Arts/History & Studio  

ARTS 444 - Mona Lisa to Romeo and Juliet: An Introduction to Renaissance Culture
Credits: 4.00
What made Renaissance culture tick: who were the pivotal personalities (writers and politicians as well as artists); which are the most typical and which the least typical works produced in Italy and elsewhere throughout Europe? How did viewers think about the art of their time, and in particular how did they respond to the new mass medium of printed images? How connected is our present artistic culture to that of five hundred years ago? When did the Renaissance acquire its fame? Students consider connections between the English and the Italian Renaissances, comparing, for instance, Michelangelo and Shakespeare. Readings include sixteenth-century historical and literary sources as well as art historical essays. Writing intensive.

ARTS 455 - Architectural Design Studio
Credits: 4.00
An entry level architectural design studio. Course assignments feature hand drafting, hand rendering, model building, and project presentations while developing skills in verbal, written, and graphic communication. Drafting, hand-rendering, and model making materials and tools are required for this course. Knowledge of CAD or 3-D computer modeling is not required.

ARTS 480 - Introduction to Art History
Credits: 4.00
Analysis of the central forms and meanings of art history through intensive study of selected artists and monuments. Includes works of architecture, sculpture, painting, and the graphic arts. Topics will vary but might include the Parthenon, Chartres Cathedral, Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel ceiling, Rembrandt's self-portraits, Monet's landscapes, Picasso's Guernica, Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling water, Georgia O'Keeffe's abstractions, ukiyo-e prints, and Benin sculpture.

ARTS 487 - Twentieth Century Europe
Credits: 4.00
This course examines the extraordinary transformations that have swept across Europe in the past century in relation to their impact on art, architecture, photography, film, theatre, and literature. The course structure reflects the interdisciplinary quality of the field of cultural studies in that we examine a range of issues that challenge traditional departmental boundaries. Readings, films viewings, and class discussions focus on specific historical events, such as World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, the Cold War, and Post colonialism, in relation to specific cultural movements, such as expressionism, futurism, surrealism, and existentialism, that have contributed to Europe's identity formation.

ARTS 487H - Honors/Twentieth Century Europe
Credits: 4.00
This course examines the extraordinary transformations that have swept across Europe in the past century in relation to their impact on art, architecture, photography, film, theatre, and literature. The course structure reflects the interdisciplinary quality of the field of cultural studies in that we examine a range of issues that challenge traditional departmental boundaries. Readings, films viewings, and class discussions focus on specific historical events, such as World War I, World War II, the Holocaust, the Cold War, and Post colonialism, in relation to specific cultural movements, such as expressionism, futurism, surrealism, and existentialism, that have contributed to Europe's identity formation. Writing intensive.

ARTS 500 - Topics in the History of Art
Credits: 4.00
At least three distinct chronological periods are treated and students develop research skills and give oral presentations. Possible topics include: "Sister Arts: Painting, Poetry, and Music", "Episodes inthe History of Art Criticism," "Art, Craft, and Material Culture," "The Ideal City," "Patrons and Markets," Narrative Art," "What You See: An examination of the concepts of 'Original' and 'Originality'."

ARTS 501 - Introductory Ceramics
Credits: 4.00
Theory and practice of basic ceramics; includes all methods of basic construction, decoration, glazing, and kiln firing. Emphasis on each individual's perceptual development. Special fee. Lab.

ARTS 525 - Introductory Woodworking
Credits: 4.00
Theory and application of basic woodworking principles; design concepts, primarily utilitarian, applied to shaping a mass, constructing volumetric and line/plane forms; use of a complete range of hand, portable powered, and stationary powered tools. Special fee. Lab.

ARTS 532 - Introductory Drawing
Credits: 4.00
This course is an introduction to the basic principles of studio drawing. Students work towards mastering the technical skills to produce drawings from observation, a working knowledge of the historical time line in drawing, and insight into the complexities of the creative process. A variety of materials are explored, pencil, charcoal, ink and collage. Art historical and contemporary drawing practices are shown in lectures and books to amplify the concepts introduced in the daily studio work. Special fee.

