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2024-2025 Undergraduate Catalog
Art History & Visual Studies, B.A.
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This degree offers its majors a solid foundation in the art and visual cultures of Africa, Asia, and the Western tradition, with advanced courses that present differing approaches to both art history and visual studies. A major in Art History & Visual Studies provides a solid liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on skills in visual literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, and written and oral communication that are required for virtually any career path. The program also equips majors with advanced skills in visual analysis and research.
All majors are required to take a shared art history core of 15 credits. In consultation with their advisor, majors organize their upper-division course work around one of two options: art history or visual studies.
Any student earning a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree must complete a minimum of 39 hours at the 300 or above level. Depending on the option selected, at least 27 of the 39 hours are completed by the major requirements. However, students should keep this requirement in mind as they select their courses.
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College Requirements
- Music, Theatre and/or Arts Administration Credit(s): 6
- plus 39 hours at 300-level or above
Subtotal: College Required hours: 6
I. Intellectual Inquiry in Arts and Creativity
Choose one of the following courses, or a course from the approved list:
II. Intellectual Inquiry in the Humanities
Choose one of the following courses, or a course from the approved list:
III. Intellectual Inquiry in the Social Sciences
IV. Intellectual Inquiry in the Natural, Physical, and Mathematical Sciences
V. Composition and Communication I
VI. Composition and Communication II
VII. Quantitative Foundations
VIII. Statistical Inferential Reasoning
IX. Community, Culture and Citizenship in the USA
Choose one of the following courses:
X. Global Dynamics
Choose one of the following courses, or a course from the approved list:
Graduation Composition and Communication Requirement (GCCR)
Premajor Requirements
The premajor requirements enable students to develop their abilities to observe, describe, and identify visual images, objects, and structures utilizing a shared vocabulary, and to analyze and interpret them in relation to particular cultural and historical circumstances. All students take the following: 3
Plus one of the following:
(see requirements for the Art History or Visual Studies options for majors below; 3 credit hours) Plus one of the following: 3
Subtotal: Premajor hours: 9
Major Requirements
To complete this major, students must fulfill the following
- the shared curriculum core of Art History & Visual Studies courses (15 credit hours)
- one of two options in the major described below (33 credit hours);
- a capstone course (3 credit hours)
- electives (21 credit hours)
Shared Curriculum Core
Courses from the three shared curriculum core groups are designed to provide students with a broad knowledge of major developments in art history and visual studies. Students will develop skills in visual analysis, research methods, problem solving, and writing and oral communication. Subtotal: Shared Curriculum Core: 15
Select four more courses, including at least one course from each of the following three groups:
Art & Visual Studies of Non-Western Cultures
Art & Visual Studies of Europe Before the Modern Era
Art & Visual Studies of the Modern Era
Option in the Major (select one)
Both of the options in the major assume a sound knowledge of art history and visual studies provided by the shared curriculum core. Each requires upper-division art history courses and courses in one or more cognate disciplines. Majors should consult with their advisor in the Art History & Visual Studies program to select the path that best serves their future goals. Art History Option: 33
This option focuses on the development of the visual arts, particularly on the histories of artworks within a broad liberal arts tradition. Students study artistic images, objects, complexes and events representing diverse cultures within a global context. It provides majors with historical, methodological, and theoretical knowledge to interpret visual forms as expressions of historical periods and cultural values.
The discipline of art history puts strong emphasis on the acquisition of skills in written and oral communication, foreign language comprehension, critical reading, and problem solving, all leading to the pursuit of independent scholarship. These are skills useful for virtually any career path, including law and international business. However, this option specifically prepares majors to pursue post-graduate studies in art history, curatorial studies, and related humanistic disciplines, leading to careers in academia, arts administration, visual resource management, museum and curatorial professions, and similar fields.
Students who have selected the Art History option are required to take A-H 105 - WORLD ART BEFORE 1400 , which is offered as a premajor requirement option.
Foreign Language: 6-7
Complete one of the following sequences beyond the UK foreign language requirement:
Option A: Successful completion of the fourth college semester of one foreign language, German or French recommended. (Note: This may be accomplished by scoring at this level on a placement test for previous work in the foreign language.)
Option B: Successful completion of the third college semester course of one foreign language and the second college semester course of a second language. (Note: Either or both may be accomplished by scoring at the appropriate level on a placement test for previous work in the foreign languages selected.)
Option C: Demonstrate equivalent competence. Students for whom English is a second language, for instance, may use their native language to fulfill this requirement.
Upper-Division Art History & Visual Studies Courses: 12
Select one of the following courses designed to provide students with direct experience with the art object through either a museum practicum or appropriate course offering: Cognate Courses: 15
Students must complete 15 hours in courses identified in consultation with their advisors to provide context or address skills related to their course work in art history and visual studies. Such courses can come from - but are not limited to - anthropology, art studio, arts administration, classics, history, history of film, history of interior design, history of theatre, literature, music, aesthetics or philosophy. Foreign language courses over and above the foreign language requirement for the art history option are also encouraged. Capstone Course: 3
Students will demonstrate a broad knowledge of art history and visual studies as well as skills in research and written and oral communication. Electives
In addition, students must choose 21 hours of free electives.
Total Hours: minimum of 120
Visual Studies Option: 33
This option offers majors a broad interdisciplinary selection of courses and methodologies from the arts, design, humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Visual studies deal with all aspects of culture that communicate through visual means, from paintings and film to advertising and websites.
Students who choose this option may pursue further training leading to emerging careers in the “creative economy”, especially those involved with the creation, curation, dissemination, manipulation and retrieval of images. They may also pursue graduate work in visual studies, curatorial studies, cultural studies, and film studies.
Students who select the Visual Studies option are required to take A-H 101 - INTRODUCTION TO VISUAL STUDIES , offered as an option for the premajor requirement.
Foreign Language
The UK foreign language requirement satisfies the Visual Studies option. The requirement states that any first-year freshman or transfer student must demonstrate that they have completed two high school credits in a single foreign language, or two semesters at the postsecondary level. A student who has not completed the high school foreign language requirement will be required to take a two-semester foreign language at UK prior to graduation. Upper-Division Art History & Visual Studies Courses: 12
Select four of the following. To satisfy this requirement, courses must have a different subtitle from those used to satisfy the shared curriculum core, or cognate requirements: Cognate Courses: 21
Students must complete 21 hours in courses identified in consultation with their advisors that have a significant visual component, and do not have an A-H or ART prefix. These courses will have topics associated with visual or material culture, visual analysis, or aesthetics, and can come from areas such as - but not limited to - visual or material anthropology, art, architecture and design, film studies, and fashion studies. At least least three of these courses must be at the 300 level or above; students should bear in mind that some of the courses may have prerequisites. No more than three cognate courses may be in the same practice-based area of study (such as art studio, architecture studio design, arts administration, or communication). Capstone Course: 3
Students will demonstrate a broad knowledge of art history and visual studies as well as skills in research and written and oral communication.
Electives
In addition, students must choose 21 hours of free electives. Total Hours: minimum of 120
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