Visual Arts: Art History and Studio Fine Arts 2007-2008
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Overview
Art History
Art history courses at Union cover a wide range of historical topics, from ancient to contemporary. The focus is on Western and Asian art in all media with particular emphasis on contextual and interdisciplinary approaches.
Courses range from the introductory level to specialized advanced seminars as well as a two-term senior thesis, and museum internships. Particular interests and further advanced work may be pursued through independent study. Those who wish to pursue art history at Union may follow one of several options: a visual arts major with an art history honors concentration (which requires a junior qualifying paper and senior thesis); a visual arts major with an art history concentration; a visual arts dual major that combines concentrations in both art history and studio fine arts; an interdepartmental major (art history integrated with study in another academic department); or an art history minor. Specific requirements for each option are listed in the College catalog.
Art history concentrators are required to take one studio fine arts course. All art history students are encouraged to take full advantage of the studio arts program to develop deeper understanding of the relationships between the theory, history, and practice of art. The department also recommends the study of at least one foreign language.
The slide library, supervised by a full-time slide curator and open daily to faculty and students, supports the art history and studio curricula. Its holdings of 62,000 slides include the areas of architecture, sculpture, painting, the decorative arts, photography, theater arts, and social history. Approximately 1,500 slides are added annually. Reference volumes, study prints, and computerized databases (Classical Mythology and Native North American Art, for example) comprise a departmental resource for instruction, research and study that is also used by other academic departments across the campus. Art historical research and database services are available through Union’s Schaffer Library.
Small classes and substantial access to professors, both in and out of class, are a hallmark of the Union experience. The history of art is studied both in terms of the object and its cultural context, and interdisciplinary approaches are emphasized and encouraged. A vital part of the curriculum is direct study in museums and collections. The program maintains a lively schedule of visiting scholars and museum and art world professionals.
Internships and other forms of specialized study are available with art galleries and museums in the Capital District, New York City, Washington, and abroad. An internship at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. is offered in conjunction with Union’s Spring program in the nation’s capital.
Union’s annual term abroad in Florence, Italy, offers an opportunity to study European art history in its original context. Art history concentrators are given preference in the selection process. Some other terms abroad in Asia and Latin America, for example, include an art historical or studio component and there is an intensive “mini-term” in Paris that studies the Louvre Museum for the three-week term. Art history students, whether concentrators or enthusiastic participants, are encouraged to share their work with the College community in Department colloquia and at the College’s Steinmetz Symposium for undergraduate research. The two-term senior thesis is a significant undertaking that involves original research and travel to museums and libraries (which can be funded by College research grants).
A significant number of Union graduates have pursued graduate studies and/or have pursued substantial careers in professions including publishing, advertising, architecture, museum work, media consulting and television, auction house and gallery administration, arts council administration, and graphic design, and many arenas not directly related to the art world.
THE FACULTY AND STAFF
Lorraine Morales Cox
Assistant Professor of Visual Arts
Ph.D., University of Illinois
Specialty in art of the 20th-21st century, focusing on Europe and the Americas. Particular emphasis is on contemporary art of Europe and the United States. Research interests include theory and criticism, race and gender, Caribbean art and culture, and museum studies; her teaching interests span western and non-western topics from the 17th century to the present.
Louisa Matthew
Professor of Visual Arts
Ph.D., Princeton University
Research and teaching interests in Italian Renaissance art and architecture with a specialty in Venetian painting; European decorative arts; the history of gardens and landscape architecture; medieval art and architecture of northern Europe and Italy; the art of the book; Greek and Roman art and architecture.
David Ogawa
Associate Professor of Visual Arts
Ph.D., Brown University
Area of specialty is modern European and American art, with particular emphasis on French painting of the 19th century. Research interests also include the history of photography, social history, and feminist/queer theory; his teaching interests span topics from the 17th century to the present day.
Ann M. Thomas
Slide Curator
Professional Affiliations: Treasurer, Visual Resources Association; Founding Member and former Secretary, Upstate New York Chapter, Visual Resources Association.