ARTS 532H - Honors/Introductory Drawing
Credits: 4.00
This course is an introduction to the basic principles of studio drawing. Students work towards mastering the technical skills to produce drawings from observation, a working knowledge of the historical time line in drawing, and insight into the complexities of the creative process. A variety of materials are explored, pencil, charcoal, ink and collage. Art historical and contemporary drawing practices are shown in lectures and books to amplify the concepts introduced in the daily studio work. Special fee.

ARTS 536 - Introduction Printmaking: Intaglio
Credits: 4.00
Study of intaglio printmaking techniques, including etching, dry point, and engraving. Prereq: ARTS 532 or permission. Special fee. Lab.

ARTS 537 - Introduction to Printmaking: Lithography
Credits: 4.00
Study of lithographic processes on stone and aluminum plate. Prereq: ARTS 532 or permission. Special fee. Lab.

ARTS 546 - Introductory Painting
Credits: 4.00
Applies and expands on concepts established from Arts 532 Introductory Drawing. Introduction to observational oil painting, a variety of oil painting techniques and masterworks acess historical time line, and basic principles of Color and Design theory. Employs still life, landscape, interior spaces and the figure as painting subjects. Lectures on historical and contemporary painting practices combined with group and individual critiques enhance the classroom experience. Prereq: Arts 532 Introductory Drawing. Special fee.

ARTS 551 - Introduction to Darkroom Photography
Credits: 4.00
This studio course introduces the fundamentals of photographic practice. Students learn technical aspects of exposure, developing and printing in the darkroom as they explore and respond to the visual qualities of the medium. The format includes class demonstrations, lab work, field assignments and critiques. Manual 35mm film camera will be provided. Special fee.

ARTS 552 - Introductory Digital Photography
Credits: 4.00
Introduction to the basic principles and applications of digital photography. The philosophical and technical relationship between camera and computer is an integral part of today's digital literacy needs. Techniques learned correspond to traditional darkroom processes and include creative shooting, editing and image manipulation. The students uses new skills and techniques towards developing a unqiue artistic vision. Digital camera required (point and shoot or DSLR). Special fee.

ARTS 567 - Introductory Sculpture
Credits: 4.00
Introduces the beginning student to the theory and practice of designing three-dimensional compositions using a series of progressive assignments. The student develops a practical understanding of sculptural elements, including line, form, space, mass, and plane. Multiple materials are explored including clay, plaster, wire and wood. This course is a prerequisite to upper level sculpture workshop courses, which subsequently focus on in-depth investigations of a particular sculptural material. Special fee.

ARTS 574 - Introduction to Architectural History
Credits: 4.00
Survey of representative buildings from the entire history of architecture with analysis of structure, form, and symbolic content, concentrating on major works such as the pyramids, the Roman Pantheon, the Gothic cathedral, the Renaissance palace, the Baroque church, and the modern skyscraper. In addition to the overarching narrative of architectural history, further topics include materials and building technologies, design theories, aesthetic principles, and the role of the architect in society.

ARTS 574W - Introduction to Architectural History
Credits: 4.00
Survey of representative buildings from the entire history of architecture with analysis of structure, form, and symbolic content, concentrating on major works such as the pyramids, the Roman Pantheon, the Gothic cathedral, the Renaissance palace, the Baroque church, and the modern skyscraper. In addition to the overarching narrative of architectural history, further topics include materials and building technologies, design theories, aesthetic principles, and the role of the architect in society. Writing intensive.

ARTS 598 - An Artist's Life
Credits: 4.00
This course looks at the visual arts from the standpoint of artists. Biographies of artists and their environments are emphasized. Studio methods, professional activities, and ideas of historical and contemporary artists are also studied. The semester includes readings, discussions, and field trips. The course encourages students to develop ideas about the relationship of the visual arts to other disciplines in fine arts, literature and the sciences.

