Mar 28, 2024  
2020-2021 Catalog 
    
2020-2021 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Art


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Professors: Savage (Chair), Serebrennikov, S. Smith
Associate Professor: Starr
Assistant Professors: Dietrick, Kyo, St. Clair
Affiliated Professors: Toumazou (Classics)

Lecturer: Eggleston

Major Requirements (A.B. Degree)


The Art Department is designed around two principal areas: creative practice and critical studies.

You can earn a Bachelor of Arts degree with an emphasis in either art history or studio art, and the two disciplines are closely entwined. Our goal is to encourage creative approaches to learning in all disciplines as part of the broader liberal arts curriculum.

Whether you pursue the major with an art history or studio art emphasis, you must take 11 courses as defined below.

Emphasis in Art History


Nine art history courses including 100*, 400, and 402 and two studio courses below the 200-level in two different media.  Of the remaining six art history courses, at least one course must fall into each of the following three categories:  art prior to 1800; art after 1800; and the history of architecture.

*AP 4 or 5 in Art History gives the student credit for ART 100.

Art history courses begin with a general survey of Western art. Subsequent courses cover art and architecture from the classical period to the present as well as the theory of art. Courses on Greek and Roman art, taught by faculty members in the Classics Department, count toward the major.

The Visual Resources Curator and VRC student assistants make the images covered in each class available for study through the online Image Review (visitor authentication required).

We try to engage our students in “doing” art history both in and outside the classroom. We encourage you to travel to exhibitions and apply for internships in local museums and galleries. Each spring a student is selected to offer a paper at the Collegiate Art History Symposium at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. Most art history majors also study abroad during their junior year.

Senior art history majors enroll in a capstone seminar on a subject of interest to our art historians that includes a travel component. Recent offerings have included trips to fin de siécle Vienna, Ancient Greece, the Gothic cathedral, Orientalism in French painting, Spanish art, the art of Edouard Manet, and the art of Gustave Courbet.

The highlight of each seminar is a trip to visit museums, galleries, and historical sites related to the subject. You also may travel to New York (usually over spring break) as part of the modern and contemporary art courses.

Emphasis in Studio


Nine studio courses including 397 in the junior year and 401 in the senior year and two art history courses, one of which must have an emphasis in the 20th, and/or 21st century (ART 218, 220, 222, 224, or 234).

*AP 4 or 5 in 2-D Design, 3-D Design, or Drawing gives the student credit for ART 199 including credit for Visual and Performing Arts requirement.

The studio art track begins with a foundation course, in which you will be introduced to the artist’s work through the studio. You’ll learn about artists’ tools, ways of seeing, methods, and media. From there, you will move into basic courses available in the five areas listed below.

Digital - investigation of methods of artmaking using digital technologies to improve our digital literacy, visual thinking, and technical craft.

Drawing - the structure and articulation of natural and non-objective forms through the use of line and tone, analysis of composition in a variety of media.

Painting - the exploration of oil, watercolor, and acrylic media, pictorial organization, and critical dialogue.

Printmaking - the history and techniques of intaglio (etching, dry point, soft ground, and aquatint) and lithography (stone and plate).

Sculpture - three-dimensional concepts in a variety of media focus on material and spatial relationships, technical processes, and critical dialogue. Ceramics is offered as part of a total program in sculpture, but does not focus on pottery.

Notes


  • Up to five transfer/abroad credits can apply toward the major with the approval of the Art Department after the courses are completed.
  • One course may fulfill two requirements, but that does not reduce the total number of overall requirements (11 for major).
  • A student can major in Studio and minor in Art History (or vice versa), but may not double major in Studio and Art History.

Minor Requirements


A minor is offered in art with emphasis in studio or art history.  In either case, six couses are required, to be divided as follows:

Emphasis in Art History


Six courses in art history, including 100*, and at least one course in the history of architecture.  One studio course may be substituted for one art history course.

*AP 4 or 5 in Art History gives the student credit for ART 100.

Emphasis in Studio


Six courses in studio, of which at least two must be at the 200 level.  One course in art history may be substituted for one studio course.

Notes


  • One course may fulfill two requirements, but that does not reduce the total number of overall requirements (6 for the minor).
  • A student can major in Studio and minor in Art History (or vice versa), but may not double major in Studio and Art History.

Honors Requirements


Students having a 3.2 overall average and at least a 3.5 average in the major may apply to the faculty for participation in the honors program.  In the case of an exceptional academic record, together with a thesis or exhibition of the highest quality, the department may confer high honors.

Honors in Art History


Candidates for honors must have a 3.2 overall GPA by the end of the junior year and a 3.5 GPA in art by the time of graduation. For requirements, see Art 496. If, in the opinion of the faculty the thesis does not warrant “Honors,” a letter grade will be assigned for ART 496.

Honors in Studio


Candidates for honors must have a 3.2 overall GPA at the end of the junior year and a 3.5 GPA in the major at the time of graduation, including an “A” in Art 401.  All students will complete a solo exhibition in the spring semester of the senior year as a requirement toward graduation.  If, in the collective evaluation of the studio faculty, the exhibition and accompanying statement reflects an exceptional level of quality and ambition, honors may be awarded.

Art History Courses


100-level courses are intended for students with no background in art history. These are survey courses designed to introduce a large body of work. 200-level courses are designed for both the major and the non-major. 300-level courses technically do not have any prerequisites, but students are warned at the onset that these are advanced courses. Seminars (not limited to majors) and independent studies are also in this category. 400-level courses are limited to majors in their senior year.

Studio Art Courses


100-level courses fall in the “Basic” category, and are divided by medium.  There are no prerequisites.  200-level courses are the “Advanced” category, again divided by medium. To enroll in one of these courses the student must have taken the basic course in that medium at Davidson. To enroll in an independent study, the student must have taken both the basic and advanced course in the medium of choice. 400-level courses are limited to majors in their senior year.

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