ART
Bill Fisher, Associate Professor and Chair
Professors: Tina Yarborough and Roxanne Farrar
Associate Professors: Valerie Aranda and Fadhili Mshana
Assistant Professors: Elissa Auerbach, Emily Gomez, Carlos Miguel Herrera, Michael Murphy, and Sandra Trujillo
Visiting Assistant Professors: Cynthia Brinich-Langlois and TeaYoun Kim-Kassor
Department Contact Information:
Georgia College & State University
Department of Art
Campus Box 94
Milledgeville, GA 31061
478-445-4572
Art Department Website
Chair, Bill Fisher, william.fisher@gcsu.edu
Administrative Assistant, Ainsley Eubanks, ainsley.eubanks@gcsu.edu
“Making Art as if the World Mattered. To Search for the good and make it matter; this is the real challenge for the artist today. Not simply to transform ideas or revelations into matter, but to make those revelations actually matter.”
-Estella Conwill-Majozo
MISSION
Analysis and critical thinking are central to the visual experience and production of fine art. Our goals for our students are to inculcate the visual language as a problem-solving tool, to bridge the gap between the history of visual cultures, the theories of contemporary art strategies and how they are applied to the production of art. Our students will strive to be visually literate in order to be able to decipher the relationships between art and society within the multiple-contexts of history, politics, literature, issues of gender and identity and multi-culturalism. Our mission is to prepare our students to be arts practitioners with sets of skills and values that will make them active and responsible participants in society. As students of the arts, we will prepare them to engage in questions of self-expression, artisanship, identity, community, values, politics, and meaning.
Our changing world challenges artists to become flexible practitioners and participants who can think, research, organize, and produce work that transforms people, places and our times. The power of art lies in artists connecting themselves in reciprocal relationships with their publics, in order to create a more humane life relevant to their time and place. The Art program provides a balance of Studio, Art History, Museum Studies and theory courses organized around a combination of core concept and skill courses, visiting artist experiences, exposure to contemporary art through the Blackbridge Gallery, and independent international learning opportunities, culminating in a senior Capstone experience. Our program offers small classes and a low faculty to student ratio, and you will be encouraged to explore media from the tradition of paints to the precision of pixels. The program integrates practice and theory through its interdisciplinary approach to critiques, with the goal of facilitating the acquisition of the following skill sets:
- COMPREHENSION SKILLS including ability to: investigate and understand visual arts from diverse formal, theoretical, historical, social, multicultural, and/or international perspectives.
- ANALYTICAL SKILLS including ability to: research, define, analyze, and critically formulate positions on relevant issues in visual art from diverse formal, theoretical, historical, social, multicultural, and/or international perspectives.
- PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS including ability to: achieve interdisciplinary and selected theoretical, social, multicultural, and/or international connections in art through art-related activities.
- SYNTHESIS/INTEGRATIVE SKILLS including ability to: comprehend, appreciate, analyze, and examine the ways in which ideas about knowledge, creativity, and art are constructed differently in diverse theoretical, multicultural, and/or international perspectives.
- CREATIVE/SCHOLARLY PRODUCTION & PRESENTATION SKILLS including ability to: to create, write about, and/or to otherwise manipulate artistic media in a formal presentation to provide a coherent and cogent visual, oral, and written summary of knowledge.
These skills will lead to a breadth of learning through achievement of the Departmental Major Learning Objectives (DMLO):
DMLO 1 The student will demonstrate historical and contemporary analytical skills including the ability to research, define, analyze, and critically formulate positions on contemporary issues in visual and public art from historical, ethical, formal, sociopolitical and international perspectives.
DMLO 2 The student will demonstrate an understanding of the diversity of audience including the ability to define, investigate, and analyze community-audience issues ~ the ability to practice effective problem-solving, communication, and community-sensitive work ~ the ability to evaluate accountability ~ the ability to achieve interdisciplinary collaboration and display community-organizing strategies within an arts project.
DMLO 3 The student will demonstrate production skills including the ability to create, understand and manipulate media ~ the ability to complete and present artworks or projects. Within the arena of production the student will consider how to present and distribute artwork in multiple formats/contexts using technological, multilingual, and other means.
DMLO 4 The student will demonstrate critical and evaluative skills including the ability to assess, critique, and analyze formal properties, audience relevancy, and impact from diverse points of view and within multiple contexts.
