Foundations Curriculum

Our Foundations program has four big learning goals that will set you up for success in any of our degree programs. By the end of your Foundations coursework, we hope you will… 

  • Be an active, engaged, and curious learner.
  • Be an expansive thinker.
  • Be a thoughtful communicator and collaborator.
  • Be a capable maker. 

We believe these skills and attitudes will take you far, both in our degree program and in the world beyond. 

Courses

This four course program is designed to help you meet those big goals. You can find out more about each course below. 

ART 1001 – Foundations I 

Foundations I is an introduction to all things related to two-dimensional design and visual communication. In this course, you’ll examine color theory, compositional strategies, and become acquainted with a range of disciplines that utilize 2D surfaces, including painting, printmaking, photography, and graphic design. 

ART 1002 – Foundations II 

Foundations II is an introduction to all things related to three-dimensional design and working with materials in space. In this course, you’ll examine form, materiality, process, scale, and the relationship of the body to its environment. You’ll become acquainted with a range of disciplines that utilize 3D space, including sculpture, metals, ceramics, and fibers. 

A small green, decorative wooden chest with a handle sits on a stack of books, with many pages of text spread out on the surface below it.

Esther Landers
A young man with tousled blond hair and dark sunglasses poses in handmade armor constructed from burnt and aged Dungeons & Dragons character sheets layered over his shoulders and torso. He holds a wooden sword and wears a gauntlet wrapped in colorful trading cards, with a spiked cardboard shoulder pauldron, standing against a plain wall.

Brogen Justice
Overhead view of students kneeling and sitting around a large collaborative drawing on the floor, adding pastel color and marks to abstract black lines.
Two students seated at a woodshop worktable assembling small wooden sculptures, with tools and wood parts spread across the surface.

ART 1003 – Foundations Drawing 

Foundations Drawing is an introduction to drawing as a practice of seeing. In this course, you’ll build a technical understanding of composition, line, value, and perspective and use drawing to generate, iterate, and communicate your ideas and study the world around you. This course emphasizes the wide-ranging possibilities of drawing in relationship to many different creative practices. 

ART 1006 – Digital Foundations 

Digital Foundations is an introduction to digital media production as creative practice. In this course, you’ll explore a range of 2D, 3D, and 4D processes alongside a critical examination of contemporary digital culture. This course emphasizes research as inquiry, digital literacy, and the importance of self-education in a world of constantly changing technologies and software. Through experimental projects with imagery and text, you will learn to generate, output, analyze, archive, and translate digital assets across media. 

Student wearing safety glasses uses a scroll saw to cut wood in a workshop, with classmates and tools visible in the background.

Learning the Tools

Students in Foundations II learn how to safely use and operate tools and equipment in the wood shop. Students gain experience using everything from table saws to drill presses as they complete projects for the class.