BA in Art Theory and Practice in Evanston United States | Northwestern University

Our department believes in the inherent unity between the practice and theory of art. Beyond the development of skills and training in techniques, the study of art involves gaining both an understanding of visual thinking and an awareness of the histories, issues and concepts that bear on the direction and role of the visual arts in our culture today.

Most of our courses are designed to serve all students regardless of their major area of study. A,T,P, enrolls about 40-60 undergraduate art majors and 70plus art minors, while approximately 1,000 non-majors/minors take our classes every year. Our undergraduate courses cover both traditional approaches and newer media and alternative strategies. Painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture and photography form the core of the undergraduate curriculum, giving students the opportunity to develop a solid foundation in the field's traditions and established media. The department also looks forward to experimental approaches and future developments in visual art making.

We incorporate digital technology, video and conceptual art practice into our curriculum, thus blending newer trends with established practices. Also integral to our program are seminars in art theory, as well as critique classes in which enrolled students present new work for prolonged, in-depth analysis by the class. By the senior year, each department major is encouraged to elaborate their own self-motivated, individual studio practice in which artworks are produced independently of classroom assignments.

goal of an undergraduate education in Art Theory and Practice is to prepare students to contribute forcefully to contemporary art and culturein its reception and interpretation, its presentation and distribution, and, most of all, its production. For a work of art to be meaningful to today's audiences, it must engage with contemporary issues and with the larger cultural context. Therefore, the students in Art Theory and Practice consider current issues alongside historical traditions, interpretation and analysis alongside technical skills, and theory alongside practice. Students experiment with a wide range of artistic strategies and modes of exploration and become familiar with diverse theoretical perspectives and discourses. Understanding how to effectively use art to ask questions and create meaning positions students to become conscientious and influential cultural producers of the future