Program Goals:

Art Program Goals

• Possess the skills necessary to construct and present artwork. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will demonstrate through personal instruction their technical abilities using tools and materials that make their idea most convincing, believable, and effective. Emphasis in not specfically centered around skills or materials but how these skills and materials can support or not support the credibility of a piece.
• Students will make decisions on how to solve technical problems which best facilitate their vision.
• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Through exposure to others' work that may be relevant to their own, students will search for meaning in their own work.
• Students will be continuously involved in their art-making process, building momentum and building confidence, until "the answer" presents itself.
• Achieved through discussion with the students' committees about their work, students will clarify the essence of its meaning.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will form critique or discussion groups outside the class to become part of a larger community of artists.
• Students will form communities within the class for critique groups and to attend lectures by other artists, both on and off campus.
• Students will attend as many art shows and will read as many articles and periodicals as possible to inform and give perspectives on, as well as to inspire, their own work.
• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will be able to articulate the meaning of their ideas to their committees, allowing them to understand the work and better support them in achieving their artistic goals.
• Through exchange with the three divergent perspectives represented by their committees, students will become fluent in the language which is required in today's art world.

Core Goals:

Critical Analysis

• Students will critically analyze information and ideas. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will analyze their own work through formal analysis.
• Students will examine issues from multiple perspectives. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will consider multiple perspectives and opinions in formal analysis of art.
• Students will incorporate multi-perspective feedback into the artwork they create.
• Students will engage in an exploration of the relationship between past systems of knowledge and present scholarly and creative approaches within and across disciplines. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will study and research historical multi disciplinary artist and cross cultural artworks and incorporate that knowledge into contemporary art practices.
• Students will consider how our understanding of significant questions and ideas is informed by the critical, scholarly, and creative approaches through which we approach those questions and ideas. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will submit in writing or orally present ideas and questions concerning creative approaches to problem solving, as it pertains to art making.
• Students will develop discernment, facility and ethical responsibility in using information. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will maintain a professional and ethical demeanor in critiques and dialogue respecting multiple perspectives that diverge from their own.
• Students will engage as active participants in the College's intellectual community. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will host an open studio day that invites the greater college community to intellectually and socially engage with the work created over the course of a semester.

Create, Innovate & Experiment

• Students will extend their creative strengths and skills. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students demonstrate original thought and technical development by creating and critiquing original works of art.
• Students will design or produce work that demonstrates independent thinking, originality, and inventiveness. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will utilize critical thinking and independent analysis to create unique works.
• Students will demonstrate engagement with contemporary concerns in art and conceptual thinking.
• Students will demonstrate inventive technical proficiency in their work.
• Students will produce innovative solutions to real-world problems. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will work independently using problem solving skills to achieve course goals.

General Education Goals:

Creating & Critiquing Arts

• Engage with the creative process, either actively or critically (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will create original artworks for studio critiques with faculty committee members.
• Demonstrate familiarity with important artistic concepts (such as medium, form, device, and gesture) in at least one art form, or create and present her own artistic work by applying these concepts in her medium of choice (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will create, display, and orally present their works to faculty members. Students will use learned vocabulary to discuss formal elements of each work, and discuss its historical and contemporary attributes.
• Use the basic vocabulary fundamental to the criticism of art in her medium of choice, whether her own work or that of others (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will provide thoughtful, constructive criticism about their own artwork as well as in relationship to contemporary and historical artists.
• Construct a response to an artistic work that incorporates some of the following issues: genre, form and style, context, reception, aesthetics, or influence (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will deliver a formal presentation of their artwork to Studio Art and Art History faculty members at the end of each academic year. Students analysis will focus on form, style, context, aesthetics, and influences.
• Understand or use collaborative techniques for the creation of an artistic or literary work (Introduced)
• Students are encouraged to work collaboratively with their cohort and students within other departments on campus for the execution of their artworks. Faculty members will provide the students with examples of contemporary or historical artists working in a similar conceptual arena or style providing the student with a glimpse into different modes of art-making, collaboratively or otherwise.

Program Goals:

Art Program Goals

• Possess the skills necessary to construct and present artwork. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students exhibit technical competence in constructing artwork.
• Students are able to use language in describing visual ideas.
• Students demonstrate problem solving through experimentation both conceptually and technically.
• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate self awareness of studio methodology in the articulation and actualization of ideas.
• Students have the ability to asses and incorporate feedback post critique.
• Students have the ability to process and implement the refinement of ideas post critique.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate knowledge of contemporary art.
• Students demonstrate the ability to write and speak about art history in its broadest context.
• Students demonstrate broad knowledge of art in its historical context and shows ability to situate their work and ideas in history.
• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are able to orally defend their work prior to the MFA exhibition.
• Students are able to produce an artist statement.
• Student demonstrates a personal sense of professional ethics in working on final exhibition. (Practiced)
• Students are able to work in a community setting, and understand and implement best practices of group process.
• Students demonstrate professionalism throughout the planning, installation and deinstallation of MFA exhibition.
• Students are able to adhere to deadlines.

