ART 101 Art Matters

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression—Primary Texts

As an introduction to the visual arts, this course takes a global and thematic approach to focus on the way that artists across time and across cultures have engaged issues central to the human condition. Offered alternate years.

ART 103 Foundations: Circa Now

• 2 hours

This course introduces students to current art trends and theoretical preoccupations. We will begin to investigate visual language, its purpose, and its cultural and historical import with an emphasis on contemporary art and critical theory that has informed art production in the last 75 years. Students will endeavor to find a place for themselves within this tradition and critically reflect on their own artistic values and concerns.

ART 104 Foundations: Visual Thinking

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

An introduction to the basic elements of visual language through a variety of studio projects and media that investigate the relationship of form and content. Emphasis is on giving effective visible form to ideas.

ART 108 Foundations: Drawing

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

This course introduces basic aesthetic and technical aspects of drawing to students as they work to address the challenge of thinking and creating two dimensionally. Emphasis is on direct observation and translation of objects and environments into drawn images.

ART 111 Foundations: Sculpture

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

Contemporary sculpture encompasses a wide spectrum of ideas, forms and materials. In this course students will explore a variety of readily available materials along with found objects to explore some prominent considerations and themes in sculpture. The primary goals of the course are to explore and question how objects, materials, structures, and spaces are implicated in relation the maker and their audience in the creation of sculptural experiences.

ART 114 Sequential Art, Animation and the Graphic Novel

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

This studio course introduces students to the history, techniques and practice of sequential story telling from its beginnings to the contemporary graphic novel. Students will produce short animations, sequential art, and graphic novelettes. No prerequisite but ART 108 strongly encouraged.

ART 121 World Pottery

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

Geared primarily toward non-majors, this course will balance the basic mechanics of wheel thrown pottery with an exploration of global traditions and practices in functional ceramics. Offered alternate years.

ART 200 Painting I

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression
• Prerequisites: ART 108

An introduction to painting techniques and color theory including a technical understanding of oil media. A visual vocabulary and the start of personal investigations into life painting and conceptual problems will be explored using still life, landscape, and the human figure as subjects.

ART 205 Art and Technology

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Quantitative

This studio course examines the intersection of art and technology with particular attention to the ways that software, video, and interaction are used to produce emerging art forms and genres. Instruction will focus on object-oriented programming, application and algorithm design.

ART 206 Graphic Design I

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

This course introduces students to the use of raster and vector graphics applications as advanced art-making tools. Students will produce static 2-dimensional works of art that simultaneously explore 2-D design concepts and the cognitive processes of software learning.

ART 207 3D Modeling and Animation

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

Course will cover computer based 3-D animation with emphasis on creative content, experimentation and critical thinking. Advanced software and hardware will be used to explore modeling, texturing, physics simulations, and animation. Offered alternate years.

ART 208 Life Drawing

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression
• Prerequisites: ART 108

This studio course provides students with a thorough understanding of the structural anatomy of the human figure with emphasis on proportion, weight distribution, form and mass.

ART 209 2D Studio I

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression
• Prerequisites: ART 108

This studio course broadens the approach of 2-D work through the intersection of painting, drawing, collage, and printmaking. Technical methods and design problems will be investigated through the combination of multiple media. Color theory and design practice will be employed to explore conceptual problems.

ART 210 Ceramics I

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression
• Prerequisites: Recommended 100 level Art course, ART 111 preferred.

This course is designed as survey of ceramic methods focusing on handbuilding processes, the basic mechanics of the potter's wheel, and a variety of surfacing and glazing techniques. Aspects of ceramic history and contemporary practices will also be explored. Assignments will focus on technical applications while engaging specific problems and ideas engendered in the material of clay and ceramic objects.

ART 216 Printmaking I

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression
• Prerequisites: ART 108

An introduction to the aesthetic and technical considerations of the printed image through exploration of a variety of basic printmaking processes.

ART 217 Wheel Throwing

• 2 hours

This is a technical pottery course introducing and continuing the functions of the potters wheel in production of utilitarian pottery forms. Students will explore beginning wheel techniques in the making of cups and bowls. Student's taking this course with some familiarity with the potter's wheel and functional ceramics will be encouraged to continue their advancement beyond beginning techniques.

ART 218 Photography I

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

This course combines lectures with hands-on experience in digital photography. Instruction includes technical aspects of digital photography, including camera function, exposure control, and creative control, as well as discussion on the contemporary and historical impact of the medium. The format of the class includes lectures, visual presentations, lab time, individual research/presentations and a portfolio. Students will examine why photography is important in today's art world. A personal DSLR camera is highly recommended.

ART 231 4D Art Lab I

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression

This studio course introduces students to time-based media in the production of contemporary art. Focusing on the way time engages and transforms Art production, students will explore digital video, performance art, and socially engaging art in a way that encourages disciplinary intersections.

ART 290 Art in Cultural Perspective

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression—Primary Texts, Intercultural

This course engages students in the study of visual culture - the interaction between differing cultures as interpreted throughout history. Students examine the intersection of art, cultural and aesthetic heritage past and present. May be repeated for credit up to two times under different topics.