Yudong Wang
Assistant Professor of Visual Arts
Ph.D., University of Chicago
Research and teaching interest include Chinese and central Asian art, in particular Buddhist art, Daoist art, religious criticism of art making, imaginaire theory and its use in art history study, and visual culture on the Silk Road.
Studio Art
Studio Arts Concentration Studio Fine Arts comprises five primary disciplines: drawing and painting, sculpture and three-dimensional design, photography, digital art, and printmaking and two-dimensional design. Students may concentrate in any discipline or arrange a cross-disciplinary concentration. All courses are open to majors and non-majors alike, assuming the proper prerequisites (if any) are fulfilled.
Courses at all levels involve intensive studio work and relevant historical background, presented through slide talks, lectures, and group discussion. Courses are designed to broaden and deepen students’ understanding of visual vocabularies and provide a solid basis for the creative use of materials, tools, and techniques. Since average studio class size ranges from 9 to 15, students are assured of receiving the individual attention that is essential for artistic growth. Advanced work can be pursued through independent study with a faculty sponsor. Options for those who intend to further their study of the visual arts: a) a visual arts major with a concentration and thesis; b) a visual arts minor; c) an interdepartmental major (studio visual arts integrated with study in one other department); or d) a newly adopted dual major combining studio fine arts and art history.
Frequent trips to museums and sites acquaint students firsthand with contemporary and historical masterworks. The Clark Institute, Williams College Museum of Art, George Eastman House, Mass MOCA, Storm King Art Center, Hyde Collection, Albany Institute of History and Art, Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum, and Olana (Frederick Church’s Hudson River home and studio) are all within easy access. There are frequent field trips to galleries, museums, and artists’ studios in New York City.
The department has an active schedule of visiting lecturers, including both practicing artists and scholars, and many work directly in class with students. A partial list of visitors includes: Painters: William Bailey, Alice Neel, Jack Beal, Jon Friedman, Sandy Winters, Ben Moss, Larry Poons, Wolf Kahn, Sondra Freckleton, Thomas Cornell, Sally Eckhoff, Mark Wethli, April Gornik, Nathan Goldstein. Photographers: Bruce Davidson, W. Eugene Smith, Zeke Berman, Larry Fink, Aaron Siskind, Rosalind Solomon, Jock Sturges, Kevin Bubriski, Julio Mitchell, Wendy Erickson, Richard Pare, Andrea Modica, Nick Nixon, Thomas Roma, Andres Serrano. Sculptors: William Boepple, Terry Lee Dill, Brower Hatcher, Deborah Masters, Marsha Pels, Phillip Grausman, Joy Taylor, Jonathan Kirk, Peter Dudek. Printmakers: Charles Hewitt, Thom O’Connor, Nicholas Hill, Jose Rodriquez, Keith Achepohl, Fred Becker, Nona Hershey, Rosanne Retz. Designer: Malcolm Grear. Museum Curator: John Szarkowski, Museum of Modern Art. Museum Director: Anthony Bannon, George Eastman House Museum of Film and Photography. Critics: Saul Ostrow, John Rockwell. Architect: Peter Eisenman. Art Therapist: Robert Ault.
Internships and other forms of specialized study are available through cooperation with artists, advertising agencies, art galleries and museums in the Capital District, New York City, and abroad. Students have pursued study abroad in Japan, Italy, England, China, France, and Australia, both independently and through the Union Term Abroad Program.
Students have gone on to graduate work in the arts and architecture at the Penn. University of the Arts, Harvard, the University of Virginia, RIT, and the Visual Studies Workshop among others. Union graduates have established substantial careers in visual arts professions, including advertising, architecture, art consulting, arts council administration, college level teaching, curatorial and conservation work, fashion, fine art appraising, gallery directorship, graphic design, illustration, landscape architecture, media consulting, photo research and urban planning. Others have become full time painters, photographers, printmakers, and sculptors.
