Fine Arts (FA)
TOPIC: The aim of this class is to explore art practice as a form of mediation. After studying various meditative approaches such as breathing and visioning, students will apply contemplative methods to art creation. This includes journaling, collaging, chanting, sound and doodling. This course is a full body experience and allows students reflective engagement with both art methodology and media. The aim is to build introspective strategies to navigate multiple responsibilities as students.
This class is designed for the student with no prior music reading experience. It also is taught with the presumption that the student has never played the keyboard. Thus students will be introduced to basic concepts of notation, hand placement, keyboard technique, and musicianship. Every music student needs familiarity with the keyboard, particularly with regard to effectively participating in the music theory class. The course provides students with an additional class with which to fulfill credits in the music minor.
A survey of important music and musicians of the Western World from the beginning of the Christian era to the present. Lectures are supplemented by recordings, films, slides, and concerts.
This class introduces students to global art from ancient times to the present. Students study examples of different art objects and art making techniques in their social, cultural, and political context and learn to conduct formal analysis of art works in different media. Students also learn about topics and debates in art world practice (such as censorship, restoration, and iconoclasm) to forge connections between the study of art history and the contemporary world in which we live.
An introduction to the music of cultures such as those of India, Indonesia, Japan, Europe, and Sub-Saharan Africa. The music of African-Americans and Native Americans will also be studied. Lectures are supplemented by recordings, films, slides, and concerts.
The course is an introductory, one-semester survey of American music, presented as three distinct yet parallel streams--folk, popular, and classical--that reflect the diverse character of the United States. Comparing and contrasting musical styles across regions and time that arise out of the history and musical traditions of the many immigrants to America will lead to a better understanding of both the diversity and the inter-relationships of the cultures that are a part of the American experience. This will be accomplished through a combination of reading, lecture, guided listening, projects, assignments, and class discussion.
Fundamentals of Music Theory is a general course in learning to read and write musical notation, incorporating elementary work in writing melodies, rhythms, scales, and harmony
This survey of art and architecture in Italy since 1200 focuses on major styles and movements as well as on principal figures and personalities in the arts. Outstanding cities that served as centers for artists are also studied. Lectures, slide presentations, films, and museum visits. Oral and written reports.
This course is an introductory, one semester survey of popular music genres and artists from around the globe that developed and exist outside the dominant American/Western European popular music mainstream. While some familiar international styles such as Reggae, Salsa, K-Pop, and others will be covered, the student will also be exposed to many lesser-known styles and genres. Each chapter focuses on a specific region and culture, its unique popular music (including its historical-cultural origins), and the best-known representative artists. This will foster a deeper understanding of the way popular music developed and is used by various world cultures, leading to a better understanding of the cultures themselves. We will examine not just the music, but also how music is related to and interacts with literature, dance, art, religion, and culture in general, including gender, race, and socio-economic issues. This will be accomplished through a combination of reading, lecture, guided listening, projects and assignments.
This class introduces students to American art by studying examples of visual art and material culture such as painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, textiles, performance art, and public art, in the context of major social, cultural, and political developments in American history. Students will examine how the meaning of American art is not only a function of its subject or content, but also of where it is produced, where it is displayed and/or how it used, and the identity of the artist.
This course seeks to explore Black life (cultural, political, social and spiritual) through the perspective of the Black artist. Students will gain exposure to the visual culture of the African Diaspora, including artists located on the African continent and those of African descent dispersed throughout many nations. Particular focus will be given to North America, Haiti, Senegal, Brazil and the United Kingdom. Students will study artists, art collectives and art movements that use art making to influence an array of social justice topics including civil rights, immigration, and prison reform. An inquiry based learning method will guide student engagement with artists using different media and practices (painting, sculpture, photography and installation). Students will learn how and why African Diasporic identities are formed and maintained along with how visual representation can aid in fueling systemic change.
This course will offer a unique opportunity to explore Italian cinema from the revolution introduced by Neorealism (mid-1940s to the beginning of the 1950s) to the emergence of the great filmmakers, like Pier Paolo Pasolini, Michelangelo Antonioni, Federico Fellini, and Luchino Visconti. A view of contemporary cinema will also be offered through the directorial styles of Tornatore, Amelio and Crialese. Some Italian literature will also be presented.
This course provides an overview of the cultural, material, technological, and artistic history of photography from 1839 to the present. It places an emphasis on photography as a technology dependent on social interaction, mediation, and the public sphere. Although students will be expected to gain general knowledge of photographic processes, the main focus will be how photographs convey meanings through their formal elements, historical context, dissemination, and reception. In addition to looking at photographs online and in digital archives, the class will visit the Brooklyn Historical Society to study first hand examples of early photographic formats as well as exhibits of modern and contemporary photography at galleries and museums in New York City.
Students will learn the fundamentals of playing the guitar and how to apply basic music theory. Skills developed will include right- and left-hand technique, strumming patterns, and picking. Students will learn to play and understand chords, scales, and arpeggios; read music notation and guitar tablature; analyze basic song forms; and improvise. By exploring solo and accompaniment work, students will learn how to use their skills in solo and ensemble settings.
