General Education: Aesthetic Appreciation Courses
Come alive as a dancer, singer, actor or artist in a short course where you collaborate with others, try out a new art form, develop your talents, and learn a great deal about being creative and expressive. This is a rotating series of half-courses that fulfill the Aesthetic Appreciation requirement for General Education. May be repeated for credit.
A participatory class offering an introduction to beginning jazz, hip-hop and theater dance technique. The technique focuses on yoga breathing through movement as fundamentals of ballet, jazz and modern elements are combined in class to reflect dance styles ranging from the street to the Broadway stage. The art of dance develops self-confidence in a fun, supportive environment.
An introduction to various literacy genres: poetry, drama and fiction. Specific syllabus at the discretion of the instructor. Emphasis on the literature of western Europe and the United States. Focus on literature and its relation to society
Introduces students to basic choral participation which will enable them to: find their singing voice; match pitches in specific ranges and learn to follow a score of written music. The repertoire will include music from all periods from European classical to contemporary American popular styles.
This course offers a semester-long project in one particular form of movement theatre, ranging from ballet to modern dance to stage combat to mime to physical comedy. All projects involve full participation of mind, body, and spirit and culminate in a small public performance. This course may be repeated once for credit.
Group instruction offered in the electronic piano lab for students who have had no previous piano training. The emphasis will be on playing simple pieces, reading, basic keyboard harmony and elementary keyboard technique.
A continuation of CAT 191.
A hands-on practical introduction to basic techniques and concepts of acting. Theater games, movement exercises, and character improvisations serve as a foundation for later work on scripted scenes. Attendance, participation, and energy are essential, as most of the work and grade are based on what happens in the class.
Selected works in English literature with emphasis on historical, cultural, and aesthetic values, including material from Beowulf to Boswell. Lecture and discussion
Selected works in English literature with emphasis on historical, cultural, and aesthetic values, including material from the romantic period to the Second World War. Lecture, discussion.
To appreciate art, it helps to know it firsthand by making art yourself: some sculpture, painting, printmaking, drawing, and new experimental forms. It also helps to hear what artists have to say about their work, to know some art history, and to leave a course knowing whose work you enjoy and why. This course provides you with this kind of first-hand experience.
Paris as the bustling artistic and cultural nexus and the birthplace of Modernism. A study of the art and culture of France from 1870 to 1945, with focus on artists who changed our way of seeing: Manet, Degas, Monet, Renoir, Cezanne, Morisot, Cassatt, Van Gogh, Gauguin, Rodin, Claudel, Vuillard, Bonnard, Braque, Matisse, and Picasso.
Focus on the musical ensemble skills associated with improvisation. Course will be participatory, and the bulk of the time in class will be spent playing music. Diverse cultural approaches to improvisation –African-American, South Indian, and European –will be explored. This course may be repeated for credit for a total of 3 semesters.
(Formerly JOU 213) Oral interpretation is defined as the study of literature through performance. The course is designed to train students to use their bodies and voices to interpret poetry, drama and prose, children’s literature, world literature and documentary material. Students will present literature in individual and ensemble performances.
Important works of Latin American painting and sculpture from 1900-1950, emphasizing stylistic analysis and the relationship of the art to its socio-cultural context.
Studio work in composition and color in acrylic or oils.
The course includes at least a week of intensive group travel and study abroad. Our goal is to increase your appreciation of art history, to develop your communication with the enjoyment of people in another country, and to make you an experienced traveler. The best way to understand works of art and architecture is to see the originals in their country of origin. This course prepares you to study art history abroad by familiarizing you in advance in class with art in its cultural context. Students have found this course to be a life-changing experience.
(Also WMS 223) This course focuses on literature in English written by women. We study themes and techniques common to the literature by women. From the late Middle Ages until the present, we examine texts that challenge beliefs about female inferiority, promote a women’s perspective on gender and allow for a discussion of self-esteem, motherhood, privacy and women’s power.
(Also ENG 223) This course focuses on literature in English written by women. We study themes and techniques common to the literature by women. From the late Middle Ages until the present, we examine texts that challenge beliefs of female inferiority, promote a women's perspective on gender and allow for discussion of self esteem, motherhood, privacy, and women's power.
(Also REL 227) Selected poetry, fiction, drama, and non-fiction that explore such topics as faith, the nature and presence of God, death and immortality, spirituality, sin, and salvation. The course invites students to examine and reflect on the interrelationship of literary expression and a theological understanding of the world.
Selected poetry, fiction, drama, and non-fiction that explore such topics as faith, the nature and presence of God, death and immortality, spirituality, sin, and salvation. The course invites student to examine and reflect on the interrelationship of literary expression and a theological understanding of the world.
This class will explore the history and development of animation throughout the 20th century. Major social and technological movements and the effects they had on animators working at the time will be analyzed and discussed. This work will be examined to see how animation has developed as an art form. The class will read related texts and view historic and contemporary animation work.
A study of the entire genre of fiction, including some novels. Emphasis will be placed on fiction of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Selected plays representing the major periods of the drama from the Greeks to the present, with attention to the religious, social, and theatrical forces that shaped these works. Lecture and discussion.
A study of the genre of poetry with emphasis on formal innovations and evolution of the art form. Focus will vary according to instructor’s discretion.