ARS 162 Introduction to Digital Media (4 Credits)

An introduction to the use of digital media in the context of contemporary art practice. Students explore content development and design principles through a series of projects involving text, still image and moving image. This class involves critical discussions of studio projects in relation to contemporary art and theory. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 14. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring

ARS 163 Drawing I (4 Credits)

An introduction to visual experience through a study of the basic elements of drawing. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 18. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring

ARS 172 Studio Art Foundations (4 Credits)

This cross-disciplinary studio course involves two-dimensional, three-dimensional and time-based approaches. Students are introduced to a range of conceptual and practical frameworks for making and thinking about art. This course is strongly recommended for students considering the art major. By emphasizing visual thinking, risk-taking and critical reflection, this course also has relevance for other disciplines. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 15. Priority given to first years. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring

ARS 200/ IDP 200 Art & Design: Making Radical Futures (4 Credits)

Offered as IDP 200 and ARS 200. This course explores speculative design practices as a way to collaboratively envision radical social transformation. The course focuses on imagining worlds without capitalism, building on local Solidarity Economy efforts. Students work in small groups to make these visions tangible through stories, installations, performances and models of everyday objects from the future. Students learn to make iteratively as a process of critical thinking, analyze how designed things reaffirm or resist the hegemonic power of capitalism and evaluate project work based on its ability to provoke questions and connect with viewers. Prerequisites: 100-level studio art course or IDP 116 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 16. (E) {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 205pz Topics in Studio Art Workshops: Posters, Zines and Prints in Public (2 Credits)

This 7-week studio intensive explores print-based artworks and the expressive qualities of distribution, archive and exchange. We will use printmaking, binding and presentation techniques to consider the personal, collaborative and political scope of print media. Studio Art Workshops allow students with any level of experience to explore a thematic, expanded approach to art practice. When multiple workshops are offered, students may take different topics during the first and second half of the semester for a total of 4 credits. Up to 4 credits of workshops may count toward the Studio Art Major. No prerequisites. Majors and non-majors welcome. S/U only. Enrollment limited to 12. (E) {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ARS 205sj Topics in Studio Art Workshops: Drawing Social Justice (2 Credits)

This 7-week studio intensive engages topics of social justice as central to our discussion and visual inquiry. Through studio work, artist research, class excursions and short readings, students will use drawing as an expansive medium to conceptualize and relate their ideas. This course is experimental in nature and will have no defined emphasis on traditional drawing techniques, instead we will take an expanded/interdisciplinary media approach to drawing, to explore how critical questions of social justice can be developed into impactful artworks. Studio Art Workshops allow students with any level of experience to explore a thematic, expanded approach to art practice. When multiple workshops are offered, students may take different topics during the first and second half of the semester for a total of 4 credits. Up to 4 credits of workshops may count toward the Studio Art Major. No prerequisites. Majors and non-majors welcome. S/U only. Enrollment limited to 12. (E) {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ARS 263 Video and Time-Based Digital Media (4 Credits)

This course builds working knowledge of multimedia digital artwork through experience with a variety of software, focusing on video and time-based media. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 14. No prerequisites. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall

ARS 264 Drawing II (4 Credits)

An introduction to more advanced theories and techniques of drawing, including the role of drawing in contemporary art. The emphasis of the class is on both studio work and class discussion. A major topic is the development of independent projects and practice. Students may require additional supplies and are responsible for purchasing them directly. Enrollment limited to 15. Prerequisite: ARS 163 or ARS 172 or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ARS 266 Painting I (4 Credits)

Various spatial and pictorial concepts are investigated through the oil medium. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisite: ARS 163 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 18. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 269 Lithographic Printmaking I (4 Credits)

Introduction to the printmaking technique of hand-drawn lithography and photographic halftone lithography using Adobe Photoshop. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 12. Prerequisite: ARS 163, or permission of the instructor. {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ARS 272 Intaglio Printmaking (4 Credits)