ARTS 600 - Internship
Credits: 1.00 to 4.00
Election to take an internship in the following areas within the Department of Art and Art History: (600A) Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Photography, Sculpture, Woodworking, Ceramics, and Graphic Design; (600B) Art History; (600C) Architecture; and (600D) Museum Work. Cannot be used to satisfy one of three electives in the Studio B.F.A. Program and one of the two electives in the Studio B.A. Program. In art history, it can be taken as an elective above the 11-course major requirement. May be repeated up to 8 credits. Prereq: permission.

ARTS 601 - Ceramics Workshop
Credits: 4.00
Application of new ceramic materials and techniques, with emphasis on ideas and their expression through form and content. Experimentation encouraged. Specific focus to be announced each semester. May be repeated for a maximum of 16 credits. Prereq: ARTS 501. Special fee. Lab.

ARTS 625 - Wood/Furniture Design Workshop
Credits: 4.00
Design and construction of the major furniture forms, using a broad range of techniques (including lamination, bending, and molding) to execute a series of concept areas relevant to furniture. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits. Prereq: ARTS 525. Special fee. Lab.

ARTS 632 - Intermediate Drawing
Credits: 4.00
Intermediate Drawing reinforces and builds upon skills developed in Introductory Drawing. Strong emphasis is given to resolving spatial relationships and composition (examination of 2D and 3D space). Line as abstraction, gesture, tonal development, perspective, and drawing from the human figure are important topics of this course. Materials such as graphite, charcoal, ink, and mixed media are covered, as well as the use of different papers. Outside assignments and class critques play an expanded role. Prereq: ARTS 532 Introductory Drawing. Special fee.

ARTS 633 - Life Drawing
Credits: 4.00
A continuation of the more formal aesthetic issues introduced in introductory and intermediate drawing with an emphasis on drawing the human figure from life. Prereq: ARTS 532 Introductory Drawing. Lab. Special fee.

ARTS 636 - Printmaking Workshop
Credits: 4.00
Emphasis on development of the individual's imagery in lithography and/or intaglio, including an introduction to multicolor printmaking. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits. Prereq: ARTS 536 and/or ARTS 537. Lab.

ARTS 645 - Water Media
Credits: 4.00
This course is an introduction to water media; watercolor, gouache, egg tempera, and ink. The students explore the technical and expressve properties of each of these materials. Because water mediums are unique in their portability and adaptabililty to a variety of evironments, the students travel outside of the studio classroom to paint in the UNH greenhouses, insect collection room and in the surrounding landscape. Students must have completed ARTS 546 Introductory Painting. Course may be taken a second time to explore the medium at a higher level. Special fee.

ARTS 646 - Intermediate Painting
Credits: 4.00
More complex issues of the visual language. Still life and the figure continue as dominant subject matter. Slide lectures. May be repeated for a maximum of 8 credits. Prereq: ARTS 546. Lab. Special fee.

ARTS 651 - Photography Workshop
Credits: 4.00
Individualized projects involving creative methods, including color, manipulative, and documentary techniques. Students provide their own cameras. Prereq: ARTS 551 Photography: Darkroom AND ARTS 552 Digital Photography. May be repeated for a maximum of 16 credits. Lab. Special fee.

ARTS #654 - 17th and 18th Century American Architecture
Credits: 4.00
Chief architectural styles and significant buildings from the European colonization to the birth of the American republic. A study of religious, public, and domestic architecture and of the settlement patterns of the Spanish, French, Dutch, and English colonies, culminating in the revolutionary classicism of the new republic. Typical works include the California mission church, the New Orleans raised cottage, the Dutch farm house of the Hudson Valley, the plantations of Virginia, and the Boston State House. Field trips. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 655 - Nineteenth-Century Architecture: The Architecture of Empire
Credits: 4.00
Architectural concepts and significant buildings in Europe and America from the Revolutions of the late eighteenth century to the First World War; this course covers religious, civic, commercial, and domestic theories of architecture as well as town planning and urban design during the rise of the modern nation-state and market capitalism. Connections between social and architectural history will be emphasized. Prereq: one 400- or 500- level art history course or permission of the instructor. Writing intensive.

