100-Level Art Courses

HAR 190    History of Art   (3-0-3)
This course will introduce the formal vocabularies specific to works of art and familiarize the student with the complex interaction between form, meaning, and historical context. Course readings will consist of historical documents as well as recent critical and historical writing. Western and non-Western objects and architecture dating from pre-history to the mid-nineteenth century will be discussed at length in the classroom and at the museums.

HAR 191    Modern Art History and Theory   (3-0-3)
This course introduces students to key moments in the history of modern art in the newly industrial societies of America, Europe, and the Soviet Union. Painting, sculpture, and photography from the 1850s to the 1980s will be examined. Focusing on a wide range of methodological questions, this course will also consider the relationship between avant-garde culture and mass culture, the implications of emergent technologies for cultural production, and the development of radical avant-gardism in the context of authoritarian political formations and advancing global capitalism.

HAR 310    Digital Imaging I   (2-2-3)
This is an introductory course in digital imaging, including digital photography and the electronic rendering/manipulating of images. Students are introduced to both hardware (Macintosh platform) and software applications through classroom lectures and hands-on lab experience and exercises, but the emphasis is on the computer software applications as tools for experimentation in creating digital art and applying students' ideas. One trip to Manhattan and one scheduled Media Industry Forum on campus is required.

HAR 311    Digital Imaging II   (2-2-3)
This is an intermediate course in digital print media, with an emphasis on how it informs and evolves visual language for artstic expression. Students will consider multiples, sequencing, mark-making, notation, gesture, and narrative concerns, combining formal elements with experimentation across media. These media may include: printmaking, drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture. Students continue to work with computer software applications as tools to develop a more in-depth knowledge and vocabulary of the technical, theoretic and aesthetic possibilities inherent in the medium. Classroom lectures and hands-on experience and exercises compliment readings and problem-solving projects.
Prerequisites:  HAR 310 or permission of instructor.

HAR 320    Video I   (2-2-3)
This course will serve as an introduction to video production and post-production using current video technologies. Traditional camera, sound, and lighting techniques in production are taught, and non-linear video editing using iMovie is introduced. Students will engage with a variety of video art genres, including experimental, narrative, and documentary forms.

HAR 321    Video II   (2-2-3)
This class continues with technical, theoretical, historical, and aesthetic approaches to video as a time-based art medium. Students continue to: recognize and control video's formal parameters of image, sound, shot, transition and sequence; explore the history of video as an experimental art form; and gain an understanding of how concepts and compositions can be developed in time as well as space. Traditional camera, sound, and lighting techniques in production are reviewed and practiced, and non-linear video editing using Apple's Final Cut Pro is refined. One trip to Manhattan and one scheduled screening/lecture/event on campus is required.
Prerequisites:  HAR 320 or permission of instructor.

HAR 330    Animation I   (2-2-3)
This course introduces students to modeling and simple computer animation using the industry-standard tool, Alias Maya. It also provides a foundation for further work with 3-D and imaging tools. In addition to technical subjects, students will learn about the history, artistic practice, and developmental trajectory of 3-D graphics. It is recommended (but not required) that the student consider Animation as a two-semester sequence, with the student planning to register for HAR 331 Animation II the second semester.

HAR 331    Animation II   (2-2-3)
Building upon the fundamentals of animation and how they can be applied through Alias Maya, the focus of this course will be for the students to develop the skills necessary to create a final project that shows the ultimate type of animation -- character. Students will accomplish this task through observation and practice and are encouraged, in their own creative expression, to explore non-discursive modes of articulation and communication.
Prerequisites:  HAR 330 or permission of instructor.

HAR 332    Animation III   (2-2-3)
This rigorous and intensive computer animation course builds upon Animation I & II. The course is designed for the serious 3D animation student who is expecting to continue working in animation. It continues the approach of increasing skills and artistic practice in all areas of 3D animation: concept, modeling, animation, rendering. This is not just a software training course. While understanding advance software tools will be necessary to attain the objectives of this course, grade evalution is based on the student's development and successful demonstrations of mastery of timing, visual design, and storytelling abilities. Throughout the class students will be encouraged to find their own artistic voice.
Prerequisites:  HAR 331 or permission of instructor.