This course is an in-depth introduction to the expressive potential of the printed image and the distinct visual and tactile qualities of etching and drypoint. The class explores how prints can function as social devices, manifestations of texture and opportunities for collaboration. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisite: ARS 163 or ARS 172, or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 273 Sculpture I (4 Credits)

The human figure and other natural forms. Work in modeling and plaster casting. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 15. Prerequisite: ARS 163, ARS 172 or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 274 Projects in Installation I (4 Credits)

This course introduces students to different installation strategies (e.g., working with multiples, found objects, light and site-specificity, among others). Coursework includes a series of projects, critiques, readings and short writing assignments. Students may require additional supplies and are responsible for purchasing them directly. Enrollment limited to 12. Prerequisite: ARS 172 or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 275 The Book: Theory and Practice I (4 Credits)

(1) Investigates the structure of the book as a form; (2) provides a brief history of the Latin alphabet and how it is shaped calligraphically and constructed geometrically; (3) studies traditional and non-traditional typography; and (4) practices the composition of metal type by hand and the printing of composed type on the SP-15 printing presses. A voluntary introduction to digital typography is also offered outside class. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring

ARS 277 Woodcut Printmaking (4 Credits)

Relief printing from carved woodblocks can create images that range from precise and delicate to raw and expressionistic. It is a direct and flexible process that allows for printing on a variety of materials at large and small scales. Students use both ancient and contemporary technologies to produce black and white and color prints from single and multiple blocks. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisite: ARS 163 or ARS 172, or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 280 Introduction to Architectural Design Studio: Analog Processes - Ground (4 Credits)

In nurturing architecture’s foundational principles of visual, material and conceptual experimentation, this course lays the foundation for subsequent studios, lifelong learning and curiosity for architectural design processes. It probes the material, organizational and spatial qualities of the ground, a shared horizontal territory inhabited by plants, people and buildings--one that is as much cultural as it is natural. Through iterative and analog processes, students integrate drawing and making to construct and reconstruct lines in the ground. Probing the physical and conceptual ground for natural or constructed patterns, students develop foundation-level design skills within the context of larger environmental and cultural discourses. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Not open to students who have taken ARS 283. Enrollment limited to 15. Prerequisite: ARH 110 or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 281 Introduction to Architectural Design Studio: Digital Design Processes - Air (4 Credits)

This studio probes the material, organizational and spatial qualities of the line architecture’s most fundamental element. Through iterative and digital processes which engage light and air as their main references, students integrate drawing and making to construct and reconstruct lines in both virtual and physical space, and in two and three dimensions. Materialization of digital processes is tested through multiple full-scale, physical models. Through the act of making and remaking constructed lines, students oscillate between intuitive and critical modes of thinking, while further developing foundation-level design skills including analytic drawing, digital fabrication, and issues relating to scale and site specificity. Students may require additional supplies and are responsible for purchasing them directly. Enrollment limited to 15. Prerequisite: ARS 280 or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 282 Photography I (4 Credits)

An introduction to visual experience through a study of the basic elements of photography as an expressive medium. Each section involves either black and white or a combination of darkroom and digital processes. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 15. Prerequisite: ARS 162 or ARS 172 or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 361 Interactive Digital Multimedia (4 Credits)

This course emphasizes individual and collaborative projects in computer-based interactive multimedia production. Participants extend their individual experimentation with time-based processes and development of media production skills (3D animation, video and audio production) developed in the context of interactive multimedia production for performance, installation or internet. Critical examination and discussion of contemporary examples of new media art augment this studio course. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisite: ARS 162. Enrollment limited to 14. Instructor permission required. {A}{M}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 362 Painting II (4 Credits)

Painting from models, still life and landscape using varied techniques and conceptual frameworks. Students may require additional supplies and are responsible for purchasing them directly. Prerequisites: ARS 266. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ARS 363 Painting III (4 Credits)

