PURPOSE

The College of Fine Arts offers preprofessional and professional education in the arts disciplines and opportunities for nonmajors to become culturally literate through participation and involvement in the creative and performing arts.

At the graduate level, the college provides students the opportunity to participate with faculty mentors in research, performance and performance practices, and other creative activities.

As the largest and most diverse fine arts academic unit in the Southwest, and one of the largest in North America, the College of Fine Arts has an implicit responsibility to maintain quality and leadership in all aspects of its activities. Through its programs in art, dance, music, and theatre, the college reflects a wide range of challenges facing the artist and scholar into the 21st century.

ORGANIZATION

The College of Fine Arts houses the School of Art, the Department of Dance, the School of Music, the Department of Theatre, the University Art Museum, and the Institute for Studies in the Arts. An average of 2,000 students per semester enroll as majors in various degree programs offered through these units. Approximately one third of these are graduate students.

GRADUATE PROGRAMS

Faculty in the School of Art, Department of Dance, School of Music, and Department of Theatre offer both research and professional degrees through the Graduate College: the M.A., Master of Fine Arts, Master of Music, Doctor of Musical Arts, and Ph.D. degrees. A full range of majors and concentrations is available.

ADMISSION REQUIREMENTS

Admission requirements vary according to degree programs. However, applicants must first meet all admission requirements of the Graduate College. Most programs require a bachelor’s degree with a major in the selected area; many of them also require an audition. See the specific degree program for pertinent admission requirements.

SPECIAL PROGRAMS

Together with faculty, visiting scholars, and artists-in-residence, graduate students in all fields of the College of Fine Arts participate in dynamic, innovative programs. The creative energy that infuses the visual and performing arts finds expression in research and study.

The Visual Arts Research Studios in the School of Art conduct research in historical and contemporary technologies in the visual arts. This program provides the only studio environment of its kind in this country. It brings together artists, master printers, and photographers to encourage collaboration and research. Graduate students are appointed to assist studio personnel in the planning and production of projects in the Print Research Facility, the Photography Collaborative facility, and the Pyracantha Press.

The School of Art also offers opportunities to explore and refine a new artistic medium: computer graphics. Students may work with software for “painting,” solid modeling, animated solid modeling, and live video mapping. While computer graphics makes use of the latest technology, other areas preserve and revitalize established media. The neon studio contributes to the revival of interest in neon as an artistic medium and trains students in this difficult craft. The Northlight Gallery has also become known internationally for photographic exhibitions. Graduate students gain valuable experience in the gallery.

Recognized as one of the top programs in the country, the Department of Dance emphasizes the choreography, performance, and theory of modern dance. Nationally prominent faculty and visiting artists create repertory for dance majors and for the Dance Arizona Repertory Theatre (DART), a student touring outreach company. An ambitious performance program offers to the public several concerts each year with additional works created and performed by graduate and undergraduate students. Students work closely with major artists and companies who visit campus annually, and with researchers in the areas of dance science, dance in relation to technology, dance music composition, labanotation, and sound and video production. ASU students and faculty have consistently taken top honors at the regional and national festivals of the American College Dance Festival Association. The department recently was selected to host the National Festival, which produced seven concerts and over 50 master classes in four days.

As the research center for the College of Fine Arts, the Institute for Studies in the Arts serves as a laboratory for the development and funding of creative ideas and for the exploration of new tools and technologies for artistic expression, a network for communication among creative scholars both within and outside the arts, and a resource base for the documentation, evaluation, and dissemination of research in the arts. Through technical and monetary support, the institute sponsors a wide variety of projects that address its mission of experimentation and innovation.

Faculty in the School of Music include a wide range of performers, teachers, conductors, composers, and scholars, whose knowledge and guidance support the training of students in the Doctor of Musical Arts and master’s degree programs. Individuals who hold graduate degrees from ASU’s School of Music hold prestigious performing and university teaching positions throughout the nation. The graduate programs are indeed comprehensive and provide for wide and diverse opportunities for students in performance, course work, and research.

Three concentrations are available in the M.F.A. in Theatre program: acting, scenography, and theatre for youth. The concentration in acting is based on a conservatory model, providing performance opportunities in mainstage and studio production. The Ph.D. in Theatre program also offers a concentration in theatre for youth.

