Studio Arts (SA)
SA 1770 - Two-dimensional Design - 3 credits
Fall and Spring Semesters
This course is the study of visual design through projects in linear dynamics, color, shape, texture, composition, and conceptual unity. It is prerequisite to upper-level study in graphic design and studio arts. A non-major who completes this course and declares a major in Graphic Design or Studio Arts may submit a portfolio for consideration for substitution of this course for Two-dimensional Design for Majors. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
This course meets the General Education Arts Breadth requirement.
SA 1775 - Two-dimensional Design Studio - 3 credits
Fall Semester
This course is the study of visual design through projects in linear dynamics, color, shape, texture, composition, and conceptual unity. Students identify the descriptive and explanatory power that formal design elements and principles offer to strengthen the communicative properties of visual ideas. It is prerequisite to upper-level study in graphic design and studio arts. It is intended for Graphic Design and Studio Arts Majors or for Minors interested in enhanced rigor. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
This course is open only to Studio Arts and Graphic Design majors and minors.
This course meets the General Education Arts Breadth requirement.
SA 1780 - Three-dimensional Design - 3 credits
Spring Semester
The study of the design and construction of three-dimensional forms in a variety of materials. The course introduces the fundamental principles of sculptural form through the inventive use of simple materials. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
SA 1790 - Light and Color Studio - 3 credits
Spring Semester
This course is intended for Graphic Design and Studio Arts Majors interested in enhanced rigor. The goal of this course is for the student to develop sensitivity to the visual effects of light and color and how color can be used to achieve artistic goals. The principal media for exploration are collage and painting on paper. Students will be exposed to a variety of images in order to clarify and reinforce ideas. This course is a prerequisite to upper-level study in Graphic Design and Studio Arts. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
SA 1800 - Drawing - 3 credits
Fall and Spring Semesters
This course is intended for non-Graphic Design and Studio Arts Majors. Introduces drawing techniques and explores the particular quality and expressiveness of a variety of drawing media – pencil, ink, charcoal, and conté crayon. Students practice drawing skills with emphasis on compositional principles and the development of visual sensitivity. A non-major who completes this course and declares a major in Graphic Design or Studio Arts may submit a portfolio for consideration for substitution of this course for Drawing for Majors. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
This is a beginning level course; prior experience in the studio arts is not necessary.
This course meets the General Education Arts Breadth requirement.
SA 1810 - Drawing Studio - 3 credits
Spring Semester
This course is intended for Graphic Design and Studio Arts Majors or for Minors interested in enhanced rigor. Introduces drawing techniques and explores the quality and expressiveness of a variety of drawing media – graphite, ink, charcoal, and conté crayon. Students practice drawing skills with emphasis on compositional principles and the development of visual sensitivity. It is prerequisite to upper-level study in graphic design and studio arts. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
This course meets the General Education Arts Breadth requirement.
SA 2001 - Art and Identity - 3 credits
Offered periodically within a three-year academic cycle
Students analyze the work of artists that examine the complexity of identity and challenge cultural norms through intimate, personal subject matter. In response students create powerful and thought-provoking images through use of symbolic content and metaphor to represent a sense of self and personal identity. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
This course meets the General Education Diversity requirement.
Prerequisite: SA 1770, SA 1775 or SA 1800.
SA 2072 - Digital Art - 3 credits
Alternate Spring Semesters
Explores how the computer can be used as tool to make art. Through class projects, students will create both images that are generated entirely on a computer and images made by integrating traditional art making techniques with digital components. Students are encouraged to think conceptually and creatively. While developing images, students practice formal design principles and communicate their ideas visually. (Same course as GD 2072). Fee.
Prerequisites: SA 1770, SA 1775 or SA 1800; and GD 1500.
SA 2200 - Art in the Community - 3 credits
Offered periodically within a three-year academic cycle
This course will introduce students to the field of community art. Students will examine ideas and issues associated with community art practice through readings, discussions, writing, and art making. Students will learn about and discuss examples of established work in the community arts field, including: public art, collaborative art, art that promotes healing, and creative youth development projects. Students will also view and discuss examples of public art during a field trip to MIT’s Public Art Collection or a field trip to see another community art project happening during the semester in and around Boston. The course will culminate in a hands-on group community art project, that will require students to apply the models and approaches to community art that have been studied.
This course meets the General Education Arts Breadth and Reading/Writing Enhancement requirements.
Prerequisites: WRIT1200 or WRIT1400, WRIT1500 and SA 1770, SA 1775 or SA 1800.
SA 2750 - Printmaking I - 3 credits
Alternate Years
This course introduces a variety of printmaking methods using both a press and hand-printing techniques. Projects give students the opportunity to focus on fundamental principles of design while learning technical skills. Students explore elements of surface, texture, layering, and transparency to produce unique as well as multiple images. Projects are designed to encourage experimentation and to help students develop their individual artistic vision and voice.
This course meets the General Education Arts Breadth requirement.
SA 2775 - Relief Printmaking - 3 credits
This course provides the student with in-depth experimentation in creating single and multiple color linoleum and woodblock prints. It encourages creative exploration of ideas and content in projects that are designed to help students develop their individual artistic vision and voice. Students first learn how to design, carve and print single-color images through translating drawn and digital images into carved ones. Students then progress to create multiple color prints using monoprint, reductive, and multiple block methods.
