Major & Minor
Major in Studio Art
The Studio Art major provides students with an opportunity to develop the techniques, visual sensibility, and historical understanding necessary for working with various materials. An exploration of the meanings and ideas generated by the things we make and an awareness of the process of making are essential parts of the program.
An integral part of the Studio Art major’s undergraduate education is the senior project. Focused in their area of concentration, senior projects are exhibited on campus at the end of the academic year.
Students interested in majoring in Studio Art should contact Professor Mark Cooper.
Requirements
The Major in Studio Art consists of 11 courses (33 credits). Students must have taken at least four semesters of course work in Studio Art prior to their senior year. It is strongly recommended to take Issues and Approaches in the sophomore year.
TWO of the following introductory courses:
- ARTS1101 Drawing I
- ARTS1102 Painting I
- ARTS1104 Design: Seeing is Believing OR ARTS1107 Design 1: Foundations
- ARTS1105 Making Prints/Making Books: An Introduction to Printmaking and Book Arts
- ARTS1141 Ceramics I
- ARTS1155 Introduction to Digital Arts (Note: course has been renamed Introduction to Photoshop and Illustrator and course # on Eagle Apps is ARTS1156)
- ARTS1161 Photography I
- ARTS1163 Intro to Digital Photography
- ARTS1701 Art of Creativity
ONE of the following courses:
- ARTH2204 Postwar: Art After 1945
- ARTS2211 Ideas in Contemporary Art
- ARTH3356 Art Since 1945
All Majors and Minors are required to take
- ARTS1103 Issues and Approaches to Studio Art
Electives
- Elective 1 (2000 or 3000 level)
- Elective 2 (2000 or 3000 level)
- Elective 3 (2000 or 3000 level)
- Elective 4 (3000 or 4000 level) (not including Senior Project)
- Elective 5 (3000 or 4000 level) (not including Senior Project)
Senior Project
Senior Project is a required year-long course for senior majors taught on Wednesday afternoons.
- ARTS4498 Senior Project I
- ARTS4473 Senior Project II
Students must have taken at least four semesters of course work in Studio Art prior to their senior year. It is strongly recommended to take Issues and Approaches in the sophomore year.
In addition to the required courses, the following courses are recommended:
- ARTH1101 Intro to Art History: Pre-History to Middle Ages
- ARTH1102 Intro to Art History: Renaissance to Modern
- ARTH2257 Nineteenth Century Art
- ARTH2258 Modern Art: Nineteenth-Twentieth Century II
- Summer course for enrichment
Minor in Studio Art
The minor in Studio Art offers students the opportunity to pursue a course of study in ceramics, design, drawing, mixed media, painting, or photography. There are features of the minor program that resemble, in an abbreviated way, aspects of our majors studio program that we have found to be successful. The required Senior Minor Project class, for example, will function analogously to our major’s Senior Project. This curriculum of six courses is designed to encourage an in-depth investigation of one medium, rather than a generalized sampling of many. The course structure aims at having the individual student develop the artistic techniques and conceptual visual sensibility necessary for working as an artist today. Students are encouraged to declare the Studio Art minor before their senior year.
Students who are interested in declaring the minor should contact Prof. Hartmut Austen.