ARTS 656 - Twentieth-Century Architecture: Modern and Contemporary
Credits: 4.00
From the turn of the century to recent commissions of living architects, this course provides a global view of twentieth-century architecture, covering the major movements along with more radical engagements with architecture. Important formal, technological, and theoretical debates surrounding Modernism will lead to consideration of Post-Modernity and contemporary values of architectural design. Connections between social and architectural history will be emphasized. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course or permission of the instructor. Writing intensive.

ARTS 667 - Sculpture Workshop
Credits: 4.00
Design and production of sculpture focusing on various materials and techniques and how they relate to composition and content. Emphasis on understanding visual language while developing an individual style. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits. Prereq: ARTS 567. Special fee. Lab.

ARTS 674 - Greek Art
Credits: 4.00
Greek art and architecture from the Bronze Age civilizations of Minoan Crete and Mycenaean Greece to the late classical period of the 4th century B.C. Emphasis on the interplay of narrative and abstraction in the development of a distinctively Greek aesthetic consciousness, on the forms of art and thought in the Archaic Period, and on the flowering of the classical style in the 5th century B.C. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 675 - Roman Art
Credits: 4.00
Art and architecture in the ancient Mediterranean world from Alexander the Great to the fall of the Roman Empire. Emphasis on the interplay between the Greek and Etruscan traditions between public and private in Roman life and art, and the breakdown of classical ideals in the late empire. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 677 - Early Medieval Art
Credits: 4.00
Development of Christian art from 300 to 1000 A.D. Study of the formulation of a new visual language via the intersection of Mediterranean and northern European traditions. Major focus on early Christian catacombs, Byzantine mosaics, insular manuscripts, and Carolingian imperial art. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 678 - Romanesque and Gothic Art
Credits: 4.00
From the fall of the Roman Empire to the fourteenth century, through plague and destruction, glory and honor, heaven and hell, this course tackles the culmination of medieval artistic development, focusing especially on major architectural monuments and their scuptural programs. Treating also the art of tombs, relics, manuscripts, and devotional painting. Connections between social, religious, and art history are emphasized. Prereq: 400- or 500-level art history course or permission of the instructor. Writing intensive.

ARTS 679 - Northern Renaissance Art I
Credits: 4.00
Painting, sculpture, graphic arts, and manuscript illumination in France, Germany, and the Netherlands in the 14th and 15th centuries. Emphasis on the development of the traditions of Northern naturalism and the emergence in 15th-century Flanders of a distinct Renaissance consciousness, which runs parallel to contemporary trends in Italy. Major figures include the Limbourg brothers, Claus Sluter, Jan van Eyck, and Hugo van der Goes. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 680 - Northern Renaissance Art II
Credits: 4.00
Painting, sculpture, and graphic arts in Germany and the Netherlands in the 16th century. Emphasis on the encounter of the Northern tradition with the classical and humanistic culture of the Italian Renaissance and on the impact of the Protestant Reformation. Major figures include Bosch, Durer, Holbein, and Bruegel. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 681 - Early Renaissance Art in Italy
Credits: 4.00
How did Europe recover from the Black Death in 1348? How was it possible for Florence to become the center of western creativity both before and after that catastrophe? How did Renaissance art develop elsewhere during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries? What was "primitive" about Botticellii? Prereq: ARTS 480, 500, or 574; or instructor permission. Writing intensive.

ARTS #682 - Beginnings of Artistic Genius
Credits: 4.00
Examines the trajectory from Leonardo to the deaths of Michelangelo and Titan: painting, sculpture, architecture, and works on paper. Prereq: ARTS 480, 500, or 574; or instructor permission. Writing intensive.

