Visual Arts Course Descriptions

VA - 100. Art Appreciation (4)

The course provides an understanding of the methods of identifying, interpreting, and evaluating ideas in the creative arts. Areas covered include art's functions, the visual elements and principles of design, the styles of art, and the art object. Offered every semester.

VA - 101. Survey of Western Art History 1 (4)

Survey of Western Art History 1 introduces students chronologically to major themes, movements, and issues in Western Art History from prehistoric times through the Rococco (approximately 1750). This course is ordinarily restricted to Art and Architecture/Community Design Majors, although other students may be admitted on a space-availalbe basis with permission of the instructor.

VA - 102. Survey of Western Art History 2 (4)

Survey of Western Art History 2 studies the complex relationships between artists and the cultures in which they work, from 1750 to the present, exploring how art deals with questions of war and peace, social justice, religious belief, censorship, propaganda, gender, ethnic and social identity, and social critique.

VA - 105. The Imaginary Museum (4)

The Imaginary Museum presents the great formal and historical issues of art history in western and world art traditions, with emphasis on the styles of objective accuracy, formal order, emotion, and fantasy.

VA - 120. Studio Systems (4)

This core studio class introduces the student to the broad range of materials, methodologies, and strategies that compose the art and design program. The student will explore a series of studio problems that begin simple and move to greater complexity. The language of art and design point, line, plane, space, color, light, value, texture, proportion, and scale will be the framework of our 2D and 3D investigations. (Required for all BAVA majors)

VA - 150. Introduction to Graphic Design (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 120. This course provides students with an understanding of concepts and techniques of graphic design. Students undertake assignments which promote strong conceptual thinking, an appreciation and understanding of the visual elements and principles of design, and the development of an individulized understanding of the design process. Students will develop professional attitudes and approaches to design problem solving while focusing on the basic vocabulary of visual form, typography, sequence, combining words with images, image manipulation, idea generation and use of color. Traditional, technical and computer-based design skills are developed in the context of learning the vocabulary and language of design.

VA - 155. Visual Communication (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 120, BAVA - 101. Visual Communication will introduce students to the study of graphic design as a wide-ranging practice for the creation, reproduction, and dissemination of visual messages. Through sustained project work, students will investigate the ways that text and image can foster both positive and negative cultural representations as instruments of information, identification, and persuasion. Lectures, readings, and student research will supplement project work, introducing students to the concentrated disciplines of typography, semiotics, visual rhetoric, and design history.

VA - 200. Museum Studies 1 (4)

Introduction to Museum Studies presents the historical development of museums, their collection, exhibition and education functions, administration, physical facilities, fundraising and ethics. Particular attention will be given to issues of diversity and multiculturalism; relationship of museums to changing populations and disciplinary trends; and examination of diverse types of collections. USF's Thacher Gallery serves as the laboratory for this course.

VA - 205. Typography (4)

This course will introduce students to the practice, history, and theory of typography. Through design research, independent project work, and collaborative exercises, students will produce typographic solutions to applied and experimental problems using typography as their primary, if not exclusive, design element.

VA - 210. Drawing 1 (4)

This basic drawing class introduces the student to the notion of mark-making. We will look at the way representations are made, their structure in space, and their context. A range of materials from dry (i.e. charcoals, chalks, pencils) to wet (inks) and various surfaces will be studied.

VA - 220. Painting 1 (4)

This introductory class will provide students with experience in acrylic, gouache, and watercolor as means for the exploration into the visual language of color, light, shape, and mass as they are embodied in paint. Painting support and the preparation of various surfaces will be studied.

VA - 230. Sculpture 1 (4)

This course develops the student's creative and technical skills in sculpture. Specific problems are given to explore and utilize the elements of form, space, line and mass. Emphasis is placed on problem solving and the physical means of realizing an idea three-dimensionally. Various media and techniques are explored, and students are encouraged to develop their own unique styles and visual language.