Advanced problems in painting. Emphasis on thematic self-direction and group critical analysis. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 12. Prerequisite: ARS 362. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ARS 364 Drawing III (4 Credits)

Advanced problems in drawing, including emphasis on technique and conceptualization. The focus of this course shifts annually to reflect the technical and ideational perspective of the faculty member teaching it. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisite: ARS 163 and ARS 264. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ARS 366pc Topics in Painting-Painting Comedy (4 Credits)

Looking at an array of contemporary artists in global and historical contexts, students will create works that explore the comedic modes of irony, wit, melodrama, slapstick, and other visual deliveries of humor. The class will involve short experimental assignments, iterative works, and independent projects, produced in varied painting media. During the semester we will use workshop based studio practices, to explore the personal and cultural idiosyncrasies and conventions, through which humor operates as a visual tension that can tell stories about self, society, politics and power. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisite: ARS 266. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ARS 370se Topics in Installation Art-Unforgotten: Memory and Socially Engaged Art (4 Credits)

In this course, the class creates and critically interrogates socially engaged art. The focus is the subset of those practices that originate and gain power from remembering events of the past. Formats include site interventions, community collaborations, performance, traditional studio practices or intersections of these. The processes and physical forms of the (art) works complicate boundaries between art and education, art and sociology, and art and activism. The course is organized as a laboratory/workshop to experiment with ideas and forms of socially engaged art. At the same time, students discuss (aesthetic and participant impact) rubrics for these projects and analyze their efficacy. Students may require additional materials and are responsible for purchasing them directly. Prerequisite: One 4-credit studio art course. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 372 Printmaking, Mark-Making, Image-Making, World-Making (4 Credits)

This course is an opportunity for students to expand upon their existing printmaking knowledge and learn how to combine multiple processes such as intaglio, relief, monotype and lithography. The class pays attention to the unique marks made by each process; considers the relationship between drawn, digital and photographic images in print; and uses the capacity to print multiples as a means to construct physical, social or narrative forms. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisite: at least one 4-credit 200-level printmaking course or equivalent. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ARS 374 Sculpture II (4 Credits)

Advanced problems in sculpture using bronze casting, welding and various media. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisites: ARS 273. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 376 Printmaking: Color, Texture and Scale (4 Credits)

This course is an opportunity for students to expand upon their existing printmaking knowledge and learn how to combine multiple processes such as intaglio, relief, monotype and lithography. The class explores printmaking as a transformative process that creates rich, layered color relationships, builds and responds to texture and converts information into multiples. Students have the chance to work at ambitious scales, including using print media to create installations, three-dimensional forms or distributable public projects. Hand-drawn, digital and photographic approaches are available. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisite: one 4-credit 200-level printmaking course. Enrollment limited to 12. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ARS 380 Architectural Design Studio: Transient Spaces - Terrestrial Bodies (4 Credits)

This research-based architectural design studio utilizes digital processes to analyze and reinterpret canonical architectural precedents, linking the digital to fluid conceptual ideas which are both historic and contemporary. In particular, the studio probes the spatial qualities of the moving body—as a site of both deep interiority and hyper-connectivity. In a return to the territory of the ground (see ARS 280), and within the larger context of ecologically and geopolitically induced migration and displacement, this studio investigates themes related to mobility and transience and the ways in which the body traverses territories of ground. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to 15. Prerequisites: ARS 280 and ARS 281 or equivalent. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 381 Architectural Design Studio: Transient Spaces - Aquatic Bodies (4 Credits)

In a return to probing the material, organizational and spatial qualities of the line (see ARS 281), this research-based architectural design studio questions the agency of the line in relationship to contemporary issues of mobility and migration. In particular, this studio privileges the sea as a lens from which to view a changing world order and to explore ways in which architectural representation may be foregrounded as an investigative and speculative site. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisites: ARS 280 and ARS 281. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Annually

ARS 383 Photography II (4 Credits)