This course meets the General Education Arts Breadth requirement.
SA 2780 - Sculpture - 3 credits
Alternate Years
Provides an opportunity to design and construct sculptural forms using many techniques such as plaster casting, paper mache, wood construction, stone carving, and clay modeling. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
Prerequisite: SA 1780 or permission of instructor.
SA 2797 - Digital Photography - 3 credits
Spring Semester
Combining traditional techniques and contemporary digital technology, this course will seek to realize new aesthetic possibilities in photography. Students will photograph assignments designed for manipulation and enhancement in the digital darkroom and produce a final portfolio. A digital or 33mm camera is required. (Same course as GD 2797).
Pre or Co-requisite: GD 1500, SA 1770 or SA 1775.
SA 2800 - Figure Drawing - 3 credits
Alternate Years
Advances drawing techniques by focusing on the human figure and the more complex issues of the drawing process. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
Prerequisite: SA 1800 or permission of instructor.
SA 2810 - Painting I - 3 credits
Alternate Years
Teaches the fundamental techniques of painting, including canvas preparation, color mixing, composition, form and content. Students will be encouraged to develop and pursue personal imagery while working from a variety of sources. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
Prerequisite: SA 1770, SA 1775, SA 1800 or SA 1790.
SA 2819 - Studio: Painting and Drawing - 3 credits
Alternate Years
Explores painting, drawing and mixed-media techniques while encouraging the development of a personal visual language. Through the manipulation of collected materials, paper, paint, drawing tools and digital images, students will explore blending disparate elements and materials into a cohesive whole. The course gives special emphasis to choice of materials and inventiveness of ideas. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
Prerequisite: SA 1770, SA 1775 or SA 1800.
SA 3072 - Digital Art II - 3 credits
Emphasizes use of digital painting and drawing to create a cohesive body of creative work. Students build upon skills and methods taught in Digital Art to create work that is produced digitally and/or made by integrating traditional art making techniques with digital components. Students synthesize experience and technique to create a cohesive portfolio of digital art that uses formal design elements and principles to communicate their ideas visually.
Prerequisite: SA 2072.
SA 3750 - Press for Power: Printmaking as Resistance- 3 credits
Advocacy and resistance are printmaking’s power. Throughout history, artists have used prints to promote social change, evoke revolutions, protest social inequity, and encourage empathy and action. This course focuses on advanced printmaking techniques through the examination of artists who have used printmaking as social activism. Deep understanding of the process is encouraged, along with experimentation and manipulation of materials. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
This course meets the General Education Diversity requirement.
Prerequisite: SA 2750 or SA 2755.
SA 3800 - Drawing II - 3 credits
Encourages students to develop an individual expressive style based on prior drawing experience. Advances drawing techniques to develop formal and conceptual skills Emphasis is placed on developing personal vision and voice in order to produce a cohesive portfolio of drawings. Students are expected to purchase supplies.
Prerequisite: SA 1800.
SA 3819: Studio: Painting and Drawing II - 3 credits
Offered periodically within a three-year academic cycle
This course explores painting and drawing in greater depth. Students in the course create a body of work in painting, drawing, or a combination of these media. Through hands-on projects, students build greater technical skills in painting and drawing, and develop an individual approach to form and content. Projects will emphasize artmaking as a process that integrates research, experimentation, discovery, and revision. This course will encourage the investigation of personal subject matter and conceptual ideas. Progress will be guided through frequent individual and group critiques. The course will examine historical artists and contemporary artists in painting and drawing to provide a well-rounded understanding of these media and give students a model for generating their own work.
Prerequisite: SA 2810 or SA 2819.
SA 3980 - Visual Arts Seminar - 3 credits
Fall Semester
The capstone course for the Graphic Design and Studio Arts majors focuses broadly on the nature of an integrated perspective on the arts, with specific attention to the various visual arts, such as graphic design, studio art and photography. It provides an opportunity for students to articulate their own informed philosophies of art while synthesizing prior learning and experience. The course will focus on contemporary issues in the arts; for public art, government funding, censorship, appropriation, and the making of judgments regarding the role of art in society. This course is the required capstone course for Graphic Design and Studio Art majors and is open to all other majors. (Same course as GD 3980).
Prerequisites: SA 1775, SA 1790, any 2000-level GD or SA course, and junior standing.
SA 4050 - Independent Studio: Studio Arts - 1-8 credits
Fall and Spring Semesters
See description in the Academic Policies & Procedures section of this Catalog, under Independent Study.
SA 4650 - Portfolio Development - 3 credits
Fall Semester
This course addresses the dynamics of preparing a professional portfolio. Students will combine self-knowledge, with high caliber design materials, writing with interview techniques and industry knowledge to create a unique presentation of their work. The student will compile a fully-integrated digital portfolio and promotional materials and prepare for successful employment. All students are expected to join AIGA and are required to participate in the AIGA Portfolio Night. (Same course as GD 4650).
Prerequisites: senior standing for GD and SA Majors only.