Art and Art History
College of Liberal Arts
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem, Oregon 97301
503-370-6136 voice
503-370-6738 fax
Program Requirements
Art and Art History 
The program encompasses the closely related pursuits of creative studio art and art history. Both emphasize the rich diversity of human experience as it is expressed in visual form. The transmission of personal and cultural values through objects is a phenomenon that can be observed around us constantly in daily life; it is also something that happens over time, through space, and across cultures. Indeed, our need to make, experience, and comprehend art is as old and as profound as our need to speak. It is through art that we can understand ourselves and our potential, and it is through art that we will be understood and remembered by those who will come after us.
The Department of Art and Art History offers two majors: one with a concentration in creative studio art and one with a concentration in art history. Both majors, as part of the broad liberal arts tradition, foster the development of analytical skills, engagement with ideas, and the exploration of social and personal values. Consequently, students majoring in Art and Art History have found their study a good point of departure for careers in education, professional art, advertising, communications, architecture, art criticism, and museum work, as well as law, business and government.
Through creative work, Studio Art courses develop skills that emphasize visual perception and articulation, conceptual and practical problems, and technical skills in a variety of media and processes. Foundation courses in basic design and composition prepare students for creative work in courses dealing with particular media or processes, such as painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, drawing, mixed media, electronic media, and photography. Upper level courses develop students' conceptual and artistic skills needed for successful completion of a final thesis project highlighted in the annual Senior Show at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art.
The courses in Art History survey all periods from the Stone Age to the present in the Ancient Mediterranean region, Europe, and North America, with limited offerings in contemporary art and in the art of China and Japan. Some of these courses range widely over a broad region and through a long period (Monuments and Themes of Western Art History, for instance), while others are more focused on a special art form or tradition, a unique locale, or a single individual or monument. In many of these courses, the University's art collections provide special opportunities both for class research projects and for individual study. Art History students are also strongly advised to study French or German as their foreign language. Further, they are encouraged to work in disciplines closely related to Art History (e.g., Classics, English and Comparative Literature, History, Religious Studies, and Anthropology). Finally, Art History students are encouraged to take advantage of the many opportunities for travel and foreign study offered by Willamette programs in China, France, Greece, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, England, and Spain.
The Art Building is located on the northwest corner of the campus at State and Winter Streets. Built in 1905 as a medical school and later used as the science building and then the College of Music, the building was completely renovated for use by the Department of Art and Art History in 1977, and remodeled with a 6,600 square foot addition in 2002-2003. The building includes studios for ceramics, drawing and design, painting, printmaking, photography, and digital imaging; an Art History seminar room and classroom; a student gallery; and faculty and administrative offices. The department is well equipped with a large slide collection, a growing digital image collection, and studio equipment needed to make works of art in a variety of media. The Germaine Fuller Japanese Garden adjacent to the building is another educational and aesthetic resource.
Integral to the program in Art and Art History is the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, one block from the Art Building. The museum enriches both the Art History and Studio Art programs, offering opportunities to study, firsthand, works of American, European, Asian, and Native American art, to conduct research projects on particular objects or groups of objects in the University's growing collection, and to study curatorial practices in anticipation of possible careers in museum work. Many Art History classes meet in the Roger Hull Lecture Hall at the museum.
Beginning in 2009, classes in digital and installation art are offered in Ford Hall, the new state-of-the-art classroom and studio building on campus. Ford Hall is adjacent to historic Gatke Hall, which houses an updated sculpture studio on the lower level. These facilities together with the Art Building itself and the Hallie Ford Museum of Art provide a variety of spaces and settings for the study of Art and Art History.
While students may not double major in Studio Art and Art History, they may have a major in one and a minor in the other.
