The Bachelor of Liberal Arts is a baccalaureate degree program offered only to humanities and social sciences students in the College of Arts and Sciences. Art History is one of the possible concentrations in the Bachelor of Liberal Arts. A Bachelor of Liberal Arts with an Art History Concentration consists of the following.
ART HISTORY CONCENTRATION
Art History is a humanistic discipline that is philosophically related to the liberal arts. It aims to study the arts in relation to the life and time out of which they spring from western and non-western cultures. It includes a comprehensive study of the historical periods, cultural expressions, aesthetic judgments and artistic choices manifested in architecture, painting, sculpture, graphics and related processes, and artifacts from Ancient to the present. By examining the intellectual and scientific events that have shaped the creation of art and civilization, students are able to assess aesthetically and critically the artistic products of past and present cultures. Art History assist students to develop aesthetic, analytical and critical judgments as well as writing and verbal skills.
By pursuing a concentration in art history students can prepare for a variety of careers in art history and related liberal art majors, such as museum research, museum, gallery or corporate curator, museum conservator or slide librarian, art editor and director in publishing companies, teaching, graduate studies as well as community oriented cultural programs.
REQUIREMENTS
Art History courses fulfill the General Education Requirement for Historical Studies, Aesthetics and Cultural Diversity. The art history concentration is designed to develop and foster historical, aesthetic and multicultural appreciation of art as well as analytical, critical and theoretical knowledge of art. Art history courses are taken under the auspices of the History Department in the College of Arts and Sciences.
An art history concentration in the Bachelor of Liberal Arts consists of 24 to 30 credits distributed with the following requirements, all courses are selected in consultation with the Art History Coordinator:
1. Two Foundations Art History courses (6 credits). History of Art I and History of Art II (All art history students must take History of Art I and II prior to enter in the upper level art history courses.)
2. Art History Elective (24 credits or eight courses, from this selection 15 to 18 credits or five to six courses must be at the 300 level and above)
3. Practical Experience or Directed Studies in Art History (6 credits)
4. Humanities (western cultural heritage, history, literature, music history, philosophy, and other interdisciplinary subjects, such as film studies, classical studies, American Studies, Italian Studies, Latin American Studies and Gender studies) correlated courses (24 to 30 credits or seven courses from one of these areas, from this selection of 12 credits, four courses must be at the 300 level and above). The second concentration of the BLA also requires 24 to 30 credits.
5. Reading knowledge of foreign language is strongly encouraged
POSITION STATEMENT
Art History holds front-line responsibility for teaching aesthetic, cultural diversity and visual literacy in all its forms relying on the tradition and discipline of art history. The faculty of Art History seeks to serve the students of the university as a whole as well as the greater regional community.
The development of analytical and critical thinking skills and of intelligent appreciation is the aim of the art history classes taught at UMASS Lowell. The acquisition of analytical and critical thinking skills introduces the students to the analysis and interpretation of works of visual art, as well as to the subjective matters of taste and patronage in historical eras. Within art history the material defined as visual arts has extended beyond canonical works to encompass commercial and popular imagery, including graphics, photography, film, video, television, and computer art, in sum multimedia.
Art history classes are designed to cultivate, visually literate viewers of artwork. Application of the idea of literary to vision assumes that may be understood as a language. A language of vision is built upon an understanding of visual images and an increase the perception of visual awareness. The skills in visual analysis and interpretation designed in art history courses introduce students to methods of visual analysis and to specific subjects of cultural importance, at the same time as they learn features of different cultures. Common to all of art history courses are emphasis upon the interpretation of visual texts; meaningful introduction to cultural activities from a range of nations, the historical context in which art forms were created, sponsored and acquired. Students taking courses in art history who are new to art learn to clearly organize their perceptions of and thoughts about artwork. Students are taught in art history classes to translate experience of artwork into written form; therefore, paradigms of descriptive art criticism are provided for study, interpretation, and analysis. Art history classes provide appreciation in aesthetic experience as well as distinction and analogies between aesthetic and ordinary experience. Art history students educated and trained in the humanities achieve these skills in order to professionally compete in our technological society provided a cultural soul.
