Fine Arts at Haverford

Fine arts at Haverford focuses on the individual. Studio classes are small and students from beginners to majors receive individual instruction. Every student is encouraged to develop the physical and critical skills necessary to create art.

Faculty

The fine arts faculty members are: Associate Professor Ying Li, a painter; Professor Christopher Cairns, a sculptor; Professor William Williams, a photographer; and Assistant Professor Hee Sook Kim, a printmaker. The faculty are active artists exhibiting their work regularly in the Mid-Atlantic region, nationally and internationally. Visiting artists sponsored by the Distinguished Visitors Committee of the College are an active component of the teaching program.

Facilities

The Marshall Fine Arts Center is a well proportioned structure built in 1987 with large white walls and studio spaces provided with natural light from over-head sky lights. The building is equipped to provide efficient work space for painting, sculpture and photography. The foundry building has workshops for wood working and casting. The photography black-and-white and color darkrooms are outfitted with the latest enlargers and a 26-inch roller processor for printing color. Printmaking is located in Arncliffe Studio on the Bryn Mawr College campus. It is a fully equipped studio located in a renovated high-ceiling, sky-lighted 19th century Main Line manor house.

Philosophy

The philosophy of the Fine Arts Department centers on the concept that observational skills are the cornerstone of all visual art disciplines. Cognition and processing of information are in fact key skills in any discipline, whether in the humanities or in the sciences. For this reason, art at Haverford is specifically geared towards enhancing visual perception. Such finely tuned skills can be of professional and personal benefit to any person.

Curriculum

The 100 level represents our Introductory or Foundation courses and it consists of a selection of half-semester courses. A student may choose three or four out of five mediums: drawing, painting, sculpture, photography, and graphics for credit. While one half-semester course does not allow sufficient time for a beginning student to master a given medium, a half semester gives ample time for acquiring a mediumês basic skills. In each discipline, the student learns to see and learns to coordinate his/her increasing skills of interpretation and expression to create individual art works.

The 200 level courses are called "Materials and Techniques." Having gained a solid basis from the Foundation courses, the student chooses a medium to pursue in depth for a semester. At this level, the student is encouraged to explore the various materials and their uses to create a refined and distinctive body of work.

The 300 level courses are named "Experimental Studio," and continue where the 200 level courses left off. Here the student uses the acquired knowledge of materials and techniques in order to further express and broaden his/her artistic vision and ideas. In addition to scheduled classes, students are encouraged to work outside of class in the fine arts building on their own work. Adjacent faculty studios encourage this informal contact which is invaluable in learning the discipline of art making. This type of contact and mentoring is an important aspect of a studentês education in our department.

The 400 level course is "Senior Departmental Studies." The student reviews the depth and extent of experience gained, and in so doing creates a coherent body of work expressive of the student's insights and skills. At the end of the senior year the student is expected to produce a show of his or her work.

Graduates

About 20% of Haverford College students will take fine arts courses while enrolled in the College. The students who do major in fine arts and who wish to continue their education are able to get into the professional graduate art school of their choice. Our alumni are distinguished professionals active in the visual, creative arts and allied fields.