38 courses with the subject AH, each shown exactly as we captured it from the college's catalog, with every element we hold. Where the wording looks broken, that is our reading of the catalog, not the college's text.
AH1701 Art & Design History 1 3 OCAC AND AH102 History of Art: Survey of Western Art II* (Credit given in AH Elective below) AH1702 Art & Design History 2 3 OCAC AH302 Modern and Contemporary Craft Humanities and Sciences =
The objective of this course is to familiarize students with the major stylistic, thematic, cultural, and historical transformations in art history from prehistoric times to the nineteenth century. This course helps students develop critical tools for the interpretation and understanding of the meaning and function of art objects, architecture, and design artifacts within their original historical contexts. Class sessions consist primarily of lecture with some discussion.
This course introduces students to issues in modern art, popular culture, and contemporary art and design. Topics may include the expanding audience for art, the transformation of the art market, the impact of new technologies, the changing status of the artist, and the role of art in society. This course is taught as a seminar with some lecture. 2XXX Art History 2000-Level Course Take any 3-credit 2000-level Art History course.
This course introduces students to global fine arts production (drawing, painting, sculpture, artists’ books, performance, public, and socially engaged) since 1945. Using a series of case studies this class examines the historical, theoretical, and aesthetic developments in and relationships between fine arts media. Students engage with a combination of primary and secondary texts, apply visual analysis skills, contextualize artworks, and investigate various political and aesthetic points of view.
This course traces the history of applied arts and designed objects through furniture, products, packaging, and multidimensional forms of graphic design. Students examine applied arts and designed objects as part of an evolving human culture of habit, convenience, and status. Various movements and styles within the histories of design genres, as well as the processes and manufacturing of consumer objects are considered.
Since the advent of print and the printing press, text, image, graphic design, comics, and advertising have played significant roles in cultural formation. This course examines the history of mass reproduction of printed matter from the advent of modernity, including books and periodical designs, to the present.
The production and reproduction of static, moving, and digital images have grown from work produced by an exotic technology used only by specialists to a socially ubiquitous representational form that generates millions of images, clips, cartoons, gifs, shorts, and films daily. This course surveys the development of (re)produced and moving images from their commercial applications, entertainments, and art to the all-pervasive media in which our popular cultures and artistic cultures exist. Individual artists and makers, as well as their works and contextualized movements w BFA Fine Arts Electives: Humanities & Sciences Cultural Awareness Requirement (select one)
Can art change the world? This course presents a history of artistic practice as a tool for social change. Presented both as a chronology and as a thematically organized set of forms that artists have mobilized (agitprop, activist, performance, participatory, ephemeral), students explore how artists have created new modes of life by considering the medium of life itself as that which requires change. Topics to consider: the use of art as a tool by social, civil, ecological, and economic movements; the use of art to envision futures during times of political transformation; the use of art to construct alternative ways of life and community; artists as alternative knowledge producers; the tendency of power to co-opt resistant practices; and the role of the (alternative) art school as crucible and catalyst. Students learn to contextualize art practices by considering theoretical questions regarding the ar
This course surveys the history of the animation medium explored through various methods and techniques, as well as through shared themes from various countries and filmmaking traditions. Central topics include propaganda, personal filmmaking, abstraction, technical innovations, and politics and social protest. Connections between animation and editorial caricature, the fine arts, the avant-garde, illustration, and media other than film are made throughout the course. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion.
