Fine Arts

Faculty

Chair: Professor Nathaniel Lew (Music)
Professors: John Devlin (Theatre), Peter Harrigan (Theatre)
Associate Professors: Brian Collier (Art & Design), William Ellis (Music), Will Mentor (Art & Design)
Assistant Professor: Becca Gurney (Art History)
Distinguished Visiting Professor: Terryl Kinder (Art History)

The Fine Arts Department houses the disciplines of art history, dance, music, theatre, and visual art, the last category including drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, digital design, and other media. With a faculty of academics who are professional, practicing 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.

Scholarship opportunities are available to incoming and returning Fine Arts students through the Fairbanks-Paulin and McCarthy Scholarship programs. The McCarthy Arts Fund, established by college benefactors Michael and Margaret McCarthy, provides further annual support for the Fine Arts Department. The Marc and Dana vanderHeyden Endowment in the Fine Arts 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. Marc vanderHeyden served as College President from 1996 to 2007.

Art & Design Learning Outcomes:

Students completing the Art & Design Major will be able to:

understand and employ the concepts, principles, and techniques of art and design,
approach art and design as fully interconnected disciplines,
develop a self-directed creative practice,
demonstrate the ability to critically analyze their work and the work of others, and
acquire the skills to make a portfolio for a range of jobs in both art and design.

Music Learning Outcomes:

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 performing from notation.

Theatre Learning Outcomes:

General: Think critically, analytically, and creatively about theatre and communicate ideas effectively in writing and through oral presentations.
Performance: Identify dramatic action in plays and determine ways to physicalize it on stage
Design and technology: Demonstrate the skills necessary to conceptualize, create and/or organize elements of a production
History, literature, and criticism: Demonstrate general knowledge of dramatic literature , history, and theory