Requirements
The Studio Art Minor requires 6 courses (18 credits):
- ARTS1103 Issues and Approaches to Studio Art
ONE of the following introductory courses:
- ARTS1101 Drawing I
- ARTS1102 Painting I
- ARTS1104 Design: Seeing is Believing
- ARTS1107 Design 1: Foundations
- ARTS1141 Ceramics I
- ARTS1150 Painting Plus Collage
- ARTS1155 Introduction to Digital Arts
- ARTS1161 Photography I
- ARTS1163 Intro to Digital Photography
Electives and Senior Project:
- Elective 1 (1000 or 2000 level)
- Elective 2 (2000 or 3000 level)
- Elective 3 (3000 or 4000 level)
- ARTS3328 Senior Minor Project
The three electives should be concentrated in one of the following areas:
- ceramics
- design
- digital art
- drawing
- mixed media
- painting
- photography
Additional stipulations for the minor:
- Students are allowed only one independent study in their field of concentration
- Courses to be counted for the minor must be taken for a grade (not pass/fail)
- Students who wish to strengthen their minor are strongly encouraged to take additional offerings in their field of concentration
Architecture Studies Concentration
The Studio Art major can also be completed with a concentration in Architecture Studies, which requires a minimum of 11 courses (33 credits):
- ARTS1101 Drawing I
- ARTS1103 Issues and Approaches to Studio Art
- ARTS1125 Innovation Through Design Thinking (cross-listed as UNAS1025)
ONE of the following courses:
- ARTS1155 Introduction to Digital Arts
- ARTS2276 Arts and Digital Technology
- ARTS2250 Introduction to Digital Design
THREE of the following courses, at least one of which must be at the 3000 level:
- ARTS2250 Introduction to Digital Design
- ARTS2252 Architectural Design I
- ARTS2207 Urban Design for Complexity and Sustainability (cross-listed as BSLW2207)
- ARTS3335 Advanced Digital Design: Designing Spaces
- ARTS3334 Advanced Mixed-Media
TWO of the following Art or Architectural History courses, at least one of which must be at the 1000 or 2000 level:
- ARTH1107: History of Architecture (World Architecture)ARTS2211: Ideas in Contemporary Art
- ARTH2251: Modern Architecture
- ARTH2267: Salt Box to Skyscraper: American Architecture 17th-20th centuries
- ARTH3311: Greek Art and Archaeology
- ARTH3314: Egyptian Art and Archaeology
- ARTH3332: The Age of Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael and Beyond: Sixteenth-Century Art in Italy
- ARTH3344: Venetian Art and Architecture
- ARTH3346: Architecture in East Asia
- ARTH3347: The Age of the Baroque: Seventeenth-Century Art in Italy
- ARTH3356: Art Since 1945
Senior Projects:
- ARTS4498 Senior Project I (This requirement may be substituted with an internship or an Independent Study. Please consult with Prof. Mark Cooper
- ARTS4473 Senior Project II
We also recommend that students in the Architecture Studies Concentration engage in career discovery in the form of summer courses and internships.
By the end of their senior year, the student who majors in Studio Art at Boston College will be expected to:
- Know the basic definitions, concepts, and techniques in visual arts
- Create a coherent and original body of work
- Demonstrate an awareness of art history within the larger human context
- Be able to work independently
- Display technical proficiency in a medium of their choice
- Have developed the ability to write, speak, and think clearly about their work and that of other artists
- Demonstrate an understanding of installation and exhibition standards
- Have excellent presentation skills, as evidenced by participation in a public exhibition and the creation of a professional artist’s website
The Studio Art Major offers students a course of study that includes introductory and advanced investigations in a variety of media, an exploration of the conceptual approaches inherent in artworks, and background knowledge of art history. Through a course of directed study, advanced students create a body of work equivalent to a visual thesis, which is exhibited.
The Studio Art major will be assessed on their ability to:
- Create a body of work equivalent to a visual thesis. These artworks should display a mastery of technique, an individual visual and conceptual sensibility, and historical understanding of the issues relevant to their work.
- Effectively communicate issues and aspects of visual experience and culture in oral and written arguments.
- Discuss and articulate knowledge of contemporary artists and understanding of the current ideas and concepts generated by visual artworks in global cultural discourse.
They should also:
- Develop technical abilities and fundamental knowledge with a variety of media.
- Develop a self-reflective and critical approach in making artworks.
- Develop creative thinking and problem solving skills.
- Develop the ability to research ideas, and to make one’s work accessible to others thru clear, well organized visual thinking.
- Acquire the ability to verbally express the ideas and concepts with which one works visually.
- Acquire standards for a visually critical and contextualized practice.
- Develop skills in the preparation and use of presentational strategies.
- Develop documentation skills consistent with professional practice.
- Acquire a familiarity with artists and their practice in a variety of historical periods.
Student Work