THE FACULTY
Martin Benjamin
Professor of Visual Arts (Photography)
Websites: www.martinbenjamin.com and www.stockrockshots.com
Selected Solo Exhibitions: “Cuba”, Untitled Gallery, Florence, Italy, 2005”; “CHINA/CUBA/VIETNAM”, Mandeville Gallery, Union College; “American Photographs” Santiago, Cuba; Giubbe Rosse, Florence, Italy; Nanjing Normal University Fine Arts Gallery, China; Portland School of Art; Maine Photographic Workshop Gallery; Center for Photography at Woodstock, NY; Imageworks Gallery, Cambridge, MA; University of Illinois at Champaign/Urbana. Selected Group Exhibitions: “The Last Summer”, Great Modern Pictures, NYC; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Il; Santa Fe Center for Photography, NM; Marcuse Pfeifer Gallery, NYC; Louis K. Meisel Gallery, NYC; Verlag Photographie, Switzerland; Photokina, Germany; Museum of Immigration, Liberty Island, NYC; Nikon Gallery, NYC. Gallery Affiliation- PhotoReps: Black Star Publishing Company, NYC; The Image Works, Woodstock, NY; Retna, Ltd., NYC. Work in Selected Collections: Houston Museum of Fine Arts, TX; Center for Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Santa Fe Museum of Fine Arts, NM; International Polaroid Corporation; Grants and Awards: Golden Light Educator of the Year Award, Maine Photographic Workshops; New York State CAPS Photography Fellowship; First Place (Professional) LIFE Magazine Bicentennial Photography Competition; Nikon International Photography Competition (bronze medal); Photojournalism Nominee-Leica Medal of Excellence.
Chris Duncan
Professor of Visual Arts (Sculpture, Drawing and Three-Dimensional Design)
Selected Solo Exhibitions: Bruno Marina Gallery, NYC; Firlefanz Gallery, Albany, NY; Saratoga Center of the Arts, Saratoga Springs, NY; Anderson Gallery, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; NanShiDa Fine Arts Gallery, Nanjing, China; Usdan Gallery, Bennington College, VT; Kirkland Art Center, Clinton, NY; Sculpture Space, Utica, NY. Selected Group Exhibitions: Allan Stone Gallery, NYC; School of Visual Arts Museum, NYC; University of Hawaii at Manoa; Andrews Gallery, College of William and Mary; Pier Walk 2000, Chicago; Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum of Art, Utica, NY; Bard College; New York 50, Socrates Sculpture Park, NY; Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, MN; Chesterwood, Stockbridge, MA; Maine College of Art, Portland ME; Phillipe Staib Gallery, NYC. Selected Collections: Mr. and Mrs. Norton Reamer, Boston, MA; Grace Knowlton, Palisades, NY; State University of New York at Plattsburgh; Hyde Collection, Glens Falls, NY; Munson-Williams-Proctor Museum of Art, Utica, NY; Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA; University of Maine Farmington; Frierson + Mee, NYC; Union Street Partners, NYC. Gallery Affiliation: Bruno Marina Gallery, NYC. Awards: Guggenheim Fellowship; Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant; Public Art fund Award, NYFA/SOS Grants. Education: New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (Zorach Fellow); Colby College, Waterville, ME; Studio Assistant to William Tucker, NYC and London; Studio Manager, Bennington College; Studio Assistant to Brooks Parker, NYC.
Walter Hatke
May I. Baker Professor of Fine Arts (Painting and Drawing)
Selected Solo & Group Exhibitions: Gerald Peters Gallery, New York City and Santa Fe, NM; Babcock Galleries, NYC; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; Baltimore Museum of Art; Pennsylvania Academy of Art, Philadelphia; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY; John Pence Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore; Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, NY; University of Texas-Austin; Swarthmore College; Frumkin-Struve Gallery, Chicago; American Academy of Arts & Letters, NYC. Work in Selected Collections; Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC; National Academy of Design, NYC; Art Institute of Chicago; Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design; Kansai Gaidai University/Japan; Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska; Smith College Museum of Art; Hallmark Corporation; Exxon; American Express; Northern Trust; Chase Bank; General Foods. Gallery Affiliation: Gerald Peters Gallery, New York City and Santa Fe, NM. Grants and Awards: Art in Embassies Program U.S. Department of State; Ingram Merrill Foundation Fellowship; National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. Visiting Artist/Critic The American University, Washington, DC; Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH; Trinity College, Hartford, CT; Yale University, New Haven, CT. Education: M.F.A., M.A., University of Iowa; B.A., DePauw University.
