This class is an exploration of the dialog between critical perspectives in contemporary art and the process of art-making. We will be looking at examples of current critical discourse in order to investigate how practicing artists' work can be seen in the context of aesthetic, political, social, environmental and cultural criticism. We will also examine how works of art invite, inspire, and provoke critical discussion. Through these examinations, students will consider how their own work can be enriched through engagement with critical discourse.

How do we pay attention to works of art and why do we think of attention as something that is paid? With what are we paying for it? This seminar incorporates a broad range of readings focusing on the topic of attention from fields such as philosophy, economics, history, neuroscience, and sociology and considers them alongside writing by art historians such as Claire Bishop and Jonathan Crary. Focusing on modern and contemporary art, how do artists

Why make art? How do we communicate what we do to ourselves and to others? How do we compose a life that keeps art at the center? How do we function professionally in the world as artists? How do we build holistic systems of support for ourselves and our work? What do we want as artists? What do we need?

(Offered as ARHA 359, ARCH, 359, BLST 359) This upper-level seminar is a global investigation of the urban built environments of black wealth and prosperity. Beginning with an investigation of the architecture of West African

(Offered as ARHA 347, FAMS 347, and THDA 147) What makes a creative gesture feel unmistakably one’s own? How do artists across disciplines—for example, visual artists, filmmakers, writers, musicians, designers, and performers—develop a perceptual “fingerprint,” a recognizable presence that carries across form, medium, and process? In this intermediate-level studio course, students will explore these questions through weekly experiments, critique, and reflection.

(Offered at ARHA 340 and FAMS 340) This class is an introduction to key concepts in sound design, with a primary (but not exclusive) focus on sound in relation to moving images. Students will gain significant technical training in sound recording, editing, and mixing. In addition, this class will use the act of listening as a point of departure to think about histories, theories, politics, and poetics of sound.

(Offered as ARHA 338 and EUST 338) What is the “work” of an artwork? What roles do labor and materials play in the meaning and aesthetics of art objects? This course will consider these questions in the art history of early modern Europe, Britain, and their burgeoning empires in the Americas and South Asia. From the harvesting and mining of raw materials to manufacturing by hand and machine, we will unpack examples of architecture, ceramics, furniture, paintings, sculptures, textiles, and works on paper.

Symbiosis is a close biological interaction between living organisms. It can be temporary or permanent; positive, neutral, or parasitic; and involve two or thousands of individuals. In this class we will explore a variety of relationships with and within nature through sculpture. Conceptual prompts will be accompanied by material experimentation with “biomaterials”: materials that are grown, cooked, or processed through collaborations with fungi, plants, and bacteria.

Requisite: ARHA 214 or consent of the instructor. Limited to 12 students. Spring 2026: Assistant Professor Monge.

This course will focus on drawing and printmaking as a means of building visual stories through serial description and expression. Studio work will include drawings, watercolor, collage and printmaking techniques with a range of approaches to subject matter based on each student’s individual interests and choices. These include representational, narrative, abstract, and symbol-based imagery, among others. Relief printmaking techniques using wood and synthetic blocks will be taught, as well as the intaglio techniques of monotype and drypoint.

In this intermediate/advanced level course students will explore the practice of documentary photography. This course is structured around individual projects of the student’s own design and is informed by weekly group critiques and in-class visual exercises. We will examine the history, theory and ideological questions and complications of working with those outside of or within one’s own circle of experience.