Advanced exploration of contemporary photographic techniques and concepts. Students work on assigned and self-directed projects using various analog and digital techniques, studio lighting, large-format printing, and interdisciplinary approaches. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Prerequisites: ARS 282. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Alternate Years

ARS 384em Topics in Photography: Photography as Extended Media (4 Credits)

This course explores the possibilities of photography, expanding its boundaries in relation to sculpture, moving image, technology and installation. Structured in four sections, students respond to assignments within each section and work on an independent final project. Possible areas of studio exploration include darkroom and digital production, camera-less processes, moving image and installation. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. This course can be repeated once for credit with a different topic. Enrollment limited to 14. Prerequisite: ARS 282. Instructor permission required. (E) {A}

Spring, Alternate Years

ARS 384lv Topics in Photography: Light--Visibility and Erasure (4 Credits)

This course explores the technological, poetic, and conceptual potential of light within photography and lens-based practices. Approaches include material-focused darkroom processes, studio lighting techniques, and the option to work with digital production and presentation technologies (such as scanning, laser cutting, projection, or VR). The course incorporates quick experimentation and sustained independent work, engaging ways in which light (and its absence) is a central lever within photographic production, materiality, and meaning. This course can be repeated once for credit with a different topic. Enrollment limited to 12. Prerequisites: ARS 282 . Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ARS 385 Senior Studio I (4 Credits)

This capstone course is required for all senior ARS majors. Students use the framework of the course to focus, challenge and re-conceptualize their studio work in media of their choice. Critiques, readings, written assignments, presentations and discussions support the development of an inventive and rigorous independent art practice. The semester culminates in a group exhibition. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Enrollment limited to Smith College Senior ARS majors. {A}

Fall

ARS 389/ LSS 389 Broad-Scale Design and Planning Studio (4 Credits)

Offered as LSS 389 and ARS 389. This class is for students who have taken introductory landscape studios and are interested in exploring more sophisticated projects. It is also for architecture and urbanism majors who have a strong interest in landscape architecture or urban design. In a design studio format, the students analyze and propose interventions for the built environment on a broad scale, considering multiple factors (including ecological, economic, political, sociological and historical) in their engagement of the site. The majority of the semester is spent working on one complex project. Students use digital tools as well as traditional design media and physical model building within a liberal arts-based conceptual studio that encourages extensive research and in-depth theoretic inquiry. Previous studio experience and two architecture or landscape studies courses suggested. Priority given to LSS minors and ARU majors. Enrollment limited to 14. Instructor permission required. {A}

Fall, Spring, Variable

ARS 390 Five College Advanced Studio Seminar (4 Credits)

This course is limited to junior and senior art majors from the five colleges. Particular emphasis is placed on thematic development within student work. Sketch book, written self-analysis and participation in critique sessions is expected. Students may require additional materials and are responsible for purchasing them directly.Enrollment limited to 15, three students from each of the five colleges. Prerequisites: selection by faculty; junior and senior art majors, advanced-level ability. Offered in rotation within the five colleges. Normally offered at Smith every fifth fall. {A}

Fall

ARS 399 Senior Studio II (4 Credits)

This one-semester capstone course is required of senior and junior (completing in fall semester) Plan B majors. Students create work in media of their choice and develop the skills necessary for presenting a cohesive exhibition of their work at the end of their final semester, as required by the Plan B major. Course material includes installation or distribution techniques for different media, curation of small exhibitions of each others’ work, and development of critical discourse skills through reading, writing and speaking assignments. In addition to studio faculty, Smith museum staff may occasionally present topics of conceptual and/or practical interest. Core studio materials are provided. Students are responsible for the purchase of additional supplies required for individual projects. Senior ARS Majors only. {A}

Spring

ARS 400 Special Studies (1-4 Credits)

Normally for junior and senior majors. Written project description required. Students may require additional materials and are responsible for purchasing them directly.

Fall, Spring

ARS 430D Honors Project (4 Credits)

Special approval required.

Fall, Spring, Annually