Fine Arts

Faculty

Chair: Professor Peter Harrigan
Professors: Catherine Hurst, Susan Summerfield
Associate Professors: John Devlin, Nathaniel Lew, Will Mentor
Assistant Professors: Brian Collier, William Ellis
Henry Fairbanks Visiting Scholar in the Humanities: Nicholas Kahm
Distinguished Visiting Professor: Terryl Kinder

The Fine Arts are important manifestations of the intellectual growth of the educated person. The liberal arts program at Saint Michael’s College recognizes that all students should be aware of the significance of artistic media against a background of history and literature. Therefore, the department offers majors and minors in several disciplines and is part of the liberal studies requirement of the College.

The Fine Arts Department houses the disciplines of fine and performing arts: art, dance, theatre, and music. With a faculty of academics who are professional, producing artists in each of these areas, the department provides a broad-based understanding of the practice, the history, the literature, and the theory of each discipline.

Fine Arts: Art Learning Outcomes

In First Sequence courses, students develop perception, creativity and discipline through a combination of guided exercises that introduce visual concepts including line, value, color theory, form, perspective and other varieties of spatial composition.

Students in introductory survey courses in art history develop proficiency in recognition and interpretation of visual styles, and also a broad theoretical understanding of the functions of art in a wide range of human cultures.

In Second Sequence courses, students develop the skills to formulate and resolve self-designed artistic problems or programs through directed study, often of a thematic topic.

In Elective courses, students develop visual perception and skill in a variety of mediums, and are trained to identify and discuss sophisticated visual concepts.

Students in upper-level seminars in art and/or architectural history develop more advanced critical, analytic, and communications skills through writing- and research-intensive assignments and presentations.

Students gain methodological and historical understanding through in-depth focus on specialized topics.

In Third Sequence courses, most notably in the art “tutorial,” students produce, with guidance, a thematically coherent and complete body of work that is then exhibited in the McCarthy art gallery.

Fine Arts Music Learning Outcomes:

Students will demonstrate…

Critical listening skills, i.e., the ability able to identify and analyze by ear and at a high level of detail a variety of different musical styles, both Western and non-Western, from classical, popular, and folk music.

Proficiency in musical notation and the ability to analyze deeply musical structures and styles of the West from their notation.

Discipline-specific critical reading skills, i.e., the ability to understand, analyze and critique complex and specialized written texts about music.

Articulate and accurate use of specialized music vocabulary in both writing and speech with the ability to express tastes and opinions about a wide range of musical repertory with reference to specific musical detail.

Regular public performance in the large ensembles and in solo or small ensemble settings, with substantial improvement in performance skills on one or more instruments, with an emphasis on improved performance proficiency in music notation.

Fine Arts Theatre Learning Outcomes:

Students will demonstrate the ability to:

Analyze text, performance and design from various viewpoints, using various technical/artistic languages (directing/acting/design/theoretical)

Communicate responses to text and performance from a personal viewpoint

Acquire general knowledge of dramatic literature, history and practice

Acquire general knowledge of major theories, artists, styles

Communicate ideas in the language of theatre studies through written, oral or other artistic modes

Develop an awareness of the actor’s physical and vocal instrument

Acquire general knowledge of both organic, psychophysical methods and external approaches to acting

Experience dramatic action in relation to physical/vocal/emotional/creative stimuli

Create and sustain the creative life of a character

Experience various acting styles

Analyze texts for performance using various technical/artistic languages

Research acting pedagogy and its application to contemporary texts

Build a portfolio to compete in the theatre job market

Analyze a dramatic text in terms of form, style and structure

Communicate their interpretation of the text to actors, designers, technicians

Experience dramatic action in relation to physical/vocal/emotional/creative stimuli

Acquire general knowledge of staging techniques and composition

Experience contemporary realistic theatre

Experience historical, innovative or experimental styles

Research modern and contemporary theatre directors and analyze their influence on theatre today

Build a portfolio to compete in the theatre job market

The McCarthy Arts Fund, established by college benefactors Michael and Margaret McCarthy, provides annual support for the Fine Arts Department.

The Marc and Dana vanderHeyden Endowment in the Fine Arts (2006) honors the legacy of Dana and Marc vanderHeyden while enhancing the understanding and enjoyment of the fine arts at Saint Michael’s College and in the surrounding community. The fine arts include the graphic arts, generally including drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, literature, music, dramatic art, and dancing and photography. Marc vanderHeyden served as College President from 1996 to 2007.