Courses are sponsored by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Art & Design, and as such are available for academic credit(graduate and undergraduate) and non-credit.

We encourage the enrollment of members of the public, as well as university students in the Washington, D.C. area. Students from other universities should check with their own academic institution for confirmation about transferability of credits.

Fall 2008 classes listed below.

Contemporary
Painting Lecture

ARTH 546

Description:

Although painting was proclaimed dead in the 1980s, it has returned with a vengeance in recent years (indeed, it never left). From abstract to figurative work, painting runs the gamut from appropriative or conceptual to downright neo-traditional, while likewise effecting–and being effected by–media as diverse as sculpture, installation, film, and new media. In this course we will examine the expanded field of contemporary painting, as heterogeneous as it is ubiquitous, investigating practice and discourse alongside painting's contextualization within cultural institutions and commercial venues.

Schedule:

Meets:
Tuesdays, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Wednesdays, 10:00am - 11:00am (UIUC students only)
Carriage House Conference Room, The Phillips Collection

Dates:
Sept. 9 - Dec. 16, 2008

Credit Options:

3 undergraduate credits, 4 graduate credits, non-credit

Professor: Suzanne Hudson

Arts Yearbook Seminar

ARTH 546

Description:

Once considered insufficiently historical to be approached as an academic object, art of the very recent past now comprises the subjects for many dissertations and research projects. By looking closely at art made and exhibited in the last calendar year, this course asks, in short, how we come to understand contemporary art. Additional topics include: What is the difference between contemporary art history and art criticism? How do we work on living artists, and what status does the interview assume? What constitutes our primary research? And how do we decide what merits such attention at all?

Schedule:

Meets:
Wednesdays, 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Carriage House Conference Room, The Phillips Collection

Dates:
Sept. 10 – Dec. 17, 2008

Credit Options:

3 undergraduate credits, 4 graduate credits, non-credit

Professor: Suzanne Hudson

History of 20th Century American Comics

ARTH 550

Description:

This course is designed to provide the student a survey of the history of comics in America. While learning to understand comics as a language that synthesizes words and pictures, we will explore the history of the medium as it changed throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. The student will become familiar with the theories that surround the medium´s development as well as its societal influences and impact. From the colorful romps of George Herriman´s Krazy Kat to Art Spiegelan´s Maus, we will become familiar with the changes in comics and the varying trajectories of contemporary works.

Schedule:

Meets:
Wednesdays, 2:00pm - 4:15pm
Carriage House Conference Room, The Phillips Collection

Dates:
Sept. 8 - Dec. 15, 2008

Credit Options:

3 undergraduate credits, 4 graduate credits, non-credit

Professor: Adam Fotos

Issues in Contemporary Art

ARTS 492

Description:

Students will evaluate the relationship between theory, art history, and practice in contemporary art production, distribution, display, and critical reception. We will consider current exhibitions and contextualize the artists and their works within art historical and theoretical texts related to their medium, movement, and working methods as well as consider the curatorial approach to the exhibitions. Discussions of pieces by well-known artists will be combined with introductions to works by emerging artists early in their careers. Classes will include discussions about assigned readings and the presentation and evaluation of contemporary art works. Students are expected to complete all readings and come to class prepared for discussion. The class will also include visits to galleries and museums to view contemporary art works in person and to further our discussions of contemporary artists´ production, curatorial practice, and institutional paradigms.

Schedule:

Meets:
Wednesdays, 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Carriage House Studio, The Phillips Collection


Dates:
Sept. 10 - Dec. 17, 2008

Credit Options:

3 undergraduate credits, 4 graduate credits, non-credit

Professor: Anne Ellegood

Art History Internship Course –
UIUC Students Only

ARTS 595/399

Description:

During the preceding semester, students will work with the course instructor and the internship coordinator to determine department placements and credit arrangements. During the internship semester, interns will be supervised by highly-trained museum professionals at The Phillips Collection (a museum of modern art in Washington, D.C.). Specific topics covered each semester will depend on the department within which the student is interning.

Students are expected to participate in the internship for the entire length of the semester. The number of hours per week spent interning will depend on the number of credits for which the student is enrolled. As an approximation, for every credit hour received, students will spend roughly five hours on the job per week. During the final week of the internship, students are expected to submit a report analyzing their internship activities and reflecting on the overall value of the experience. For this report, students should also draw on information gained from lectures or readings, as well as discussing the linkages between theoretical museum studies scholarship and the realities they experienced during the internship.

Schedule:

Meets:
Arranged
The Phillips Collection

Dates:
Sept. 8 - Dec. 19, 2008

Credit Options:

3-6 graduate and undergraduate credits