In coursework

Every art major must take 6 art history/aesthetics courses. Courses I took include Art History I, Art History II, 20th Century Art, Contemporary Art, From Collective to Personal Aesthetics, and a transferred credit from my prior school.  All 6 of my courses required at least one research paper with a Chicago style biblography. My highschool prepared me for college papers through a large courseload of writing. The best way to learn how to write is to practice. Certain restrictions on papers are also helpful, such as requiring a certain amount of books, journals, or other articles in a bibliography. Other courses that required research papers included Intro to Gerontology, College Writing II, and Abnormal Psychology.

Plagarism in art is unusual since many artists appropriate and steal images from other artists. In my Contemporary Art class, we had a presentation about Shepare Fairey, the creator of the Obama Hope poster. Fairey used a photograph from another artist to create a screenprint. The photographer admitted he was flattered Fairey used the image, but he'd wished Fairey had cited him as a source. I understand that all ideas and images can be manipulated within an academic environment. Any artwork sold can appropriate images as long as the artwork doesn't harm the owner of the original image. I understand there is still an ongoing debate about Intellectual Property and its complexities.

Art majors focus on building a vocabulary to describe the artworks they study. Some of the ideas we analyze include color, value, hue, contrast, composition, medium, line, weight, space, etc... etc... Many of my papers an assignments ask me to look at artworks critically so I can apply them to my own work process.

Many studio art and art history courses ask that students visit a local musuem or gallery. Recently my Senior Studio took a trip to the Harvard Fogg museum and requested a personal viewing of some of their archived artworks. This trip was to help research for out final senior project. Other courses that involved trips outside of class include Art History I and Contemporary Art. Workshops from visiting artists and artists in residencies are also helpful towards my major. I went to Martha Coburn's stopmotion workshop in Spring 2013, which sparked my interest in animation. I consider museums, workshops, and talks as research for my major since it teaches me other artists processes and their means of making a living outside of a college environment.