Art & Art History

This course introduces students to the rich and diverse visual cultures of African diasporic and African American art history. We will begin our study in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when African populations throughout the Atlantic world began to create new vibrant cultural practice in response to slavery and continues through the dynamic and self-affirming visual expressions created during the 20th and 21st centuries. We will encounter a broad set of visual practices including photography, painting, sculpture, and performance as we build a history of African diasporic visual arts.

Students become curators in Art History Methods. Every year, students enrolled in Art History Methods curate an exhibition in Schmucker Art Gallery. They select objects from Gettysburg College’s fine arts collection, write catalogue essays, design, and install the exhibition. Students apply their newly-developed expertise in art-historical methodologies and theories to this engaged hands-on experience in the Gallery. See images from the “Methods of Nature.”
Student publication: Flora and Fauna in East Asian Art

Form innovation using the potter’s wheel is explored in depth. Visual design, aesthetic concept, and refining technique are emphasized within the functional and expressively non-functional form of pots.