ART THEORY AND PRACTICE

Welcome to the Department of Art Theory & Practice (AT&P) at the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, Northwestern University. The department has both an undergraduate program, offering a baccalaureate degree, and a graduate program, offering a Masters of Fine Arts degree.

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graduate

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Our two-year graduate program is best suited to students looking to pursue intense and prolonged periods of studio work in addition to academic study. The program's small size, averaging 10 students, ensures a continuous intensive exchange among faculty and graduates, resulting in a rigorous critical atmosphere in which a range of theoretical perspectives and diverse ways of making and talking about art are valued and encouraged. The backbone of the program is independent study with the core graduate faculty: Jeanne Dunning, Kelly Kaczynski, Judy Ledgerwood, Michael Rakowitz, Steve Reinke, Lane Relyea and James Valerio. The periodic addition of visiting lecturers supplements the faculty, adding further dimension and depth. Recent visiting faculty have included Cindy Bernard, Pamela Fraser, Arturo Herrera, Helen Mirra and Shirley Tse. Visiting artists and speakers play an important role as well. In addition to giving lectures that are open to all, visitors meet with every graduate student for one-on-one studio critiques.

Complimenting this are seminars, group critique courses and electives. Furthermore, every other year the department funds a graduate student study trip which includes visits with curators, gallerists, not-for-profit directors or artists. Our program is geared to not only equip our graduates for professional careers as artists and college-level teachers, but to place them on the very forefront of contemporary cultural production.

While our emphasis is on the development of individual studio practice, the program encourages parallel intellectual development in critical theory, art history and non-department electives. Opportunities to interact with Northwestern's greater research community are one of our program's greatest assets. Students may take advantage of the course offerings in related areas such as the Art History, Radio/TV/Film, Screen Cultures, Performance Studies and Critical Theory. Or they may make use of the excellent library, the advanced computer labs and the constant access to lectures by the most prestigious thinkers in a comprehensive range of fields.

 at&p course schedule

422-0 Studio Art This course has a flexible structure emphasizing the development of the individual's studio practice. 425-0 Graduate Seminar This seminar is a forum for the discussion of issues in contemporary art.

427-0 Professional Practices This seminar focuses on the issues, skills and practices pertinent to a professional career in contemporary art. Topics addressed include developing teaching skills, professional exhibition practices, giving an effective artist's talk and writing an effective artist's statement, and careers that often supplement an artist's studio practice, such as art critic, curator, arts administrator and teaching.

499-0 Independent Study Students work one-on-one with a faculty advisor to develop their individual studio practice.