Department of Art and Design

ART 800P – Drawing     3 credit hours

Experimentation in form, value, line, color, and pictorial composition is encouraged as a means toward individual expression. Open to students who have completed basic courses in drawing composition.

ART 803 – Art Education Inquiry: Research Methods     3 credit hours

This is a required Arts Based Educational Research (ABER) class. This course prepares the student for coursework and the final research paper within the ABER rationale. This class includes the development of research and writing skills and becoming proficient in APA style. In addition to Arts Based Education Research, other methodologies will be presented and include case studies, action research, as well as qualitative and quantitative research practices.

ART 807P – Art Methods for Young Children     3 credit hours

This interactive course is designed to give you a new perspective on planning and implementing developmentally appropriate art programs for children from birth through age eight. Topics include curriculum, assessment, evaluation, and program planning in addition to several historical perspectives and theories of child development and best practices for early childhood art education. We will examine key concepts as they relate to specific art activities. Graduate students will conduct research on a selected topic. Recommended prerequisite of a basic or advanced design course which provides fundamental training in art elements and principles with an emphasis on art materials, processes and the development of a basic art vocabulary.

ART 820 – Graduate Art History Survey I for Art Educators     3 credit hours

This is a graduate level art history survey course which covers material from Pre-history through the Renaissance and incorporates classroom projects that the student will then have as an option to introduce the material into their classrooms.

ART 821 – Art History Survey II for Art Educators     3 credit hours

This is a graduate level art history survey course which covers material from Renaissance through Contemporary Art and incorporates classroom projects that the student will then have as an option to introduce the material into their classrooms.

ART 825 – Intercultural Aesthetics & Pedagogical Practice     3 credit hours

This course explores the history and theories of the development of aesthetics in art. Course requirements include directed reading and special investigation of traditional and current trends in aesthetic theories in relationship to diverse world cultures. Appropriate application to the K-12 art classroom will be explored.

ART 826 – Non-Western Art History: Selected Topics     3 credit hours

This course is a graduate level survey of the art and architecture of various cultural regions around the world. Areas of the world will be selected by the professor teaching the course according to his/her area of expertise. The goal of this course is to consider the interrelationship between the visual properties of art objects and the social and cultural contexts of their production.

ART 828 – Creative Photography     3 credit hours

The primary goal of this course will be to explore photography technically, visually, and conceptually. This course will explore the artistic potential of photography via digital technologies. We will start with an overview on the basics of photography as they pertain to using digital cameras and digital output and move onto exploring some of the major concepts and visual theories on photography. This course will culminate into an original body of photographic work.

ART 844 – History, Theories and Philosophies of Art Education     3 credit hours

Students will learn about the development of American art education by examining historical ideas and practices and current theories and philosophies. This course will explore questions about American culture and influences of society on art education, as well as the impact of art and art education in a democratic and pluralistic society.

ART 845 – Art & Culturally Responsive Teaching     3 credit hours

This course explores the art of many cultures and enhances the teaching of art to a culturally diverse student body. Problems and issues of teaching art from cultures other than one's own will be addressed. Multiple aesthetic perspectives will be examined and debated.

ART 846 – Art Education & Social Emotional Learning     3 credit hours

This course examines the intersection between Social Emotional Learning (SEL) and Art Education. Through an in-depth exploration of the SEL competencies, Art Educators will be empowered with critical information needed to design appropriate instructional strategies and creative curricula to enhance teaching and learning practices, and more importantly, foster overall student success and emotional well-being of the learning community.

ART 848 – Differentiated Instruction in Art     3 credit hours

This course will provide an introduction to the philosophy of differentiated instruction and address the challenges of engaging diverse learners in the art classroom. The theories, research, and assumptions underlying differentiation will be examined, and applied to the implementation of successful differentiated instruction in the art classroom. Students will gain expertise making practical and flexible instructional decisions that help create a standards-based learning environment where all students can thrive and achieve in and through the arts.

ART 849 – Art Across the Curriculum     3 credit hours

This class explores the methods for incorporating art into other subjects and other subjects into art. Students in this class will learn how to develop interdisciplinary (integrated) lessons which address multiple intelligences, are intellectually stimulating and help develop children's problem-solving skills.