ARTS 684 - Baroque Art in Northern Europe
Credits: 4.00
Dutch and Flemish painting in the 17th century. Examination of such major figures as Rubens, Rembrandt, Van Dyck, and Vermeer. Attention is also given to the development of the genres and to the many little masters who practiced them. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 685 - Graphic Art of the Renaissance and Baroque Periods
Credits: 4.00
The availability of paper and the invention of the printing press made it possible for drawings and prints to become fundamental elements in the western artistic tradition. Prints have been called major instigators of the production of secular art and of overtly experimental art. They were the first art made with an elite but relatively broad class of collectors in mind, and--in different examples--the first art that could be owned even by the poor. Examination of anonymous works, works by artists famous only as printmakers, and the printed work by or after Mantegna, Durer, Lucas van Leyden, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Bruegel, and Rembrandt, as well as drawings of the period. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 686 - Neo-Classicism to Romanticism
Credits: 4.00
European painting and sculpture in its socio-political context, with emphasis on the relation of idea to image, from David and the French Revolution to the romantic landscapes of Friedrich and Runge, and the romantic-classic debate involving Delacroix and Ingres. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 687 - Realism and Impressionism
Credits: 4.00
With the advent of photography, the progress of the industrial revolution, and the rise of cities, art in the West turned to Realism. The course looks at Realist art from America, Great Britain, and Europe. It also sees how the arts responded to populist political upheavals at mid-century. Impressionism arose from Realism and gave us a new self-conciousart style as much about the artist and her/his technique as about the subject matter. The course covers Monet, Renior, Degas, Morisot, and other impressionists. Writing intensive.

ARTS 688 - Gauguin to Hitler: Tropical Paradise to Technological Utopia
Credits: 4.00
An examination of European and American art from Symbolism to Surrealism, from the 1890s to World War II. The course focuses on a series of topics related to the political, social, scientific, and artistic upheavals of the era. Among the topics to be considered are Gauguin and "Primitivism"; Picasso, Cubism, and film; the Bauhaus and Utopian Architecture; Modernist Photography; Surrealism and Freud; and the fate of art under Hitler and Stalin. Writing intensive.

ARTS 689 - Pollock and Pop to Digital Art
Credits: 4.00
Examines the art and art criticism produced primarily in the United States and Europe in the aftermath of World War II, with some attention on contemporary art elsewhere. An ongoing theme is the construction of national and cultural identities in relation to various artistic movements, including Action and Color Field Painting, Pop Art, Minimalism and Conceptual Art, Earthworks and Sited Sculpture, Feminist Art, New Image Painting, and Digital Art. Writing intensive.

ARTS #692 - History of Photography
Credits: 4.00
History of the photograph from its origins in the aesthetic and technological context of the early 19th century to the present. Lectures and discussions on such topics as the impact of early photography on painting, 19th-century landscape and travel photography, pictorialism, abstract photography, the photograph as metaphor, photojournalism and the interpretation of war, and postmodernism and photography. Critical reading of texts by Beaudelaire, Benjamin, Barthes, Sontag, and Sekula. Open to all majors; no prereq. Writing intensive.

ARTS #693 - American Art
Credits: 4.00
A chronological survey of American painting and sculpture from the European colonization to the New York Armory Show of 1913, with emphasis on portraiture, narrative, still-life, and landscape painting. Examination of stylistic and thematic developments from the Puritan and Georgian New England portrait, the heroic narrative of the Revolutionary era, the romantic landscape to the realism of the post-Civil War era and the birth of modernism. Typical works include Copley's Portrait of Paul Revere, Cole's Course of Empire, Homer's Fog Warning, Cassatt's At the Opera, and Eakin's Max Schmitt in a Single Scull. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course. Writing intensive.

ARTS 695 - Special Topics in Art History
Credits: 4.00
Topics and prerequisites to be announced before registration. May be repeated with permission of the instructor. Lab. Writing intensive.

