Foundation

Curriculum & Courses

Accelerated Foundation
Freshmen who enter in January can
take a group of courses that allow
them to accelerate their progress
in Foundation and move into their
chosen major in their second semester. These students must still fulfill
all credit requirements for a degree
in their major.
Photo Foundation
Students immerse themselves in a
foundation studies curriculum devoted to the study of photography
(see photography curriculum page).

Foundation Requirements
for BFA Degree with an
emphasis in Art History,
and a BFA Degree in Design,
Fine Arts, Illustration
& Animation
Total Credits: 33.0
Foundation Year
First semester: 16.5 credits
Foundation Seminar Lecture I
Conceptual Development I
Drawing Intensive
Visual Thinking
Art of the Western World I
English Composition
Second semester: 16.5 credits
Foundation Seminar Lecture II
Conceptual Development II
Art of the Western World II
Writing and the Literary Arts
Drawing electives, such as:
Conceptual Drawing
Figure Drawing
Figures in Environments
Self Portrait
On Site Drawing
Perspective

First Major Elective, such as:

Animation Basics
Language of Form
Principles of Illustration
Painting: Elements of Color
Printmaking: Intaglio
Principles of Abstract Sculpture
Figure Sculpture
Principles of Perceptual Sculpture
Core Clay I
*All required Foundation courses are
offered each semester in order to
accommodate students entering the
program at different levels.

Accelerated Foundation
Requirements
Accelerated Foundation Year
Spring semester: 16.5 credits
Foundation Seminar Lecture II
Accelerated Conceptual Development
Drawing Intensive or
Drawing Fundamentals
Visual Thinking
Art of the Western World I
English Composition

Choice of Digital Elective, such as:

New Media Design: Digital Collage
Digital Narratives: A Basic Digital
Imaging Class
Digital Notebook

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The Foundation curriculum gives

you the skills, insight, and fluency
of expression necessary to meet the
challenges of further study in art.
Core studio courses focus on drawing and visual perception, which
form the fundamental skills of
visual language. In addition to core
requirements, first-year Foundation students choose studio elective
courses to explore different areas of
interest and may begin study in their
chosen major.

Foundation
Curriculum & Courses

Foundation Studio Electives

Drawing Intensive
4 credits IFNDN 1620 This course introduces the fundamentals of perception
and pictorial organization. Beginning
with basic concepts and processes
involved in responding objectively to
observed subject matter, projects progress
to cover compositional and subjective
issues. Elements of line, volume, space,
and planar analysis of form, value, and
perspective in a variety of drawing media
are closely examined. Lectures and field
trips are part of this course.
Foundation Seminar Lecture I/II
1.5 credits IFNDN 1630/1633 This
course encourages critical thinking about
visual culture and its impact on society.
Both the means to analyze and discuss
personal work in terms of its form,
content, and meaning, and the development of a sense of visual acuity occur in
this course. A clearer, more concise
communication of ideas is enabled while
providing a sense of artistic community
and professional development.
Conceptual Development I/II
1.5 credits IFNDN 1631/1634 All
successful artists must know how to
find and evolve concepts. This course
promotes a student's ability to reach
beyond their first ideas and to find new
ideas through different types of visual
research and intellectual research.
Through discussion and reflection during
creative experimentation, students realize
the importance of using both intuition
and intellect in forming an image.
Visual Thinking
3 credits IFNDN 1640 A thorough
analysis of the dynamic life of the picture
plane and the pictorial field, with
reference to historic and contemporary
masters. The visual elements of line,
value, volume, space, and texture are
examined for their formal and expressive
behavior. Beginning with black-and-white
media, using simple geometric and
organic shapes and forms, projects

progress to include color, narrative,

and some three-dimensional work in a
variety of media. Lectures and field trips
are included.

Foundation Drawing Electives

Perspective: Real and Imagined
1.5 credits IFNDN 1641 This course
examines observed and imagined
perspective. Perspective is explored as a
means of creating space and drama. In
addition to making connections between
working from observation and imaginationdemystifying the mechanics of
perspective the course considers many
alternative methods of depicting space.
Students personal viewpoints, interpretations, and formats for communication are
emphasized, potentially including comic
book page, montage, and folding panels.
On-Site Drawing
1.5 credits IFNDN 1642 Drawing on site
is crucial to the work of many artists,
from abstract painter Hans Hofmann to
anime director Hayao Miyazaki. Many
admire the idea of working in the real
world, but dread the inconvenience and
self-exposure. This class is a survivors
guide to all of the above. We will explore
the multiple advantages of drawing on
site and consider some practical solutions
to the problems, which often get in the
way. Gene Dorgan is himself a plein air
painter, with many years of experience in
painting and drawing outdoors.
Figure Drawing
1.5 credits IFNDN 1646, 3 credits
IFNDN 1656 Students will make drawings in various media based on important
perceptual concepts and challenges. Most
drawings will be made from the nude or
clothed human figure and some from the
students imagination. Emphasis will be
on developing the skills needed to create sensitively observed and envisioned
images and their environments, as well
as more imaginative treatments of the
figure. Some discussion of anatomy will
be covered. Slides and lectures.

