Art and Art History

Requirements for the Major in Studio Art

The Studio Art major is intended to prepare highly motivated students for further work on a graduate or professional level. Students with a strong interest in the visual arts are encouraged to establish a solid foundation by taking Studio Art and Art History courses early in their college career. In keeping with the goals of a liberal arts education, art students at Pomona College are urged to explore related courses throughout the Claremont Colleges.

Portfolio Reviews.
Prospective art majors should contact a member of the Studio Art faculty before declaring a major in Studio Art. After declaring, majors should establish a working relationship with a Studio Art adviser. In the fall semester of the junior year, all majors are required to present work before the full department in the form of a portfolio review. The purpose of the review is to establish a broader departmental dialogue about the student’s work and curriculum. Again in the fall of the senior year, all majors are required to present their work before the full art faculty. The purpose of the senior review is the discussion of the development of the student’s work for the senior exhibition.

Junior Exhibition.
In the spring of the junior year all majors are required to present an exhibition of a body of work. Students will work toward the exhibition in consultation with their advisers.

The studio major guides students as they: 1) create a fully-realized and contextualized body of work for exhibition as the captstone of their BA degree careers; 2) articulate through a written statement an understanding of their practice of art within the larger field of art; 3) obtain an awareness of contemporary art and its theory; and 4) gain an understanding of the professional practices employed by contemporary artists.

The artists who teach at Pomona College work closely with students to help them expand their creative and conceptual awareness and develop their own visual and technical abilities. Majors in studio art participate in a seminar during the fall of both their junior and seniors years in which they:

1. create a body of work of their own choosing and interest;
2. read widely, examine other art works closely, and discuss theory pertinent to contemporary artistic practice;
3. talk with visiting artists who show their work, speak about their careers, and contextualize their practice;
4. write artists’ statements; and
5. document and publicize their work.

Majors exhibit their work publicly during their junior and senior years. Senior art majors participate in a professionally mounted show at the Pomona College Museum of Art in early May and learn to work with a museum staff to create an exhibition of their work.

The studio faculty, plus one other artists from outside the department, review and critique each group senior show. Together they gather specific content from each student’s performance from the artist’s statement and from his or her exhibition indicating the graduating seniors’ attainment of the departmental learning objectives 1 through 4 as stated above.

Required courses are as follows:

1. Lower-division work: Two Art History courses, either 51a or 51b, and 51c; and two introductory Studio Art courses, one of which deals with two-dimensional and the other with three-dimensional art. In certain cases, upper-division Studio Art courses may be used to meet this requirement.
2. Upper-division work: Six courses in Studio Art; two upper-division Art History courses, one of which must be in 20th-century art. Studio Art classes offered at the other Claremont Colleges are fully accredited in the Pomona program. Check the catalogs of Scripps and Pitzer colleges for course descriptions and prerequisites.
3. Senior Project: Art 192 is required during both semesters of the senior year as majors develop individual Studio Art projects in consultation with a faculty adviser.

Final Exhibition.
All senior majors are asked to present an exhibition of their work in the Pomona College Museum of Art as a final requirement of the degree. The progress of the senior project is guided and evaluated by the Studio Art adviser and the faculty coordinator of Art 192, while the final exhibit is reviewed by all of the Art and Art History Department faculty. All studio art majors are asked to document their senior exhibition and contribute one set of slides to the Art and Art History Department archives.

Requirements for a Minor in Studio Art

Required courses are as follows:

1. Lower-division work: Two introductory Studio Art courses, one of which deals with two-dimensional and the other with three-dimensional art.
2. Upper-division work: Three courses in Studio Art and one course in Art History that treats 20th-century topics.

Courses

Studio Art (ART) courses satisfy Area 1 of the Breadth of Study Requirements.

5. Drawing I. Ms. Teixido. Introduction to observational drawing with attention to the articulation of line, shape, form, gesture, value and composition. Studio work introduces a range of traditional drawing materials and subjects while exploring a variety of conceptual approaches to image making and visual expression. Letter grade only. Each semester.

10. Painting I. Mr. Mukherjee. Painting from observation to increase technical skills, visual sophistication and critical awareness. Includes work from the figure, the self-portrait, sketches and the still life. No experience necessary, but 5 recommended. Letter grade only. Each semester.

