Catalog
Art and Visual Culture
Professor Rand (Art and Visual Culture and Gender and Sexuality Studies); Associate Professors Harwood (chair), Johnson, and Nguyen; Assistant Professors González Valencia and Roman; Visiting Assistant Professor Woodward; Senior Lecturer Morris; Lecturer Dewsnap
The department offers courses in studio practice and in the study of the intersecting categories of art, architecture, visual culture, and material culture, from the distant past to the present. This study also provides insights into intellectual currents, religious doctrines and practices, and social institutions, with attention to issues of class, gender, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. Studio art involves the integration of traditional disciplines and methods with contemporary practices and the study of visual culture.
The major offers two tracks: one, in history and criticism; the other, in studio art. Students intending to study abroad must discuss fulfillment of major requirements with their advisor and the department chair in advance. Students planning graduate study in architecture, landscape architecture, or design are advised to confer with the department chair early in their college career in order to plan appropriate undergraduate programs.
More information on the Department of Art and Visual Culture is available on the website (bates.edu/art-visual-culture).
Major Requirements for Studio Art
Prospective majors should meet with the art and visual culture faculty as first-year students. The major in studio art includes eleven courses:1) A minimum of six studio courses, though majors are encouraged to take at least one studio course each semester. Studio majors must take at least one studio course in their junior year but are encouraged to take two or more. The preponderance of studio major requirements should be completed prior to beginning a studio thesis. Studio majors must complete at least two related courses in one medium before their senior year. Students may take some courses for a second time with permission of the instructor by enrolling in the B/II section of a course with the same number (e.g., AVC 214B, Painting: Pictorial Structure II).
2) One of the six studio courses should be a Short Term course. Among the six studio courses, studio majors must take one of the following, though are strongly encouraged to take both:
AVC 350. Visual Meaning, which may be taken before or during the senior thesis.
AVC s34. Building a Studio Practice, which must be taken before the senior thesis.
A student may apply two studio Short Term courses to the major, only if one of them is AVC s34, Building a Studio Practice. Otherwise they may only apply one Short Term studio course toward the major.
3) A minimum of three courses in the history of art and visual culture, distributed across a variety of cultures and time periods and including one course in recent art and visual culture. One of these courses may be a Short Term course.
4) Both of the following:
AVC 457A. Senior Thesis: Studio Art (fall).
AVC 458A. Senior Thesis: Studio Art (winter).
The senior thesis must be undertaken in consecutive semesters during the senior year.
Study Abroad/Studio Art
Studio majors intending to study abroad must consult with the department well in advance. In most cases, the department advises students who wish to study abroad to do so for only one semester. Students usually apply one studio course and one course in the history of art and visual culture taken abroad toward the major requirements. Studio courses taken abroad in fulfillment of major requirements should correspond to the studio curriculum offered at Bates.The [W3] Requirement
Though in most disciplines, the senior thesis fulfills the third-level [W3] writing requirement for General Education, the senior thesis for the studio track in art and visual culture does not fulfill this requirement. Majors in the studio track fulfill their [W3] requirement by completing a [W2] course in any department or program during their senior year, which may include one of the three art history and criticism courses required for the studio major. Most studio majors who double major fulfill the [W3] requirement by completing the senior thesis in the second major.Major Requirements for the History and Criticism of Art and Visual Culture
Majors emphasizing the history and criticism of art and visual culture must take ten courses and write a thesis. These courses must include:1) One course in studio art. Students should to take this course before their senior year.
2) AVC 374. Methods in the Study of Art and Visual Culture, which should be taken no later than the fall of the junior year.
3) Six additional courses on the history and criticism or art and visual culture, including the following areas, identified with attributes in parentheses in the course descriptions:
a) at least one course on premodern art and visual culture (Premodern);
b) at least one course focusing on art and visual culture outside the canon of Western European and American art and visual culture (Non-Western Canon);
c) at least one course focused on the study of race, sexuality, and/or gender in visual culture (Race, Sexuality, Gender).
Some designated Short Term courses may be counted among these six courses with the permission of the department. Adequate distribution is determined in conjunction with the student's departmental advisor, who must approve the student's course of study.
4) Two courses outside the department, to be approved by the advisor, which focus on visual culture or theorize culture, communication, and representation, or do both. One of these two courses must focus on screen studies such as film, video, television, and new media.
Students who wish to continue in the history and criticism of art and/or visual culture studies at the graduate level should obtain a reading knowledge of French and German and are strongly advised to enroll in upper-level seminars such as:
AVC 375. Issues of Sexuality and the Study of Visual Culture.
AVC 376. Seminar in Medieval and Renaissance Art.
AVC 377. Seminar in Architectural History.
AVC 390. Seminar in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Art.
Upon petition to the department, courses taught in other departments and programs and the following first-year seminar may be counted toward the major in art and visual culture:
FYS 177. Sex and Sexualities.
5) AVC 457 or 458. Senior Thesis: History and Criticism. Topics for theses are subject to departmental approval. The opportunity to undertake an honors thesis is completely at the discretion of the departmental faculty.
Study Abroad/ History and Criticism
The department advises history and criticism majors who wish to study abroad to do so for only one semester. Generally only two courses taken abroad can be applied toward fulfilling the requirements for the major.Pass/Fail Grading Option
Pass/fail grading may be elected for courses applied toward the major except for AVC 360, 361, 374, 457, and 458. CoursesAVC 202. Painting: Color and Design.