VA - 235. Color Theory (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 120 or BAVA - 150 ; ARCD - 110. Color Theory is an intermediate course for students in the four majors of the Department of Art + Architecture. This class is designed to meet the needs of students to prepare them for aesthetic and theoretical color use in their respective disciplines. Each student will attend presentations, workshops and group critiques, and create a portfolio of studio work individually and collaboratively.

VA - 240. Printmaking 1 (4)

This intermediate level course introduces students to traditional printmaking practices. Wood relief and copper intaglio methods will be used to create original multiples of art. Environmentally sensitive chemicals and safe processes will be used.

VA - 241. Art of the Book (4)

This course will expose students to the history and development of the book as an art form unto itself, from text to illustration to fine art, while teaching them a variety of techniques and materials with which to make their own books.

VA - 245. Visual Theology (4)

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor for non-majors. Visual Theology explores humanity's experience of the transcendent and sacred by learning to "read" the visual texts of religious myth, symbol, iconography and architecture from the Western and other traditions. Lecture course combines slide shows, reading and discussions, fieldtrips and creative projects.

VA - 250. Stained Glass 1 (4)

This course introduces students to the history of stained and leaded glass design and technique through background and slide lectures and site visits to Bay Area churches and installations ("Glass Traditions"). The bulk of the class is in studio format in which the students learn to design and construct stained glass panels.

VA - 252. Publication Design (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 150. This course utilizes the concepts and skills introduced in previous graphic design courses and builds upon these skills to further expand the palette and vocabulary of design. Students will develop a stronger understanding of typography and the integration of information into a publication format. Projects expand in complexity and focus on the challenges of design publication.

VA - 262. Identity Design (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 150. This course is concerned with creating logo and identity systems for integration into stationery, packaging, and advertising. Lectures and discussions focus on implementation of logos into corporate identities and branding for various types of industry including corporations, non-profit organizations, marketing and architecture. The creation and construction of identities, subscription and endorsement of certain personal and societal identities for ourselves and for others will be discussed and explored in depth.

VA - 290. Photography 1 (4)

This beginning course teaches students how to use a camera and darkroom, as well as to become well versed in different types of film processing, printing and presentation of photographs. Students will also learn about the historical and comtemporary practices of photography through slide lectures, readings, critiques, and field trips.

VA - 298. Directed Study (1-4)

Directed study of a subjectin the visual arts. The written permission of the instructor and the dean is required. Offered every semester.

VA - 300. Museum Studies 2 (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 200. Principles of collection development, management, conservation and use are taught in a special semester-long course using collections of Bay Area Museums.

VA - 305. Modern and Contemporary Art (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 101 and BAVA - 102 or permission of instructor. This upper-division art history course offers in-depth analysis of the meaning of modern and contemporary art in society. Through discussions and numerous field trips students explore a number of stylistic and thematic issues in contemporary art and their legacy from specific historical avant-garde movements. Among the topics of focus are the role of memory and loss, the body and sexuality, and race and ethnicity in a variety of visual art forms from the early twentieth-century to the present.

VA - 306. Women and Art (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 101 and BAVA - 102 or permission of instructor. This is an upper-division course designed especially for majors in the Visual Arts and minors in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Students will examine the history of female artists from medieval times to the present in the Europe, Russia, and the United States, as well as in a contemporary global context. We will address how art institutions (history, criticism, education, exhibition forums) have accounted for--or failed to account for--women's artistic production.

VA - 307. Asian Art (4)

This course helps students build an understanding and appreciation of the visual arts of China, Japan, and India. Lectures illustrated with slides and museum visits.

VA - 308. African Art (4)

This introductory class helps students gain knowledge and appreciation of the plastic and kinetic arts of sub-Saharan Africa. Mythology, masking traditions, ritual and spirituality, gender and cultural issues of traditional and contemporary African cultures are examined through slide lectures, videos, and museum visits.

VA - 309. Art of the Americas (4)

Art of the Americas is an upper division art history course focusing on the art made by the numerous and different peoples of North and South America, from antiquity to the present.

