51��������

In this course we will examine the role of music as a vehicle for political and social change in Africa. Our focus will be music-making throughout the continent of Africa during the nationalist struggles that resulted in independent African states and how musicians responded (and continue to respond) to the persistent challenges faced by those post-colonial states.

Fake news, reality television, “IRL” – asserting the veracity of our perceptions is a constant preoccupation in contemporary culture. What is real? Realism is a widely used term with multiple connotations: verisimilitude, authenticity, objectivity, truth, fact.

This course is for experienced student artists with a firm commitment to serious work in the studio. Students will work primarily on self-directed projects in an effort to refine individual concerns and subject matter. Students will present work regularly for critique in class as well as for individual studio meetings with the instructor. Development of a strong work ethic will be crucial.

This 2-credit course will explore working with classical and natural alternative processes including Cyanotypes, Anthotypes, and Chlorophyll prints among others. Students will learn the histories of each process and see how artists are working with those processes in today’s day and age. The Cyanotypes will be produced on fine art paper and fabric, and the Anthotypes will be produced with a variety of fruits, vegetables, and plants.

This is an analog film-based black-and-white photography course designed for those with little or no experience in photography. Emphasis will be placed on the application of technique in terms of personal expression through the selection and composition of subject matter. The course comprises technical lectures, darkroom demonstrations; lectures on historical and contemporary photographs as well as class critiques.

For the experienced (3+years of playing) violinist/violist. Lessons in traditional styles of fiddling – Quebecois, New England, Southern Appalachian, Scandinavian, Cajun, Irish, and Scottish. This course is designed to heighten awareness of the variety of ways the violin is played regionally and socially in North America (and indeed around the world) and to give practical music skills for furthering personal music making. Students will be expected to perform at Music Workshop, or as part of a concert, in ensemble and/or solo.

This course introduces a variety of materials, techniques and approaches to working with oil paint. Emphasis is placed on developing and understanding of color, form and space as well as individual research and conceptual concerns. The daily experience of seeing, along with examples from art history and contemporary art, provide a base from which investigations are made. Formal, poetic, and social implications within paintings both from class and from a wide-ranging selection of practicing artists are examined and discussed. Students complete work weekly.

Chromophilia, refers to intense passion and love for color. What is it about color that has the power to induce reverie, and conversely to manipulate, or disgust? How does color work? What is the role of color in visual art? In language? How do we understand and respond to color from phenomenological, poetic, philosophical, and societal vantage points? How as artists can we become effective stewards of our passionately-loved and yet ever-shifting chroma?

This studio/ seminar invites students to engage both creatively and critically, by making work and through readings and discussions. Throughout the course, students will consider the social life of photographs, with particular emphasis on past and present ways of making and sharing vernacular images.

This intermediate level painting course will take as its platform the investigation of writing by artists about art and artists. While developing their own self-defined studio practices, students will engage with primary documents of art history - artists' essays, letters and sketchbooks.

This course will focus on the performance of Latin American music from all over the Americas, including South, Central, and North America, the Caribbean, and beyond. The ensemble will combine hands-on learning of diverse vocal and instrumental repertoire, traditional instruments (particularly percussion), and performance practices. Students will receive a thorough background in the cultural context of the music through in-class activities, listening assignments, and in the experience of learning the music.

This course offers an overview of foundational tools and techniques in digital photographic practice and aims to help students find new sources of inspiration, deepen their creative work, and enhance their ability to present it.

Beginning, intermediate and advanced group lessons on the mandolin will be offered. Students will learn classical technique on the mandolin and start to develop a repertoire of classical and traditional folk pieces. Simple song sheets with chords, tablature, and standard notation, chord theory, and scale work will all be used to further skills. History of the Italian origins of mandolin and its introduction to the western world will be discussed as well as past and present practices.

This course will introduce students to the components of storytelling in photographic series by examining migration as a theme and using photography as a research tool. Students will develop a robust sense of artistic ethics by studying representations of migration by photographers in diasporic communities and engaging methods for creating visual narratives around topics of belonging, heritage, and identity.

This class will look at the intersection of photography and performance art inside the contributions of feminist and queer practices. Students will respond to different performance prompts, alternating between the roles of performers and photographers, and thinking about ways to use the camera as an artistic and documentation tool. They will also engage in readings and analysis of works from BIPOC, feminist, and queer authors and photographers from the global south.

This course will explore the construction and experience of gender and sexuality in the Middle East through a performative lens. Drawing on research in ethnomusicology, queer and gender studies, anthropology and Middle Eastern history, the course will examine performance (music, dance, theater, poetry and more) as a process of representation, assertion, and sometimes transgression of sexuality and gender identities. This course will delve into the ways that performance, gender, and sexuality relate to ethnicity, nationalism, modernity, colonialism, and religion.

We will study and perform from the string band traditions of rural America. Nova Scotia, Quebecois, Irish, New England, Scandinavian, African-American dance and ballad traditions. In addition, these will be experienced with listening, practice (weekly group rehearsals outside of class), and performing components. Emphasis on ensemble intuition, playing by ear, and lifetime personal music making skills (transposition, harmonizing, etc.).

This course delves into the influence and impact of photography by examining the works of iconic and contemporary photographers. Students will explore how photography has shaped visual culture and society, gaining a deeper understanding of its power as an artistic and documentary medium. Ethical considerations are central to the course, as students will analyze the responsibilities that photographers hold when capturing and representing their work.