An examination of color theory and its application to the art of painting. Prerequisite(s): any drawing course including AVC 205, 210, 212, 213, 312, 366, or FYS 498. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 10. Normally offered every year. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 203. Ceramic Design and Techniques.
Designing and sculpting of objects in clay, using such traditional techniques as coil and slab construction and throwing on the potter's wheel. This course provides an introduction to the ceramic process covering the nature of clay, application of glazes, firing procedures and aspects of the history of pottery. Drawing is part of some assignments. The course is a prerequisite for Studio Pottery (AVC 217). Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15 per section. Normally offered every year. [AC] [CP] S. Dewsnap.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 207. Ceramics: Making Sculptural Form.
This course explores the processes, methods, and conceptual possibilities of three-dimensional making through hand-building techniques such as coil, slab, extrusion, and modeling. Emphasis is placed on developing sculptural approaches using ceramic materials with some projects based in observation. Students examine contemporary sculpture as well as the processes, methods, and theories of ceramic work, glazing, and firing. There is a laboratory fee. Recommended background: prior experience with ceramics, sculpture, or drawing. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 13. [CP] S. Dewsnap.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/EN 208. Asian American Graphic Narrative.
This course traces the evolution of Asian American graphic narrative. Students consider the narrative in a visual format, discussing how works created by Asian Americans combat decades of stereotypes propagated in comic books, especially as evil-genius Fu Manchu figures. Students read graphic novels, graphic memoir, and selected issues of several comics series. Topics include race, identity, family history, military history, gender performance, and sexuality. Students discuss writing practice, style, genre, research, and multimodal composition. They also workshop their writing and discuss effective revision critiques. Enrollment limited to 25. (English: Post-1800.) (English: Race, Ethnicity, or Diasporic Literature.) [W2] [AC] [HS] T. Salter.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 209. Video: Moving Image as an Artistic Practice.
This course introduces video as a medium for artistic expression and social investigation. Students gain an understanding of video production, including the video camera, sound, lighting, and editing (e.g., Adobe Premiere), with emphasis placed on the relationship among the camera, the maker, and the subject. Students explore video making and its broad possibilities within contemporary art. Screenings and readings of work by contemporary artists are analyzed. Course may be repeated for credit. Enrollment limited to 12. Normally offered every year. C. González Valencia.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 210. Drawing and Intention.
Guided individual research into various methods practiced by contemporary artists including systemic approaches, drawing as ritual, and perceptual drawing. Consideration is given to the relationship between function, form, image, and idea. Students have the opportunity to respond to an expanding definition of drawing that could include text, movement, and sound. May be repeated for credit. Not open to students who have received credit for AVC s39. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 18. [AC] [CP] C. González Valencia, P. Johnson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 211. Animation I: Hand-Drawn Animation.
An introduction to the traditional animation techniques of creating movement through successive drawings. Students explore various techniques including metamorphosis, walking cycles, holds, squash and stretch, blur, and resistance. They learn to use Dragon animation software. Students undertake weekly assignments and a final project. Class screenings and critiques supplement in-class demonstrations. Course may be repeated for credit. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12. Normally offered every year. C. González Valencia.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 212. Drawing: From Still Life to the Model.
This course is a study of drawing through process and analysis. Emphasis is placed on drawing from observation and the subject matter that is addressed progresses from still life to the model. Strongly recommended for beginning students with no studio background, yet the subjects and ideas studied offer enough complexity for more advanced students. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 18. Normally offered every year. [AC] [CP] P. Johnson, P. Jones.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 213. Drawing: Realism to Abstraction.
This course is a study of drawing through practice and analysis. Emphasis is placed on drawing from observation, alongside consideration of abstraction and its potential. Recommended for beginning students with no studio background, yet subjects and ideas studied offer enough complexity for more advanced students. May be repeated once for credit. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 18. Normally offered every year. [AC] [HS] P. Johnson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 215. Painting: Abstraction and Invention.
This course is a study of contemporary painting methods, including abstraction. Working at the intersection of painting and drawing, students develop images based on close observation of fact, unsing a wide array of approaches to making pictures. Prerequisite(s): any drawing course including AVC 210, 211, 212, 213, 312, 366, s23, s35, or FYS 498. May be repeated once for credit. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12. [AC] [CP] P. Johnson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 218. Photography: The Analog Image.
A study of photographic image making. This introductory course covers concepts and techniques of black-and-white photography. Working with film-based cameras and darkroom techniques, the course offers improvement in perceptual awareness and a study of the medium's expressive possibilities. There is a laboratory fee. A film camera with adjustable shutter speed and aperture is required. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12 per section. [AC] [CP] E. Morris.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 219. Photography: The Digital Image.
A study of photographic image making using digital technology. This introductory course covers concepts and techniques of photography and the use of basic image-editing software (e.g., Adobe Photoshop). The course offers improvement in perceptual awareness and the study of expressive possibilities, especially as they pertain to digital manipulation. A DSLR or equivalent digital camera with adjustable shutter speed and aperture is required. There is a laboratory fee. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12. Normally offered every year. [AC] [CP] E. Morris.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 220. The Digital Composite: A Creative Process.