HAR 388    History of American Art   (3-0-3)

HAR 389    History of Middle Eastern Art   (3-0-3)
This course is a survey of the myriad art and architectural forms of the Middle East. From earliest origins in Mesopotamia and Egypt, the course examines Byzantine and Sassanid influences on the development of Islamic Art under the Umayyids and Abbassids as well as the Ottomans and Persians. It follows these influences through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, examining the current state of art, including film, in the Middle East.

HAR 390    Introduction to the Principles of Form and Design I   (2-2-3)
This course moves through the elemental study of two-dimensional art and design--structural elements, organizational principles, psychological effects, and communicative functions--focusing on both the technical and the imaginative. Problem-solving studio assignments (most of which are created on computers) and critiques, combined with visits to museums and galleries, enable students to develop criteria for the analysis and evaluation of images created both by themselves and by others.

HAR 391    Introduction to the Principles of Form and Design II   (2-2-3)
This course explores the concepts of form and space, focusing on hands-on experiences using different types of materials to create three-dimensional sculptural works. Students are encouraged to be experimental with their combination and use of materials. This course will address formal elements of design and construction in relation to contemporary art works through video documentation, slides, and books. Readings that accompany class discussions and a visit to Manhattan will be assigned throughout the semester.

HAR 393    Drawing I   (2-2-3)
This course will approach the basics of drawing as an integrative tool where ideas and processes are explored and expanded through the drawing medium. Skills will be rendered through observation, manipulation and coordinating and understanding these practices. Through problem solving within a range of projects, each student will begin to develop a visual language and the drawing skills that can be applied to conceptual, visual, and technical disciplines.

HAR 394    Drawing II   (2-2-3)
Students will focus and expand their visual and conceptual knowledge abd technical skills, as well as explore new issues, dialogues and skills surrounding the medium of drawing. The class will include course work, independent projects as well as group field trips to see current drawing exhibitions in New York City. A class presentation of a chosen artist, as well as a supporting written paper, will be required of each student. The final project wil be an interdisciplinary independent project designed and created by each student. All students will be expected to have completed Drawing I successfully, or have the instructor's permission to register, i.e., presenting a portfolio that demonstrates working knowledge of the basic principles of beginning drawing.
Prerequisites:  HAR 393 or permission of instructor.

HAR 480    Media Culture and Theory   (3-0-3)
This course will survey key benchmarks and documents in the history of media technologies while also introducing critical readings of 20th and 21st century media culture, both from the theoretical field of media studies and the creative works of artists, filmmakers and writers. We will explore how media technologies from print and photography, through film, radio, television, video, the internet, games and social software have been successfully introduced, disseminated and commodified, and how their mediations have profoundly affected the way we experience and interpret our contemporary society and culture. Students will be required to complete readings every week, to contribute to a class web project, including blogs and wiki, and to produce short papers and presentations that respond to and analyze the readings, in-class screenings, and other material we discuss.

HAR 484    Social History of Art   (3-0-3)

HAR 485    Contemporary Art   (3-0-3)
This course is an overview of a broad range of topics about contemporary fine art. We examine theoretical issues, modern and post-modern styles, and the industry and practice of visual art through bi-weekly visits to galleries and museums in Manhattan. Readings, papers, and presentations are required. This course approaches its subject matter from the artists' standpoint and is taught by a professional artist.

HAR 486    Art and Technology   (3-0-3)
Artists have always experimented with emerging technologies, but in recent decades, as personal computers and the Internet have gained increasing importance in our lives, the field of Art and Technology has emerged as a dynamic and historically significant domain of artistic practice. This course is designed as an investigation into the history of art and technology. Students will become familiar with a wide range of art and technological subjects, including the technological aspects of Cubism, Futurism, Dada, Marcel Duchamp, Surrealism, Kinetic Art, Op Art, and E.A.T. We shall also examine contemporary examples of the merging of art and technology.

HAR 495    Topics in Art and Technology   (3-0-3)

HAR XXX    Cultivating Culture: Art, Biiology and Biophilia   (3-0-3)
This course surveys a range of issues and creative practices that bring art and biology into close alignment. A number of areas are investigated, including: the literature of the oudoors; emergent, biomorphic cultural forms and systems; neuronets and the Internet as virtual nervous systems; and recent innovatins in green art, culture and architecture. This course combines a survey with hands-on art projects. Students read and discuss selected writings and visual images, then make projects with materials and tools selected by the student. Collaborations with biologists, ecologists, bio-ethicists, artists and others are encouraged.