45 courses with the subject VACA, 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.
VACA 112Digital Photography (3 SH)
VACA 112 is an introduction to photography using the digital format. The emphasis will be on composition, artistic personal expression and the use of new media technology. Aesthetics and the creative process begin the class. Understanding fundamental photography issues, light, composition, camera operation, and digital editing are covered. Photographing people, communicating an idea, and design assignments are explored. Core: CA
Three-Dimensional Design develops a fundamental understanding of a variety of techniques, processes, and styles in three-dimensional media. Students will be challenged to become thoughtful of formal and conceptual concerns in art, while investigating the technical aspects of three- dimensional design. Students will gain practical experience by using various materials as well as by employing compositional and conceptual theories to create sculptures. (Fall 2022) Core: CA
This foundational class for Visual and Communication Arts emphasizes visual skills and creative problem-solving related to principles of design in two-dimensional art. Students explore the elements of composition and color theory through hands-on studio work and digital design tools. Core: CA
This course provides an introduction to watercolor for beginning painters and those interested in adding color drawings and sketches. This course covers a variety of techniques including washes, wet-in-wet, wet-on-dry, monotypes, pen-and-ink with color tinting. Students will also have opportunity for skill development following demonstrations with guided and independent practice. When the weather is especially lovely, we'll move the classroom outside and enjoy plein air painting. Offered summers only. Core: CA
An introduction to painting in water-mixable oil or acrylic media. This course is designed to develop confidence in painting along with basic techniques and perceptual skills. A variety of approaches are used. Core: CA
* indicates the course is offered in alternate years Note: Students completing the minor must earn at least 3 SH from the Electives list that are beyond those required for their major.
VACA 243Graphic Design III-Illustration and Drawing (2 SH)
The focus will be on Adobe Illustrator and the use of the its tools to create digital illustrations and logo design. The emphasis will be on technical and creative process in order to provide a final visual solution. Prerequisite: VACA 142. (Spring 2027)
This course is a practical hands-on introduction to the video camera and to non-linear editing. It covers operation of the camera, basic lighting and sound, camera movement and support. Issues of composition, content, aesthetics, continuity and creativity will be explored with exercises, labs and real-life shooting. The non-linear video editing will cover both technical and philosophical issues of editing. Productions will introduce both fiction and non-fiction forms. Prerequisite: VACA 151 or 274 – Course Descriptions
In this course students produce a variety of short and long form audio productions, from promotional spots to news features as well as music performances and audio portraits. Students will work with digital software editing programs to produce works utilizing a variety of recording and processing techniques. Course sections include psychoacoustics (sound and how we hear it), the production process (from idea to finished product), microphones (types and uses), live recording, audio processing and effects, editing, and numerous projects with a variety of applications. Students should consider taking this course while enrolled in VACA 262. (Spring 2024)
An overview of important factual and conceptual elements of visual art and history spanning over thirty thousand years. The course covers aesthetic objects separately as works of art and examines religious, social, political, and philosophical concepts in historical and cultural contexts. Designate: WI
Relief printmaking is an ancient form favored by contemporary artists in which images are printed on paper from wood and other materials. Screen printing is a newer process in which ink is forced through fabric onto paper and other materials. These processes are used to develop rich, colorful prints with an emphasis on visual ideas and technique. An introduction to watercolor covers a variety of techniques including washes, wet-in-wet, wet- on-dry, mono-types, pen-and-ink with color tinting. Students will also have opportunity for skill development following demonstrations with guided and independent practice. When the weather is especially lovely, we'll move the classroom outside and enjoy painting en plein air. (Fall 2022) Core: CA
Building on the foundation of ceramics, students are challenged to expand their vocabulary of ceramic form and function. Hand building and wheel throwing techniques will be explored for both vessel and sculptural work. Technical understanding of surface treatments, firing techniques, glaze formulation, and ceramic processes are emphasized as tools used toward formal and conceptual success. Students have the opportunity to pursue more individual concerns in tandem with class directed assignments. In conjunction with increased technical proficiency, students will expand critical awareness through the investigation of conceptual, historical and contemporary art issues, ultimately increasing professionalism and the development of a personal aesthetic.