Combining images offers many creative and expressive possibilities, from the construction of fictional narrative to the visual articulation of ideas for social or political commentary. Using image editing software (e.g., Adobe Photoshop), students gain proficiency in digital compositing techniques and develop efficient workflows to produce seamless images from multiple sources. In addition to producing and working with composite imagery, students study its historic context from early twentieth-century photomontages to digital fabrications employed by contemporary artists. There is a laboratory fee. Recommended background: AVC 219 or equivalent experience. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12. [AC] [CP] E. Morris.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/CM 222. Seeing Gods in Ancient Greek Art, Architecture, and Myths.
Ancient gods and goddesses were everywhere in ancient Greece: they were painted on cups and plates; they stood tall on altars in sanctuaries and on the streets. Not surprisingly, the ancient Greeks reported talking to, smelling, and hearing divine beings of all sorts. This course explores how the Greeks depicted their gods and goddesses on vases, temples, and sculptures, and how such depictions relate to written reports of divine encounters. It provides an introduction to archaic and classical Greek art, the organization of religious sanctuaries, and myths about gods who were believed to meet with human beings. Recommended background: CM/RE 218. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. L. Maurizio.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 224. The Japanese Tea Bowl.
Tea and Zen Buddhism came to Japan from China in the twelfth century. The tea ceremony developed from these imports and many schools have been formed since then, but all have kept the ceramic tea bowl as one of the most important focal points. In this course, students explore the history of the ceremony by making tea bowls and related utensils. Various clays, forming methods, and styles are explored. There is a laboratory fee. Not open to students who have received credit for AVC s25. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. [AC] [CP] S. Dewsnap.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS 234. Chinese Arts and Visual Culture.
This course introduces Chinese visual cultures, from the Neolithic period to the present day, focusing on a period of particular cultural significance from the Han to Qing dynasties. The course reveals interrelationships among Chinese art, literature, religious philosophy, and politics. Topics discussed include artists' places within specific social groups, theories of arts, questions of patronage, and the relation of traditional indigenous art forms to the evolving social and cultural orders from which they draw life. Principal objects include ritual objects, bronze vessels, ceramics, porcelain, lacquer ware, sculptures, rock-cut temples, gardens, painting, calligraphy, and wood-block prints. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) [AC] T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS 236. Japanese Arts and Visual Culture.
This course surveys the history of Japanese art and visual culture focusing on the development of pictorial, sculptural, and architectural traditions from the Neolithic to the present time. The course explores the relationship between indigenous art forms and the foreign concepts, art forms and techniques that influenced Japanese culture, and social political and religious contexts as well as the role of patronage for artistic production. Topics include architecture, sculpture, painting, narrative handscrolls, the Zen arts, monochromatic ink painting, woodblock prints, decorative arts, contemporary architecture, photography, and fashion design. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) [AC] T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/CM 241. The Art of Islam.
Art of the Islamic world from its roots in the ancient Near East to the flowering of Safavid Persia and Mughal India in the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries. Developments are traced through architecture, painting, ceramics, textiles, and metalwork. Consideration is given to the continuity of the Near Eastern artistic tradition and Islamic art in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) [W2] [AC] [HS] E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS 243. Buddhist Arts and Visual Cultures.
The course examines the history of Buddhist visual cultures. It provides a basic introduction to a broad spectrum of Buddhist art, beginning with the emergence of early Buddhist sculpture in India and ending with modern Buddhist visual works. It examines selected works of architecture, sculpture, and paintings in their religious, social, and cultural contexts. It also briefly surveys regional Buddhism and its arts. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) Normally offered every year. [AC] T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS 245. Architectural Monuments of Southeast Asia.
This course examines the arts of Southeast Asia by focusing on significant monuments of the countries in the region. It examines the architecture, sculpture, and relief carvings on the ancient monuments and their relations to religious, cultural, political, and social contexts. Sites covered include Borobudur, Angkor, Pagan, Sukkhothai, and My-Son. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) [AC] T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS 246. Visual Narratives: Storytelling in East Asian Art.
This course examines the important artistic tradition of narrative painting in China and Japan. Through study of visually narrative presentations of religious, historical, and popular stories, the course explores different contexts in which the works—tomb, wall, and scroll paintings—were produced. The course introduces various modes of visual analysis and art-historical contexts. Topics include narrative theory, text-image relationships, elite patronage, and gender representation. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) [AC] T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS 247. The Art of Zen Buddhism.
The art of Zen (Chan) as the unique and unbounded expression of the liberated mind has attracted Westerners since the mid-twentieth century. But what is Zen, its art, and its culture? This course considers the historical development of Zen art and its use in several genres within monastic and lay settings. It also examines the underlying Buddhist concepts of Zen art. The course aims to help students understand the basic teachings of Zen and their expression in architecture, gardens, sculpture, painting, poetry, and calligraphy. Recommended background: AV/AS 243. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS 248. The Art of Rock-Cut Architecture in Asia.
This course explores the art of early Buddhist rock-cut temples. These temples appeared in India during the third century B.C.E., then spread along the ancient trade routes from India to eastern Asia. The rock caves not only chart artistic development, expressed through breathtaking architecture, sculpture, reliefs, and mural paintings depicting legends and stories, they also reveal the religious practice along the trade route, as well as international and local cultures. Recommended background: AV/AS 243. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) [AC] T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/CM 250. Vikings, Vandals, and Visigoths: Art in Early Medieval Europe.