VA - 310. Drawing 2 (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 210 or permission of instructor. This course investigates at a more advanced level the complex representation of space on the two dimensional drawing plane. The focus is on issues such as figure and still life as well as personal and conceptual questions in aesthetics and in the larger culture. The student will work in a range of scales and with a range of drawing materials.

VA - 316. Filipino American Arts (4)

This combined studio and cultural history course offers a survey of Filipino American artistic production,looking at visual art, literature, music, and performance. The goal of the course is for students to develop their own artistic voice in response to histories of colonization, transnationalism, and globalization.

VA - 320. Painting 2 (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 220 or permission of instructor. This intermediate studio class will build upon previous experience gained from Painting 1. The course will provide students with the introduction to personal subject matter while still providing expertise with technical issues in acryllic painting. Personal expression will be emphasized within the context of painting's history and contemporary issues with society and culture.

VA - 330. Sculpture 2 (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 230 or permission of instructor. This course builds upon the student's creative and technical skills developed in Introduction to Sculpture. As a continuing exploration of the physical means of realizing an idea three-dimensionally, students make molds of their own original clay sculptures and then cast them in a variety of media. Emphasis is placed on quality and craftsmanship, while students are encouraged to develop their own unique styles and visual language.

VA - 340. Printmaking 2 (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 240. This advanced level course introduces students to contemporary methods and processes, building upon experiences from the prerequisite course: VA 240 - Printmaking 1. Solar intaglio, lithography and linocut methods will be used to create original multiples of art. Environmentally sensitive chemicals and safe processes will be used.

VA - 350. Advanced Typographic Systems (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 150, BAVA - 252, BAVA - 262. Advanced typographic systems is an upper-level graphic design course that focuses on issues concerning typography and strategies for working with large amounts of text in the profession of graphic design.

VA - 351. Stained Glass 2 (4)

Prerequisite: BAVA - 250 or permission of instructor. Stained Glass 2 builds on skills developed in the introductory class. Course includes flat glass painting, kiln work, fusing, slumping, and glass casting techniques.

VA - 355. Design Internship (4)

This internship offers students an opportunity to work on self-directed study projects with external and/or internal non-profit clients. Students are encouraged to locate internship-type opportunities to engage in client-based work and gain direct, full-immersion experience working with selected design professionals in their studios and businesses.

VA - 356. Scenic and Production Design (4)

A detailed study and practice of the methods used in designing costumes, settings, and properties. Cross Listed With: THETR - 356

VA - 360. Mural Painting (4)

This is a studio course in mural painting that will contextualize the studio activities within the history and theories of mural painting and art activism. The field of cultural studies will be used to raise issues and questions fundamental to creating collaborative, public and activist art.

VA - 365. Design for the Web (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 150, BAVA - 252, BAVA - 350. This course will explore the foundations of web design. Students are introduced to planning and design of websites, information architecture, hierarchical structures and technical aspects through a series of discussions, workshops and lectures.

VA - 370. Installation/Public Art (4)

This course investigates a visual art making through a multi-disciplinary approach. Students will utilize the potential of landscape, environmental, social and aesthetic phenomena for initiating group and/or individual actions. Students will experience the full public art process (collaboration with communities/local agencies, preliminary presentation, permitting process, fundraising, publicity, and preparation and implementation of an installation piece).

VA - 385. Graphic Design Outreach (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 150, BAVA - 252, BAVA - 262. This course is designed to introduce junior and senior graphic design majors to the critical thinking and practical skills necessary to work with colleagues in producing print-based projects for actual clients. Students will contribute to their learning by fulfilling the mission of the University by working within the greater community and simultaneously creating a bridge to the professional world.

VA - 390. Special Topics (4)

One-time offerings of special interest courses in various visual art areas.

VA - 405. Drawing 3 (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 210, BAVA - 310 or permission of instructor. In this course, students of Drawing will build upon their general knowledge of the field of study while making an in-depth investigation of this particular focus.

