Art & Art History
Member of the Division of Humanities
Chair(s):
Matthew Kluber
Faculty:
Jenny Anger
Timothy Chasson - Senior Faculty Status
Jeremy Chen
Andrew Kaufman
Matthew Kluber
J. Vanessa Lyon
Lee Emma Running
Jill Schrift
Susan Strauber - Senior Faculty Status
Lesley Wright
The Department of Art and Art History provides curricular opportunities for the development of technical skills, aesthetic judgment, and historical understanding. Participation in both studio art and art history courses stimulates critical thinking and refines creative potential in the visual arts. The Grinnell College Art Collection of approximately 5,000 original works of art and the changing exhibitions of the Faulconer Gallery and the Print and Drawing Study Room supplement formal course study.
Students elect either a studio art or an art history major, with opportunities for advanced work in 300- and 400-level courses. Students electing an art history major must consult with the department about appropriate foreign language study. Majors are expected to enrich their concentration through selected courses offered by other departments. For example, appropriate courses in film, history, literature, philosophy, and religious studies, or syntheses of these materials in humanities courses contribute to the art history major. Furthermore, computer science, cultural studies, history, film, G.W.S.S., creative writing, and the sciences, especially chemistry, contribute to the study of studio art.
Students are encouraged to consider the advantages of a semester abroad in an approved program. Off-campus programs in this country also are available to majors with adequate preparation for advanced study. Students interested in museum work can take the museum studies course (ART 260 ) and/or the exhibition seminar (ART 360 ). There are opportunities for academic internships at the Faulconer Gallery, Axelle Fine Arts (Brooklyn, N.Y.), and others as arranged. Competitive summer internships at national museums and institutions are open to qualifying students with considerable preparation in either discipline. A competitive scholarship in studio art allows for a ninth semester of portfolio preparation for graduate study.
Major Requirements: A minimum of 32 credits
At least 20 credits of coursework must be taken with the Department of Art and Art History at Grinnell. No more than 16 credits within a single art history area may count toward the major unless approved in advance by the department.
The senior project in studio art and the senior thesis in art history will be considered ART 499 and must follow the College’s procedures for Mentored Advanced Projects (MAPs) as well as departmental procedures. Only one Art 499 (4 credits) may count toward the major. Pre-architecture students must include one semester each of laboratory physics and calculus and are advised to fulfill the studio concentration, though other majors are possible.
