Independent Study

» Art Department I.S. Titles

Each major completes three semesters of Independent Study. For art history majors, junior I.S. is a seminar in the tools and methods of scholarship that students use to produce a variety of reports and an ambitious research paper. In senior year, working closely with a faculty advisor, each art history student selects a research topic and writes a substantial thesis. Recent topics have included an examination of the role of artist-fathers in the development of women artists, and a critical appraisal of architect Frank Gehry’s building for the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao.

In the junior year, studio art majors combine independent creative work with a seminar focusing on individual development and contemporary trends in art. Juniors exhibit their work in a joint exhibition. The two-semester senior I.S. project culminates in a one-person show. Recent projects include “Dead Theatre,” a digital film using stop-motion animation; “Structuring Tension,” a series of abstract paintings; and “Retro the Time Cat: Part Deux,” a life-sized comic strip on the adventures of a time-traveling cat.