20. Photography I. Ms. Pinkel. A basic photographic course emphasizing all aspects of black and white film and digital exposure, development and printing. Classes develop technical and conceptual expertise, knowledge of historic and contemporary directions in the field, and an ability to make extended, personal statements in the medium. Camera required; tripod useful but optional. Letter grade only. Each semester.

21. Digital Art I. Mr. Allen. To be announced.

22. Electron Wrangling for Beginners. Mr. Allen. To be announced.

23. Computer Programming for Art. Mr. Allen. To be announced.

25. Sculpture I. Mr. O’Malley. Addresses a wide range of materials and processes to investigate issues of form and presentation. Materials include: wire, clay, plastic, plaster, wax and aluminum castings. Assigned projects introduce a variety of techniques while offering the student an opportunity to explore his/her own unique pragmatic, expressive, critical and intuitive sensibilities. Letter grade only. Spring 2009; thereafter each semester.

105A. Drawing II: Abstractions: Pattern, Mapping, and Process. Ms. Teixido. Abstraction comprises a rich area of artistic exploration. This course presents various cultural traditions of pattern, the history of mapmaking, and how people have made diagrams to better grasp places and concepts. Students are involved deeply with form and a wide range of materials. Analysis of how abstraction manifests itself in contemporary art and how historical precedent informs that production. Prerequisite: 5 or portfolio review by instructor. May be repeated once for credit. Letter grade only. Fall 2008.

105B. Drawing II: Explorations of Representation. Ms. Teixido. To be announced.

108. Figurative Painting. Mr. Mukherjee. A course for intermediate and advanced students that explores both the technical problems of painting the figure and considers how artists have represented the body, past and present. Formal problems and conceptual frameworks intersect throughout each assigned project. Prerequisite: 10. Letter grade only. Spring 2009.

110. Painting II. Mr. Mukherjee. An intensive course designed to expand a student’s understanding of the expressive, critical and formal issues of painting. Aims at cultivating individual initiative and exploration. Critiques, readings and talk broaden the reach of studio work. Students will develop a body of work and a written statement to describe it. Prerequisite: 10; 5 recommended. May be repeated once for credit. Letter grade only. Fall 2008.

111. Topics in Contemporary Painting. Mr. Mukherjee. To be announced.

122. Intermediate Photography. Ms. Pinkel. Image making, using color photography and computer graphics; focus on traditional and non-traditional approaches to making art. Course is designed to build the student’s creative and conceptual abilities, and includes field trips and readings in critical theory. Prerequisite: 20. Letter grade only. Each fall.

123. Documentary Photography. Ms. Pinkel. Explores approaches to visual documentation through in-depth group photo/text projects. Includes black and white and color photography, computer generation of image/text pages, and practice in “reading” of photographic images in the news media, advertising and the photographic essay. Prerequisite: 20. Letter grade only. Each spring.

126A. Sculpture II Fabrication and the Body. Mr. O’Malley. Expands the technical, conceptual and expressive skills through individually designed projects. Students will learn specific technical skills inherent to fabrication processes. Emphasis on a range of additive processes, wood working and welding. Videos, slides and field trips introduce a visual and theoretical awareness of contemporary art. Prerequisite: 25. May be repeated once for credit. Letter grade only. Spring 2009.

126B. Sculpture II Casting: The One and the Many. Mr. O’Malley. To be announced.

127. 21st Century Sculpture: Electronics, Manufacturing, and Mechanisms. Mr.O’Malley, Mr. Allen. To be announced.

128. Installation: Art and Context. Ms. Teixido. To be announced.

190. Junior-Senior Seminar and Critique. Staff. For Studio Art majors. In the seminar portions, majors discuss assigned readings, the lectures of visiting artists and fields trips. Group critiques explore and analyze student works in progress. Students produce independent art projects for critique as well as May be repeated once for credit. Letter grade only. Each fall.

192. Senior Seminar/Project in Art. Staff. Seminar meets weekly during the spring semester to discuss topics relevant to the Studio Art major and thesis exhibition. Includes visiting speakers, readings, oral and written reports, preparation and presentation of work in progress. The spring semester culminates in a public exhibition for which students are fully responsible. Half-course. Letter grade only. Each spring.

99/199. Reading and Research: Directed Study in Studio Art. Staff. Special projects for advanced students by arrangement with individual instructors. Prerequisite: permission of instructor. 99, lower-level; 199, advanced work. Course or half-course. May be repeated. Each semester. (Summer Reading and Research taken as 98/198.)