Faced with a digital revolution in progress, in 1992 Robert Coover famously predicted the “end of books.” Yet in recent years, the number of books published worldwide has hovered around 2 million per year, suggesting the enduring appeal of the physical, portable, and printed object. This course examines the histories of the book, globally, from its origins in the Middle Ages to the present. It covers not only bound, paper tomes, but also their 21st-century progeny, including e-books, audiobooks, and other digital formats. This course will also take advantage of local collections like those held by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts; the Kerlan Collection and the Gorman Rare Art Books and Media Collection at the University of Minnesota; MCAD; Walker Art Center; and Mia. Questions examined are: How has the book functioned as an agent of historical change, one often associated with political turmoil and s
Science fiction is the future talking to the present. It is the movie genre which was, at first, taken least seriously, and now is seen as not only a metaphor of where we are today but also a glimpse into the future. This class looks at science fiction films historically, artistically, philosophically, technologically, and even religiously. The class begins by looking at the earliest science fiction movies from the silent era. The course then proceeds decade by decade, from the Golden Age of sci-fi in the 1950s, to the archetypal adventures of the 1970s, to the present day with its investigations of humanity's attempt to discern an ultimate reality. Each week students examine a seminal film that has mapped out new realms, both scientifically and thematically, in a journey that can lead us into the darkest reaches of our science and our souls. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may AH 3395 Screenings for Focus on Film: Science Fiction AH 3430
This course allows students a close look at the materials and techniques used in both historical and contemporary art conservation. The class will work with conservators from the Midwest Art Conservation Center and items in local collections to gain an overview of the technical study of art history through hands-on experience studying and evaluating works of art, lab experiences, and readings and discussions of issues and debates in art conservation. Combining science, art history, and museum studies, this course seeks to explore the materiality of art-making from the perspective of both artist and audience. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission
This course introduces artists and designers to the history, theory, and diverse practices of contemporary curation. Through readings, discussions, writing, research, and field work, students consider the evolving roles of museums, galleries, and other emerging curatorial spaces, both virtual and real, as well as the history and contemporary practices of collecting and display. Throughout the course students assess the roles of curators and their audiences, paying special attention to issues of power and politics. The course provides students with the requisite vocabulary for understanding how curators produce knowledge and the ways i
Visual perspectives are systems for creating space and distance on a flat surface. Different cultures position the viewer in varied ways that condition what they see and the way they see it. Linear perspective is a seminal event in Western art history in which the position of the individual observer became an engine for the development of Modernity. This course focuses on the historical development of various visual perspective systems and their impact on conceptions of space and time. Class sessions are an equal mix of lecture and discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission.
This course explores the languages, structures, and principles of mathematical systems as they relate to the visual arts. It offers a view of geometry’s pivotal role in giving form to fundamental postulates underlying the study of visual art and design, such as linear perspective, composition, the Fibonacci sequence, and the golden section. Through hands-on study supplemented by drawing and paper-folding exercises, students learn to translate geometry’s spatial concepts into visual forms, while also gaining an appreciation for this mathematical tool’s enduring utility at the hands of artists, architects, and designers since ancient times. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission.
This course introduces students to a global history of textiles, dress, and fiber arts, from prehistory to the present. We will explore the materiality of fibers such as wool, linen, silk, and cotton alongside specific techniques (e.g. dyeing, embroidery, felting, weaving) that makers from diverse historical, cultural, economic, political, and environmental contexts and artistic traditions makers have used to create textiles. We will consider elements of design involved in making historic textiles and dress as well as explore the work of contemporary fiber artists who draw upon rich global traditions of textile-making. within which textiles are produced and consumed. To complement our exploration of textiles and its related historiography, we will look at textiles in collections in the Twin Cities to better understand this vibrant and enduring medium. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design Histor
For the last half-century, the look, language, and subject matter of films have been blown wide open. This change is the work of dedicated and curious cinematic visionaries from every continent. This course explores several of their works, beginning in the 1950s and advancing to the present day. The ultimate goal is to see how these artists have challenged expectations of classical form or appropriated themes and how a globally interconnected world cinema has developed. Works by acclaimed directors are shown and compared to lesser-known filmmakers’ equally vital and influential works. Classes are primarily lecture and discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission.
This course examines the work of expert American film directors from the dawn of the talkies to the present day and explores what made these individuals great filmmakers. The faculty may take a chronological, thematic, national, or international approach to the subject. Each week students study the work of a director and consider the technique, structure, and themes of the director’s work as well as the broader disciplinary and cultural significance of the work. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3608 Screenings for Great Directors AH 3614 Screenings: World Film: Art and Independents
In this course, students focus on non-fiction cinema. Examining different modes of documentary film which may include the expository, the observational, the participatory, the performative, the reflexive, and the poetic, students investigate how these modes shape manners in which non-fiction cinema may adopt a critical stance toward the presentation of an idea. Filmmakers and works analyzed in this course include a wide variety of perspectives from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries employing differing modes of documentary film. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission. AH 3619 Screenings for Documentary Film in Focus
Although comics now include a vast collection of different articulations of image and text, their shared history reflects the movement from strictly pulp publications on cheap paper created by assembly line artists to complex stories with provocative images. This course follows the global history of comic art from its origins to the contemporary moment. The development and range of image and textual forms, styles, and structures that differentiate the vast compendium of such work inform the discourse in class. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission
Art in the Cities explores the relationship between art and urban space with the Twin Cities as its primary site of investigation. This seminar-style course focuses on current exhibitions and curatorial practices in museums, galleries, artist-run spaces, and other project spaces located throughout the Twin Cities. In-class discussions examining the history and contemporary practice and politics of display in urban contexts with some emphasis on social, public, interventionist, and community-based practices is equally balanced with activities outside the classroom such as exhibition visits, artist talks, and performances. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission.
