Current Undergraduate Courses
PLEASE NOTE:
- Times and locations of courses are published in the Public Class Schedule.
- Official Calendar Course Descriptions are available in the Undergraduate and Graduate Calendars.
- Official Course Outlines will be distributed at the first class of the term.
Fall 2024/Winter 2025
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- PROFESSOR: Morgan Currie
- DESCRIPTION: This course is a broad historical survey of different artistic traditions from prehistory to circa 1300 that explores how works of art were produced and the roles that they played in their societies. Selected examples will be chosen to make the quantity of material manageable and introduce principal ideas and attitudes towards visual culture. Students will gain the ability to recognize images from a wide range of times and places, and how they both reflect and shape the societies and cultures where they originated. Course activities develop basic formal and contextual analysis skills that are valuable in today’s image-saturated world.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Three-part assignment (45% total), Midterm test (15%), Final Exam (25%), Tutorial (15%)
- READINGS: Selection of online readings and supplementary materials
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- PROFESSOR: Peter Coffman
- DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to the major monuments and themes of Western architecture from prehistory to the Renaissance. It will also include reference to some monuments of the Middle East and western Asia. Formal and technological developments will be explored through a variety of building types including religious, military, commercial and domestic. In all cases, the goal will be to situate the monuments on a broad cultural and historical landscape, connecting them to the ideas, events and circumstances that originally gave them meaning. It will be taught in a blended format, with asynchronous, online lecture combined with weekly in-person meetings.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Details TBA; will include weekly in-person and online activities, quizzes, participation, a short essay, and a final exam.
- READINGS: TBA
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- PROFESSOR: GÜL KALE
- DESCRIPTION: This course will examine global architectural history and theory from 1500 to the present. It explores the architectural and urban history of diverse regions such as Europe, India, Africa, the Americas, the Middle East, China, and Japan through key buildings and infrastructure. The course will lay the framework for understanding the fabrication, perception, and experience of the built environment and artifacts by different communities.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA
- READINGS: TBD
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- PROFESSOR: Stacy Ernst
- DESCRIPTION: What does it mean to make art in Canada, and what can artists tell us about what it means to live here, in this place? This introductory survey course will focus on visual production in Canada from 1850 to 1989. While we will address canonical artworks that shaped early understandings of Canadian identity, we will also highlight the contributions of artists who have been on the margins of the canon in order to expand and destabilize it. We will consider painting, sculpture, installation art, conceptual art, textiles, photography, and video art made by Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists. At the end of the course, students will be familiar with the diverse breadth of art created in Canada. They will be able to visually analyze and consider artworks in their respective social, political, and cultural contexts using art historical language, terminology, and methodology.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBC but will likely include attendance, in-class mid-term test, short writing assignments, and final exam.
- READINGS: We will be using a text, The Visual Arts in Canada: The Twentieth Century and supplemental readings made available through Brightspace.
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- PROFESSOR: Birgit Hopfener
- DESCRIPTION: The course provides an introduction to Chinese art history and its historical and cultural contexts. Based on close examinations of art objects and their respective cultural, historical, religious and socio-political contexts of production, the seminar introduces ritual bronzes, the tomb of the first Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, Buddhist art, calligraphy, ink painting, garden culture and ceramics as central research subjects in Chinese art history. We will study forms, topics, materials, techniques and iconographies of Chinese art and visual culture in relation to certain worldviews such as ancestral cult, Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism. The focus of the course is on pre-modern art, however occasionally students will be introduced to contemporary artists who critically engage with Chinese art traditions.
