School of Visual Arts
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CFA AR 461: Directed Study Art Education
Provides opportunity for individual students to gain practical experience or to pursue academic investigations of a more independent nature in a subject related to art education. Open to undergraduate students in the Art Education BFA or the Five-year MA Program only. Approval of the student's advisor or supervising faculty and department chair required. An established focus of study must be submitted in writing in advance of registration. Variable credits, either semester. -
CFA AR 462: Secondary Pre-Practicum (1 credit; spring semester)
The Secondary Pre-Practicum course offers a supervised field-based experience in a 5-12 visual art classroom setting in a public school, for a determined number of hours per week. Students develop abilities for an active engagement with students and practice elemental teaching skills. Students must pass components of a Gateway assessment in CFA AR586: Child Growth and Development in Art Education and CFA AR 558: Contemporary Issues in Art Education in order to register. Students enroll concurrently the three-credit CFA AR460: Secondary Methods in Art Education. -
CFA AR 469: Color 4 credits Spring term
Color is a studio course that investigates the relativity of color, and the role that quantity, proportion, and context play in our perception of color, both in the visual arts, and in our daily environment. Lectures, demonstrations, slide presentations, and museum visits will complement the primary studio activity of solving specific color problems, and of generating individual, expressive color compositions. -
CFA AR 470: Ceramics 1
Introduction to methods and strategies for using ceramics as a sculptural medium. The course initiates the students to the process, vocabulary and techniques involved in all the steps of hand-building, glazing and firing. Students explore traditional and experimental techniques: coiling, slabbing, imprints, and molds, extruding, altered throwing, glazing and staining. The class includes experimentation with surface treatments and initiation to glaze chemistry. Lectures, museum visits and research on historical and contemporary ceramics sustain the studio work and provide context. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation. -
CFA AR 471: Ceramics 1
Introduction to methods and strategies for using ceramics as a sculptural material. The course initiates students to the process, vocabulary and techniques involved in all the steps of hand-building, glazing and firing. (2 cr) -
CFA AR 480: Senior Capstone
To fulfill the BA in Art, upper level students in the major complete the one- semester 4-credit, studio and research-intensive capstone project in their final semester in the major. As the culmination of the liberal arts degree in art, the capstone project provides a studio and research-based representation of the interdisciplinary work the student has done, likely including work in other majors and minors. The purpose of this course is to guide students in expressively weaving together the artistic elements of their coursework into an integrated, individual project. Capstone projects will incorporate word and image and build on arts research skills practiced in the sophomore Research Topics Seminar. Students will further develop expertise in a chosen area of studio work as well as academic, material and technological research. Focused work in the capstone will help students prepare, in a guided way, for further graduate work, academic careers and a wide range of arts-related fields that include: arts administration, cultural entrepreneurship, museum studies, arts and community development, as well as other areas outside the arts that require expertise in research, problem solving, and creative thinking. BA in Art students will present their capstone projects at the end of the semester in final critiques. The projects will include a written research paper along with a thematically/conceptually related visual project. In addition to working in the studio on individual projects, students will also regularly participate in critiques with peers and faculty, discuss readings, attend lectures and visit museums and galleries. A requirement for the BA in Art students. Prerequisites: BA in Art Foundation requirements (CFA FA 100; either CFA AR 131, 132, 193, or 194; either CFA AR 121, 141, 243, or 250; CAS AH 111; CAS AH 112) and CFA AR 260 Research Topics Seminar. -
CFA AR 483: Senior Graphic Design Fall: Collaboration
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CFAAR382) - Group collaboration and design as an agent for social change are areas that will challenge students to develop their own content, point of view and to learn their audience. Students will work in teams representing a professional studio environment. Students will manage multiple work streams through lead and supportive roles. Thesis research will complement group activities throughout the fall. Research will begin in fall semester and serve as a launching point for self-directed study during the final semester. -
CFA AR 484: Senior Graphic Design Studio
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CFAAR483) - In this culminating semester, students will independently develop systems and methodologies for solving real-world, pragmatic design problems. Students start by identifying an area of research and discussing its relationship to graphic design and contemporary discourse. The idea of 'designer as author' will be emphasized through a self-motivated design project that will strengthen individual processes and problem solving capabilities. Upon graduation, students are expected to have developed a refined, intelligent, professional-grade body of work. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Creativity/Innovation, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CFA AR 487: Junior Type Fall: Denotation, Connotation
Junior level typography is an advanced examination into the theory and practice of denotative and connotative typography. Students will learn how to design a complex typographic system over a sequence of pages; and how to control complex hierarchal systems as a means of conveying visual language and verbal meaning. Students will gain a deeper understanding of the function of design principles in creating typographic contrast, hierarchy, meaning and expression. Students will address how variables such as rate, pace and sound impact typographic narrative in a time-based context. -
CFA AR 497: Junior Type: Motion + Interactivity
CFA AR497 is the only typography course that solely addresses dynamic typography. Students will learn how to translate traditional typographic variable like form, weight, scale and space into dynamic environments, type-based narrative sequences, and type in an interactive format. Students will learn how pacing, rhythm, sequencing and interactivity impact hierarchy and communication. Focus on refinement, craft, typographic complexity, denotative and connotative typography is emphasized. Creative concepting, visual storytelling and hierarchy will be emphasized. Tutorials in After Effects and Flash are included. Open to undergraduate junior graphic design students. This is a required course for graphic design majors. 2 credits. Spring semester. -