General Education Goals:

Creating & Critiquing Arts

• Engage with the creative process, either actively or critically (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will create original art projects for class. In both class assignments and homework assignments students will be making artwork that creatively addresses the prompts.
• Demonstrate familiarity with important artistic concepts (such as medium, form, device, and gesture) in at least one art form, or create and present her own artistic work by applying these concepts in her medium of choice (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will create, display, and orally present their works to class. Students will use learned vocabulary to discuss formal elements of each work, discuss its historical and contemporary attributes.
• Use the basic vocabulary fundamental to the criticism of art in her medium of choice, whether her own work or that of others (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will provide thoughtful, constructive criticism about both subject matter and painting execution for the work of all participating students in group critiques.
• Construct a response to an artistic work that incorporates some of the following issues: genre, form and style, context, reception, aesthetics, or influence (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will write a review or deliver a presentation about an exhibition or a work of art. Student analysis will focus on form, style, context, aesthetics, and influences.
• During class field trips, students will have an opportunity to reflect on important works of art, to learn how to look AND how they look at works of art, and how this experience generates visceral as well as intellectual responses.
• Understand or use collaborative techniques for the creation of an artistic or literary work (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will work collaboratively to design and create a group project.

Core Goals:

Critical Analysis

• Students will critically analyze information and ideas. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Through critique, reading, and discussion, students become conversant in the major aesthetic, political, and theoretical issues underpinning contemporary photography.
• Students will examine issues from multiple perspectives. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are encouraged to consider multiple perspectives in formal analysis of artwork, including their own, to be receptive to feedback from the multiple perspectives of their peers and faculty, and to use this discussion and input when making creative decisions.
• Students will engage in an exploration of the relationship between past systems of knowledge and present scholarly and creative approaches within and across disciplines. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students study and research a breadth of contemporary and historical artists and artworks that engage with the medium, are multi-disciplinary and/or cross-cultural. Students are encouraged consider that research in discussion with their peers and faculty, and when making creative decisions.
• Students will consider how our understanding of significant questions and ideas is informed by the critical, scholarly, and creative approaches through which we approach those questions and ideas. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are expected to critique works of art through a variety of theoretical frameworks, opening them to a multiplicity of possible meanings, whether personal, social, and/or political. They are further asked to consider these many meanings in the creation and critique of their own work.
• Students will develop discernment, facility and ethical responsibility in using information. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are encouraged to use discernment, facility and ethical responsibility when using cultural artifacts in the creation of unique works of art.
• Students will engage as active participants in the College's intellectual community. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students develop a unique, considered body of work to be installed in the Mills College Art Museum as part of MFA Thesis Exhibition.

Create, Innovate & Experiment

• Students will extend their creative strengths and skills. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate original thought and technical development by creating and critiquing original works of art.
• Students will design or produce work that demonstrates independent thinking, originality, and inventiveness. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will utilize critical thinking and independent analysis to create unique works of art, engaging with contemporary concerns in art and conceptual thinking.
• Students will produce innovative solutions to real-world problems. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Through the creation of projects with various conceptual and technical constraints, students develop a visual language for addressing emerging aesthetic, social, and/or political concerns.

Program Goals:

Art Program Goals

• Possess the skills necessary to construct and present artwork. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are able to use language in describing visual ideas.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate broad knowledge of art in its historical context and shows ability to situate their work and ideas in history.
• Students demonstrate the ability to write and speak about art history in its broadest context.
• Students demonstrate knowledge of contemporary art.
• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are able to orally defend their work prior to the MFA exhibition.
• Students are able to produce an artist statement.
• Student demonstrates a personal sense of professional ethics in working on final exhibition. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate professionalism throughout the planning, installation and deinstallation of MFA exhibition.
• Students are able to work in a community setting, and understand and implement best practices of group process.
• Students are able to adhere to deadlines.

Program Goals:

Studio Art Program Goals

• Possess the skills necessary to construct and present artwork. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students through a series of both quick and longer term projects will learn physical and conceptual processes of working within Sculpture through the interdisciplinary strategies of working with form, space, and time.
• Students will learn to refine their work from in progress to finished artworks that considers the optimal context and location of installing their work.
• Students will be introduced to digital modes of working and will learn to translate the digital to the physical.
• Introduction to Time Based Sculpture, Performance art, and Conceptual Art strategies.
• Students will learn to develop the best forms for their ideas, and think of mediums in an interdisciplinary way.
• Students will present finished projects in a thoughtful manner that will lead to discussion of the art work with the class
• Students will gain further knowledge of construction techniques which include intermediate skills using hand tools, power tools, and machine knowledge within the wood and metal shops.
• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will develop an articulate sculpture based vocabulary to discuss work in a critical environment.
• This course will stimulate a critical dialogue through critiques, guests, readings, lectures, and demonstrations to give students an introduction and advanced understanding of sculpture within contemporary art.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will generate a personal approach to both Formal and Conceptual modes of investigation through process and critical thinking.
• Students will begin to identify elements and concepts specific to sculpture and examine how those concepts relate to broad notions of cultural production.
• Students will discuss both their and their peers works relationship to current artistic and cultural theory through verbal responses to readings, artist-lectures, exhibitions, and presentations.
• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students will examine how their present artistic endeavors fit into a broader art historical/critical framework and clearly articulate their findings during class discussions and critiques.
• Students will display an understand how the cross cultural history of art has informed contemporary sculptural practice.