ART 300 Painting II

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 200

This class will focus on contemporary issues of pictorial space, the development of imagery and the process of abstraction from observation. Personal painting language and direction is addressed as a major topic. Discussions and critiques are held on a regular basis.

ART 306 Graphic Design II

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART or THTR 206

Through a combination of digital and analog media, students will create applied design projects integrating multimedia tools to convey ideas and to generate original content. The course emphasizes image-based concept development, interactive design, planning for print and digital media, and the development of art direction skills.

ART 307 3D Modeling and Animation II

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 207

This course expands on computer based 3-D animation with emphasis on asset creation for specific platforms such as animation, game development, or 3D design. Students will be expected to design fully realized and useable assets for their chosen platform. Offered alternative years.

ART 309 2D Studio II

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 200, 206, 208, 209, 216 or 218

This studio course advances aesthetic development of 2-D work through presentation and discussion of formal analysis related to issues and interdisciplinary concerns of image-based art. Intersections between painting, drawing, printmaking, collage, and photographic processes will be explored as well as the installation of media in space.

ART 310 Ceramics II

• 4 hours
• Fulfills: Human Expression
• Prerequisites: ART 110 or ART 210

This course expands the vocabulary of ceramic materials and techniques. Processes and techniques will be directed in individual and group projects questioning design, function and the expanding potential of sculptural outcomes. Greater emphasis will be placed on developing individual ideas by directing the ceramic process to address concepts in contemporary art and ceramics. This course will also delve deeper into topics of ceramic history and contemporary ceramic practices questioning the role of ceramic objects and our relationships with and to them.

ART 311 Installation

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 111 and any 200-level Studio Art Course

This course is designed to encourage interdisciplinary practices in the creation of art installation through individual and collaborative investigations. Projects, readings and discussions will center around how materials, objects, and space inform and direct an installation experience.

ART 316 Printmaking II

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 216

This course focuses on expanding and enriching practices related to the creation of original prints, including the exploration of alternative printmaking processes and the development of multi-colored images.

ART 318 Photography II

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 218

This studio course will be a further exploration of photography. Assignments will become more self-directed. Exploration of new techniques and materials, such as film based work or alternative printing methods, will be stressed in the course. Connections to photographers of note, both current and historically relevant, will be made through the work created by the students.

ART 320 Critical Theory

• 4 hours

An investigation of ideas that have informed and shaped the practice and understanding of art from the late 19th century to the present day. Students will engage in critical discourse, encounter texts that have changed our concepts of art, and hone their writing skills through the development of personal statements and written analysis of selected readings.

ART 331 4D Art Lab II

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 231

This course focuses on the artifact of time in 4D works. This studio art course moves students beyond the use of video and time-based media as art-making tools and asks them to consider the ways film, digital video, performance art, installation, and other time-based media impact our understanding of art and experience.

ART 384 Studio Projects

• 4 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 216

ART 400 Painting III

• 2 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 300

The course is designed to allow Art Majors and Minors interested in painting to continue to pursue studio work and conversations in the field of painting. Students at this level will be responsible for individualized work and will dialog and critique with Painting II students.

ART 406 Graphic Design III

• 2 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 306

This course is designed to allow Art Majors and Minors interested in painting to continue to pursue studio work and conversations in the field of graphic design. Students at this level will be responsible for individualized work and will dialog and critique with Graphic Design II students.

ART 409 2D Studio III

• 2 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 309

This course is designed to allow Art Majors and Minors interested in painting to continue to pursue studio work and conversations in the field of 2-Dimensional practices. Students at this level will be responsible for individualized work and will dialog and critique with 2D Studio II students.

ART 410 Ceramics III

• 2 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 310

This course is designed to allow Art Majors and Minors interested in ceramics to continue to pursue ceramic works and conversations in the field of ceramics. Students at this level will be responsible for individualized work and will dialog and critique with Ceramics II students.

ART 416 Printmaking III

• 2 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 316

This course is designed to allow Art Majors and Minors interested in painting to continue to pursue studio work and conversations in the field of printmaking. Students at this level will be responsible for individualized work and will dialog and critique with Printmaking II students.

ART 418 Photography III

• 2 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 318

This course is designed to allow Art Majors and Minors interested in painting to continue to pursue studio work and conversations in the field of photography. Students at this level will be responsible for individualized work and will dialog and critique with Photography II students.

ART 487 Art Colloquium

• 0 hours

Art colloquia events occur approximately 10 times during the academic year, and include lectures, discussions, and workshops led by visiting scholars, faculty, and student researchers. Students should plan on attending colloquia events regularly over their four years at Luther. Declared art majors are expected to attend as often as possible.

ART 490 Senior Project: Research

• 2 hours

An intensive seminar that will focus on contemporary conversations in art and art practices. The course format will center on student-led discussions and critiques of student work. Students will conduct individual investigations into their practice by both making work and through the development of contextual research, culminating in the preparation of the exhibition proposal. To complete the all college senior project requirement, a student must also complete Art 491.

ART 491 Senior Project: Exhibition

• 2 hours
• Prerequisites: ART 490

A self-directed project that fulfills the all-college senior project requirement. Students will focus on creating a new body of work for exhibition. This project also includes: a research statement, an artist statement, CV, and a Visual Portfolio of works. Students will orally defend their project exhibition.