CFA AR 500: Independent Study: Drawing Elective
Discussion of a broad range of drawing issues, including drawing from memory, and from secondary sources. Introduction of subjects explored in non-representational drawing traditions. Regular critiques. -
CFA AR 501: DRW VEN
Students learn how to translate the experience of living in Venice into a drawing language, go beyond the stereotyped images of Venice, what elements of the past and present of the city can enrich their personal drawing style. Students will expand their technical skills by both drawing in class and on- site, through targeted exercises and creative and innovative projects. On-site practice, discussions and critiques allow students to make experience and instinctively reinterpret Venice in a set time, immersed in historical places, museums and art galleries, artist studios and artisan workshops. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Aesthetic Exploration, Creativity/Innovation. -
CFA AR 502: Branding
Brand identity is a unique and sustainable symbol that synthesizes big ideas. It works across all media to build awareness and loyalty. This course will deal with the real world issues and problem-solving for brand identities. Students will develop logos as a point of entry to a brand for a series of assigned hypothetical companies. A creative marketing oriented brief will precede each assignment. Each project will include: applications for stationery; web-site home page look-and-feel; product nomenclature or packaging; and signage (where applicable). Logos include symbols, wordmarks, single letters such as H for Herman Miller, pictorial marks like the Michelin Man and abstract symbols like Chase Manhattan. The creative brief will contain information about the target audience for each assignment. Students must have a good practical knowledge of typography, as it is the key ingredient for this course. "A good logo should suggest, not explain." Paul Rand -
CFA AR 505: Certificate Typography
Graduate Typography examines the different ways visual language functions. Specifically, typography will be studied from an aesthetic and linguistic point of view--how does type look and how does it work? Building on fundamental elements of typography, students will explore advanced practical and hypothetical typographic applications. Projects rely on a mastery of traditional typographic methods as a basis to discover innovative typographic forms and concepts for print and screen. -
CFA AR 508: The Experimental Photograph
This course brings together the STEM disciplines with the art of photography through hands on experiments and explorations of neuroscience, engineering, and new media. From pinhole photography to 3D printing, students will gain skills in historical processes within the medium of photography as well as current technologies. Readings from both the natural sciences and critical theory will also be required. The interdisciplinary approach to the course aims to broaden students' understanding of the medium of photography and to appreciate an expanded view of the arts and sciences. Effective Spring 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Philosophical Inquiry and Life's Meanings, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Teamwork/Collaboration. -
CFA AR 509: Drawing Trees
Drawing Trees: A drawing course that investigates the structure, science, aesthetics and metaphysical inspiration of trees. Drawing is a language and a tool that can be utilized to connect multiple disciplines. This drawing course is an ode to trees. Trees are often undervalued but vital members of our ecosystem and are among the largest and oldest living organisms on our planet. Observational drawing "in the field" will be our vehicle to slow down, study and reconsider our relationship to trees. Inviting students to reposition trees as central to our human existence we will perceive the structure, character and individuality of trees through the practice of drawing. -
CFA AR 510: Photo Lab
This course is primarily an exploration of the photograph as object. Since its inception, photography has yielded a tangible product -- the print. Today, however, many of us encounter the photograph on a screen -- it exists as 0's and 1's in a cloud as opposed to emulsion and paper in an album or book. This course introduces students to a variety of photographic processes & materials including fiber-based printing, cyanotypes, and the digital negative in combination with historical and contemporary readings and artists concerned with the materiality of the photograph. Students are encouraged to experiment in order to understand, first hand, how the form their photographic ideas take, can impact the meaning. -
CFA AR 512: Architectural Design 2
This course builds upon the foundational knowledge that is covered in the introductory level and aims to achieve a higher degree of architectural design sophistication through a series of projects. These design challenges increase in complexity and duration over the course of the semester. You are expected to have advanced skills in drawing and model making, which enable you to devote your time to developing and critiquing your own design process. You will delve deeper into issues of form, program, and space, and you will be expected to draw upon previous design work from related courses such as architectural history, sculpture, drawing, and others. This course is intended for students who have already taken Architectural Design or its equivalent at another institution. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Oral and/or Signed Communication, Creativity/Innovation. -
CFA AR 515: Digital Photo
Throughout this course you will gain a basic technical and conceptual understanding of the medium of photography. Students will learn the basics of RAW image capture using a 35mm DSLR camera, non-destructive image file management, input and output resolution management, establishment of a digital workflow, adjustment and editing in Adobe Photoshop and high-end archival inkjet printing. Lectures will also introduce historical and contemporary photographic practices. Students will have weekly photographing and printing assignments, and you should be prepared to develop your own ideas. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Aesthetic Exploration, Digital/Multimedia Expression, Critical Thinking. Effective Fall 2022, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Creativity/Innovation, Critical Thinking. -
CFA AR 517: Digital Printmaking: Ink & Pixel 4 credits Spring term
Digital media as a communicative tool in printmaking - digital imaging, mixed media processes, multimedia documentation, transformations with traditional print media. Course explores digital design/color, conceptual/technical skills, critique, and process-oriented project development through demonstrations, studio assignments, presentations, and critiques. Effective Fall 2019, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Digital/Multimedia Expression.
