Creative Arts & Technology Courses
The fundamentals of music including: notation, intervals, scales and chords are explored. Emphasis is placed on demonstrating the results of study realized through the successful completion of projects designed to exhibit the students’ understanding of the topics presented. The following software packages will be used: Pro Tools, Reason, Digital Performer and Finale.
The history of the theater, as both a literary form and as a living, breathing art. Major styles of theater are surveyed and plays by such great writers as Shakespeare, Sophocles, Moliere, and Beckett are read, discussed, and viewed on film or in live performance.
Great works of art give clues to the meanings and values of a culture. We will explore and compare the obvious and the hidden meanings of the art and architecture of the world’s great cultures, from prehistoric time to the Gothic (12th century) period of European art. Special attention to the ancient cultures of Egypt, Greece, Rome, India, China, Africa, Mexico, and Peru.
A survey course designed to stimulate the interest in and understanding of the music of representative world cultures including: Native American, Sub-Sahara Africa, India and China. The focus will be on the comparison and contrast of both classic fold forms and more the contemporary forms as they continue to evolve and function in their individual cultures. The student is responsible for outside listening, research projects and field trips.
Explores the MIDI programming language as it applies to digital music production on the Macintosh system platform. Course content and projects are designed to aid students in establishing both a comprehensive and creative approach to computer music composition. Software applications include Reason, Live, Pro Tools and Logic.
(Also ENG 206) The focus is on writing a feature-length film and the basic elements of plot, protagonist, turning point, and resolution. You will be expected to complete a step outline of your story and the first act of your screenplay.
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.
Working in a critical and collaborative environment, students learn and put to use the fundamentals of sound recording. Acoustics, microphone usage, studio techniques, and advanced sequencing are stressed. Students achieve proficiency in equalization, compression and reverb. CAT 210 is a hands-on audio recording course which emphasizes, listening, creativity, and critical discourse around the past, present and future of recorded sound.
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.
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.
Like a good game, level design is easy to learn and difficult to master. There are many aspects to consider such as player ergonomics, flow, difficulty, boundaries, storytelling, tension, risk/reward, and game balancing. This course teaches you the basics, and helps you develop the requisite skills of good level design.
(Also AFS 216) Emma Amos, Betty Saar, Sam Gilliam, Jacob Lawrence. Do you recognize the names of these artists? Study the achievements of artists of color. How have they integrated their cultural identity with their self-expression? Where and when have African, European, Latino and Caribbean influences affected their art? How have African-American artists established strong, creative communities? Visits to museums, galleries, and cultural centers in New Jersey and New York.
Drawing is often considered a preliminary step towards achievement of an artist’s final work in sculpture or painting. However, drawing is also an independent art form and is valued as the most direct, personal expression of the artist. Both aspects of drawing are studied in works by the world’s old and modern masters. Students will gain greater understanding of drawing materials and formal problems by experimentation with chalk, charcoal, pen and ink, pencil, and pastels. This is a more advanced course than Drawing I.
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 CAT 224) Musical traditions brought to our country from abroad. The development of American musical culture from colonial times to the present, including a survey of African/American music from its tribal and colonial origins to the present. The sociological impact of jazz upon Western music and culture.
A water-based ink, environmentally friendly course that teaches the stencil method, monoprint approach, and photo-emulsion based processes for creating images in silkscreen. Historical and contemporary examples of silkscreen as art works. Students are encouraged to develop art ideas that begin in silkscreen or ideas previously explored in other media.
This course will explore the basics of motion animation using clay, puppets and many other 3D objects. Students will learn how to pitch an idea, develop a concept and work up a production schedule for exercises using cutouts, collage and clay, in 3D stop-motion techniques with digital cameras.
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.
It is often said that we have just finished the American Century, and that the 21st will be the Chinese Century. With 1.3 billion people, the longest and arguably richest history of any country ever to exist, and the fastest growing economy in the world, China is poised to play a dominant role in shaping your future. This course will provide an overview of Chinese culture within the context of Chinese history and politics, including such topics as calligraphy, king fu, Beijing Opera, cuisine, literature, architecture, and contemporary film and music. Each class session will include lessons in speaking basic conversational Mandarin.
Be it anime, judo, sushi, the films of Kurosawa, the cars of Toyota, or the latest game from Nintendo, Japanese culture is very much a part of the American way of life. This course offers a fascinating look at both traditional and contemporary Japanese art forms within the context of Japanese politics, history, and lifestyle. Test, film, multimedia, guests, and class trips will inspire and prepare you for a visit to Japan, and each class session will include lessons in speaking basic conversational Japanese.
On the cutting edge of new media innovation yet drawing upon a rich cultural heritage, Korea is clearly a country on the move. The land of Buddhist temples, tae kwon do, kim chee, hanji papermaking, and other exquisite traditional crafts is also Asia’s most wired nation. Readings, movies, guest speakers, and class trips provide an overview of Korean culture within a historical and political context. Each class session will include lessons in speaking basic conversational Korean, which is accessible to Westerners because it uses a conventional alphabet (han’geul) of vowels and consonants rather than pictographic characters.
European art and architecture from the Renaissance to the late nineteenth century, taught from the perspective of international travel, trade, and cultural interactions. We will study works of art first-hand in New York and local museums and see the influence of key artists on each other, the evolution of their styles, technical practices, and content.