The primary purpose of this course is to familiarize students with contemporary issues in French culture as they are represented in French-speaking media of today. This course will introduce students to contemporary popular culture, through the study of texts, popular music, and feature films. Students will be asked to participate actively in class discussion, do oral presentations, and converse with an exchange partner.

We will examine a wide variety of documents, ranging from key historical texts to insurgents' posters, in order to explore the concept of revolution and to analyze how France was dramatically changed by overarching societal, historical, and artistic developments. We will focus on France's relations with racial minorities in times of upheaval at the local, national, and global levels.

In the interwar period, 1920-1940, black students from Africa and the Caribbean met in Paris to pursue their education. Galvanized by the colonial situation at home and the political situation in France, Aimé Césaire (Martinique), Léopold S. Senghor (Sénégal), and Léon Damas (French Guyana) formed the cultural movement called Négritude. This course will survey the emergence, goals, evolution, achievements, and legacies of that movement. Discussions will be based on major texts by the founders.

Drawing I is an introductory course designed for all students, regardless of their previous experience in art. The course emphasizes creative, expressive, and analytical approaches to translating visual experience. Students will work with a variety of traditional and experimental materials, and will hone their skills through guided in-class exercises, independent homework assignments, and regular feedback.

Making and Meaning is an interdisciplinary course exploring the processes, ideas, and variety of materials in the visual arts. The course addresses thematic concepts that are central to the nature of art making including the principles of art and design, approaches to color, light, and environment, and issues of identity and community. Assignments in drawing, installation, collaboration, and basic three-dimensional construction will be combined with slide lectures, assigned readings, and short written reflections.

A hands-on introduction to digital art making using computers and related technologies. We will think creatively, work digitally and explore techno-centric art making as a new form and medium, engaging both technical and conceptual considerations. Through readings, discussion, demonstrations, viewing sessions, technical tutorials and hands-on projects, we will explore the techniques, practices and aesthetics of a broad range of current and emerging digital art practices.

This course will explore how to integrate digital processes with traditional printmaking techniques. Students will learn the basics of Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, and develop and create imagery through those programs. They will then use digital devices such as laser cutter, router and plotter to turn a digital file into a physical printing block. The final art form will be hand-printed work, utilizing relief printing, engraving on wood, collographs, and monoprinting. This course also covers print-based digital animation.

Painting I is an introduction to the fundamentals of the discipline and practice of acrylic painting. We will investigate both historical and contemporary strategies of painting and engage in observational and imaginative uses of materials and subject matter. This course promotes and includes a wide variety of opportunities to enhance our educational experience including guest artists, an emphasis on sketchbook habits and critique skills, writing exercises, material experiments, and student presentations on contemporary painters.

This intermediate digital arts course explores how open-source movements and contemporary art have cleared the way for play as a powerful metaphor for cultural participation. We will explore interactive tools, technologies which reframe our senses, and professional practices in environmental installation. We will consider the role of historical and social knowledge in the creation of interactive experiences and audio-visual environments, looking at work which tends to be discursive, which argues for a story or sets out a case, or which operates as a metaphor for our own digital realities.

In Sculpture I, demonstrations and introductory projects will familiarize students with the tools and processes used to form and manipulate materials such as wood, metal, plaster, paper, wax, and glass. Students will also be asked to explore the potential of combining new technologies in media and fabrication with traditional approaches into immersive sculptural experiences. Each project will present students with a series of conceptual problems to solve. In this way, art-making is positioned as a process of finding individual and independent solutions to three-dimensional problems.