The Department of Theatre, with its strong playwriting program, has a special interest in new scripts that bring a wealth of professional productions and workshops to campus for the benefit of all students. In recent years, two plays by Pulitzer prize-winning playwrights have premiered on campus, and The Genesis Project of new play workshops is cosponsored annually with the Arizona Theatre Company, the state League of Resident Theatres (LORT) company. The Department of Theatre takes special pride in its nationally and internationally acclaimed theatre for youth program, which provides comprehensive graduate training and attracts students, scholars, and visitors from around the world. Graduate students are challenged to excel in every aspect of theatrical training. They are offered acting, directing, and other production opportunities for mainstage, studio, and touring shows, as well as research and teaching opportunities on and off campus. Students also organize and participate in a biennial International Youth Arts Festival that brings many multitalented artists and thousands of students to campus. The program has developed Hayden Library’s Child Drama Collection, which includes rare books, plays, and personal and national association archives. It is the most complete and comprehensive collection in the English-speaking world.

Students in the scenography program are actively involved in all aspects of design and technology for mainstage and studio productions and receive regional and national awards on a regular basis for their work. Students may specialize in a single design area or the more comprehensive scenography.

A multiethnic theatre program provides opportunities for students to view and work with professional and semiprofessional multiethnic productions on campus.

The playwriting program enriches graduate study and brings together talented students with those who practice the theatrical arts.

The M.F.A. in Creative Writing encourages graduate students to work closely with writers of drama, fiction, and poetry, and with directors and producers from the Departments of English and Theatre. This interdisciplinary program, involving the artistic, research, and teaching interests of faculty in these departments, offers students a unique opportunity to tailor a course of study to fit individual needs, talents, and goals.

COLLEGE FACILITIES

The arts programs are housed in the following buildings: Art Building; Dixie Gammage Hall; Physical Education Building East; Gammage Center for the Performing Arts; Matthews Center; Matthews Hall; the J. Russell and Bonita Nelson Fine Arts Center, which includes the University Art Museum; the 496-seat Paul V. Galvin Playhouse; six theatre studios; a 7,000-square-foot Experimental Dance Lab; and a video lab. The Music Building and expansion wing house four performance halls ranging in size from the 125-seat Recital Hall to the 500-seat Music Theatre and the 350-seat Katzin Concert Hall, which is used primarily for solo and chamber music recitals. The Katzin Concert Hall contains a nine-foot Hamburg Concert Steinway piano. The new 175-seat Organ Hall was designed to house the Paul Fritts Tracker Organ, an instrument reflecting the aesthetics and style of North Germany organ building in the 17th century. The Theatre Department also stages student series in the renovated Lyceum Theatre. Many of these facilities are equipped with studios and laboratories, where needed.

The University Art Museum’s collections are housed in a large complex of galleries and art study rooms in two locations: the Nelson Fine Arts Center and the second floor of the Matthews Center. The Oliver B. James Collection of American Art ranges from the early 18th century to the contemporary and includes major works by Stuart, Ryder, Homer, and the Ash Can School painters. Master works by great print-makers such as Durer, Rembrandt, Whistler, and Hogarth are often featured in special exhibitions selected from the university’s extensive print collection.

The gallery devoted to Latin American art features folk art as well as paintings by celebrated 20th-century artists Rivera, Siquerios, and Tamayo. The museum also displays many fine examples of 19th- and 20th-century crafts, paintings, and sculpture.

The contemporary art holdings include works by Vernon Fisher, Leon Golub, Sue Coe, Luis Jimenez, and Robert Colescott. Exhibitions curated by the museum emphasize contemporary art and new media, crafts, and Mexican art.

All units have developed computer facilities for graduate student training. Also refer to the description of computing facilities and services.

ADVISING

Advising is handled as a decentralized activity within the college. To offer personalized attention, each academic unit establishes its own graduate advisement procedures. Students are encouraged to make appointments through the central office of their major discipline.

ACCREDITATION

While all of the arts programs in the college meet or exceed standards established by various arts accrediting agencies, the School of Music and the Department of Theatre hold formal memberships; the School of Music by the National Association of Schools of Music, and the Department of Theatre by the National Association of Schools of Theatre.

1998–99 Graduate Catalog Table of Contents

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