Art with an Emphasis in Studio Art (BFA)

The Ceramics program is designed to support both sculpture and utilitarian ware, hand building and wheel throwing. Students are prepared to build with clay and finish work with ceramic surfaces. However, the program also encourages cross-medium exploration with the intent of honing materials and content to express the integrity of the idea. The program parallels exposure to traditional and contemporary ceramics with the belief that knowledge of the historical/traditional forms of folk and ritual pottery and tribal fetishes contribute to the student's development in making an informed contemporary statement.

The philosophy of the Drawing emphasis is to:

• Promote a love and habit of Drawing that will serve as a foundation for all areas of emphasis in the department.
• Develop competency in a variety of Drawing media, from traditional to experimental and interdisciplinary.
• Teach a wide enough range of skills and concepts to ensure individual choice in style or direction, whether figurative or non-figurative.

To achieve these goals, Webster's Drawing program develops sequentially. The lower-level courses function in context with our foundations curriculum. It is because the early Drawing classes are laterally integrated with these required courses that the first few semesters of Drawing can focus on observational Drawing and traditional Drawing media without sacrificing creativity and new directions in art.

Intermediate and upper level Drawing courses encourage conceptual and contemporary approaches to Drawing, as well as interdisciplinary options. Other courses in Drawing provide students with opportunities to focus on specialized skills or directions.

Electronic and time-based art includes performance art, video art, sound and noise art, digital art and installation art. These contemporary art-making practices are unified in their engagement with time and space as a medium and mode of practice. Electronic and time-based art takes an intermedial approach to making art, focusing on modes of practice and the dialectic between media rather than any singular medium, unified by the concept of time as a material.

The teaching philosophy of the undergraduate Painting program at Webster focuses on providing students with the fundamentals and solid foundation in the craft of painting. Students are challenged to sharpen the technical skills of paint handling and archival support preparation while remaining open to experimental and alternative media.

As students develop the basic skills to address subject matter and content, emphasis is placed on the role of painting as a continuing source of conceptual development and expanding visual vocabulary in the context of contemporary art. The program maintains an open policy allowing for the discovery and investigation of individual aesthetic and conceptual directions, interpretations and expressions.

The Photography emphasis considers and approaches the photographic medium as an expressive medium. Students learn the technical skills necessary to create meaningful bodies of work. With guided and self-directed projects, students develop their own artistic practice and do not just take pictures, but they learn to make meaning photographically.

The Printmaking curriculum is designed to provide the opportunity for an introduction to a variety of printmaking processes, including woodblock, intaglio, lithography, screen printing and alternative processes, as well as offering the advantage of advanced and specialized work. The conceptual emphasis is focused on helping students find the means to use printmaking to relevant, timely and evocative work. Although students have freedom to choose from varied technical approaches their common goal is to measure their work by currents in the field and a contemporary standard.

The Sculpture emphasis teaches students to create meaning through three-dimensional work. It introduces the various materials and processes of sculpture, including:

• Woodworking
• Metalworking
• Plaster- and metal-casting
• Automation

As students develop, they learn qualities of craftsmanship and an understanding of space itself as a medium. Advanced work progresses along a student's particular interest to develop a body of work that explores focused themes, content and techniques.