This course surveys works of art and architecture produced from ca. 500 to 1100 C.E. and explores significant visual and cultural developments of the early medieval period. Beginning with the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire, students focus on emigration of Germanic tribes into Roman territories and the subsequent periods of Christianization, conflict, and exchange. Attention is paid to the ways medieval art has been used and misused in the modern era: the rise of race studies and "culture history" in the nineteenth century, the Nazis' use of archaeology as "evidence" for Germany’s Aryan past, and the deployment of medieval symbols by contemporary White Supremacists. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) [AC] E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/CM 251. The Age of the Cathedrals.
An investigation of medieval architecture from the Early Christian era to the end of the Gothic period in Europe, including Russia and the Byzantine East. Emphasis is placed on the development of Christian architecture and the emergence of the Gothic cathedral in the context of European political and social history before 1500. This course explores historical methodology in the field since 1800. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/CM 252. Art of the Middle Ages.
In Europe from the Early Christian era to the end of the Gothic age, from 300 to 1450 C.E., precious objects, manuscripts, wall paintings, and stained glass were produced in great quantities. The course traces the development of these and other media, including tapestry and sculpture. The roles of liturgy, theology, and technological and social changes are stressed. Modes of historical analysis are investigated. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 264. Leonardo and His Heirs: High Renaissance and Mannerism.
This course investigates the transformation of art and architecture that began with Leonardo da Vinci and his contemporaries, and remade the visual culture of Italy and northern Europe in the urban and court settings of the sixteenth century. Using traditional and recent modes of analysis to address the effect of religion, gender, and social and political structures on visual culture, students research the works of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bronzino, Titian, Anguissola, Palladio, and Holbein, among others. Attention is given to the changing reputations of the artists and their clients over the last five centuries. Not open to students who have received credit for AVC s18. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [W2] E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/CM 265. Florence to Bruges: The Early Renaissance in Europe.
This course investigates the art and architecture of Northern and Southern Europe between 1250 and 1450. Students analyze the impact of theology, liturgy, social change, urbanism, gender, and social class on visual culture. Artists considered include Cimabue, Duccio, Giotto, Fra Angelico, Donatello, Brunelleschi, Jan van Eyck, and Rogier van der Weyden. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 39. (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) [W2] [AC] [HS] E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 271. Italian Baroque Art.
A survey of painting, sculpture, and architecture in Italy during the seventeenth century. Artists studied include Caravaggio, the Carracci, Guercino, Bernini, and Borromini. The intent of the course is to locate these artists and their works in the complex contexts (regional, national, global, economic, sociopolitcal, spiritual, and cultural) art of which they emerged. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 279. Abstract Expressionism.
The ideas, forms, and practices that are the basis of abstract expressionism evolved clearly from earlier movements in twentieth-century art such as Cubism, Dada, and Surrealism. It is also a movement essentially intertwined with the broader culture of its time, from politics to psychoanalysis. The course examines the emergence of abstract expressionism and its subsequent influence over the art of the 1950s and 1960s. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AVC 281. Realism and Impressionism.
An intensive investigation of British and French painting from 1850 to 1900. Artists and movements studied include the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, Whistler, Courbet, Manet, Monet, Degas, and Renoir. The course concludes with a brief consideration of Post-Impressionism. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AVC 282. Modern European Art.
An intensive investigation of European art from 1880 to 1930, with special attention to Post-Impressionism, Symbolism, Cubism, the emergence of abstraction, and Dada and Surrealism. Artists studied include Seurat, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Gauguin, Munch, Picasso, Matisse, Kandinsky, and Mondrian. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AVC 283. Contemporary Art.
This course examines the aesthetic, conceptual, and theoretical framework of contemporary art. After a brief overview of the precursors to contemporary art practices, students use critical tools to analyze global contemporary art from the 1900s to the present. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29 per section. Staff.AVC 284. Revolutions and Romanticisms.
The course considers European and British painting in the period from 1770 to 1850, with particular consideration of the work in its broader social, political, and cultural contexts. Artists and topics include Blake, David, Goya, Ingres, Delacroix, Géricault, imperialism and art, orientalist painting, and the rise of Romantic landscape painting. The course serves as an essential bridge between AVC 280 and AVC 281. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AVC 285. Renaissance and Post-Renaissance Gardens and Landscape Architecture.
The course examines the development and transformation of a major art form, the landscape garden, from its beginnings in fifteenth-century Italy through its later manifestations in seventeenth-century France and eighteenth-century England. While the garden provides the visual and historical framework for the course, the pervasive theme is humanity's changing attitudes toward and interpretations of nature and the world. Not open to students who have received credit for AVC s20. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/GS 287. Gender and Visual Culture.
This course concerns gender in the making and viewing of visual culture, with emphasis on the later twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and the roles of visual culture in the construction of gendered identities. Topics include the use of the visual in artistic, political, and historical representations of gendered people; queer and trans genderings; the visualization of gender in relation to race, ethnicity, nationality, class, age, sex, and sexuality; and matters of censorship, circulation, and resources that affect the cultural production of people oppressed and/or marginalized by sex and/or gender. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Africana: Gender.) (Art and Visual Culture: Race, Sexuality, Gender.) [W2] [AC] E. Rand.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AM/AV 288. Visualizing Race.