VACA 335Installation and Experimental Media (4 SH)
In this course students will explore how installation and experimental art immerses the viewer in a multi-sensory experience. Through both traditional and nontraditional media such as photography, video, painting, ceramics, sculpture, etc., students will explore the impact of materials and techniques on form, content and the expressive possibilities of various materials on a space. Through experimentation, boundaries of traditional art practices will be challenged to transform the perception of space. (Spring 2024) Course Descriptions - 275
*VACA 368 Digital Media III: Hybrid Storytelling (4) *VACA 468 Digital Media IV: Advanced Video Production (4) The Digital Media minor may not be combined with a Digital Media, Photography, and Design major. Digital Media, Photography and Design, major Contact: Steve Johnson Degree: Bachelor of Arts Semester Hours: 50 Format: Face-to-face
Students will experiment with alternative acquisition and printing processes. Acquisition methods will cover pinhole, panoramic, HDR, legacy lens, and infrared processes. The history of photographic methods will be studied. The genre of landscape will be explored with several of the techniques. Students will print on alternative forms such as art and Japanese papers, metal surfaces, canvas, and other media forms. Prerequisites: VACA 151 and VACA 252. (Fall 2023)
Explores the intersection of photography and environmental conservation. Topics include aesthetic responses to the natural world, visual documentation of ecosystems, conservation advocacy and the relationship between human communities and the natural world. Students work in small groups on a semester-long documentation/storytelling project in conjunction with a partner organization. Core: CL
Explores the art and communication of merging video, the graphic arts and text into messages with multiple layers of meaning and artistic interest. Students will become adept at compositing; moving video, still images, text and line art. Layered Photoshop files will be animated into finished video. The primary forms studied for this class will be opening and closing logos, advertising, visual music and short form 2-D animated storytelling. Students should schedule this class in the same semester at taking one of the Visual Storytelling classes. Prerequisites: VACA 151 or equivalent and VACA 262 or faculty approval. (Fall 2023)
Using photography, audio creation and video production as building blocks, students will construct narrative presentations. These narratives will be constructed for multiple distribution methods including: print, epubs, online magazines, and mixed-media forms. Students will also consider possible feedback and interaction methods like blogging and other social media. Students will study storytelling, narrative construction, research and interview techniques, the history of photographic journalism, technical skills and the expanding uses of the image. Students will practice this form while paying attention to the technical, aesthetic, philosophic and ethical issues involved. This course should be taken in the junior or senior year as a lead-in to VACA 481 Senior Thesis. 276 – Course Descriptions
VACA 368Digital Media III: Hybrid Storytelling (4 SH)
This course explores hybrid storytelling as a form of communication and social impact. Students will combine photography, video, audio, and text to create cohesive, audience-centered stories that connect emotion and information. Through hands-on, collaborative multimedia projects, students will develop technical fluency, creative intention, and ethical storytelling and interview practices. Prerequisite: VACA 151.
Movies will be the foundation for exploring how these texts, with their narrative and visual formulas, influence culture. Special emphasis will be given to critiques in the areas of gender, race and violence. Select theorists of visual communication will give students a broad theoretical base to continue the exploration of other digital media with their mixture of photograph, kinetic text, sound and time-based media. Students will also explore how these theories and the formal properties of digital media function in their own artistic works.
