balance between art history and art studio; in the latter, there is strength in both traditional hand media (drawing, sculpture, and painting) and in digital coursework (photography and graphics).
The department has a process to follow when applying to the major. Students are expected to consult with the department chairman when considering declaring a major in art to learn about admission requirements. Once formal admission to the major is attained, the student should plan course schedules with the chairman or other art faculty. Students are encouraged to take 101, 104, and 120 in the freshman year. Majors should work with faculty to determine a studio track within the curriculum that best matches their talents. These tracks include: drawing/painting; drawing/sculpture; and digital domain (photography and graphics). Art history is not incidental but rather integral within the art curriculum. It both inspires and informs the student with study of artistic triumphs and disasters of the past.
The Daughtrey Gallery of the Fine Arts Building presents at least four art exhibits of professional caliber each year. Near the end of each semester, there is also a juried student art competition. Student artwork is juried by an artist/educator from outside the Hillsdale College faculty. Cash awards are involved. Eligibility involves being enrolled in art courses during the current academic year.
Degrees
Courses of Instruction
ART 101: Drawing I
Credits 3A course for beginners as well as students with prior art background. Black-and-white art media (charcoal, pencil, markers) are employed. Emphasis on traditional approaches to drawing from observation balanced with concerns for design and personal expression.
ART 104: Design I
Credits 3A course in visual communication offering experience in using fundamental elements of design: line, space, texture, value, form, pattern and color. Students make projects solving design problems using visual elements with respect to design principles. Media used include ink, charcoal, collage, pencil and assorted black-and-white and color media.
ART 120: Sculpture I
Credits 3An introduction to sculpting the figure in clay with an emphasis on the portrait bust. Techniques in plaster casting will be taught. Human anatomy for artists will be emphasized.
ART 203: History of Art: Prehistoric to Medieval
Credits 3A survey of the visual arts of architecture, painting and sculpture in their developments from Paleolithic art through the ancient civilizations of the Mediterranean and the Christian Middle Ages.
ART 204: History of Art: Renaissance to Modern
Credits 3A follow-up to ART 203, this course surveys Renaissance, Baroque and the parade of changing styles of the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.
ART 206: Oil Painting I
Credits 3This course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of oil painting. Working from direct observation, students will learn to translate the three dimensional into two and acquire the tools necessary to decode the appearance of things. Emphasis will be placed on discovering how truly unexpected and different from preconceptions these appearances can be. Students will work on projects that will progressively develop their abilities to determine value and color relationships while at the same time improving their drawing and compositional skills. Prerequisite: ART 101 and 104 or permission of the instructor.
ART 207: Watercolor Painting I
Credits 3Introduction to various techniques in watercolor painting. Prerequisite: ART 101 and 104 or permission of the instructor. Spring, odd-numbered years.
ART 302: Drawing II
Credits 3Intermediate-level problems in objective drawing techniques with a focus on the human figure. Prerequisite: ART 101.
ART 308: History of Renaissance Art
Credits 3A study of both sacred and secular art in Europe from about 1300 to 1550, the development of an individualistic spirit, the beginnings of scientific naturalism and classic revival during an age which laid the foundations of the modern world. Spring, even-numbered years.
ART 309: History of Baroque Art
Credits 3An examination of the principal developments in Italian and northern European art of the 17th century. Spring, odd-numbered years.
ART 310: Survey of Non-Western Art
Credits 3This course studies art created outside the Western tradition, including China, India, Japan, Africa, and native American cultures. Additionally, the course considers issues ranging from the influence of Christianity on the development of art to the anthropologic understanding of the importance of art-making Spring, even-numbered years.
ART 311: Oil Painting II
Credits 3The course will focus on further developing the perceptual painting techniques explored in Oil Painting I. Students will experiment with subject matter, technique, and scale. Prerequisite: ART 206.
ART 312: Watercolor II
Credits 3Intermediate-level approaches in watercolor painting. Studio problems will provide opportunities for more personal development. Prerequisite: ART 207. Spring, odd-numbered years.
ART 313: Oil Painting III
Credits 3This course will focus on further developing the painting techniques explored in Oil Painting II. Students will work on developing a cohesive body of work that explores more self-directed goals and stylistic choices. Prerequisite: ART 311.