Teaching a student in the sciences to be creative in his or her thinking is not very different from molding and shaping a humanist. Recognizing that we are a university focused on the sciences, engineering, management, education, and health, we are confident, nevertheless, that our educational strategies and humanistic and art historical goals support the mission of the university, emphatically and wholeheartedly.
OBJECTIVES IN ART HISTORY COURSES
The aim of any art history course is to increase the student's ability to perceive and interpret the visual content presented in the lectures and required readings. In conjunction with this goal, art history courses seek to stimulate and strengthen independent analytical thinking and observation, critical reading, aesthetic awareness, cultural diversity and the preparation of written and oral presentations.
The aims of specific courses may be the following:
--To help students understand the history of architecture, drawing, photography, painting, prints, and sculpture in its social and cultural contexts of western and non-western art.
--To examine the relationships between the development of style in architecture, drawing, photography, painting, prints, and sculpture and the invention of scientific and technical processes.
--To understand the historical development of conventions, meanings, and symbols in architecture, drawing, photography, painting, prints, and sculpture and to interpret these conventions in their cultural context of western and non-western art.
--To study the contributions of individual artists to the history of architecture, drawing, photography, painting, and sculpture and to examine with historical and actual trends in western and non-western art.
--To familiarize student with art historical research methods and bibliographic material, including art journals and magazines.
--To encourage student to develop analytical and critical thinking about works of art and express their ideas through writing about art.
--To familiarize students with cultural institutions in the Boston and New England area that collect and exhibit art.
--To give students experience with solving problems in preparing reports through a collaborative process and oral or written presentation.
DISTANCE LEARNING TEACHING
The aim of distance learning courses is to teach Art History Without Boundary from UMASS Lowell to Dartmouth and vice versa. The art history faculty at UMASS Dartmouth/Lowell shares, collaborates and correlates classroom instruction in art history for the purpose of teaching via telecommunication some art history courses, such as Italian Baroque Art, Greek and Roman Art, Pre-Raphaelite Art and Primitive Art and Theory.
Although Art History is a traditional humanistic discipline its pedagogy and methodology are multicultural and multimedia; therefore, the field is open to the application of the new teaching technology, such as distance learning or classroom without walls. Hence the aim is to (1) incorporate in art history courses contemporary technology and (2) to make available this new type of instruction to a wider student audience at UMASS.
ONLINE COURSES
The goal of these specialized on-line classes is to provide instruction in art history to non-traditional students.
INTERNSHIPS
Open to all art history students who wish to developed special skills in museum research, curatorial experience or slide librarian apprenticeship in local museums, art corporations or private industry.
HONORS PROGRAM
Students who wished to receive advanced excellence in Art History may enroll in the Honors Program and attend classes under such coding. Under the tutorship of an art historian an Art History thesis on a specific theme, art theory or artist is required by the completion of the program.
TRANSFER STUDENTS
Student transferring to the College and wishing to concentrate in Art History must make individual arrangements with the Art History Coordinator regarding satisfaction of art history course requirements.
EUROPEAN SUMMER PROGRAM
Art History courses for credit are offered in various countries in Europe during the winter and summer sessions. The art history courses generally take place in England, France, Italy and Greece.
ART HISTORY CLUB
Provides an opportunity for all art history students to participate in field trips, conferences and symposia as well as visiting exhibition and museums in New England, New York and Washington DC.
ART HISTORY MINOR
A minor in art history consists of 18-24 semester credits selected in accordance with the following specifications: two foundation art history courses (History of Art I and II), plus 12 to 18 credits must be completed in art history courses, and no fewer than six semester credits offered for the minor shall be completed at the 300 level or above. Practicum in art history is strongly encouraged. Course work is selected in consultation with the Coordinator of Art History.