This course uses a thematic approach to the history and appreciation of art outside the Western mainstream. Art is presented as illustrative, laying the foundation for understanding the context and aesthetics of art from non-Western perspectives. (Spring 2023)
* indicates the course is offered in alternate years Teacher Education: English as a Second Language (ESL), Teaching Endorsement (PreK-12) Contact: Kathy Evans Degree: Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science depending on academic major Semester Hours: 40 education curriculum +15 ESL curriculum Format: Face-to-face Admission Requirements All students seeking licensure to teach shall make application for admission to teacher education and to student teaching. Application for admission to teacher education is made at the end of the fall semester of the sophomore year and application for admission to student teaching is made at the end of the fall semester of the junior year. Transfer students are required to attend a teacher education program transfer orientation meeting their first semester on campus. Entrance and exit requirements including cut-off test scores for all teacher education programs are found in the Teacher Education Handbook or www.emu.edu/education/test-scores. Admission to teacher education requires a 2.5 cumulative GPA and a teacher education interview. Admission to student teaching requires a 2.7 cumulative GPA. In addition, students must have a C or better in all teacher education courses (courses with ED prefix and content area methods courses) to be admitted to student teaching. Exit requirements include meeting the Virginia cut off score requirements for the Praxis Subject Assessment (consisting of subject area components); and an earned GPA of 2.7. Students may obtain an additional endorsement without completing an approved licensure program by passing the Praxis Subject Assessment in the content area (Biology, Chemistry, English, History and Social Science, Mathematics, Visual Arts, English as a Second Language, Health and Physical Education, Foreign Language, and Music). 138 – 2026-27 Undergraduate Programs of Study
A study of the aims and philosophy of art education at the secondary school level. Secondary School Art Methods will include advanced studies of curriculum and lesson design and integration; classroom organization and management techniques; delivery of art courses as electives; teaching art history, aesthetics, and evaluation; teaching art production appropriate to the adolescent; and the function of art in the schools and community. Students will understand contemporary issues in art education by examining research history and philosophy of art education. The relationships between developments in education as a whole and art education will be explored as well as adolescent creative learning styles and development. A 20-hour practicum in a secondary art setting Course Descriptions - 277
Further development of drawing techniques, visual processes and experimental approaches. The capacity to change one's perspective and habits and an openness to taking risks are encouraged. This course is for students who want to explore drawing in its own right, strengthen work in other media through enhanced drawing skills or connect drawing with other arts or disciplines. Advanced investigation into physical, intellectual and emotional aspects of drawing. Content development, individual direction and creative voice are stressed along with further development of drawing skills. This course should be taken in the junior or senior year as a lead-in to VACA 481 Junior/ Senior Thesis and Exhibition. Prerequisite: VACA 121.
In Ceramics IV, students will develop a body of work suitable for exhibition. Research and experimentation from an array of materials and processes such as wheel and hand building methods, unique firing processes, glaze chemistry, and clay body foundation will be used toward formal and conceptual success. In conjunction with increased technical proficiency, students will investigate conceptual, historical, and contemporary art issues to increase professionalism and develop a personal aesthetic. This course should be taken in the junior or senior year as a lead-in to VACA 481 Junior/Senior Thesis and Exhibition. Prerequisite: VACA 432.
VACA 450Junior/Senior Portfolio and Vocation (2 SH)
This capstone class offers the opportunity for students to develop an artistic and vocational vision. Students will create a coherent body of work for exhibition and web display and will investigate career options related to their discipline. Students will interact with artists and media professionals in their fields and investigate portfolio and curation practices in professional art/media settings. VACA majors should take Junior/Senior Portfolio and Vocation in the fall semester of the last full year they are on campus. VACA majors should plan to take VACA 481 Senior Thesis and Exhibition the next semester (where they will exhibit and write about the work they developed in portfolio class). Prerequisites: VACA 151 and VACA 252.
Students will study how video documentaries are constructed and used to communicate. They will research, design and produce a documentary video on a selected subject. Students will take HUM 200 the semester before this class to do background research for the project. Prerequisite: VACA 262. (Spring 2023) Core: CL
Students will study the narrative structure of video story-telling and the process of narrative video production. They will work at creating a variety of short form narratives and will complete independent projects from pre-production to post-production. Scripts for this class will be created in THR 361 which should be taken the semester prior to this class. Prerequisite: VACA 262. (Spring 2024)
VACA 468Digital Media IV: Advanced Video Production (4 SH)
Students will study the video documentary form, from an historic perspective and consider how they are constructed and communicate. Students will use all the production techniques including, research, interview and video production, logging and editing. Particular emphasis will be paid to research, organization, the collaboration required, interviewing, color correction, and creating a cohesive long-form documentary for public viewing. Prerequisite: VACA 168. 250 – Course Descriptions
