Student Learning Goals

Below are the departmental learning goals mapped to College-wide goals for student learning.

The creative process of designing and making art is central to the art major.  Art making engages critical thinking, creative problem-solving, and evaluation through sustained hands-on experience with materials, tools, and processes. Through art courses, students gain competency in visual language, an essential skill in contemporary life. Visual and verbal analysis, synthesized through studio practice, contributes to effective engagement in a range of life pursuits. The student who successfully completes the art major will:

I. Gain knowledge in the practice of art, including:

• • The visual language of art and design. (Ia)
  • Fundamental studio practice: materials, techniques, processes, and theory. (Ia, IIb)
  • A breadth of global and historical knowledge about art objects, creators, and diverse social/cultural perspectives. (Ia, Ib)
  • A depth of knowledge in an area of concentration. (Ic, IIe)

II. Demonstrate skills and reasoning processes.

• • Create original works of art and design utilizing traditional and contemporary technologies. (IIa,IIb, IIe)
  • Organize, analyze, and interpret visual phenomena using problem solving skills. (IIa, IIb)
  • Create a body of work that integrates critical thinking with technical proficiency in process-oriented learning. (Ic, IIa, IIb, IIe)
  • Interrogate concepts from their position in a socially diverse culture. (Ib, IIa, IIb, IIc, IId, IIIb, IVb)
  • Communicate effectively in critiques, discussions, and writing; respectfully responding to different perspectives and views. (Ib, Ic, IIc, IId, IIIc, IVb)
  • Evaluate their individual art making and that of their peers through critical reasoning about the use of materials, formal elements and content. (IIa, IIb, IIc)

III. Integration and application of learning

• • Recognize how the visual language of art and design, materials, and processes, contribute meaning to the world. (Ia, Ib, Ic, IVa)
  • Develop the capacity to synthesize knowledge from other academic fields into studio practice. (Ic, IIa, IIb, IVa, IVd)
  • Engage in substantive self-directed artistic activity. (Ic, IIa, IIe, IVa, IVd)
  • Bring a developed artistic sensibility to thoughtful practice in a range of life pursuits. (IVa, IVc, IVd)
  • Contribute to the cultural, intellectual, and educational life of the community. (IIIc, IIId, IVc)