This survey offers an extensive history of how artists have brought various projected and moving-image practices into their work. Not just an introduction to “experimental film” or “video art,” this course presents work being produced at the border between the fine arts and film production. Students look at the work produced in relation to historical artistic movements of the avant-garde such as Constructivism, Dada, and Surrealism, then study work related to the neo-avant-garde with Pop, Fluxus, and Minimalism. The class contextualizes that work with lyrical, poetic, and structural approaches to filmmaking as discussed in the histories of experimental cinema. Students examine the relation of artists’ film and video production to larger social and cultural issues such as feminism, postcolonialism, and globalization. Screenings include works by a range of artists such as Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Hans Ri AH 3683 Screenings for Topics in Cinema: Artists' Film and Video
In this course students critically examine the cultural meanings of representations of the body in art and visual culture. Organized in roughly chronological order, the course comprises a series of case studies in the history of representation of the body in art, science, and popular culture. Topics that may be addressed include the classical nude in Greek sculpture, female saints, mystical visions of the body, aesthetic dismemberment of the body in modern and contemporary art, the transgender body, and cyber bodies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission
Even after the Nazis closed its doors in 1933, the Bauhaus remains a fascinating cultural phenomenon. This experimental design school challenged the relationship between art, technology, and industrial production, creating a design philosophy that has been emulated across the world. Simultaneously a school, an idea, and a movement, the Bauhaus embodies a complex narrative shaped by contradictory responses to twentieth-century modernism. While focusing on the major designers whose works and artistic philosophies shaped the Bauhaus in Germany, this course also examines the dissemination of the Bauhaus idea in the United States. Students follow these discussions with an investigation into the role of the Bauhaus idea today. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission.
This seminar-style course explores photographic culture through focused readings in the theory and history of photography, covering the period from 1839 to the present. These texts facilitate discussions of the ways in which technological transformations and concepts like truthfulness, documentary ethics, and authorship are presented and negotiated in the work of specific photographers. This course is an opportunity for students to discuss the historical and changing philosophical nature of the photographic medium. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 (may be taken concurrently) or faculty permission.
Since the 1960s, new paradigms for art, its presentation, and its discussion have emerged. In this course students consider major issues in contemporary art through reading key critical texts and engaging with a selection of museum and gallery exhibitions, while also exploring historical contexts. Class sessions consist of seminar-style discussions, some lecture, and museum visits. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission.
In this course students consider major issues in contemporary design across a range of design fields as articulated through critical texts and contemporary developments. Students examine contemporary design theory along with related work and processes. This course is taught as a seminar with some lecture. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission
The graphic novel is an art form that offers the best of both worlds. While gaining legitimacy as a literary/art form, it retains the excitement and unique properties of reading a comic book. Students in this course read, discuss, and analyze graphic novels, as well as engage in critical scholarship on and about the graphic novel form. Looking at graphic novels in genres like mystery, superhero, manga, memoir, history and politics, or works beyond categorization, students examine how these stories are structured: the forms of novel, novella, and short story help differentiate and explain the subtleties of these forms. The class focuses on social, structural, and thematic issues of these specific texts and explores the possibilities of the form itself. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 or faculty permission.
Most Native American tribes do not have a word in their languages for “artist,” yet the arts are a living part of both daily life and ceremonial tradition. Focusing on the works of selected tribes, students in this course look at Native American art, architecture, and aesthetics. Emphasis is placed on the nineteenth century to the present. The impact of outside forces on continuities and changes in traditional forms is also explored. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission
This course examines the art of Asia from its beginnings to the present day. It involves a regional approach, focusing on representative works from India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. While regional characteristics are emphasized, cross-cultural influences are also studied. Through a variety of media, including sculpture, architecture, and painting, students gain an understanding of the broad themes and concepts that run throughout Asian art. Students consider the role of religion, for example, and gain a basic comprehension of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Islam, Taoism, and Shinto. The structure of the class includes lectures, large and small group discussions, and visits to the Minneapolis Institute of Art. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission
This course will examine Islamic art and architecture through religious, historical, political, and cultural practices from the seventh century to the present. Combining a thematic approach (such as kingship, gift exchange, identity, etc.) with the more traditional chronological and geographical approaches, this course will trace the visual and material culture of Islam and its global influence. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission
This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the visual art of African Americans from the Colonial period to the present. The course examines a variety of visual media from painting, sculpture, and photography to popular culture objects and mass media images. In addition, students critically examine the ways in which the constructed meanings of "blackness" intersect with representational practices of gender, sexuality, and class, as well as the training and education of artists, public and private patronage, and the history of arts criticism and art history. Class sessions include both lectures and discussions. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission.