This course considers visual constructions of race in art and popular culture, with a focus on the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. General topics include the role of visual culture in creating and sustaining racial stereotypes, racism, white supremacy, and white-skin privilege; the effects upon cultural producers of their own perceived race in terms of both their opportunities and their products; and the relations of constructions of race to those of gender, class, ethnicity, and sexuality. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Africana: Introductory Sequence.) (Art and Visual Culture: Race, Sexuality, Gender.) [W2] [AC] E. Rand.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS 289. Stupa Towers: Forms, Symbols, and Narratives in Buddhist Architecture.
The great reliquary towers called stupas (or "pagodas") are by far the most pervasive and symbolic form of Buddhist architecture in South, Southeast, and East Asia. Even in North America and Europe, they have become an essential part of Tibetan Buddhist communities. Stupas are symbols of illumination, repositories for the relics of enlightened Buddhists, and central to sacred narratives throughout the Buddhist world. They are also a universal symbol, conceived of as embodiments of metaphysical principles with manifold meanings. The course examines the vast array of architectural forms of stupas and artistic programs decorated on their gateways, balustrades, and galleries. It also explores religious concepts and symbolic motifs embodied in the architectural work. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 293. African Photography.
The course examines photography in Africa through two distinct lenses: that of the nonindigenous outsider and that of the African insider. The first half of the course is devoted to photographic representations of Africa by European and American explorers, missionaries, colonial officials, and tourists from the nineteenth century to the present. In the second half of the course, the works of African photographers from the nineteenth century to the present are examined, as well as the interface/distance between these photographers and their nonindigenous counterparts. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/GS 295. The Decorated Body.
This course analyzes the arts associated with the body, using the body as subject and as lens for theoretical discussions in relation to non-Western and Western cultures. Cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary, with particular attention to the body as gendered and raced, the course addresses the ways that the body has been adorned and manipulated as an artistic medium through practices including painting, scarification, surgical manipulation, tattooing, piercing, branding, and hair adornment. Enrollment limited to 25. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) (Art and Visual Culture: Race, Sexuality, Gender.) A. Bessire.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/GS 299. Gender in African Art.
This course examines the complex role of gender in African art and visual culture. Focused topics include gender divisions in artistic production, women in royal traditions, gender restrictions in viewing sacred arts, arts and visual culture celebrating women’s power, performative cross-dressing, gender identities in cultural performance, the personification of spirit spouses, and cis- and transgender expressions in contemporary art. Enrollment limited to 29. (Art and Visual Culture: Non-Western Canon.) (Art and Visual Culture: Race, Sexuality, Gender.) Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 309. Advanced Video Production.
Continued exploration and practice of video production and its wide possibilities as a tool for contemporary culture production. First, students participate in workshops to deepen their knowledge of theoretical and technical video skills, including advanced video camera work, lighting, sound, and postproduction equipment and software. Then they propose and produce a video project, utilizing all stages of production (preproduction, production, and postproduction) and work with their peers to create their own production crew. Distribution for independent fiction and nonfiction video is discussed, including film festivals, gallery and museum installations, and/or performances. Class screenings and critiques supplement in class demonstrations. Prerequisite(s): AVC 209 or 311. Enrollment limited to 12. (Community-Engaged Learning.) C. González Valencia.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 311. Animation II: Experimental Methods.
A study of analog and digital animation techniques and materials for video. Students work with different drawing and painting materials, cut-outs, cameraless animation, under the camera destructive and constructive animation, objects, rotoscope, and compositing images in Photoshop. Basic sound design for animation are covered, including Foley and voice recording. After experimenting with these techniques, students propose and produce a short animated video. The courses emphasizes the intersection among storytelling, content, and the animated image. Distribution for independent animation is discussed, including but not limited to film festivals, gallery/museum installations, and/or performances. Class screenings and critiques supplement in class demonstrations. Prerequisite(s): AVC 209 or 211. Enrollment limited to 12. Normally offered every year. C. González Valencia.AVC 312. Drawing the Figure .
This course emphasizes drawing from the human figure, the development of conceptual drawing attitudes, and drawing as a medium of lyrical expression. Recommended background: previous drawing experience. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 15. Enrollment limited to 18. Normally offered every year. [AC] [CP] P. Jones.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 314. Advanced Painting.
An opportunity to combine experience from other painting courses with post-1945 painting practices. Students are encouraged to develop individual responses to thematic material. Consideration is given to the interaction of image, process, and meaning. Prerequisite(s): any painting course including AVC 202 or 215. Enrollment limited to 10. Normally offered every year. [AC] [CP] P. Jones.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 315. Studio Pottery.
This course explores work generated on the potter's wheel through making and studying aspects of historic and contemporary pottery. Emphasis is placed on developing utilitarian pots as student examine the processes, methods, and theories of ceramic pottery work, glazing, and firing. There is a laboratory fee. Prerequisite(s): AVC 203, 224, s21, or s25. May be repeated twice for credit. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12. Normally offered every year. [CP] S. Dewsnap.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 316. Printmaking Workshop.
