Fine Arts
The Fine Arts at Haverford emphasize the individual. Studio classes are small and all students – from beginners to declared majors – receive individual, focused instruction, and are encouraged to develop the physical and critical skills necessary to create art.
The Fine Arts Department believes that observational skills are the cornerstone of all visual art disciplines. Cognition and processing of information are key skills in any discipline, whether in the humanities or in the sciences, and art at Haverford is specifically geared towards enhancing visual perception. Such finely tuned skills can be of professional and personal benefit to any person.
The Lost Wax Initiative
Watch and listen as visiting Associate Professor of Fine Arts Marianne Weil details the Lost Wax Process. (5:12)
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The Fine Arts curriculum is designed to ensure that students develop a strong arts foundation as well as a focused, honed specialty — Fine Arts majors are required to concentrate in painting, drawing, sculpture, photography or printmaking. Students begin by taking Introductory or Foundation courses, and may choose three or four out of the five mediums to explore. In each discipline, the student learns basic skills and works 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.
The 300 level courses are named "Experimental Studio," and continue where the 200 level courses left off. 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 that is invaluable in learning the discipline of art making. 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.
Fine Arts have a home in the Fine Arts Center in the South Quad, which provides efficient workspace for painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, and photography. The brand-new Foundry has workshops for woodworking 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. Haverford’s Studio Arts program combines with Bryn Mawr’s renowned art history department to provide an in-depth experience for those with strong artistic interests. Our diverse, experienced faculty is comprised of artists who actively create and show their work, and they are accessible and engaged with their students.