Minor in Visual Culture

About

In the Visual Culture Minor, you’ll get a foundation in studio art, digital art and art in the humanities. You’ll also choose from a wide variety of electives that cover art from different periods of history such as antiquity, the Renaissance and the modern era.

Whether you’re an art student looking to add an art history minor to your degree or a non-art major, you’ll benefit from adding an academic approach to visual and cultural literacy.

Curriculum & Requirements

What You'll Learn

The following information comes from the official EWU catalog, which outlines all degree requirements and serves as the guide to earning a degree. Courses are designed to provide a well-rounded and versatile degree, covering a wide range of subject areas.

Visual Culture Minor

Notes:

  • some ≥300 level art courses require prerequisites (click on a course for its prerequisite details).
  • for a transfer course to potentially count towards this degree, it must be earmarked as a ≥300 level course at the college where the course was taken.
Required Courses
ART 210VISUAL CULTURE5
or ART 213 THE VISUAL ART EXPERIENCE
ART 312ART ACROSS TIME: PREHISTORY TO 17TH CENTURY5
or ART 313 ART ACROSS TIME: 18TH CENTURY TO CONTEMPORARY
ART 314THE BODY IN ART5
or ART 331 CONTEMPORARY ART
Required Visual Culture Electives–choose from the following ART courses10
ART ACROSS TIME: PREHISTORY TO 17TH CENTURY
ART ACROSS TIME: 18TH CENTURY TO CONTEMPORARY
THE BODY IN ART
HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
CONTEMPORARY ART
NATIVE NORTH AMERICAN ART
INTERNSHIP (may be repeated for credit)
ART AND COMMUNITY
ART AS SOCIAL ACT
WRITING ABOUT ART
INTERNSHIP (may be repeated for credit)
Total Credits25

Sample Courses

ART 213. THE VISUAL ART EXPERIENCE. 5 Credits.

Notes: this course is part of the Art Foundations program and is open to all art and non-art majors.
Satisfies: a BACR for humanities and arts.
Explore how the visual arts effect human life through exposure to the makers, materials, methods and meanings of art; engage with the visual art experience in a thematic manner to learn how it impacts personal, cultural and historical contexts.

Catalog Listing

ART 313. ART ACROSS TIME: 18TH CENTURY TO CONTEMPORARY. 5 Credits.

Pre-requisites: ENGL 101, ART 213 (may be taken concurrently); or permission of the instructor.
This survey traces the development of modern and contemporary art, from Watteau to Ai Weiwei. Key artworks are studied in-depth and situated in their context to highlight the effects of modern selfhood, industrialization, globalization, revolutions, and wars on art. Emphasizes how artists have engaged with questions of tradition and cultivated the shock of the new. Includes many women, African-American, and Native American artists. Provides the principles of visual analysis and library research.

Catalog Listing

ART 314. THE BODY IN ART. 5 Credits.

Cross-listed: GWSS 303, HONS 303.
Pre-requisites: ENGL 201 and junior standing.
Satisfies: a university graduation requirement–diversity.
Many ideas about race, gender, and sexuality originate in representations of the body. This theme-based survey explores how figurative art has contributed, since prehistory, to shape today’s views. Emphasis in on applying contemporary issues, such as consent and identity, to the study of historical artworks. Includes class discussions and weekly writing assignments about art historical and critical texts that examine the production and perpetuation of cultural attitudes about the body.

Catalog Listing

ART 407. ART AS SOCIAL ACT. 5 Credits.

Pre-requisites: junior standing or instructor permission.
Art has long been a catalyst for major cultural shifts. This course introduces students to the history and methods of art practice as a vehicle for social change and engagement. Students will learn about various social movements and their accompanying artistic production and will be guided through the process of researching, proposing and executing socially engaged artworks/events. Emphasis will be placed on understanding and creating artworks that promote community, collaboration and change.

Catalog Listing