GRADUATE STUDENT ELECTIVE OPTIONS

GRAD-639 | EXPERIMENTAL DRAWING

CHUCK HOLTZMAN | Monday 9:30am-12pm 

Drawing is the process of creative thinking and discovery. Transforming materials opens new modes of seeing and knowing for us as people and artists. In this graduate level course, students explore ideas through the manipulation of a range of materials on paper. As a group, students question commonly held beliefs and suspend standard assumptions about drawing, opening exploratory pathways for the discovery of new images and ideas. Exercises focus on primarily abstract methods, informed by lively class discussions. Students test the limits of both their materials and their imagination. Exploratory Drawing encourages grad students to take risks and move toward less familiar territory, implementing new approaches and ideas. Students from all programs in fine arts, design, and art education are welcome. Some prior drawing experience is required.

STUDIO CREDIT

GRAD-609 | ART IN PUBLIC SPACES

WENDY JACOB | Tuesday 9am-12pm 

From monuments memorializing historic figures, to street murals and interventions designed to disrupt and spark dialog, public art is an evolving concept made in response to the conditions of its time. In this studio, we will examine the history of public art, including the recent toppling of confederate monuments and proliferation of work made in response to the international dialogue around climate change. Areas of investigation include monuments, counter monuments, poster campaigns, murals, markers, protest, community engagement, and time-based interventions. At the core of the studio is artistic production, and students will be guided through the process of developing and creating work for and in public space.

STUDIO OR NON-STUDIO (ACADEMIC) CREDIT 

code TBD | ENGAGED PRACTICES AND CRITICAL REFLECTIONS

TYANNA BUIE | Tuesday  6-9pm | online

This course encourages students to engage their research and scholarship as catalysts for growth and expansion within their studio practice. Through critical inquiry into personal narrative, identity politics, the contemporary condition, ethical art practices, considerations of AI, and strategies for post-graduate sustainability, students will identify and develop meaningful intersections within and beyond their disciplines. The course combines readings, discussions, lectures, presentations, and visiting artist dialogues, culminating in a final presentation that synthesizes each student’s key insights and creative discoveries. Open to graduate students working in all disciplines.

STUDIO CREDIT 

AETE-627 | COLLEGE TEACHING IN ART AND DESIGN

MARIAH DOREN | Thursday 6-9pm | online or in-person option

This is a graduate level course designed to provide the theoretical context and practical application of sound and meaningful pedagogy in the visual arts. Students will be introduced to educational theory and contemporary models of instruction, and will be expected to critically deconstruct and apply this content to their own formative pedagogy. Projects will be individually designed to meet individual student goals. Upon successful completion of the course, students will craft a teaching portfolio including a teaching philosophy and syllabus, curriculum and lesson plan example for a context of their choice.

NON-STUDIO CREDIT 

AETE-213 | MAKE RADIO

ERIK DELUCA | Tuesday 1:30–6:30pm 

We make radio in this student-driven, multi-disciplinary introductory course (no prerequisites required). Established in the early 20th century, broadcast radio is a powerful source for cultural expression and connection through voicing, sounding, listening, and learning. Radio is at once a site for reflection, agitation, and a compositional tool for making art and dialogue. From this context, students explore open source, free tools to record, edit, and broadcast a variety of radio styles of their choosing (like audio documentary, DJ sets, themed mixes, sound art, audio essays, talk radio, and experimental theater). We study keywords of sound including echo, noise, resonance, silence, space, and synthesis; and entanglements of human rights, borders, capitalism, the cannon, processes of decolonization, and systems of power. As we question authorship and intersect social boundaries, we work through processes where materials and tools get us places. Towards the end of the semester we produce a live radio broadcast event for the MassArt community. One overarching aim is to consider a longstanding, sustainable MassArt radio station that includes a network of broadcasters and listeners.

This is a sample of BFA or Continuing Education (PCE) electives open to grad students with requisite skills. This list is not comprehensive; students should check graduate electives and Self-Service for other elective options. 

To view a full list of elective options, do an Advanced Search in MassArt’s Self-Service portal.
Graduate students must request faculty permission to enroll in BFA or PCE electives. View detailed registration procedures here. 

• TBA Permission may be requested once instructor has been announced
• GA indicates that a Graduate Syllabus Addendum is on file for this faculty and course.
• OL indicates an online course. 
• H indicates a hybrid course (some courses online some in person).