ARTS 695I - Problems in Visual Arts/Italy
Credits: 4.00
Part of the ITAL 685/686 study abroad program held in Italy.
Co-requisites:

ARTS 696 - Special Topics in Studio Art
Credits: 4.00
Topics and prerequisites to be announced before registration. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits with different topics.

ARTS 697 - Topics in Asian Art
Credits: 4.00
A thematic study of the major artistic achievements in India, China, and/or Japan from pre-history to the twentieth century. Works of art in various media, including painting, sculpture, ceramics, calligraphy, prints, architecture, and gardens, will be examined in relation to philosophical concepts and to their cultural/historical contexts. May be repeated up to a maximum of 8 credits. Prereq: one 400- or 500-level art history course or permission of the instructor. Writing intensive.

ARTS 699 - Museum Studies
Credits: 4.00
Introduction to the history and practices of American museums, including their purposes, organization, interpretation, policies and practices. Use of the Art Gallery, with occasional visits to other museums and art conservators. This course may not be used by studio art majors and B.F.A. candidates to fulfill the art history requirement. Prereq: two courses in art history or permission. Writing intensive.

ARTS 700H - Honors Seminar
Credits: 4.00 or 8.00
Requires successful completion of a written thesis supervised by two faculty advisers (one each from studio and art history faculty) to be reviewed by members of the department honors committee. The art history thesis will involve an original problem in art history and the studio art thesis will examine the student's own work. Honors students only.

ARTS 732 - Advanced Drawing
Credits: 4.00
Treatment of more complex compositional problems; application of a broader range of solutions to pictorial problems to reinforce and expand individual concepts of image and technique. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits. Prereq: ARTS 632 Intermediate Drawing and ARTS 633 Life Drawing. Lab. Special fee.

ARTS 746 - Advanced Painting
Credits: 4.00
Development of a higher degree of technical skill to handle more advanced conceptual problems. Class assignments may be more individually directed. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits. Prereq: ARTS 646 (8 credits). Special fee.

ARTS 791 - Art Education (Elementary)
Credits: 4.00
Children's creative growth as revealed through their visual expression. Development of elementary art education programs with emphasis on objectives, methods, materials and techniques to foster creativity. Suggested prereq: EDUC 500.

ARTS 792 - Art Education (Secondary)
Credits: 4.00
The creative process in the visual arts in relation to the development and skills of middle and high school students in the public schools; mechanics of beginning and maintaining a secondary art program; exploring resources for art education programs on the secondary level. Suggested prereq: EDUC 500.

ARTS 795 - Art Historians and Their Styles
Credits: 4.00
Intended for students who have had some prior experience of reading art history, this course asks how do art historians formulate their projects and evaluate the results, both of their own work and that of others past and present? What issues do art historians across various specialties currently debate? Not limited to art history majors; studio art and other majors are welcome. Prereq: at least one 600-level ot above art history course or equivalent experience. Writing intensive.

ARTS 796 - Independent Study in the Visual Arts
Credits: 1.00 to 8.00
A) Photography; B) Sculpture; C) Drawing; D) Painting; E) Printmaking; F) Water Media; G) Architectural Design; H) Curatorial Assistant; I) Painting in Italy; J) Ceramics; K) Wood Design; L) Art History. Open to highly qualified juniors and seniors who have completed the advanced level courses in the chosen medium. May be repeated to a total of 8 credits. Prereq: permission of department chairperson and supervising faculty member or members. Special fee on some sections.

ARTS 798 - Seminar/Senior Thesis
Credits: 4.00 to 8.00
Readings and discussions oriented toward the intellectual premises of art. Culminates in mounting an exhibition of the student's work. Required of all students in the B.F.A program. Other advanced students may elect with instructor's permission. A year-long course; an IA grade (continuous course) will be given at the end of the first semester. Lab. Variable credit; may be repeated to a total of 8 credits. B.F.A. majors must take 8 credits total. Special fee for Photography students.

ARTS 799 - Seminar in Art History
Credits: 4.00
Topics and prerequisites to be announced before registration May be repeated with permission of instructor. Writing intensive.