The arts are a resource for enlarging students' experiences beyond their immediate surroundings. Instruction in the arts encourages students to take pleasure in creating and performing in the arts, regardless of previous experience. In this course, students will explore the basic elements and principles of art, such as space, form, and color, and use these principles to create original and meaningful pieces of artwork. Can be continued in FA-2405.
A continuation of FA 2404.
A study of Ancient Egyptian architecture, sculpture, painting, and crafts from the first through the 22nd dynasties. Factors contributing to the art of the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms is analyzed, including ancient Egyptian geography, history, culture, literature, and mythology. Slide lectures, classroom discussions, readings, and museum visits are included.
A survey of the art and archeology of the pre-Colombian civilizations in Mesoamerica and the Andean region in South America. The focus is on four cultures: the Olmec, the Maya, the Aztec, and the Inca. The colonial art of a later period and contemporary art are also studied. Field trips to museums.
This course surveys commemorative practices in the United States from the Revolutionary period to the present, focusing on how individual Americans and the nation as a whole remember the past, honor people and events, and reflect on national tragedies. While this course will place an emphasis on how memories of past events and experiences have been given physical form in monuments, souvenirs, and impromptu shrines, other commemorative arts covered may include music, poetry, and film. The histories and debates surrounding a number of major memorials will be studied in depth. The class will visit several of New Yorks memorial sites.
This course surveys art made in the United States with the purpose of effecting social change. By making the rhetorical visual and the abstract personal, images can be powerful tools of social persuasion. Some have questioned art's political effectiveness, arguing that art is inherently removed from political action. Others have dismissed explicitly socially conscious art as propaganda. This class will investigate such claims by looking at a wide range of fine art and visual media, showing how the boundaries between art and popular media, personal expression and social commentary, and commercial and political motives, are more fluid than not. The class will begin with topics and debates related to current social movements. The class will then go back in time to cover key moments in the history of the art of social change, moving chronologically from the visual culture of abolitionism to late 20th-century and early 21st-century topics such as feminist art and the art of war protest. The class will end with a study of some examples of social practice or dialogical art.
This course offers students the opportunity for in depth study of New York museum and gallery exhibitions. Art works will be the primary sources that students examine onsite first hand, along with the contextual and historical framework provided by the exhibitions' curators. Exhibitions at nearby museums and galleries, such as the Brooklyn Museum, the International Center of Photography on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, BRIC gallery on Fulton Street, Smack Mellon gallery in DUMBO, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, will determine the specific focus of the course. Students will develop an interpretive final project (such as an exhibition tour or public program and/or community outreach proposal). Class meetings will regularly take place off campus at galleries, museums, and at public art installations, and students will be required to take public transportation to sites that are not within walking distance from campus.
Cross-listed with: ICS-5307. An introduction to the culture and arts of Austria, with particular attention to Vienna. Painting, sculpture, architecture, urban planning, and music are examined in historical perspective. Classroom lectures are supplemented by slides, films, and museum visits.
This course focuses on the development of the arts within the Church from the fourth to the 14th century. It begins with an introduction to common symbols and themes used in the arts of the period and progresses to the study of painting, sculpture, and architecture. Particular emphasis is placed on the evolution of these art forms from the early Christian period through the Gothic. Decorative and functional objects such as stained-glass windows and reliquaries will be examined for their style and purpose.
A project undertaken by the student with the approval of the Department Chairperson. Students develop and pursue a reading and research program resulting in a paper of appropriate length.
Members of the College Choir may apply for a one-credit Independent Study based on their training, practice, rehearsals, and public performances during one semester. Approval from the Department Chairperson is required and evaluation is conducted by the Department Chairperson in consultation with the Moderator of the Choir. This course may be repeated for a maximum of three credits.
An interdisciplinary seminar course in which a variety of text (novels, plays, essays, and criticism) are read. Emphasis is on eliciting from the students a critical reading of the texts. Seminar discussions, written analysis, oral reports, and term papers, are required for participants. Professors from various departments of the College will participate. Honors.
This seminar will generally survey contemporary art and the New York area scene. It will help students to discover new artists, to be knowledgeable about different media, and to put recent work in historical context. Guest lectures may include working artists, art dealers, curators, arts administrators, and collectors. Class meetings may take place off campus at galleries, artist studios, and museums.
This seminar generally surveys contemporary art and the New York area scene. It helps students discover new artists, be knowl-edgeable about different media, and to put recent work in his-torical context. Guest lecturers may include working artists, art dealers, curators, arts administrators, and collectors. Class meet-ings may take place off campus at galleries, artist studios, and museums.
This course covers traditional public monuments and memorials, as well as performance art, social practice art, sound art, digital art, temporary public art installations, and public art interventions. Students will learn about the commissioning process, audience reception, and policies developed to negotiate the removal and relocation of public art no longer in sync with contemporary values. Site visits to public art projects in New York City will be made as a class and individually.
An exploration of blues, jazz, and the literature of the Harlme Renaissance. In the process of developing a stronger, more critical appreciation of these art forms, students study such legendary figures as Alain Lock, WEB duBois, Langston Hughes, Zora Neal Hurston, Louis Armstrong, Bessie Smith, and Duke Ellington. Lectures are supplemented with film, slides, and recorded examples. Students will attend live jazz performances.