ART 321: Sculpture II
Credits 3Further work in sculpting the complete figure in clay, along with experiencing other techniques and materials in sculpture. More human anatomy for artists will be emphasized beyond what is taught in ART 120. Prerequisite: ART 120.
ART 322: Sculpture III
Credits 3Exploring the subtractive method using various media and encouraging the student's individual expression. Prerequisite: ART 321.
ART 323: Artistic Anatomy
Credits 3Exploration of human anatomy for the emerging artist. Skeletal and muscular structure will be studied in the clay medium. Prerequisite: ART 120.
ART 333: Drawing III
Credits 3Additional experience in figure drawing with an emphasis on anatomy and development of graphic proficiency. Prerequisite: ART 302.
ART 350: Art Internship
Credits 3The student may arrange credit for art-intensive work experience in an organization such as an art museum, art gallery or publication office. The student applying for the internship must already have completed collegiate art coursework providing prerequisite skills appropriate to the work experience (e.g. having completed ART 361, Photography, if applying to work as a photojournalist for a newspaper). The student must see the Art Department chairman for details on the application process. At the end of the internship period, the student and the student's work supervisor should submit a report to the Art Department chairman, who will be responsible for determining the final grade.
ART 353: Graphic Design I
Credits 3Introduction to visual design and conceptual thinking using Adobe Creative Suite and Apple hardware. Prerequisite: ART 104.
ART 354: Introduction to Typography
Credits 3This course examines the fundamentals of typographic form and history. Students study the characteristics of letterforms and explore the relationship between illustration and typographic design. Projects integrate type and image utilizing hierarchal principles and spatial organization to produce effective typographic communication. Digital and hand lettering techniques will be explored. Spring semester.
ART 355: Color Theory and Design
Credits 3Explores principles, terminology and theories of color perception from Chevreul through Albers. Taught with computer applications. Prerequisites: ART 101 or 104 or permission of the instructor. Fall semesters.
ART 361: Digital Photography
Credits 3Introduction to the techniques and aesthetics of digital photography. Emphasis will be placed on understanding photographic principles and digital imagery workflow. Prerequisite: ART 101 or 104 or permission of the instructor. Also required: digital single lens reflex camera.
ART 362: Intermediate Digital Photography
Credits 3Continued exploration of technical processes in shooting and printing digital photographs. Students are challenged to develop greater artistic expression and impact in creating original images. Prerequisite: ART 361.
ART 410: History of Graphic Design and Photography
Credits 3A course exploring the roots and development of these two areas, from Gutenberg to webpages, and daguerreotype to digital, and the interrelationship between them and the world of fine arts. Spring, even-numbered years.
ART 411: History of Modern Art
Credits 3An examination of both revolutionary and traditional styles of art and architecture during the 19th and 20th centuries. Fall, odd-numbered years.
ART 412: History of American Art
Credits 3A study of art and architecture of the geographic region of the United States from older Indian cultures through European colonial to modern American art. Spring, odd-numbered years.
ART 413: Portraiture
Credits 3Developing competent likenesses and personal style in both drawing and painting media. Concerns range from anatomical structure to characterization through lighting, pose and media handling. Prerequisites: ART 101 and 206. Spring, even-numbered years.
ART 414: Oil Painting IV
Credits 3Emphasis on developing multi-figured composition. Prerequisite: ART 313.
ART 420: Sculpture IV
Credits 3Emphasis on developing multi-figured composition. Prerequisite: ART 321.
ART 421: Plaster Casting
Credits 1This course introduces the student to the ancient art of casting. Students will cast in plaster their clay portraits created in Sculpture I. They will develop an understanding of basic mold making techniques, the preparation of the sculpture for casting, mixing and applying plaster, de-molding and pouring the cast, patination and mounting. At the courses conclusion the student will have a solid understanding of the process and methods required to create a finished plaster cast using the waste mold technique.
ART 453: Graphic Design II
Credits 3This course addresses the designer's role in the strategic development of brand identity and visualization of complex graphic systems utilizing the Adobe Creative Suite software and other visual media. Spring semesters
ART 500: Senior Exhibit and Portfolio
Credits 3Preparation and installation of an exhibit featuring one's best studio artwork from the undergraduate period. Preparation of a photographic portfolio featuring such artwork. Fall semester.
ART 597: Special Problems
Credits 1 Max Credits 3An independent work course with individual instruction for the advanced art major in selected problems. Prerequisite: Permission of the instructor. Offered on demand.