Students develop both creative and critical thinking skills as they are introduced to anarray of concepts and theories in the visual arts. They are engaged in experimentation with contemporary and traditional art making processes in avery active studio environment. Students are continually involved in personal invention, self analysis, problem solving, and problem identification withintheir work. Students are required to develop their skills in both verbal and written expression.
ART105 Issues and Practices in Art
Introduction to current issues, practices, and resources in the Visual Arts. Integration of a unified vocabulary for students in studio arts, art history, and art education.
Related skills and areas of development:
- Introduction to the fields of drawing, painting, sculpture, fibers, metalsmithing, pottery, photography, printmaking, graphic design, art education, and art history through relevant issues within each field.
- Exposure of Foundations level students to both CSU and community resources for students in Visual Arts.
- Introduction, engagement, and reinforcement of a unified vocabulary for students in both studio arts and art history
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ART110 Art History I
The arts of ancient cultures and civilizations.
Related skills and areas of development:
- Familiarity with a set of key monuments and their significance.
- Vocabulary to describe the formal structure of 3-D and 2-D art and elements of architecture.
- Understanding of art’s role in state and religious ideology and its function in relation to mythologies and ritual.
- Recognition of the role of tradition and convention in shaping art, including awareness of distinctions and continuity, between/across regions and periods
- Familiarity with introductory-level writing using critical-thinking skills.
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ART111 Art History II
Medieval through early modern arthistory.
Related skills and areas of development:
- Familiarity with a set of key monuments and their significance.
- Vocabulary to describe the formal structure of 3-D and 2-D art and elements of architecture.
- Recognition of the status of the individual artist and the artist’s role in shaping style.
- Understanding of the function of church and state patronage in shaping the subjects and formal conventions of art and architecture.
- Familiarity with introductory-level writing using critical-thinking skills.
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ART212 Art History III
Medieval through early modern art history.
Related skills and areas of development:
- Familiarity with a set of key monuments and their significance.
- Vocabulary to describe the formal structure of 3-D and 2-D art and elements of architecture.
- Understanding of historical and artistic factors contributing to the rise of modernism.
- Recognition of the artist’s experimentation with form and medium resulting in a proliferation of styles in the modern and postmodern periods.
- Familiarity with intermediate-level writing using critical-thinking skills.
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ART135 Introduction to Drawing
Elements of artistic freehand drawing emphasizing experimentation with a wide variety of materials.
Related skills and areas of development:
- Development of observational and perceptual skills.
- Understanding of formal structure and organization of two-dimensional space.
- Vocabulary, scholarly, and expository ability.
- Through critical evaluation and critique, ability to clearly articulate concepts within student’s own artwork.
- Artistic sensibility.
- Understanding of content and resultant emotional responses; inherent expressive qualities of form.
- Awareness of historical and contemporary artists in the field of drawing.
- Materials and techniques of basic drawing media.
- Display and presentation methods.
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ART136 Introduction to Figure Drawing
Human form as basis for self-expression through various drawing media.
Related skills and areas of development:
- Development of observational and perceptual skills based on the structure of the figure. A nude model will be used extensively.
- Understanding of formal structure and organization of two-dimensional space.
- Vocabulary, scholarly, and expository ability.
- Through critical evaluation and critique, ability to clearly articulate concepts within student’s own artwork.
- Artistic sensibility.
- Understanding of content and resultant emotional responses; inherent expressive qualities of form.
- Awareness of historical and contemporary artists in the field of drawing.
- Materials and techniques of basic drawing media.
- Display and presentation methods.
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ART160 Two-Dimensional Visual Fundamentals
Concepts of organization and color theory structured for understanding and manipulation of two-dimensional space.
Related skills and areas of development:
- Observational and perceptual skills.
- Awareness of multiple color theories.
- Understanding of formal structure and organization of two-dimensional space.
- Vocabulary, scholarly, and expository ability.
- Through critical evaluation and critique, ability to clearly articulate concepts within student’s own artwork.
- Artistic sensibility.
- Understanding of content and resultant emotional responses; inherent expressive qualities ofform.
- Awareness of historical and contemporary artists in the field of painting.
- Exposure to materials and techniques of water based media.
- Display and presentation methods.
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ART170 Three-Dimensional Visual Fundamentals
Understanding and manipulating three-dimensional form and space; use of materials and tools.
Related skills and areas of development:
- Development of observational and perceptual skills.
- Understanding of formal structure and organization of three-dimensional space.
- Vocabulary, scholarly, and expository ability.
- Through critical evaluation and critique, ability to clearly articulate concepts withinstudent’s own artwork.
- Understanding of content and resultant emotional responses; inherent expressive qualities ofform.
- Awareness of historical and contemporary artists in the field of three-dimensional object making.
- Exposure to a variety of materials and techniques.
- Safeuse of equipment.
- Display and presentation methods.
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The Foundations Program within the Art Department at Colorado State University is an exciting and intensive prelude to work in the upper- level studio and art history concentrations. Through a series of introductory courses, students are introduced to a wide range of directions available to them as CSU Visual Art students. The variety within the required courses engages students in the exploration of an abundance of ideas, processes, and diverse materials within the visual art disciplines.
When students exit the Foundations Program, they are equipped with a unified visual art vocabulary, a thorough exposure to the fundamentals of two and three-dimensional objects and spaces, a cohesive introduction to the history of art, and an introduction to current issues and practices within the visual art disciplines. Through their experience in the Foundations Program, students are prepared to make a well- informed commitment to their major area of study within the Visual Arts.