Students develop images using printmaking techniques selected from intaglio, relief, and monoprinting methods. Course work includes color printing. Emphasis is placed on development of sustained projects with increasing independence, and critical thinking in an expanding context. There is a laboratory fee. Prerequisite(s): any studio art course. May be repeated twice for credit. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 10. Normally offered every year. [AC] [CP] P. Johnson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 318. Photography: Perception and Expression.
Continued study in film-based or digital photography, offering refinement in technical skills as introduced in AVC 218 or 219. The further development of perception and critical analysis of images is emphasized. There is a laboratory fee. Prerequisite(s): AVC 218 or 219 or equivalent experience. May be repeated once for credit. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12. Normally offered every year. [CP] E. Morris.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 320. Contemporary Photography: A Body of Work.
The medium of photography has undergone immense changes in the recent past. How are photographers responding to those changes and how is that reflected in their work? Students view and discuss the images and methods by various contemporary photographers and within that context generate their own body of work. Students produce an extensive photographic project, engaging with one idea over a sustained period. Individual and group critiques provide frequent opportunities for reflection and feedback, valuable for advancing the work and producing visually and conceptually strong images. This course has a laboratory fee. Prerequisite(s): AVC 218 or 219 or equivalent experience. May be repeated once for credit. Enrollment limited to 15. (Art and Visual Culture: Premodern.) [AC] [CP] E. Morris.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/GS 345. Trans Studies in the Politics of Visibility.
Many people have welcomed the increased visibility of trans and/or gender-nonconforming people as a sign of progress. Yet who is visible, what constitutes visibility, and whom do particular visibilities benefit? This course uses a trans studies framework to consider both the products and the politics of visibility. Topics include the representation of queer gender and trans and/or gender-nonconforming people in contemporary visual culture; critiques of visibility in relation to state surveillance and white supremacy; and the interconnected roles of norms regarding race, sexuality, ethnicity, class, and ability in perceptions and practices of gender normativity and transgression. Recommended background: at least one course with substantial work in gender, queer, or trans studies or the study of visual culture. Enrollment limited to 15. (Africana: Gender.) [AC] E. Rand.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 350. Visual Meaning: Process, Material, Format.
This course reflects changing concerns in the contemporary art world. Working in various media of their choice alongside each other—for example, photographers next to painters—students address similar thematic material. Topics include the potential of format and material to shape meaning, with emphasis on process that balances critical thinking with creative generation. Recommended for students with a serious commitment to making studio art, especially studio art majors. Prerequisite(s): two or more previous studio art courses. May be repeated once for credit. Enrollment limited to 10. Normally offered every year. [AC] [CP] P. Johnson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 360. Independent Study.
Students, in consultation with a faculty advisor, individually design and plan a course of study or research not offered in the curriculum. Course work includes a reflective component, evaluation, and completion of an agreed-upon product. Sponsorship by a faculty member in the program/department, a course prospectus, and permission of the chair are required. Students may register for no more than one independent study per semester. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 361. Museum Internship.
Students who have arranged to participate in an unpaid internship at the Bates College Museum of Art may receive one course credit by taking this course at the same time. Depending on the needs of the museum, internships may involve collections management, exhibition development, education programming, or research. The same arrangement is possible for students who obtain internships at the Portland Museum of Art or summer internships. Students may have internships throughout their college careers, but may receive credit for one semester only. Enrollment limited to 29. Instructor permission is required. Normally offered every semester. E. Harwood.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 365. Special Topics.
A course or seminar offered from time to time and reserved for a special topic selected by the department.AVC 366. Drawing the Model/Sustained Study.
For a variety of reasons the human body has been and continues to be of great importance in Western art, and sustained study from the model is often central to artists' training and practices. This seminar focuses exclusively on drawing from the model in three-hour sessions. Enrollment limited to 12. P. Johnson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/CM 373. Art of the Global Middle Ages.
This course examines artworks produced by diverse communities in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Western Asia from the period ca. 500–1500 C.E. Through case studies of luxury objects, iconic architecture, monuments, and paintings, students explore the ways that artists, patrons, and viewers within Islamic, Jewish, and Christian traditions articulated spiritual and intellectual values and religious and socioeconomic identities. The course focuses on visual and cultural interactions such as commerce, gift exchange, reinterpretation of visual forms, and reuse of significant objects and spaces. Attention is given to scholarly debates on the concept of a "global" Middle Ages and popular (mis)conceptions about the medieval era. Recommended background: at least one course in art history, premodern history, or religious studies. Enrollment limited to 15. [W2] E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 374. Methods in the Study of Art and Visual Culture.
This course considers the history and methodology of art history and visual culture studies, with an emphasis on recent theoretical strategies for understanding visual culture. Topics discussed include stylistic, iconographic, psychoanalytic, feminist, historicist, queer, antiracist, and postmodern approaches to the study of visual material. Prerequisite(s): two 200- or 300-level courses in the history of art and visual culture. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. Normally offered every year. [HS] E. Harwood.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AVC 377. Seminar in Architectural History.
The seminar considers selected topics in the history of architecture, urbanism, and landscape design. Possible subjects include Versailles, the English landscape garden, the Periclean building program, Rome in the Baroque, the architecture and landscaping of world's fairs, and the domestic architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. Enrollment limited to 15.AVC 377A. Picturesque Suburbia.
