Program Curriculum
Program Overview
The drawing program at the University of Wyoming balances a solid foundation in observational skills with an investigation of the expressive and personal potential in the various media of drawing. Early courses in drawing provide the basis for both the technical and intellectual methods necessary to succeed in all of the media of visual expression. Drawing is understood to be at once the most basic tool in thinking visually as well as an artform in its own right.
Students begin to work primarily in the abrasive media of charcoal and conte and move into a variety of media and supports in more advanced courses, including ink and wash, graphite, and pastel. Students are expected initially to develop and strengthen their skills in perspective, proportion, value, line and composition. A wide range of model sources are used to discuss the mechanics of drawing and perception, from landscape and interior, to still life and portraits. The figure is explored extensively with a firm grounding in anatomy and structure as it relates to the artist. Later the figure is used as a jumping off point for more inventive expressive and personal interpretations. Though drawing is often a very solitary endeavor, active critiques and discussions are employed to reinforce the sense of community and the sharing of knowledge within classes. Critiques also serve as practice in the use of the essential vocabulary of visual art. Advanced students are encouraged to test the limits of the definitions they have learned in earlier courses in order to expand their approach to the drawing process. What constitutes a drawing? How and when does it begin to merge with other forms of expression? How is it uniquely separate from other methods?
Ultimately students in this program work to improve their perceptual abilities, their material process, and their conceptual interpretations in an effort to better communicate and express themselves to the world around them.
The Drawing Classes:
ART 1005: Drawing I
A foundation level drawing course introducing fundamentals of observation, artistic invention, and basic principles of perspective and composition through problems in still life, landscape, and live model. Lectures, drawing sessions, and critiques develop formal, conceptual, and technical understanding of the drawing process. (Offered fall, spring, and summer)
ART 2005: Drawing II
An intermediate level drawing course building upon fundamentals of observation, artistic invention, perspective and composition through problems in still life, landscape, explorations in wet and dry media, and color with pastels. Lectures, drawing sessions, and critiques develop formal, conceptual, expressive, and technical understanding. Prerequisite: Drawing I. (Offered fall and spring)
ART 3005: Drawing III
An advanced drawing course applying the fundamentals of drawing to creative individual problems in figure, still life, and/or landscape composition. Structured yet open assignments, lectures and critiques develop formal, conceptual, expressive, and technical understanding. Course may be repeated for a maximum of 6 credit hours. Prerequisite: Drawing II. (Offered spring)
ART 4005: Drawing IV
An advanced drawing course exploring conceptual, expressive, personal and technical limits of process and media. Individually proposed projects lead to a coherent body of work. Open discussion and structured critiques develop personal and technical understanding. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 credit hours. Prerequisite: Drawing III. (Offered spring)
ART 3052: Life Drawing I
An advanced drawing course working from a live model with an emphasis on composition, monochromatic media, drawing techniques, and the skeletal and muscular construction as related to action and proportion in the human figure. Lectures, drawing sessions, and critiques develop formal, conceptual, and technical understanding. Prerequisite: Drawing II. (Offered fall)
ART 4052: Life Drawing II
An advanced drawing course building upon figure construction fundamentals with heavy emphasis on composition, personal expression, wet and dry media, and color with pastels. Lectures, drawing sessions, and critiques develop formal, conceptual, expressive, and technical understanding. May be repeated for a maximum 9 credit hours. Prerequisite: Life Drawing I. (Offered spring)