Program Goals:

Studio Art Program Goals

• Possess the skills necessary to construct and present artwork. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are able to use language in describing visual ideas.
• Students demonstrate problem solving through experimentation both conceptually and technically.

Art Program Goals

• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Practiced)
• Students' approach and awareness of their own artistic process demonstrates an understanding of the interplay between intent, historical precedents, social awareness and aesthetic concerns.

Studio Art Program Goals

• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate self awareness of studio methodology in the articulation and actualization of ideas.
• Students have the ability to process and implement the refinement of ideas post critique.
• Students have the ability to asses and incorporate feedback post critique.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate knowledge of contemporary art.

Art Program Goals

• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse (Practiced)
• Students participate in classroom discussions and presentations to develop their skills in dialog about their field, theoretical positions, and own practice.

Studio Art Program Goals

• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate the ability to write and speak about art history in its broadest context.
• Students demonstrate broad knowledge of art in its historical context and shows ability to situate their work and ideas in history.
• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are able to produce an artist statement.
• Students are able to orally defend their work prior to the MFA exhibition.

Art Program Goals

• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Practiced)
• Students produce reviews of exhibitions and events which reflect their primary experience with the subject matter revealing a sharpened sense of observation and the ability to see undercurrents and subtexts relating to historical precedents.

Studio Art Program Goals

• Student demonstrates a personal sense of professional ethics in working on final exhibition. (Introduced, Practiced)
• Students demonstrate professionalism throughout the planning, installation and deinstallation of MFA exhibition.
• Students are able to work in a community setting, and understand and implement best practices of group process.
• Students are able to adhere to deadlines.

Program Goals:

Art Program Goals

• Possess the skills necessary to construct and present artwork. (Practiced)
• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Practiced)
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse (Practiced)
• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Practiced)

Program Goals:

Art Program Goals

• Possess the skills necessary to construct and present artwork. (Practiced)
• Students will use their intuition in originating and completing works of art.
• Thinking intuitively and conceptually, students will go beyond their artistic "comfort zone" which will lead them in new directions and may change the focus of their work at Mills.
• Students will stretch beyond their usual way of thinking in terms of media, concept, and skills, and use their imagination to originate a piece of art that they would not normally do.
• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Practiced)
• Students will make presentations relevant to the assigned reading that will illicit discussion in which the qualities of what makes art successful, moving, inspiring, or even sublime, are analyzed.
• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse (Practiced)
• Students will evaluate divergent artistic expressions in terms of their content and meaning.
• Students will choose and present supplemental readings and/or other examples of artistic expression in any media that takes an opposite point of view or different perspective on what has been presented in class to illicit discussion.
• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Practiced)
• Through class participation and reading, what students will become conversant in the language that is used by artists, theorists and critics to discuss art.

Program Goals:

Art Program Goals

• Possess the skills necessary to construct and present artwork. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will work outside their artistic comfort zone leading to new directions in their work, which they may pursue for their remaining time at Mills.
• Students will have the ability to stretch beyond their usual way of thinking in terms of media, concepts, and skills.
• Thinking intuititively and conceptually, students will use their imagination to come up with a piece of work that they would not normally do.

Studio Art Program Goals

• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students have the ability to process and implement the refinement of ideas post critique.
• Students have the ability to asses and incorporate feedback post critique.
• Students demonstrate self awareness of studio methodology in the articulation and actualization of ideas.

Art Program Goals

• Possess the capabilities of problem solving and critical analysis as it pertains to the art making process. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students will expose other in the class to other forms of artistic media with the purpose of opening their minds and illiciting discussion to analyze qualities of what makes the art successful, moving, inspiring, and possibly sublime.
• Students will make presentations on a subject relevant to the assigned readings, such as the role of gift theory, or what is good performance.
• Students will lead class discussions on assigned readings.

Studio Art Program Goals

• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate knowledge of contemporary art.
• Students demonstrate the ability to write and speak about art history in its broadest context.

Art Program Goals

• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students provide the class with supplemental readings and/or other visual examples to illicit conversation and discussion that evaluates the works in terms of whether and how it expands on or refutes the assigned readings.

Studio Art Program Goals

• Knowledge of a broad spectrum of current critical theory discourse. (Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate broad knowledge of art in its historical context and shows ability to situate their work and ideas in history.
• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students are able to produce an artist statement.
• Students are able to orally defend their work prior to the MFA exhibition.

Art Program Goals

• Possess the ability to write and speak about art history and criticism. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Through class participation and reading about works from other peoples' points of view--artists, theorists, critics, the students will become conversant in the language that is used to discuss art.
• Students will use their courage and intuition to originate and complete works of art.

Studio Art Program Goals

• Student demonstrates a personal sense of professional ethics in working on final exhibition. (Introduced, Practiced, Mastered)
• Students demonstrate professionalism throughout the planning, installation and deinstallation of MFA exhibition.
• Students are able to adhere to deadlines.