The seminar focuses on the interconnections among conceptions of nature and the city, emergent middle-class social practices, and developments in the design of single-family houses in the United States between 1830 and 1930. Particular attention is paid to A. J. Downing, the garden city movement, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Recommended background: a 200-level course in the history of art and visual culture. Enrollment limited to 15. [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 377B. The Chateau and Gardens of Versailles.
Beginning in the 1630s as a modest hunting lodge for Louis XIII, Versailles evolved over the next two centuries into a monumental palace and garden complex. This seminar considers the design and building history of the chateau and its gardens. Particular attention is devoted to their use both as the physical setting for the court, and as the staging area for and the embodiment of an idea of a magnificent, national monarchy and its attendant culture. Recommended background: two 200-level courses in the history of art and visual culture. Enrollment limited to 15. [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC 381. Modernisms: A Global Perspective.
This course provides an introduction to modern art and theories of modernism and postmodernism from a global, multimedia perspective. It focuses on the way artists look outside of their own traditions and use the tension between fine art and mass culture to mobilize a critique of both. Students focus on the connections and dialogues among different visual traditions, between high and low, fine art and mass culture, and examine works in a variety of media such as painting, sculpture, architecture, film, photography, prints, performance, and video. Recommended background: one course in art and visual culture. Enrollment limited to 15. Staff.AVC 390. Seminar in Nineteenth- and Twentieth-Century Art.
The seminar offers the opportunity for an in-depth consideration of a significant artist, critic, movement, or aesthetic current in the nineteenth and/or twentieth century. Enrollment limited to 15.AVC 390B. Pre-Raphaelitism to Modernism.
Through the second half of the nineteenth century, the stated goals of progressive painting evolved away from a commitment to pursue an objective, visual realism and toward artists' recreation on their canvases of determinedly personal and subjective responses to the material world. This seminar traces that transformation through a focus, though not an exclusive one, on developments in the English art world. Topics and artists covered include Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Whistler, the Arts and Crafts Movement, Post-Impressionism, aestheticism, and symbolism. Prerequisite(s): one course in the history of art and visual culture. Enrollment limited to 15. [AC] [HS] E. Harwood.ConcentrationsInterdisciplinary Programs
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
This course counts toward the following Interdisciplinary Program(s)
AVC 457A. Senior Thesis: Studio Art.
Guidance in the development of a body of work in studio art accompanied by a short essay and culminating in an exhibition at the Bates College Museum of Art. Students majoring in art and visual culture in the studio track take 457A in the fall and 458A in the winter and must take these courses consecutively in their senior year. Students undertaking a thesis in studio art meet weekly. Normally offered every year. Staff.AVC 457B. Senior Thesis: History and Criticism.
Preparation of an essay in the history or criticism of art and visual culture, conducted under the guidance of a member of the department faculty. Students may conduct a thesis in either fall or winter semester. Students conducting a senior thesis in history and criticism do not meet as a class. Students undertaking a thesis in the fall semester take 457B. [W3] Normally offered every year. E. Harwood.AVC 458A. Senior Thesis: Studio Art.
Guidance in the development of a body of work in studio art accompanied by a short essay and culminating in an exhibition presented at the Bates College Museum of Art. Students majoring in art and visual culture in the studio track take 457A in the fall and 458A in the winter and must take these courses consecutively in their senior year. Students undertaking a thesis in studio art meet weekly. Normally offered every year. P. Johnson.AVC 458B. Senior Thesis: History and Criticism.
Preparation of an essay in the history or criticism of art and visual culture, conducted under the guidance of a member of the department faculty. Students conducting a senior thesis in history and criticism do not meet as a class. Students undertaking a thesis in the winter semester take 458B. [W3] Normally offered every year. E. Harwood.AV/ES s15. Photographing the Landscape.
The course provides a context for studying and analyzing images of the landscape by viewing and discussing historic and contemporary landscape photographs. Questions considered include the role of the sublime in current landscape photography, beauty as a strategy for persuasion, perceptions of "natural" versus "artificial," and contemporary approaches in trying to affect environmental change. Students explore the depiction of the landscape by producing their own work, using "pinhole," black-and-white film, or digital photography. There is a laboratory fee. Recommended background: AVC 218 or 219. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 12. [CP] E. Morris.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/EN s17. Cartoon Cartoon: Film Theory and History of Short-Form Animation.
This course provides an overview of short-form animation, its history, and film theory as relates to animation from birth of cartoons and their early use before and between feature films in theaters to their move to prime-time television and the rise of networks dedicated to cartoons. Students discuss issues of technique, production, form, audience, and venue. The course also explores what animation looks like in other regions of the world. Enrollment limited to 30. [AC] [HS] T. Salter.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC s18. Leonardo and His Heirs: High Renaissance and Mannerism.
This course investigates the transformation of art and architecture that began with Leonardo da Vinci and his contemporaries, and remade the visual culture of Italy and northern Europe in the urban and court settings of the sixteenth century. Using traditional and recent modes of analysis to address the effect of religion, gender, and social and political structures on visual culture, students research the works of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Bronzino, Titian, Anguissola, Palladio, and Holbein, among others. Attention is given to the changing reputations of the artists and their clients over the last five centuries. Not open to students who have received credit for AVC 264. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 29. [W2] [AC] [HS] E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC s21. Soda Firing.
