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Davidson College
offers an art major that leads to an A.B. degree in Art, with an
emphasis in either Studio or Art History. In keeping with the philosophy
of a liberal arts education, students with an emphasis in studio
also take a minimum of two courses in art history, while those who
emphasize art history complete at least two studio courses. Davidson's
art department stresses the close relationship between the disciplines
of studio and art history in both an academic and social context.
The department averages about 45 art majors.
Courses Taken Elsewhere.
ART
HISTORY
Requirements for an emphasis in Art History are
nine courses in art history -- including Art 100, and in the
senior year Art 400 and 402 -- and two courses in studio art
below the 300 level.
Declare
art history major |
| Art
history courses begin with a general survey of Western art,
limited to 30 students, as are most classes at Davidson. Subsequent
courses cover art and architecture from the classical period
to the present as well as the theory of art. Courses on Eastern
art, taught by the Director of South Asian Studies, and on Greek
and Roman art, taught by the Classics department, count toward
the major. |
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Slide
curator Jeffrey Erickson and his student assistants make the
images covered in each class available for study in the VAC
Seminar Room and through the online Slide
Review.
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The
art department tries to engage its students in "doing"
art history both in and outside the classroom. They are
encouraged to write art reviews for regional and national
publications, and several have had their work accepted.
Each spring a student is selected to offer a paper at
the Collegiate Art History Symposium at the Mint Museum
in Charlotte. Several also have presented papers at the
annual Southeastern College Art Conference. |
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Each semester
senior art history majors enroll in a capstone seminar offered
on a subject of interest to our art historians. Recent offerings
have included visual traditions of the South, art
on the Internet, the notion of creativity, the Gothic
cathedral, Orientalism in French painting, gender and art
history, illuminated medieval manuscripts, photography, and
Post-Modernism. The highlight of each seminar is a trip to
visit museums, galleries, and historical sites related to
the subject. Students also can take a trip to New York (usually
at spring break) as part of the modern and contemporary art
courses.
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| STUDIO |
Requirements for an emphasis in Studio are nine studio courses
-- including Art 397 in the junior year and Art 401 in the
senior year -- and two courses in art history, one of which
must be Art 100.
Declare
studio major
Studio
art courses begin with a foundation course, in which through
the studio the artist's work -- tools, way of seeing, methods,
and media -- is introduced. From there, students move into
basic courses available in four areas:
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•Drawing
-- the structure and articulation of natural and non-objective
forms through the use of line and tone, analysis of composition
in a variety of media;
•Painting -- the exploration of oil, watercolor,
and acrylic media, pictorial organization and critical dialogue;
•Printmaking -- the history and techniques of intaglio
(etching, dry point, soft ground, and aquatint) and lithography
(stone and plate);
•Sculpture -- three-dimensional concepts in a variety
of media focus on material and spatial relationships, technical
processes, and critical dialogue. Ceramics is offered as part
of a total program in sculpture, but does not focus on pottery.
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Advanced
courses in these four areas allow students to explore
and develop further complex concepts and techniques
with more individualized projects, ultimately leading
to a senior oral exam and a solo exhibition for which
the student designs and sends announcements, hangs and
labels the show, and plans a reception.
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Students
are encouraged to take independent studies to develop
their portfolios. Senior studio majors are granted individual
studios on a competitive basis.
*Note
on Consortium Policy
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CAREERS IN ART
Always an important question to ask, "What can I do with
an art major?" is especially apropos to students in their
last two years of high school and first two years of undergraduate
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Certainly creating
art and teaching art history are two noble ambitions, but an art degree
provides a myriad of other possibilities in museums and galleries,
art foundations, auction houses, conservation and preservation, film
and television, government agencies, industry, publishing, retailing,
visual resources, and writing. Jobs such as grant administrator, corporate
curator, art appraiser, and architectural conservationist blend and
showcase the interests and expertise of today's art majors.
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Art
department graduates have gone on to further study and careers
not only in art and architecture, but also in medicine, law,
and business. Alumni have attended many fine institutions including
Cal Arts and the Art Institute of Chicago; the Universities
of Chicago, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania,
Arizona, and Texas; as well as Yale, Harvard, and New York University.
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Resources on graduate study, fellowships, internships, summer
and study abroad programs are available on bulletin boards
in the Belk Visual Arts Center, through the art department
assistant, and in the Careers Office and Office of Study Abroad.The
art department encourages you to contact our current and former
students in order to learn more about art as a major at Davidson
College and careers for which you are prepared.
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ALUMNI
This area will
be devoted to news for and about art department alumni. Please
send us a note updating us on your current activities. We'd
love to hear from you and share your news!
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