Expanded Media Courses

This course prepares future K-12 art teachers. It focuses on methods to create a stimulation creative environment that is appropriate to students at different stages of their development. It investigates educational methods and curriculum content and engages the future teacher in hands-on studio work to develop his/her own technical and aesthetic skills. How to manage a studio class, assessment strategies, and educational theories and practices are examined.

You will learn how to see and how to draw from direct observation of nature and life. You will use a variety of media to create self-portraits, figure drawings, object studies, still lifes, interior scenes, landscapes, depending on Instructor. Use drawing as part of the planning process for prints, paintings, and digital works, and as a finished work in its own right.  

Intensive studio work in students’ choice of painting media and style. Teachers continue to develop students’ technical mastery and “eye” and assist them in defining their unique goals as painters. Drawing and painting from observation, memory, model (the figure, still life), frequent individualized critiques, required museum and gallery trips. This course may be repeated for credit.

A systematic study of drawing from the live model at rest and in motion. We examine the body as a working system, while drawing the main skeletal, muscular and structural forms. Demonstrations and individualized critiques enable the student to see and to draw the figure with growing knowledge, self-assurance, and mastery of line, perspective, light, and shading. Informative for science and nursing students, essential for artists.

Through a series of critical concerns in the analysis of an action and motion drawing, the student will be able to understand the difference between drawing for animation and drawing for illustration. The art of conveying gestures while learning the construction and mechanics of the human figure will be examined.

Each spring semester, this course will study in depth the classical art and the contemporary arts scene of a major international city, and then visit that city during spring break. A broad spectrum of arts will be covered, including whenever possible music, film, painting, literature, sculpture, architecture, photography, animation, theatre, and new media, as well as cuisine and traditional crafts. Artistic creativity will be examined in relationship to the history, politics and culture that shape it. Cities to study and visit will be selected from such art centers as Paris, Berlin, Rome, Barcelona, Mexico City, Athens, London, Beijing, Kyoto, Marrakesh, and Rio de Janeiro. Each student will choose a specific topic to focus on and will conduct their own research on it during their visit to the city.

This course is an ensemble, open by audition only, in which students perform on an advanced level, potentially for public performance. Ensembles may be based on instrumentation (guitar, voice, electronics) or repertoire (Improvisation Ensemble, Chamber Ensemble, etc). May be repeated for credit.

In-depth study of a topic in the fine and performing arts. Topics may be interdisciplinary or focus on one field in the arts (e.g., Far Eastern Art; Rock & Rap; The 60’s). Some attendance at performances and art exhibits required. This course may be repeated once for credit.

Please contact your instructor for specific topic.

In-depth study of the latest developments in technology and the arts (digital video, 3-D animation, the Internet). This course may be repeated once for credit.

Please contact your instructor for specific topic.

In-depth study of the latest developments in the technical aspects of communications and the arts (e.g., virtual reality, hypertext, etc.). This course may be repeated once for credit.

Please contact your instructor for specific topic.

This course is a collaborative interdisciplinary art class, which concentrates on the development of concepts through research and practice. As a semester long project, students will be asked to write and invent a creation myth, do research around their project and implement their story through artworks.

What does it mean to create meaningful interactive experiences? Students will create interactive installations and environments. Contemporary software and hardware will be covered, with students creating physic projects. A variety of mechanisms (edge detection, color tracking, capacitance sensors, presence sensors, custom switches, etc) will be covered. Class discussions include topics of interactivity, art, media, design, space, and installation.

A continuation of Introduction to Acting. Students work extensively with texts, both classic and contemporary. The course develops practical skills in script analysis, developing a character, study and training methods, working with a director, rehearsal technique, and performance.

A semester-long internship required of CAT majors in their junior year: Placement will be in professional settings appropriate to the student's area of specialization and where the student will have ample opportunity to actually use their new skills: theatres, art galleries, music production companies, television, video, and radio studios, design firms, service bureaus, publishing houses, community service organizations, small businesses, and corporations. Field placement is required.  

In stimulating workshop atmosphere, students are free to experiment and to combine their work in mixed media: traditional and digital. The goal of the course is to create works that expand and eventually represent the student's creative outlook. There will be frequent individual and group critiques. Experimental, collaborative, and interdisciplinary projects are possible and are encouraged. Highly recommended as a pre-Capstone prep elective for CAT majors. This course may be repeated once for credit.

Continuation Of CAT 299. Course may be repeated for credit.

This is an advanced imaging/print production class, designed to prepare students to conceptualize a Capstone project. Students tackle advanced creative challenges, acquire advanced production skills, and write and gain approval of a Capstone proposal.

This class will allow seniors working on original creative projects to share ideas with other students who may or may not be working in the same media or genre. Students shall explore the creative process and the shared concept among the arts, as well as the distinct differences. Students shall discuss the progress of the projects over the course of the semester. Related contemporary works shall be discussed and analyzed as well. In addition to creating original projects, students will be expected to clearly articulate their ideas in a final essay.

This is an advanced expanded media pre-production class, designed to prepare students to conceptualize and write the proposal for their senior capstone project. Before students can advance to CAT 420 Capstone, an approved proposal, including the treatment, script, storyboard, installation plan and production schedule must be completed. Students must achieve advanced production skills in CAT 366 or CAT 368 before advancing to CAT 409.

A final, major independent project undertaken by senior CAT majors under the supervision of departmental faculty. The intention is to create a work that will in some shape become part of the student’s portfolio, to be used to market themselves after graduation from the program. Projects take many forms, depending on the student’s talents and area of specialization: e.g., production of a videotape or audio tape; design and construction of a book; gallery exhibition of a significant number of works; performance of a solo show. The student must not only complete the project, but also publicize and market it in true entrepreneurial fashion. This course is required of departmental majors and all projects must be approved by a meeting of the departmental faculty. May be repeated for credit for total of 2 semesters.

For students with a double major in CAT, a second capstone may be required.

This course has the same goals and requirements as Internship I, but the intention is to place the student in a situation at a higher technical level and with even more professional responsibiluity.