Art
The requirements for admission to the graduate program in Art have changed (see www.art.wisc.edu). For more information, please contact: Graduate Admissions, Department of Art, 6241 Humanities Building, 455 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706; 608/262-1660.
Effective immediately.
(Online update 1/4/08) |
College: School of Education
Designation: Department
Majors and degrees offered: M.A., M.F.A. in Art; M.A. in Art Education
Other: Ph.D. Minors in Art, and in Art Education
Faculty: Professors Escalante (chair), Becker, Clark, Damer, Fennell, Feren, Georgiades, Loeser, Long, Lowe, Marche, Marschalek, Myers, Nelson, Pylant, Rieben, Scheer, Solien; Associate Professors Buisch, Connors, Gralnick, Hitchcock, Mladenoff, Verna; Assistant Professors Cridler, Hilyard, Miller, Simpson
The Department of Art offers the following degrees: the M.A. in art, the M.A. in art education, and the M.F.A. in art. A Ph.D. minor in art education is also offered jointly with the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. The program in art offers four areas of specialization: art education, graphics, the 2-D area, and the 3-D area.
The graduate program in art is currently comprised of about 100 graduate students and 28 full-time faculty. The faculty is a distinguished group of professional artists who are active in the research and exhibition of their work and who are at the same time devoted teachers. An important strength of the graduate program lies in the breadth and diversity of its faculty. The program continues to grow and to provide a variety of artistic experience for its students.
Art Education
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Educators, ranging from elementary art teachers to university instructors, are given contemporary foundations in art instruction, curriculum development, and research, as well as an opportunity to exchange ideas with visiting students and scholars. The program is characterized by intensive study in art, aesthetics, and culture.
Graphics
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The graphics program consists of courses in printmaking, paper making, photography, and graphic design. A faculty of specialists offers instruction emphasizing in-depth technical knowledge and utilizing state-of-the-art print equipment in studios designed and outfitted for specific printing techniques. The program stresses skill and technical command with a major emphasis on the development of ideas and concepts. Graphic design is defined in the broadest terms to include typography, book design and structure, artists books, paper making, illustration, production techniques, and computer typesetting.
Relief Printing
The relief printing program offers beginning, advanced, and graduate courses in all forms of relief printmaking. Specialized courses are offered in woodcut, linocut, and other forms of raised surface printing. The interrelationship between relief printing courses and those in typographic design and fine book reproduction is encouraged. The art department offers one of the few extensive programs available in wood engraving.
Serigraphy
Graduate serigraphy concentrates on formulating ideas--conceptual and contiguous series, utilizing the technical experience of the beginning course, and developing the use of color, transparencies, and textural effects to realize four print editions that reflect creativity and technical competence.
Etching/Intaglio
The etching/intaglio classes are designed to present this traditional process by laying the groundwork of basic technique to further understanding of its experimental possibilities. Five presses of varying size offer the capacity to explore several techniques, from traditional engraving and etching through granular and soft grounds and photo etching. There is an emphasis on color printing in multiple plate, viscosity, and monoprint methods.
Lithography
The lithography program is based on individual conceptual development, and course work is geared to a high degree of craft and professionalism. All phases of lithography are stressed including direct, transfer, and photo, utilizing both stones and aluminum plates. The center of the program is a well-equipped workshop incorporating five presses, a very large graining sink, and over 100 stones of varying sizes up to 30 inches by 40 inches.
Production Techniques (Offset Lithography)
The course in graphic production techniques provides the advanced graphics student with the necessary skills to take an original art (copy) to a printed piece through the use of the offset printing process. It also provides a thorough explanation of the various photographic procedures involved in the three basic forms of printmaking: etching, lithography, and screen printing.
Graphic Design and Typography
The program in graphic design emphasizes the process of visual communication of ideas and information, with attention to aesthetic considerations, techniques, and methods. Course work in letterpress and computer typesetting introduce historical and visual aspects of formal typography, and serve to facilitate experimentation with the communicative properties of type. Practical study in this area involves the design and production of books, broadsides, brochures, and posters; the development and application of logotypes and design formats; and utilizing the facilities of letterpress, computer technologies, and graphic reproduction techniques. In addition, a focus on book structures and artists' books is provided.
