Art

Art 448 section 007 and Art 548 section 002: Artists as Curators (Clark)

This is a course for anyone interested in curating as a creative practice. While it is a studio class with curatorial projects as assignments, there will be substantial reading exploring a range of perspectives within contemporary curatorial activity. The course will be useful to students of theory and history who are considering curatorial careers but it will have a special focus on artists as curators.

More and more artists have multiple identities as critics, curators, and makers. Artists curate their own work for solo exhibitions and they curate their friends’ work for group shows. Artists may curate shows of their peers as a way of building a creative community thereby providing logical contexts for their work.

Artists serve in curatorial roles in biennials and festivals. Artists are sometimes invited to play with collections (e.g. Fred Wilson and Sophie Calle). And artists use curation as an artmaking strategy, building works from collections of objects. Increasingly, there are practices of virtual curation, where art works are assembled conceptually as lectures or electronic galleries.

Successful curation involves insight, persistence, and judgment. For a show to realize its curatorial intentions, judicious selection, meticulous research, public and private persuasion, and dynamic installation strategies all come into play. The class will consider these pragmatic aspects of curating alongside an array of theoretical issues.

Art History 300: Art and Archaeology of Ancient Greece (Cahill, cross-listed with Classics)

Explores the art and archaeology of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period.

Art History 363: American Decorative Arts and Interiors: 1620-1840 (Martin, cross-listed with Design Studies)

Interdisciplinary study of the design, production, and consumption of household objects and their American domestic settings, 17th through the early 19th centuries.

Art History 379: Cities of Asia (Chopra)

Historical overview of the built environment of cities of Asia from antiquity to the present; architectural and urban legacy in its social and historical context; exploration of common themes that thread through the diverse geographical regions and cultures of Asia.

Art History 457: History of American Vernacular Architecture and Landscapes (Andrzejewski)

Survey of American vernacular buildings and landscapes from the colonial period to the present. Emphasis is on acquiring descriptive tools and developing interpretive frameworks to explore the significance that these vernacular environments have had for their makers and users.

Classics

Explores the art and archaeology of ancient Greece from the Bronze Age through the Hellenistic period.

Design Studies 363: American Decorative Arts and Interiors: 1620-1840 (Martin, cross-listed with Art History)

Interdisciplinary study of the design, production, and consumption of household objects and their American domestic settings, 17th through the early 19th centuries.

Design Studies 421: European Interiors to the 18th Century (Penick)

Survey of major historical periods and styles of European interior design. Furniture and interior treatment as they affect the architectural space.

Design Studies 430: History of Textiles (TBA)

Designs and meanings and interrelationships of textiles in selected cultures and time periods.

Design Studies 501: History of Design I (Penick)

Design Studies 642: Taste (Chopra)

Exploration of the idea of taste - both "good" and "bad", in "popular" and "high" culture. Cross-cultural readings from theoretical and historical perspectives, relating to architecture, landscape, public space, art, and clothing.

Folklore 439: Foodways (Gilmore)

Explores artistic, social, sensory, and spiritual expressions through food that convey personal, group and place-based identities, ethnicity, gender and class in work and play. Reviews range of food writing and scholarly perspectives including culinary historical, structural-functional, and performance. Requires fieldwork.

Folklore 540: Local Culture and Identity in the Upper Midwest (Olson)

A web-based course, operating as a series of modules. Each module addresses a different aspect of community life and culture in the upper midwest, focusing on Wisconsin. Examples include ethnic groups, religious life, vernacular architecture, oral narrative, music and material culture.

Geography 305: Introduction to Cities (Moore)

Analysis of the distributions of cities, their functions, character and relationships with their surrounding regions, and the areal patterns within cities; the spatial variation of population, economic activity, and land uses.

Geography 460: American Environmental History (Cronon)

Survey of interactions among people and natural environments from before European colonization to present. Equal attention to problems of ecological change, human ideas, and uses of nature and history of conservation and environmental public policy.

Geography 508: Landscape and Settlement in the North American Past (Ostergren)

Historical geography of North American settlement patterns, cultural landscapes, regional identity and heritage.

Scandinavian Studies 440: Scandinavian-American Folklore (Leary)

Examines the verbal, musical, customary, and material folklore of Scandinavian Americans, with emphasis on the upper Midwest. Requires field and archival research.