This course examines the impact and effects of globalization on the visual culture of the Atlantic world (defined by Europe, Africa, and the Americas) from the period of the Columbian encounter to the contemporary moment. Students examine the circulation and exchange of goods, ideas, knowledge, culture, and peoples across the Atlantic world through an investigation of visual representations, performance, and collecting practices. The course narrative is guided by thematic issues of gender, race, the politics of display, and national and cultural identities, tracing the movement of visual cultures across the Atlantic through individual case studies. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission.
Using a global and historical perspective, this course examines the rise and spread of European colonialism and its impact on artistic practices in Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Through a series of case studies, students will explore the ways in which European forms of image-making underwrote and facilitated the colonial project and the multiple modes through which picturing practices offered a venue for both colonizer and colonized to articulate, define, and forge political and social relationships. In each case, indigenous and hybrid forms of art-making will be highlig Mumbai (Bombay), Cairo, Istanbul, Port-au-Prince, New Orleans, and other sites. and Design: History 2 and a 3000-level AH or HU course, or faculty permission. AH/HU 4325 Native American Art Most Native American tribes do not have a word in their languages for “artist,” yet the arts are a living part of both daily life and ceremonial tradition. Focusing on the works of selected tribes, students in this course look at Native American art, architecture, and aesthetics. Emphasis is placed on the nineteenth century to the present. The impact of outside forces on continuities and changes in traditional forms is also explored. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. AH/HU 4722 Asian Art History This course examines the art of Asia from its beginnings to the present day. It involves a regional approach, focusing on representative works from India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. While regional characteristics are emphasized, cross-cultural influences are also studied. Through a variety of media, including sculpture, architecture, and painting, students gain an understanding of the broad themes and concepts that run throughout Asian art. Students consider the role of religion, for example, and gain a basic comprehension of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Islam, AH/HU 4725 Islamic Art This course will examine Islamic art and architecture through religious, historical, political, and cultural practices from the seventh century to the present. Combining a thematic approach (such as kingship, gift exchange, identity, etc.) with the more traditional chronological and geographical approaches, this course will trace the visual and material culture of Islam and its global influence AH/HU 4728 African American Art This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the visual art of African Americans from the Colonial period to the present. The course examines a variety of visual media from painting, sculpture, and photography to popular culture objects and mass media images. In addition, students critically examine the ways in which the constructed meanings of "blackness" intersect with representational practices of gender, sexuality, and class, as well as the training and education of artists, public and private patronage, and the history of arts criticism and art history. Class AH/HS 4729 Art and Globalization in the Atlantic World This course examines the impact and effects of globalization on the visual culture of the Atlantic world (defined by Europe, Africa, and the Americas) from the period of the Columbian encounter to the contemporary moment. Students examine the circulation and exchange of goods, ideas, knowledge, culture, and peoples across the Atlantic world through an investigation of visual representations, performance, and collecting practices. The course narrative is guided by thematic issues of gender, race, the politics of display, and national and cultural identities, tracing the mov
Cultural definitions of art shift from one historical moment to the next. The practice of research in art history can help make these transformations explicit, understandable, and in some cases predictable. This course introduces the practice of art history through some of the significant theories, methodologies, and key concepts that inform contemporary and historical art criticism. In completing this course, students conduct their own research in an art history topic and gain familiarity with the historical and theoretical frameworks within which to place art and artistic practice.
Cultural definitions of art shift from one historical moment to the next. The practice of research in art history can help make these transformations explicit, understandable, and in some cases predictable. This course introduces the practice of art history through some of the significant theories, methodologies, and key concepts that inform contemporary and historical art criticism. In completing this course, students conduct their own research in an art history topic and gain familiarity with the historical and theoretical frameworks within which to place art and artistic practice. Prerequisite: Introduction to Art and Design: History 2 and one AH or one cross-listed AH/HU elective, or faculty permission AH IS99 Independent Study: Liberal Arts
Source: Minneapolis College of Art and Design's catalog, linked per course · table learning_unit · CourseShelf publish 61