Requirements for the Studio Art Major (12 Credits)
One course from the following Foundation courses (to be completed in first semester of major) (1)
- ARTS 112 (CA) Color and Composition (1)
- ARTS 113 (CA) Fundamentals of Design (1)
- ARTS 114 (CA) Three-Dimensional Design (1)
- ARTS 116 (CA) Ways of Drawing (1)
- ARTS 117 (CA) Exploring Visual Art (1)
- ARTS 121 (CA) New Media Art Fundamentals (1)
One course from the following Art History courses (1)
- ARTH 215 (IT; TH) Monuments and Themes of Western Art History I: Prehistoric to Gothic (1)
- ARTH 216 (IT; TH) Monuments and Themes of Western Art History II: 1300 - 1600 (1)
- ARTH 217 (IT; TH) Monuments and Themes of Western Art History III: 1600 - 1900 (1)
One course from the following Two Dimensional Media: Painting courses (1)
One course from the following Two Dimensional Media: Printmaking courses (1)
- ARTS 131 Etching I (1)
- ARTS 216 Video Art I (1)
- ARTS 232 Photography I (1)
- ARTS 242 Woodcuts and Collagraphs (1)
- ARTS 243 Monoprinting (1)
One course from the following Three Dimensional Media courses (1)
- ARTS 210 (CA) Introduction to Sculpture (1)
- ARTS 244 (CA) Topics in Sculpture (1)
- ARTS 245 Introduction to Ceramics (1)
Additional Advanced Studio Art and Art History courses required
- ARTH 357 Twentieth Century Art (1)
- ARTS 241 Figure Drawing (1)
- ARTS 381 Advanced Media and Design (1)
- ARTS 440 (W) Writing for Artists (1)
- ARTS 496 Senior Seminar (1)
- Two additional credits in Studio Art above 100-level courses (2) (Both credits to be in either Two Dimensional Media or Three Dimensional Media)
Requirements for Studio Art Minor (5 Credits)
- 1 credit in an introductory Studio Art course (ARTS 112, 113, 114, 116, 117,or 121)
- 3 credits in Studio Art at the 200 or 300 level
- 1 credit in introductory Art History (ARTH 212, 213, 214, 215, 216,or 217)
Requirements for Art History Major (10 Credits)
Core courses
- ARTH 215 (IT; TH) Monuments and Themes of Western Art History I: Prehistoric to Gothic (1)
- ARTH 216 (IT; TH) Monuments and Themes of Western Art History II: 1300 - 1600 (1)
- ARTH 217 (IT; TH) Monuments and Themes of Western Art History III: 1600 - 1900 (1)
One course from the following (1)
- ARCH 237 (W, 4th Sem Req) Introduction to Archaeology (1)
- ARCH 337 (W) Archaeology Methodology (1)
- ARTH 212 (IT; TH) History of the Art of Asia (1)
- ARTH 213 (IT; TH) History of the Art of China (1)
- ARTH 214 (IT; TH) History of the Art of Japan (1)
- ANTH 303 Museum Studies Seminar (1)
- PHIL 242 (AR) What is Art? (1)
- RHET 125 (CA) Creating Visual Rhetoric (1)
- RHET 361 Visual Rhetoric: Memory and Memorials (1)
- WGS 258 (TH) Women in the Arts (1)
One course from the following (1)
- ARTS 131 Etching I (1)
- ARTS 210 (CA) Introduction to Sculpture (1)
- ARTS 216 Video Art (1)
- ARTS 232 Photography I (1)
- ARTS 235 Painting (1)
- ARTS 236 Contemporary Painting Techniques and Concepts (1)
- ARTS 241 Figure Drawing (1)
- ARTS 242 Woodcuts and Collagraphs (1)
- ARTS 244 (CA) Topics in Sculpture (1)
- ARTS 245 Introduction to Ceramics (1)
Additional courses required
- Three credits in upper level Art History courses (numbered above 250). (At least one of these courses must be in Ancient or Medieval Art History, and one must be in Renaissance, Modern, or American Art History.)
- One elective credit in Art History or Studio Art (1)
- ARTH 496 (W) Senior Seminar and Thesis (1)
Requirements for Art History Minor (5 Credits)
- 2 credits in upper level Art History courses (numbered above 250)
- 3 additional credits in Art History
- Of these 5 credits, at least 1 must be in Ancient or Medieval Art History and 1 must be in Renaissance, Modern, or American Art History
- Of these 5 credits, 1 may be taken from the following: ANTH 303, PHIL 242, RHET 125 (CA), RHET 361, or WGS 258 (TH)
Faculty
- Roger P. Hull, Professor of Art History, Chair
- Michael Boonstra, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art
- Ricardo de Mambro Santos, Assistant Professor of Art History
- Andries Fourie, Assistant Professor of Art
- Kevin Greenwood, Instructor of Art History
- Heidi Preuss Grew, Associate Professor of Art
- Alexandra Opie, Assistant Professor of Art
- Ann M. Nicgorski, Professor of Art History
- James B. Thompson, Professor of Art