Expressing the Vision Inside

Art is a vital and fascinating record of collective and individual creativity that both transcends and reflects time and culture. The art department offers courses in art history and studio art to familiarize students with that record. The major and minor enhance students’ ability to make critical judgments about art, develop artistic talent, and heighten visual perception.

The curriculum is a combined studio/art history course sequence in which students may concentrate in an area of interest. Students work closely with departmental faculty as well as visiting artists. The major prepares students for work in art-related fields as well as graduate study. The following contribute to the unique character and vitality of the
program:

	an accomplished, engaged faculty who have exhibited and published widely as well as won teaching awards,
	museum and gallery internships,
	independent projects and honors theses in studio art and art history, and
	working one-on-one with professors.

 

Excellent Facilities

The art department offers courses at three sites: Morris R. Williams Center for the Arts, Printmaking Studio/ Experimental Printmaking Institute, and Williams Visual Arts Building.

The Williams Center provides 5,000 square feet of instructional and studio space, including a lecture hall with projection, video, and computer facilities, and an electronic seminar room. The Visual Resources Room contains the department’s collection of more than 100,000 slides as well as CD-ROMs, videos, and architectural models. Studio art is taught in interconnected classrooms. Student work is displayed throughout the public spaces as well as in studios. The Williams Center Gallery exhibits artists of national and international repute, presenting diverse media, historical periods and cultures. Artists give public lectures, visit classes, and meet with independent study and honors students.

The Media Lab facilitates the integration of technology into all aspects of the art curriculum. It has Macintosh workstations, color and laser printers, flatbed and slide scanners, and up-to-date software. It is supplemented by Macintosh workstations with large-format scanners and printers in the Experimental Printmaking Institute. The Media Lab and Printmaking Studio provide 14 complete workstations, 10 printers, nine scanners, two large-format printers, and two slide scanners. Workstations are also in the Williams Visual Arts Building. All three are linked via ethernet, allowing students speedy access to the web and the ability to generate, manipulate, and output images from any of the department’s sites.

The Printmaking Studio has two etching presses (one large-format) as well as lithographic and silk-screening presses.

The Experimental Printmaking Institute provides students and visiting professional artists with the opportunity to develop advanced skills in the areas of printmaking and digital imaging. More than 40 visiting artists of national and international reputation have completed residencies and exchanges.

The $3.5 million, 23,500-square-foot Williams Visual Arts Building opened in 2001 and is one of the leading high-tech facilities for art education and exhibitions in the nation. It includes a sculpture studio, a painting studio, the community-based teaching studio, Grossman Gallery, a flexible studio area with movable walls for honors and independent study students, seminar room, conference room, five faculty studios and offices, and spacious lobby.

The classrooms are adjacent to professors’ personal studios, which encourages the free exchange of ideas between students and faculty. Faculty, honors students, and visiting professional artists work together with area high school and adult art students through the Community-Based Teaching Program located in the building.

A "Cyber-Umbrella"

	Students and faculty in all studios and classrooms will use wireless technology for instant access to the College's expanding computer database of digital images and Internet-based images from museum collections throughout the world.
	In the enhanced Media Lab, students can manipulate images digitally and "print" them on a variety of materials such as film negatives, archival paper, and canvasesusing output devices in a variety of locations.
	Faculty are developing course-specific CD-ROMs with syllabus, images, and other information.

The Major and Minor

The minor in art consists of six courses, including the two introductory courses in art history (101 and 102, or 125 and 126), Principles of Studio Art (103), and three other courses chosen from offerings in art history or studio art in consultation with the minor adviser or the department head.

Interdisciplinary Programs

In addition to these fields, the discipline offers many other career possibilities. Art majors have pursued careers in filmmaking, journalism, advertising, interior design, and fashion design as well as worked in art galleries and museums.

Special Opportunities

Advanced students can participate in the honors program, which involves close interaction with faculty on all levels. Students whose major emphasizes art history select a topic in consultation with their adviser, research it in depth, meet regularly with their faculty supervisor, and write a thesis that is defended before a committee.

Working closely with faculty supervisors, studio majors prepare a publicly exhibited body of work that is evaluated by a committee of faculty, guest artists, and critics.

Beyond the Classroom

There are a variety of opportunities for individual expression and exploration. Students have been awarded internships and have volunteered at the National Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum of American Art, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, Sotheby’s, M-13 Gallery, Pace Gallery, and Rosa Esman Gallery. Students have served as apprentices to painters such as Richard Anuszkiewicz and Dorothea Rockburne. Locally, they have surveyed the art and architecture of Easton and Bethlehem, and they have organized exhibitions for area art galleries.

The art department sponsors field trips to museums and collections in New York City, Washington, and Philadelphia, as well as visits to local museums and galleries. Lectures by visiting scholars, critics, and artists and a variety of special exhibitions also enhance the program.

Exhibitions at Lafayette have featured such noted artists as Richard Anuszkiewicz, Helen Fankenthaler, Gregory Gillespie, Grace Hartigan, Robert Motherwell, Faith Ringgold, and Frank Stella; ancient art from Princeton University; Renaissance paintings; old master prints; and Russian icons.

