Arts 107m | Veale | 2 credits
This course provides an introduction to the basic elements of fashion design including: sketchbooks, mood boards, photography, pattern design, and accessory design and styling. Students will learn about the history of fashion design and study the work of fashion designers who have been influential in the United States, focusing each week on a different decade from the 1960s to today. Students will be expected to draw on these topics and skills to style photo shoots and, for the final project, to create a fashion line and a full magazine spread to accompany the line. This course does not fulfill the arts requirement.
No prerequisites.
Arts 211/311 | J. Myers | 3/4 credits
After introductory individual projects, students will work on collaborative teams to create interactive programs using the Unity 3D authoring tool. Students will learn essential elements of interactivity—branching, control with mouse and/or keyboard, etc.—forming the building blocks of the more complex structures found in game development. Content will be created and edited by team members working in all of the primary digital arts creation tools, including work in 3D using Blender, the premier open source modeling and animation program. Class members, working as individuals and/or in small teams, will explore and create works that combine traditional arts disciplines and media (including performing and studio arts) with human interaction via the computer interface. In addition to becoming familiar with the technical aspects of interactive multimedia, the class will explore the aesthetic and conceptual dimensions.
Open to all levels. This course is generally offered once a year.
Arts 212 | Staff | 3 credits
What is the self and how to describe it? In the postmodern age, the self is said to be nonexistent—elusive at best. Yet the current popularity of memoirs and “tell-all” biographies attests to an interest and belief in real selves that can be documented and explained. This course examines works by predominantly 20th-century Western visual artists, photographers, filmmakers, musicians, choreographers, and writers of drama, poetry, and fiction in order to explore how artists have attempted to portray either their own identities or those of others. Students will also compose their own works using a variety of art forms to explore how creative expression can capture personality and how each art form offers its own avenue to portraiture.
No prerequisites. This course is generally offered once every two years.
Arts 225 | Staff | 3 credits
This course explores how Western artists of all genres describe their own creative process and provides ample opportunities for students to observe their own making of art. Artists’ statements and works of art are the primary texts. A brief overview of the definitions and measurements of creativity in psychology and philosophy is included as well. Assignments also include creative projects done in and outside of class in a range of media. Some issues focused on in the readings and experimentation include the degree to which choice, chaos, and intuition enter into art making; personal and social impediments to creativity; sources of inspiration; and creative collaboration.
No prerequisites. This course is generally offered once every two years.