ART 850C – Painting     3 credit hours

Research in advanced problems in painting. A student may take a total of nine hours of ART 850A through ART 850F.
Total Credits Allowed: 3.00

ART 856 – Visual Culture & Studio Practice     3 credit hours

The primary goal of this course will be to explore what Visual Culture means. Students will create expressive works of art using contemporary art practices which reflect the ideas of Visual Culture. This work will be disseminated using the internet and its resources like Flickr, Facebook, and YouTube.

ART 857 – Digital Art     3 credit hours

Exploration into digital image making and visual story telling with an emphasis in digital technology. Students are expected to have a working knowledge of the computer os as well as photoshop and/or painter.

ART 860 – Seminar in Art Criticism and Philosophy     3 credit hours

Aesthetics and philosophy of art criticism for advanced students.

ART 863P – Experimental Art Practices     3 credit hours

We live in a world that focuses on the formula of learning and using a system to create artwork.Many of us have forgotten the importance of play and how informative failures can be to the creative process. As artists, we must learn to not only celebrate successes but also address our areas of opportunities. In this course, students will be introduced to contemporary makers, outsider artists, and historically significant works that provide context for experimental art practices. Through hands-on projects and technical instruction, students will be engaged in the act of creating non-traditional drawings, earthworks, guerrilla art, videos, and more. This course values creative ingenuity, ambition, technical refinement, and problem-solving abilities. Let's learn to think outside the box and beyond the square picture frame!

ART 864 – Art, Activism, & Social Movements     3 credit hours

This course will explore art as a form of political activism: the dynamic practice of combining the creative power of the arts with the strategic planning of social and/or cultural engagement. As a class, we will consider different aesthetic strategies that artists have used to address the politically urgent questions of their place and time. Students will seek answers to the questions of How is activism made visible? and How has visual culture played a role within the social movements of the last several decades? Some of the ideological intersections between art and politics that will be examined include: visual responses to structural racisms, global climate change, feminism, state violence, and queer/trans equality issues.

ART 870C – Independent Study     3 credit hours

Advanced individual research pursued at the approval of the Department of Art. Special materials fee will be assessed as needed. By permission of instructor only.

ART 872P – Women in Art     3 credit hours

This course analyzes women's artistic role in their societies and highlights pertinent issues in each individual period. It is a chronological survey from the prehistoric era through the end of the twentieth century.

ART 873 – Modern Art History     3 credit hours

Survey of art in the western world from 1900 to the present. The course revisits the questions: What is art? How can we define modernity? Is there "progress" in the visual arts? And what is modern art? Additionally, this course asks, what is Post Modern art and is it different from modern art? If so, how? Overarching themes, such as modernism, progress, the concept of the avant-garde and its uneasy relation with the general public, vision and reality, and the functions of the artist in society, are explored through time. Three main units will be outlined - European Art from 1900-1945, American Art from 1945-1980, and Post Modern and Contemporary Art from 1980-Present. Works of individual artists and movements will be examined within their social, religious, intellectual, and historical contexts.

ART 890 – PK-12 Art Curriculum & Assessment Design     3 credit hours

This course is an exploration of the multifaceted dimensions involved in developing a holistic and quality visual arts curriculum. Included is curriculum as a body of knowledge to be transmitted, as a product, as a process, and as praxis. Integral to curriculum is assessment. Employing current theories and practices in the qualitative assessment of art, strategies will be examined and address criteria for designing authentic art assessments using transparent, logical, and intuitive methods.
Prerequisite: ART 803 and ART 844 and ART 845 and ART 848

ART 895 – Art Education Inquiry: Research Seminar     3 credit hours

Students will engage in inquiry and explore a specific art education or museum education topic/issue through a scholarly lens. The fundamental guiding question that will shape this course is: How can I contribute to the field of art education or museum education by conducting and sharing research? Research will be conducted using self-designed research questions and various practices that have been introduced throughout the program and focus on an arts-based or qualitative methodology that is most appropriate for the investigation of the topic. The development of a research topic/problem, written or creative, in Art or Museum Education to be developed under the supervision of the major Professor in the discipline. By permission of graduate advisor.
Prerequisite: Completion of 27 hours of the program and ART 803.

ART 899P – Special Topics in Art     3-6 credit hours

Designed to meet special needs for students in Art Education, Art History, Graphic Design, and Studio Art. By permission of instructor only.
Total Credits Allowed: 6.00