METHOD OF EVALUATION: Attendance and participation , various short in-class writing assignments, 4 quizzes, 1 x minutes of lecture, writing workshop in Carleton incentive program - READINGS: All mandatory readings will be made available through BrightspaceRecommended background readings:Clunas, Craig, Art in China, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.Ebrey Buckley, Patricia, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010 (2nd edition).Powers, J. Martin; Katherine R. Tsiang (eds.), A Companion to Chinese Art, Chichester: Wiley, 2016. (Full text also available online at MacOdrum Libary)
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- PROFESSOR: Gül Kale
- DESCRIPTION: This course is an examination of Islamic architecture and art from the medieval period to the 19th century. The exploration of theoretical ideas, art and architectural practices, socio-cultural foundations of arts will open the ground to understand architectural making and thinking in historical contexts. Architecture’s role in culture, religion, politics, and urban transformations in cities such as Istanbul, Cordoba, and Isfahan will be explored. The course will draw on the literary, material, and visual cultures of the period along with buildings and infrastructure.
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- PROFESSOR: Yelda Nasifoglu
- DESCRIPTION: This course is an examination of architecture from the late medieval period to the 18th century with a focus on the European and Islamic worlds and their cross-cultural interactions with the world. The early modern period, spanning roughly between 1400 and 1750, was a transformative era for the development of architecture in our contemporary sense. This was a time of increased exchanges between Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, with complex results that included colonialism and attempts at socio-cultural and religious conversion. It saw the development of the Renaissance and competing geographical interpretations of ancient cultures, the explosive influence of print culture, the Scientific Revolution, and the rise of epistolary dissemination of ideas. Architecture was both influenced by these developments and became a vehicle for their growth and dramatic expansion. Taking on an interdisciplinary approach, this course will explore the development of architectural ideas and practices across diverse cultural and geographical landscapes. It will draw on the literary, material, and visual cultures of the period, along with buildings and infrastructure, to offer a critical and cross-cultural learning experience to the students
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- PROFESSOR: Mitchell Frank
- DESCRIPTION: This course surveys mostly painting, but also architecture and sculpture in the long nineteenth century (1789-1914). The focus will be on developments in European art, but we will also move geographically to North America and elsewhere. The course, organized chronologically by period, begins with Neoclassicism and Romanticism and then explores Realism, Impressionism, and Post-Impressionism. Through lectures, readings, and research, we will develop different ways of interpreting and viewing the art of this period in its historical and social contexts.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Evaluation methods will likely include in-class writing assignments, in-class tests, and a final exam. There will also be an option to write an essay. Details will be available on the course outline
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- PROFESSOR: Peter Coffman
- DESCRIPTION: The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries were a time of enormous intellectual and creative activity, social upheaval, and technological innovation. The architecture of the period both reflected and informed its turbulent and fascinating era. This course will explore the styles, building types, key monuments, historical setting and intellectual frameworks of architecture ranging from the strictest Neo-Classicism through revived medievalism and the restless experimentation with new forms, materials, and building types that characterized this era. It will be taught in a blended format, combing asynchronous online lectures with weekly in-person meetings.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Students will be evaluated based on a variety of assignments, including weekly online activities, quizzes, participation, and a final essay or design assignment (students choose which).
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- PROFESSOR: Peter Coffman
- DESCRIPTION: What does architecture look like, sound like, smell like? How do we best communicate our experience of the designed environment? These are some of the questions this course explores through a series of site visits, class activities and multimedia projects.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Students will be evaluated through participation in class and work on a wide variety of projects including descriptive and analytical writing, photography and podcasting.
- READINGS: Required texts will be posted through the library’s digital reserves service ARES.
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- PROFESSOR: Carol Payne
- DESCRIPTION: Examination of techniques, materials and institutions of art history; lectures and workshops on art historical research and writing, the materials of art, professional skills; site visits to art institutions.
Includes: Experiential Learning Activity
Prerequisite(s): ARTH 1100 and ARTH 1101, or permission of the discipline. Restricted to students enrolled in the Art History B.A. or B.A. Honours.