Photography
The course of study encourages students to pursue their photography in combination with bookmaking, typography, printmaking, graphic design, and video. Graduate-level photography classes have a high teacher-to-student ratio in order to promote an atmosphere of personal growth. Graduate students are given studios and access to two private darkrooms and a large multipurpose darkroom. The photography labs include facilities for color processing, alternative processes, and black and white photography.
Paper Making
The program in paper making is concerned with understanding the inherent materials used in these processes as applied to traditional sheet forming and as they relate to contemporary concepts involving casting, pulp painting, vacuum forming, and so on. Printmakers are encouraged to study the basic substructure that carries their images and to be sensitive to the subtle influences in the expressions found in handmade papers.
2-D Area
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Painting/Drawing
The graduate painting/drawing program emphasizes advanced mastery of the "artistic discipline." The course of study provides an understanding of historical and contemporary painting and drawing practices, skills, and techniques in order to further creative and expressive development. Graduate students are provided with private studio space and have access to a variety of facilities, equipment, and disciplines.
Computer-Mediated Art
The focus of the program in computer-mediated art is on a broad exploration of the functions and uses of computers in the visual arts. The mastery of technical skills in computer graphics, the conceptualization of the medium, and an appreciation of the historical development of the computer in art are the major emphases of both the beginning and advanced courses. Students work on animation, three-dimensional visualization, image-sound integration, and the fusion of the computer with other media such as printmaking, painting, and video. In addition, students have access to both microcomputers and sophisticated systems with the support of software, digitizer, color printers, and video disc players.
3-D Area
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Sculpture
Facilities are available for most of the processes needed to produce sculpture: welding, including MIG and TIG; a large glassworking studio; a foundry with a large alpine sculpture kiln for foundry molds, or ceramic works; shops for construction, casting, paint, and resin work; and a forge.
Woodworking and Furniture Design
The program offers students the chance to analyze and expand their creative, technical, and aesthetic knowledge of furniture forms, and construct prototypes. The woodworking studio contains all the basic tools and machines.
Ceramics
The 3,500-square-foot graduate studio, with individual spaces for each student, is a very well-equipped facility. Students use and maintain, for example, two 40-cubic-foot downdraft kilns, three clay mixers, six electric kilns, slip mixers, extruders, and wheels.
Glass
Courses stress proficiency in the basic manipulative processes inherent in the glass medium, and encourage students to expand traditional boundaries. Facilities are available to accomplish most hot and cold working methods.
Jewelry and Metalsmithing
The graduate studio is well stocked with tools and basic equipment and there is easy access to heavier tools and machinery when needed. Studio facilities encompass a wide range of activities including raising, spinning, casting, blacksmithing, electroforming, titanium anodizing, photo-etching, and lapidary.
Non-Static Forms
Courses in non-static forms include video and performance art. Students have access to media facilities throughout the university and are encouraged to participate in classes in non-static forms and to experiment with new media. Courses stress methods of exhibition, documentation, and distribution that are unique to the non-static media. Both individual and collaborative projects are possible, and frequent opportunities are available for students to exhibit or perform.
Admission
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To be admitted as a graduate student with full standing, an applicant must meet the minimum Graduate School requirements. The Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is not required for admission; however, it may be useful for some fellowships.
A limited number of applicants who do not meet the minimum grade-point requirement but who provide other evidence of the capacity to do exemplary graduate work may be admitted on probation.
The following materials are required: the Graduate School Application; three letters of recommendation from instructors or other individuals who can evaluate potential for graduate study; a portfolio of up to 20 slides of recent work in plastic slide sheet (applicants in video or performance only may present portfolios in either video or slides with accompanying text); an official transcript from each college/university attended; a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return of slides; and a brief statement of reasons for wanting to attend graduate school.
The portfolio necessary for admission should contain slides, properly exposed, and of a quality that shows the work to its best advantage. Faculty members are interested in the ideas behind the work, as well as technical skills used in producing it.
The deadline for fall and/or summer session is January 10. Visits from potential graduate students are always welcome. The graduate chair takes appointments two days per week and is willing to discuss the program and answer any questions. Also, department faculty teach Monday through Thursday and can show the facilities and talk about special areas of interest. Graduate student studios can also be visited.
For more information: Graduate Admissions, Department of Art, 6241 Humanities Building, 455 North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706; 608/262-1660; artinfo@education.wisc.edu; www.education.wisc.edu/art.