Art - Art History

Overview

• The Art - Art History program at Agnes Scott College in art and art history recognizes the inherent expressive value of art, its enrichment of the human experience, and the dependence of global culture on visual literacy.
• Our curriculum challenges students to create, read, and analyze images through written and oral communication, critical thinking, and experiential learning.
• Our mission speaks strongly to the process of creativity, rather than the product. Through a collaborative approach to teaching and learning, we offer an integrated program that compels students to consider the practices required of professional artists and art historians.
• We create an environment that empowers students to hone their individual expression, engage in a productive dialogue with their peers, and contribute significantly to the world at large.

Art History

With an art history major or minor, you will trace the role that art plays across different eras and cultures. The foundation of the major is a semester-long introduction to art history that serves as a springboard to upper-level courses on various themes and chronological periods.

Major Student Learning Objectives - Because we consider studio art and art history to be complementary and interrelated fields, these fields share many student learning objectives. Art history majors will concentrate more often on situating works within the literature on their chosen topics and within the field more generally. Studio artists will focus more often on developing technical skills, producing artist statements, and contextualizing their projects within contemporary practices.

Students graduating with a major in Art History or Studio Art from Agnes Scott College will be able to:

• demonstrate written communication skills (use appropriate sentence structure and vocabulary, organize ideas to support a position, identify a subject and formulate a thesis, document sources according to accepted professional style);
• demonstrate critical thinking skills (compose thorough visual analyses, analyze works for medium and subject, analyze scholarly arguments, translate concepts across fields or mediums);
• demonstrate oral communication skills (organize an oral argument in logical sequence, use works of art effectively, give and receive constructive feedback during peer reviews and critiques, demonstrate professional demeanor, speak clearly in a well modulated tone, target communication for a specific audience, exhibit good listening skills);
• demonstrate process and practice skills (demonstrate knowledge of materials; integrate knowledge, practice, and application; take responsibility for direction of education; articulate areas of future development or inquiry);
• embrace experiential learning and take responsibility for education (attend events at the Dalton Gallery or other campus events; participate in activities off-campus with artists, galleries, museums, and other venues; connect with the larger art world regionally, nationally, and internationally; articulate paths for future development of individual research).

Other Unique Program Features:

• The City of Atlanta
• For an artist, the world is her medium, the city her canvas. Agnes Scott’s proximity to the city of Atlanta promises rich cultural offerings. Visits to the many galleries, museums and artists’ studios in the metropolitan area will complement your course of study.
• The Dana Fine Arts Building
• You will have the opportunity to showcase your work and experience a stimulating variety of exhibits in the Dana Fine Arts Building. Designed by John Portman, the building incorporates individual and class studio spaces; a digital design lab; a multi-media lecture hall; Winter Theatre and The Dalton Gallery. The gallery hosts shows of historical and contemporary art works and incorporates at least one student exhibition each year.
• International Opportunities
• The art department encourages you to participate in faculty-led Global Awareness or Global Connections programs as well as semester-long and year-long opportunities abroad to study studio art and art history. There is no substitute for seeing great works of art in person. The artist’s eye and spirit draw inspiration from such exposure, which persists through a lifetime.

What can I do with this degree?

• Work in a museum
• Work as a gallery coordinator
• Become a professional artist or designer
• Work as a book illustrator
• Become an interior or industrial designer
• Teach art at the primary or secondary school level

• Pursue an advanced degree to become a professor

What You'll Learn