The Richard and Rissa Grossman Visiting Artist and Exhibition Series brings to campus distinguished artists such as Gregory Gillespie, Leon Golub, Ann Hamilton, Elizabeth Murray, Faith Ringgold, and Frank Stella with whom students work during multiday residencies. The Carol P. Dorian ’79 Memorial Lectures in Art History bring eminent art historians to campus.

Financial Aid and Awards

The Frederick Knecht Detwiller Prize in Art History recognizes senior art majors with outstanding accomplishments in art history and studio art.

After Graduation

Many majors receive advanced degrees: M.F.A. in painting, sculpture, interior design, graphic design, and medical illustration; M.B.A. in arts administration; M.S. in architecture; and M.A. and Ph.D. in art history. They have attended such institutions as American University, Bard College, Drexel University, Maryland Institute of Art, New York University, Princeton University, Sarah Lawrence College, San Francisco State University, Syracuse University, Temple University, Tulane University, University of Georgia, and University of Pennsylvania.

Former students are practicing artists as well as university and secondary school teachers of art. Others are architects, museum curators, gallery directors, and writers and editors for arts publications. Still other majors have pursued careers in such diverse areas as business, advertising, law, medicine, and health care.

Among the Class of 2001, 36 percent of art majors accepted full-time employment in an arts-related field, 9 percent went to graduate school, and 18 percent were traveling, volunteering, or doing part-time work.

Faculty

Diane Cole Ahl, (more), Arthur J. ’55 and Barbara S. Rothkopf Professor of Art History. Ph.D., University of Virginia. Special interests: Italian Renaissance and Baroque art and architecture; Christian iconography. Recipient of Fulbright and National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowships, Van Artsdalen Prize for scholarly achievement, Jones Award for teaching, Jones Lecture Award, and Student Government Award for teaching.

Nicole Fabricand-Person, Assistant Professor. Ph.D., Princeton University. Special interests: Japanese Buddhist art and archaeology. Teaching areas: Buddhist art from Japan, India, and China; Chinese art and archaeology; and Japanese art and archaeology.

Curlee Raven Holton, Professor and Head; Director of the Experimental Printmaking Institute. M.F.A., Kent State University. Special interests: printmaking, African American art history, drawing, and painting. Recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and Beidleman Award for excellence in scholarship.

Edward J. Kerns Jr., (Home Page), Eugene H. Clapp II '36 Professor of Art. M.F.A., Maryland Institute, College of Art. Special interests: painting, drawing, and two-dimensional design. Recipient of Van Artsdalen Prize for scholarly achievement; Crawford Award, Lindback Foundation Award, and Jones Award for teaching; and Jones Lecture Award.

Robert S. Mattison, Marshall R. Metzgar Professor. Ph.D., Princeton University. Special interests: contemporary American art; 19th-century drawing, painting, architecture, and sculpture; Recipient of Sears-Roebuck Award for teaching and scholarship and Jones Lecture Award.

Alastair R. Noble, (Home Page), Assistant Professor. M.F.A., Rutgers University. Special interests: sculpture, public and installation art, poetry, and literature.

Ida Sinkevic, Associate Professor. Ph.D., Princeton University. Special interests: ancient, Byzantine, and medieval art and architecture; Islamic, Eskimo, and pre-Columbian art.

Karina Aguilera Skvirsky, (Home Page) Assistant Professor. M.F.A, Indiana University. Special interests: conceptual art and film. Teaching areas: photography, video art, and American studies.

Daniel H. Weiss, Professor and Lafayette President. Ph.D., Johns Hopkins University. Special interest: art of medieval Europe in the Age of the Crusades. He has written or edited four books and numerous articles on the art of the Middle Ages, with a special focus on Romanesque, Gothic, and Crusader art and the interaction of Byzantine culture with the Medieval West. Recipient of Aaron O. Hoff Award.

Adjunct Faculty: Professionals in the Community Program

Paul Felder. M.S. in Architecture, Pennsylvania State University. Teaching areas: architecture and urban planning.

Ira Greenberg, M.F.A. University of Pennsylvania. Teaching areas: principles of art, digital art, and computer graphics.

Emil Lukas. B.F.A., Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. Teaching areas: drawing and principles of art.

Lewis B. Minter, (Home Page), Director of the Media Lab. B.F.A., Maryland Institute, College of Art. Teaching areas: design, media studies, computer graphics.

James Toia, Director of Community-Based Teaching. M.F.A., School of Visual Arts. Teaching areas: sculpture, painting.

Kimberely D. Thomas, M.F.A. University of Pennsylvania. Teaching areas: drawing, painting and design.

Curlee Holton
Head, Art
(610) 330-5360
mattisor@lafayette.edu

For general information:
Office of admissions
Lafayette College
Easton, PA 18042
(610) 330-5100
FAX (610) 330-5355
admissions@lafayette.edu