Undergraduate Program:
Visual Arts Concentrators

Visual Arts concentrators begin their investigation of the visual world through one of three 100-level courses that explore two and three dimensional phenomena (ARTV 10100 or ARTV 10200) or time-based media (ARTV 10300), followed by a course that considers the relationship between theory and practice (ARTV 15000). In subsequent coursework students explore the expressive potential of various media, deciding upon one or a combination, which most fully supports the investigation of their ideas. At the end of their junior year concentrators take a required seminar which prepares them for their senior project. This seminar combines making images with written analyses of art objects in museums and galleries, and the reading of theoretical and historical material.

This rigorous exchange helps develop the critical distance that allows the student to sustain the year long Senior Project, an independent inquiry in the studio. Weekly meetings with advisors examine specific issues raised by students' work. Projects are diverse in media (painting, drawing, books, sculpture, performance, installation, photography, film/video), ambition, and expressive and intellectual aims. They may, if properly justified, cut across disciplines and include the participation of advisors from other departments. Before graduation, projects are publicly presented in a group exhibition on campus and all majors participate in a final critique with the assembled Midway faculty.