Conceptual Drawing
3 credits IFNDN 1653 This course
explores various themes, materials,
concepts, and styles of drawing. Students
have the opportunity to develop
personal, subjective images within the
boundaries of assignments. Focus is
on the expansion and utilization of
drawing skills to access personal vision.
Drawing skills developed in first semester
support the development of work
focusing on concepts.
Figures in Environments
3 credits IFNDN 1654 Planning scenes
with figures in environments, both
observed and imagined, takes place in
this course while examining the gamut of
possibilities which arise. Dealing with
single and multiples figures, students
explore unusual viewpoints, various
media, and personal responses to create
a story, setting, and mood. Students
are encouraged to approach projects
within the frameworks of their own
professional fields.
Self Portrait
3 credits IFNDN 1655 This drawing
course concentrates on the numerous
approaches to the self-portrait as subject
matter. The continuing development
of fundamental drawing skills within
this context is a primary focus. Special
emphasis is, nonetheless, placed on
expanding expressive potential through
the exploration of techniques, materials, composition, historical context, and
concept. Numerous projects are done
inside and outside of class, culminating in
a life-sized, head to toe self-portrait.

New Media Design: Digital Collage

1.5 credits IFNDN 1110 Have you ever
wanted to draw on top of one of your
paintings or photographs? Have you ever
wanted to use a portion of an old painting to create a larger piece? Have you
ever wanted to start an artwork digitally
and finish it by hand, or vice-versa? In
this course students will discover the dynamic new ways that ideas can be generated with digital imaging, and learn how
to create work digitally using organic media. The class will cover the fundamentals
of the digital workflow with Photoshop:
scanning, color management, realization
of artist's vision. The instructor will guide
each student to achieve mastery of basic
digital imaging techniques, emphasizing
craft and construction. The instructor
will also present slide shows of past and
current new media artists in order to
address how new media today can work
in tandem with the organic processes
of the past. There will also be weekly
demonstrations and critiques. At the end
of the course, each student will produce
a series of original works that bridge their
understanding of digital and handmade
media.
Digital Narratives: A Basic Digital
Imaging Class
1.5 credits IFNDN 1120 Students will
create a poetic essay, while focusing on
the technical, aesthetic, and content
demands of digital image making. The
basics of Photoshop and iMovie are
taught in this course. Final pieces will be
edited in iMovie, digital editing software
and exhibited as moving images.
Digital Notebook
1.5 credits IFNDN 1581 This course
involves experimentation with Corel
Painter (a software application that replicates natural media), a Wacom graphics
tablet, and non-digital mediums. It will
include instruction in Painter and the
Wacom graphics tablet, and in scanning
and digital printing. You'll learn to draw,
paint, and collage directly with the tablet
as well as on downloaded materials

and scanned images of your own. The

end product will be a personal sketch/
notebook.

First Major Electives

Painting I
3 credits IFINE 2200 A beginning level
course designed to introduce students to
a direct or alla prima approach to painting in oils. Emphasis is on color mixing
and the physical manipulation of paint as
direct response to visual perception.
Printmaking: Intaglio I
3 credits IFINE 2300 Various intaglio
techniques are learned, including dry
point, etching and aquatint. Emphasis
is on both technical proficiency and on
the students development of personally
significant imagery.
Abstract Principles of Sculpture
3 credits IFINE 2420 Issues of mass
and gravity, process and materials are
investigated towards an understanding
of three-dimensional definition. The emphasis is on experimentation that leads to
discovery of the fundamental principles
of sculptural expression.
Animation Basics
3 credits IANIM 2480 This introductory
course covers the fundamentals of animation. It explores a variety of animation
types and techniques, forming a basis
for further work in animation. Among
the topics covered are: drawn, collage,
photo-sequential and object animation;
calculating animated motion; rotoscoping; key frames and in-betweening;
backgrounds and cycles; use of acetate
cels; equipment training. This course may
substitute Principals of Illustration II for
animation concentration students only.

Language of Form
3 credits IDESN 2520 A studio course
focusing on the visual dynamics of the
picture plane, with special attention to
the application of basic design principles
to problem-solving in the applied arts.
Assignments progress from manipulation of simple geometric shapes to more
complex projects involving pictorial
translations and sequences.
Principles of Perceptual Sculpture
3 credits IFINE 2430 Working from the
human body and forms from nature,
students explore the basic concerns an
artist needs to address when working
in three dimensions, such as design,
proportion, structure, surface and gesture. Mold making and casting are also
introduced.
Figure Sculpture
1.5 credits IFINE 2500 Working in clay,
students examine issues of gesture, design, grouping, axis, negative space, and
plane in the human figure.
Principles of Illustration
3 credits IILLU 2300 A beginning class in
the working process of creating illustration, from interpreting written material
to creating thumbnails, roughs, sketches
and comps. Each student assembles a
portfolio of their step by step approach
to solving a wide variety of illustration
assignments. There is an emphasis on
drawing, conceptual development, and
working with art direction.

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Foundation Digital Electives