FS 101 - Queer Lens: LGBTQ Contributions in Art
Credits - 4
An introductory exploration of creative expression, aesthetics, and history in queer art culture. Students explore notions of gender, sex, and sexuality, and describe how historical and contemporary queer artists employ craft to communicate content. Through research, writing, and presentation projects, students learn about the cultural contributions created by queer visual artists, and explore how cultural and political pressures have often damaged queer communities and stifled free expression. Coursework emphasizes the development of effective oral and written communication skills with a focus on description, summary, and critical thinking.
FS 102 - Art and Activism: Creative Interventions
Credits - 4
This course is designed to help you develop the writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills you will need for academic success. We will be developing these skills while we investigate current theory and practice as it relates to public, guerrilla, and politically/socially based art works. Initial research centers on exhibitions displayed at Allegheny College, allowing you to experience real activist artwork in a variety of curated contexts. Through careful reading of texts, images, and various online sources, you will examine examples of creative activism in the larger context of social and political issues informing artistic action. You will complete and present written assignments, oral presentations, and creative artistic output reflecting on and connecting the theories of art/activism with your own ideas. This seminar develops written and oral communication skills with an emphasis on persuasive communication in an academic context.
FS 102 - Writing for Art Exhibitions
Credits - 4
This course is designed to help you develop the writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills you will need for academic success. We will be developing these skills while we investigate current theory and practice as it relates to understanding and explaining how formal elements in works of art help to create denotative and connotative meaning. Students examine artworks in Allegheny College's collection, gather appropriate information, consider historical and cultural contexts, and present their findings via exhibition labels, wall text, catalog essays, slide presentations, and the creation of online resources. Through careful reading of texts, images, and various online sources, you will examine examples of creative persuasive speech (e.g. activist art and corporate/government propaganda) in the larger context of social and political issues informing those visual texts. You will complete and present written assignments, oral presentations, and creative artistic output reflecting on and connecting formal and conceptual methods of persuasion via visual art with ideas/topics of your own that you want to convey. This seminar develops written and oral communication skills with an emphasis on persuasive communication in an academic context.