Lectures or seminars three hours a week. - METHOD OF EVALUATION: Evaluation will be divided between brief reflection papers, a longer assignment, and participation. Exact breakdown TBA
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- PROFESSOR: Michael Windover
- DESCRIPTION: How is architectural history done? What methods are used and how has the methodology of architectural history changed over time? Through a combination of close, critical reading and class activities, this course trains students how to use some research methods and provides opportunities to put them into practice.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA, but will include written assignments, participatory activities, and the creation of an online, multimedia project
- READINGS: Required texts will be posted through the library’s digital reserves service ARES.
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- PROFESSOR: Jill Carrick
- DESCRIPTION: The study of current methodologies and research tools employed by art historians. Building on ARTH 3100, this course examines historiography and methodology, i.e. the writing of art history and the methods and theories that underpin art historical texts.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Attendance, Participation, Weekly Journal, Class Presentation, Reading Responses, Tests. Details TBA
- READINGS: Online readings.
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- PROFESSOR: Susan Downie
- DESCRIPTION: We will discuss the three cultures in Greece during the Bronze Age (Cycladic, Minoan, and Mycenaean) and use archaeological evidence to reconstruct their societies and beliefs. Where available, written records will also be addressed, but most focus will be on architecture, sculpture, pottery, painting, iconography and other elements of material culture.
The course will run in hybrid format with online synchronous lectures and in-person tests and exams (held at Carleton). - METHOD OF EVALUATION: Exact requirements TBA, but there will be a midterm test and final exam in addition to a research project.
- READINGS: Readings will be available online via Carleton’s MacOdrum library.
- Cross-listed with: CLCV 3306 and RELI 3732
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- PROFESSOR: Gül Kale
- DESCRIPTION: This course will look at some major global cities to understand architectural and urban transformations. Selected cases will critically explore how historical sites and architectural heritage —from both modern and early modern periods— are restored and repurposed today. Buildings, infrastructures, and historical sites in cities such as Istanbul, Beirut, Berlin, Jerusalem, Buenos Aires, Montreal, New York, London, and Paris will be examined in their hisotrical, cultural, and social contexts through selected architectural projects and readings.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA.
- READINGS: TBA
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- PROFESSOR: Carmen Robertson
- DESCRIPTION: This course offers an in-depth examination related to how Indigenous artists of Turtle Island and beyond have formulated a politicized discourse of resistance through their artistic expressions in order to prompt transformative and decolonizing healing within communities. This course will include readings, analysis of diverse forms of art, and critical analysis of art exhibitions and includes a final research paper and oral presentation. Divided into six major themes, including Visual Sovereignty; Land; Indigenous Epistemologies; Traditions; Political Resistance, discussions will activate relational ways of knowing through art.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Group Analysis (20%); Exhibition Review (25%) Research Paper (35%); Oral Presentation (10%); Participation (10%)
- READINGS: TBA
- Cross-Listed with: ARTH 4005/INDG 3901/INDG 4011
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- PROFESSOR: Gül Kale
- DESCRIPTION: This course takes a cross-disciplinary as well as intersectional approach to the topic of race and representation. Spanning a variety of artistic mediums including film, music, visual art and architecture, this course will explore the politics of representation, and the challenges as well as opportunities of producing works by artists, makers, and collectives from Black, Indigenous and racialized communities.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA
- READINGS: TBA
- Cross-listed with: FILM 3901A & MUSI 3200A
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- PROFESSORS: Pansee Abou ElAtta
- DESCRIPTION: From the origins of the Louvre to the upcoming Cleopatra film, Egypt and its history have been portrayed in countless complicated, contradictory, and politically-loaded ways. Through lectures examining references as diverse as visual art, film, fashion, comics, video games, and architecture, this course will unpack contemporary and historical representations of Egypt, as well as the social structures that underlie them.
In this course, students will learn to:
– examine the ways that Egyptological representations shape and are shaped by their historical, social, and political contexts;
– use critical theory to analyze texts, artworks, and media, and
– evaluate and critique contemporary media representations of Egypt. - METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA
- READINGS: Course pack and online readings.