Fernando Orellana
Visiting Assistant Professor (Digital Arts)
Fernando David Orellana uses new and traditional media as a way of transmitting concepts that range from generative art to social-political commentary. He has been recently exhibited in Dublin, Ireland as part of the “Save the Robots” exhibition (2005), in the Biennial of Electronic Art Perth, Australia (B.E.A.P. 2004) and “Tart” the closing exhibition for Kline
Works in Chicago, IL. (2004). His work is part of several art
collections including the Richard and Ellen Sandor family collection
Chicago, IL. and the Leslie Lerner Collection Kansas City, KS. He has
been reviewed in a variety of publications including in Technikart
Futur (2005), Wired Online (2004, 2003), CNN (2003) and NPR, WBEZ
(2004). He received a Master of Fine Art from The Ohio State
University (2004) and a Bachelor of Fine Art from The School of the
Art Institute of Chicago (1998). He was born in El Salvador, San
Salvador in 1973. For a complete list of exhibitions and current work,
please visit: Website: http://www.fernandoorellana.com
Sandy Wimer
Senior Lecturer & Artist in Residence (Printmaking, Two-Dimensional Design and Drawing)
Selected Group and Solo Exhibitions: Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey; The Print Gallery at Wexford Arts Centre, Cornmarket, Wexford, Ireland; Cvijetza Zuzoric Art Pavilion, Belgrade, Yugoslavia; National Academy of Design, New York City; Munson-Williams-Proctor Institute, Utica, NY; Perrella Gallery, Fulton Montgomery Community College, Johnstown, NY; Albany Institute of History and Art, NY; Hera Gallery, Wakefield, RI; Dougherty Art Center, Austin, TX; Reed Gallery, Russell Sage College Art Gallery, Troy, NY; University at Albany, State University of New York. Work in Selected Collections: University Art Gallery, University at Albany, State University of New York; Bullard, McLeod & Associates, Inc. Education: M.F.A., University at Albany, State University of New York; B.F.A, University of Oklahoma; B.S.E.D., Pittsburgh State University.
Ceramics
Thank you for your interest in the Department of Visual Arts. We have put together this brief information sheet to answer some of your questions.
Ceramics is offered as a practicum with a professional instructor. Students who receive three terms of practicum credit in ceramics can receive a single course credit towards graduation. Please bear in mind that college-wide, no more than two course credits received for practica can be counted towards graduation. Permission of the Visual Arts Chair is required if you wish to count course credits gained in ceramics practica towards the major. Requests to register for transcript recognition after the drop/add period will not be honored.
Ceramics classes meet in the Ceramics and Painting Studios a house that faces Nott Street.
The studio has the following equipment:
2 Skutt electric kilns, one computerized, one manual
1 outdoor propane-fired raku kiln
8 electric wheels
1 kick wheel
1 slab roller
1 extruder
CERAMICS PRACTICUM
Clay as a medium for pottery and sculpture, Monday evenings. Total enrollment in each class is limited to eight. Materials fee $50.
AVA010. Ceramics I (Fall, Winter, Spring; Niefield). An introduction to clay, including hand-building, wheel-throwing, glazing and firing techniques. This is an evening class which meets weekly. The studio is available at all times for practice and completion of assignments.
AVA020. Ceramics II (Fall, Winter, Spring; Niefield). This course meets concurrently with Ceramics 1. Students will learn more advanced forming and decorating techniques. In addition to studio assignments, a short research presentation will be required.
AVA030. Ceramics III (Fall, Winter, Spring; Niefield). This course meets concurrently with Ceramics I and II. In addition to studio assignments, students will learn kiln firing and glaze preparation.