VA - 410. Motion Graphics (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 350, BAVA - 365, MS - 222. This course will explore the foundations of motion graphics. Design for screen, effective use of typography, graphical elements, sound, video and motion are covered with simple animations, logo and shape motion and environmental visual effects.

VA - 415. Painting 3 (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 220, BAVA - 320 or permission of instructor. In this course, students of Painting will build upon their general knowledge of the field of study while making an in-depth investigation of this particular focus.

VA - 420. Art and Business (4)

Students learn the practical "nuts and bolts" business aspects of the art world through museum and gallery visits, curating of exhibitions,and presentations on finance, insurance, portfolio building, and grant writing from art professionals.

VA - 421. Museum Internship (1-4)

This internship provides a supervised work experience in a Bay Area art museum designed to complement the theoretical, methodological and practical instruction received in the Art History/Arts Management major. Students will be placed with a supervisor in a field such as museum education, development, public relations, conservation, or other areas in order to gain direct experience they need to find the position in the art world most suited to their interests and abilities. Partner organizations include: the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (de Young and Legion of Honor), San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Museum of African Diaspora, and the Cartoon Art Museum, among others.

VA - 422. Commercial Gallery Internship (1-4)

This internship serves as an opportunity for students to develop patterns of professional behavior in the commercial art world setting. Students will be placed in a Bay Area art gallery where they will learn skills such as client interaction, cataloguing of works of art, shipping and insuring art, sales techniques, curating exhibitions, planning receptions, art fairs, and other public events, etc. Partner art galleries in San Francisco include: Franklin Bowles, Braunstein/Quay, Catharine Clark, Christopher Clark, Frey Norris, Haines Gallery, Hespe Gallery, Robert Koch, and Toomey Tourrell Fine Art.

VA - 423. Non-Profit Arts Internship (1-4)

This internship places students in a non-profit arts organization where they learn the skills of community outreach, fund raising, and curating of exhibitions in an alternative arts setting. Partner organizations include: Creativity Explored, Intersection for the Arts, Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, New Langton Arts, and the San Francisco Arts Commission Gallery.

VA - 425. Sculpture 3 (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 230, BAVA - 330 or permission of instructor. In this studio/practicum course students will learn how sculptors working in such areas as the film industry and medical and forensic science apply their art in creative and innovative ways.

VA - 460. Senior Design Project (4)

Prerequisites: BAVA - 350, BAVA - 365. This course prepares students for exploring employment, internship and graduate educational opportunities. Concepts, cross platform developments and issues concerning aesthetics, interface design and use of media are addressed. Students investigate specific areas of the graphic design industry and prepare applications and portfolios geared towards their area of interest. Students collect relevant material and produce a CD/DVD/Web-based portfolio, packaging for CD/DVD, resume, cover letter, business card, and a flatbook portfolio.

VA - 470. Fine Arts Senior Studio (4)

Senior Studio is a capstone course in the Fine Arts major in the department of Visual Arts that is designed to meet the professional needs of students whose concentration is studio art. The goal of the course is to prepare students for lives as working visual artists. Each student will complete a studio internship with a professional artist, attend presentations, workshops and group critiques, and create a solo senior exhibition and accompanying slide or CD portfolio.

VA - 487. Art Outreach: Artist as Citizen A (4)

First part of a year-long sequence. Artist as Citizen A is primarily conceptual and theoretical. The class is composed of lectures/discussions with guests from various communities, readings, slides, journal keeping and a full scale proposal for a community-based art project.

VA - 488. Art Outreach: Artist as Citizen B (4)

Artist as Citizen B, Artist in the Community, is the outreach portion of the year-long sequence, (the "street" component). This includes work on site, collaborations, designing visual narratives and survival strategies that focus on marginalized communities. Possible communities could be those concerned with environmental issues, health, homelessness, teens at risk, racism, educational institutions, among others.