Taught by

This program offers students ready for intensive full-time work in the theory and practice of visual and/or media arts opportunities to pursue multi-quarter individual or collaborative capstone projects or media and arts-related internships. This program is designed for students with a broad interdisciplinary background in the liberal arts and significant in-depth studies in the theory and practice of one or more of the visual or media arts. These may include 2-D practices such as drawing, painting, printmaking, photography; 3-D design or sculpture; installation or performance; video, film or animation; digital or interactive arts; and sound design. Students with a significant background in media theory or art history and who wish to deepen their studies to include an arts-based practice or an academic project, such as museum studies or curatorial practices, or an arts-related internship are also welcome.

Building on perspectives and approaches developed in previous work in visual and/or media arts, and prior interdisciplinary program work, students will pursue research agendas, share their findings in presentations, develop projects based on that research and practice skills in conceptual design and project planning. They will work intensively together, producing a significant body of thematic work in the context of a supportive, critical, and creative learning community. Students may develop projects in a wide range of media and media forms to investigate an even wider range of themes and questions. Students will engage in reading, reflective and theoretical writing, rigorous weekly critiques, targeted technical skill workshops, and professional development opportunities for those contemplating graduate school or post-college careers in media and/or visual arts related fields. Students will attend frequent presentations by visiting artists and scholars to broaden their fluency with themes and concerns of contemporary arts and culture.

In fall, students will engage in a series of generative, conceptual design exercises and research activities to define the direction of their work for the year and expand their facility with technologies, materials, and creative approaches including ceramics, 3-D design, animation, and other time-based forms.

In winter, the focus shifts from concept development to practice and production. Work-in-progress critiques will be central as students engage in regular critical analysis of one another’s creative work. Students will also collaborate on short research projects about contemporary artists who have attempted to push the technological and conceptual boundaries of the visual or media arts. During spring, students will complete their projects, engage further in extensive critiques, produce a public exhibition of their works, and develop a professional portfolio and related documents.

Quarters

Fall Signature Winter Signature Spring Signature

Location and Schedule

Final Schedule and Room Assignment

• Spring

Campus Location

Olympia

Time Offered

Day

Advertised Schedule