Topics course. An intensive examination of a theme in studio work. Students will work within the medium of their area of concentration. Each class will include students working in different media. Group discussion of readings, short papers, and oral presentations will be expected. The course will culminate in a group exhibition. A required fee of $75 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration. Enrollment limited to 15 upper-level studio majors.

Advanced exploration of photographic techniques and visual ideas. Examination of the work of contemporary artists and traditional masters within the medium. (Varying topics to include large-format photography and advanced darkroom processes). A required fee of $75 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration. Students may require additional supplies as well and will be responsible for purchasing them directly. Prerequisites: 282 and permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15.

Painting from models, still-life, and landscape using varied techniques and conceptual frameworks. A required fee of $25 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration. Prerequisites: 266 and permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 15.

In this course we will investigate, in a studio format, the question of architecture. We will begin with the idea that the house is at the center of the self, that architecture originates there, from within. As we make from the personal, we will consider the social and political. Remembering how we are nurtured (or not) by the buildings we have grown up in, we will travel from autobiographical place-making to a final semester project for a client in Amherst. Readings will include Gaston Bachelard, Walter Pater, Edward T. Hall, Martin Heidegger, and Emily Dickinson.

An introduction to visual experience through a study of the basic elements of photography as an expressive medium. Prerequisite: ARS 162, 172, or permission of the instructor. Each section will involve either traditional film and darkroom photography, or a combination of darkroom and digital processes. Enrollment limited to 15 per section. A required fee of $75 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration. Students may require additional supplies as well and will be responsible for purchasing them directly.

Investigates (1) the structure and history of the Latin alphabet, augmenting those studies with brief lessons in the practice of calligraphy, (2) a study of typography that includes the composing of type by hand and learning the rudiments of printing type, and (3) an introduction to digital typography. A required fee of $25 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration. Students may require additional supplies as well and will be responsible for purchasing them directly. Prerequisite: Design (ARS 161 or equivalent) or permission of the instructor.

An introduction to intaglio techniques, particularly etching and engraving. A required fee of $75 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration. Students may require additional supplies as well and will be responsible for purchasing them directly. Prerequisites: 161, 162, 163, 172 or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 12.

Introduction to the printmaking technique of hand drawn lithography, photographic halftone lithography through Adobe Photoshop, and linocut. May be repeated once for credit. A required fee of $75 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration. Students may require additional supplies as well and will be responsible for purchasing them directly. Prerequisites: 161, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limited to 12.

Various spatial and pictorial concepts are investigated through the oil medium. Prerequisite: 163 or permission of the instructor. A required fee of $25 to cover group supplied materials will be charged at the time of registration. Enrollment limited to 15.

This team-taught course will introduce first-year students to a range of conceptual frameworks for making and thinking about art. Unlike a skills-based class devoted to a single medium, in this course students will practice problem-solving across traditional media boundaries. Specifically, the course will explore such concepts as perception/description, authorship, and spatial systems, through use of a range of two-dimensional media, including drawing, photography, digital media and printmaking, with an emphasis on object/art-making framed largely within the studio setting.