STUDENT SUCCESS
Earning a college degree is a significant milestone in one's life and requires dedication to one's studies and tremendous effort to succeed. In order to enable you to achieve this goal, we have dedicated ourselves to developing measures that help ensure student success in our department's programs. This process begins with the First-Year Academic Seminar (ARTS 0001), in which you are introduced to the faculty and students who make up the departmental community. You will join with other first-year students to get an overview of the subject matter covered in the major, explore career possibilities, and to develop techniques for getting the most out of your college courses and activities. You will also learn about departmental and University expectations, policies, and resources. Because the college experience at GCSU is more intense than at many other schools, we have designed each curriculum to help you each step of the way. In addition, we are committed to offering the courses necessary to ensure that students who follow the program of study will graduate in four years. Toward that end, a typical four-year program of study has been developed, which serves as a guide each term for scheduling courses. Required courses are specified, then sequencing of courses is recommended. Students are advised to enroll in an average of 30 semester hours each year. Intensive interaction with the faculty, small studio and lecture classes, a program of study that is designed to provide a strong foundation in the arts, and the expectation that each student will work to their maximum potential, provide the opportunity for each student to succeed in the field of art.
CONCENTRATION TRACKS
There are four concentration tracks within the Art Department's B. A. with a major in Art. The four tracks offer the student options of study within the major. The General Art Studio Concentration track offers the student the option of studying a broad approach to art. The Art History Concentration track is a focused exploration of art history and theory. The Fine Art Studio Concentration track is meant to prepare the student for graduate school and/or a professional art career. The Museum Studies Concentration Track is a focused study on museums and future employment opportunities within the museum field. All four tracks culminate in a public presentation, at a professional level, of an original creative research project produced during the senior year.
ADMISSION
Students are advised that admission to the University does not guarantee admission to the Fine Art Studio Concentration in the Department of Art.
A portfolio review will be held every semester for those wishing to participate in the Department of Art's Fine Art Studio Concentration track. This is a formal process open to all Art Majors seeking to graduate with a BA in Art -- Concentration Fine Art Studio. Applicants must apply no later than second semester of their Junior Year.
The following criteria must be met for admission to be granted:
- Students must present a portfolio. Including documentation of recent work and a proposal for the creation of original work for the senior year. Proposal must include a bibliography of artists researched for the project.
- Students must have a 3.0 GPA in the major.
- Students must have completed Area F and 60 credit hours of university study.
- Students must have three letters of recommendations from the Art faculty acquired in junior year.
CAREER INFORMATION
The Bachelor of Arts with a major in Art prepares students for further study in specialized fields. These fields include but are not limited to Art History, Museum Studies, graphic design, web design, desktop publishing, cover art, advertising, interior design, textile design, as well as fine art studio specialties such as ceramics, digital art, installation, painting, photography, printmaking, and textiles.
SCHOLARSHIPS
The Art Department presently offers two scholarships, the Katherine Comfort Art Award and the Dorothy Brown Art Award. For more information please contact the Financial Aid Office, 103 Parks Hall, 478-445-5149 or view scholarship information on the University Web site.
EXHIBITION PROGRAM
The Department brings contemporary art to the University community through its exhibitions, seminars, and lectures. The exhibition program brings to the campus contemporary works in ceramics, drawing, fiber arts, installation, painting, photography, printmaking, performance art, sculpture, and time based media by recognized artists. Exhibitions are held in the Blackbridge Hall Art Gallery, ArtFix Gallery and the Museum of Fine Arts. The department has recently acquired internationally renowned artist Edgar Heap of Bird's public art pieces “Ocmulgee Signs” for our permanent collection. This work can be viewed in front of Mayfair Hall, Blackbridge Hall, McIntosh House, Wooten-Garner House, and the Bone House.
In addition to the regular exhibition program, the Department of Art maintains an increasingly important collection of original art works. The permanent collection includes the Mary Thomas Study Collection of 190 graphic works, the Mamie Padget Collection of 21 works, and the Department Collection. Donations, gifts, and departmental purchases increase the collection. The collections are housed in Mayfair Hall and the Museum of Fine Arts.
EXHIBIT ATTENDANCE
Students are required to attend all exhibit openings held in the Department of Art. A faculty member will be assigned to check roll at each exhibit. Illness requires a doctor's excuse. If the student is employed and unable to attend for this reason, a statement to that effect, signed by the student's employer, will be required.
DEGREES AND MINORS OFFERED
Bachelor of Arts with a major in Art, Art History Concentration
Bachelor of Arts with a major in Art, Fine Art Studio Concentration
Bachelor of Arts with a major in Art, General Art Studio Concentration
Bachelor of Arts with a major in Art, Museum Studies Concentration