This course focuses on using the potter's wheel as a tool to generate functional and sculptural forms. Soda-firing glazes work in a unique way that enhances every surface. Various clays, slips, and glazes are employed in exploration of the techniques used by the pioneers of the soda-firing process, as well as its current practitioners. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 13. [AC] [CP] S. Dewsnap.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/CM s22. Hell and Damnation: Imaging the Afterlife.
This course examines works of art produced in Europe from ca. 500 to 1500 C.E. and considers the ways in which the visual arts responded to and helped to shape premodern conceptions of death and the afterlife. How did medieval thinkers and artists envision Heaven, Hell, the Apocalypse, and the Last Judgment? How did visual representations of damnation and salvation change during the medieval period? Students analyze a variety of media (sculpture, paintings, mosaics, tapestries, stained glass, illuminated manuscripts, etc.) in order to gain a deeper understanding of the important and complex roles that concepts of judgment, damnation, and salvation played in the daily lives and visual environments of medieval Christians. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 30. E. Woodward.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC s23. Materials and Techniques of Drawing and Printmaking.
This course provides an opportunity for students to immerse in drawing and printmaking practices. Working fluidly between drawing or print and printing, students develop guided individual work in a contemporary context. Recommended background: previous drawing or printmaking of experience. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 10. Instructor permission is required. [AC] [CP] P. Johnson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC s25. The Japanese Tea Bowl.
Tea and Zen Buddhism came to Japan from China in the twelfth century. The tea ceremony developed from these imports and many schools have been formed since then, but all have kept the ceramic tea bowl as one of the most important focal points. In this course, students explore the history of the ceremony by making tea bowls and related utensils. Various clays, forming methods, and styles are explored. There is a laboratory fee. Not open to students who have received credit for AVC 224. Enrollment limited to 15. [AC] [CP] S. Dewsnap.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC s26. Museum Studies.
Analyzing how the history and architecture of museums has influenced paradigms of display and taxonomy, and how display and taxonomy have influenced museums and architecture, this course views the past in an attempt to identify characteristics of new museum ideologies of the twenty-first century. Few institutional concepts have the fortitude and resilience to continually defend and renew themselves from external attack and self-referential lethargy. The museum "conquers" by slowly assimilating cultural challenges. In the past hundred years, the museum has met these challenges while increasing its relevance and historical importance despite architectural makeovers, financial scandal, censorship, cultural shifts, and the ever-changing demands of new media. As the work shifts from analog to digital, museums are presenting exhibitions of painting, sculpture, photography, and video to ever-increasing audiences. Field trips are planned. Enrollment limited to 15. Instructor permission is required. [AC] E. Harwood.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AV/AS s29. Modern Vietnamese Culture through Film.
Many people conceive of Vietnam through images of war rather than through its culture. This course offers students an opportunity to study modern Vietnamese culture through documentary and feature films produced by westerners and Vietnamese during the last fifty years. The course helps students to gain insight into a traditional culture that, in part, shaped the modern course of Vietnam's history. The course challenges the old stereotypical views of Vietnam advanced by Hollywood movies with the new cultural images presented through Vietnamese eyes. Not open to students who have received credit for AV/AS 229. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 25. [AC] T. Nguyen.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC s31. Museum Internship.
Students who have arranged to participate in a unpaid internship at the Bates College Museum of Art may receive one Short Term credit by taking this course at the same time. Permission may be given for internships carried out at other institutions, including the Portland Museum of Art, upon petition to the Department of Art and Visual Culture in advance. Students may have internships throughout their college careers, but may receive credit for one Short Term internship only. Enrollment limited to 29. Instructor permission is required. Normally offered every year. E. Harwood.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC s34. Building a Studio Practice.
Choosing media they would like to investigate closely, students focus on methods and ideas in order to develop their work. Students are encouraged to investigate the possibilities that arise when they choose limitations on subjects, materials, processes, and form and make a group of closely related works. This course offers an opportunity to try to maintain a regular, independent, and self-sustaining studio practice for five weeks. Access to some technical facilities may be limited. Prerequisite(s): one studio art course in any medium. Enrollment limited to 14. Instructor permission is required. Staff.AVC s35. Materials and Techniques of Drawing and Painting.
Guided individual research in various drawing media including etching as well as consideration of the problems of landscape painting, figure drawing, and similar genres. Each Short Term focuses on one of the above categories. The Short Term registration material includes a description of the particular focus for the Short Term course at hand, including specific prerequisites. This course may be repeated once for credit. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 10. Staff.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations
AVC s39. Drawing and Intention.
Guided individual and collaborative research in various drawing methods including systemic approaches, off-press printing processes, mechanical reproduction, drawing as ritual, and perceptual drawing. Consideration is given to the relationship among function, form, image, and idea. Students have an opportunity to respond to an expanding definition of drawing that could include text, movement, and sound. Prerequisite(s): One course in studio art, music composition, theater design, playwriting, directing, contemporary performance, theater production, dance composition, fiction writing, poetry writing, or documentary video. Open to first-year students. Enrollment limited to 18. P. Johnson.Concentrations
This course is referenced by the following General Education Concentrations