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- PROFESSOR: Paul Jasen
- DESCRIPTION: This course is designed for emerging arts (and design) professionals in any field. Our focus is on developing fundamental skills in digital media production that will be of use to students planning careers in the arts sector or related industries. Through lessons, case studies, workshopping and collaborative production sessions, students will gain experience in the following areas: website design and development, image editing, audio recording and podcasting, digital photography, streaming video, designing for print, social media integration and writing for the web. Students will leave this course having developed a multi-faceted portfolio project related to their field, as well as confidence and demonstrated proficiency using current media production tools and platforms.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: In-class workshopping activities; small, skills-building assignments; production of a multi-part media project on a topic related to your field or creative practice.
- READINGS AND TECHNOLOGY: TBA
- This course is cross-listed as MUSI 3201D and FILM 3901B.
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- PROFESSOR: Destiny Kirumira
- DESCRIPTION: This course examines the genesis of Black architecture during slavery across North America, the African continent, and the Caribbean Islands. It will provide a critical and timely introduction to the role of architecture in the spatial, aesthetic, and social construction of race as it pertains to Blackness, with a special emphasis on the design of slave castles, ships, and plantations. The course will consider the architectural relationships and tools that were used to make race visible, discernible, and self-evident and invite students to examine how these relationships continue to exist in our modern world today.
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- PROFESSOR: Peter Coffman
- DESCRIPTION: This course will have students working in collaboration a community group (the Hintonburg Community Association) to research the heritage architecture of an Ottawa neighbourhood, and produce digital content based on that research. Some student projects may ultimately be published online, on the Associations heritage page or on HTA’s own Virtual Museum of Architecture in Ottawa.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA.
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- Cross-listed with: ARTH 5403W
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- PROFESSOR: Carmen Robertson
- DESCRIPTION: This course offers an in-depth examination related to how Indigenous artists of Turtle Island and beyond have formulated a politicized discourse of resistance through their artistic expressions in order to prompt transformative and decolonizing healing within communities. This course will include readings, analysis of diverse forms of art, and critical analysis of art exhibitions and includes a final research paper and oral presentation. Divided into six major themes, including Visual Sovereignty; Land; Indigenous Epistemologies; Traditions; Political Resistance, discussions will activate relational ways of knowing through art.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Group Analysis (20%); Exhibition Review (25%) Research Paper (35%); Oral Presentation (10%); Participation (10%)
- READINGS: TBA
- Cross-Listed with: ARTH 4005/INDG 3901/INDG 4011
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- PROFESSOR: Michael Windover
- DESCRIPTION: Artefacts provide evidence for design historians and can be used to help narrate histories. They can prompt us to think about design, use, manufacture, consumption, the various spaces they have inhabited over their lives, and the way they communicate. This seminar will consider how artefacts (or design objects) can contribute to histories of design in Canada. We will work directly with the “xDX collection,” a group of artefacts once held by the Design Exchange (DX), an institution dedicated to promoting design in Canada but which ceased museum operations in 2019. What stories can these objects tell us? Students will have opportunities to carry out hands-on, object-oriented research, visit archives, and engage with professionals in the field.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: TBA (Students may produce exhibits and/or annotated 3-D images of objects, in addition to more traditional academic work)
- READINGS: TBA – Readings will be posted on ARES or made available on the course Brightspace page
- Cross-listed with: ARTH 5112
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- PROFESSOR: Morgan Currie
- DESCRIPTION: Semiotics and reception hermeneutics, theories of signification and interpretation respectively are philosophical discourses relevant to Art History as a discipline and visual communication as a process. This course will consist of a series of investigations into pertinent theoretical issues with specific attention paid to how these apply to our own experiences and understanding of works of art. Over the semester, students will develop a theoretical analysis of an artwork of interest to them around themes of signification, reception, and the resulting problematics. The critical value of these tools rests in the ability to inform almost any Art Historical context, and there is no better demonstration of this then to experience it directly.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Research project (60%), article discussions (20%), participation (20%).
- READINGS: Selection of online articles and book excerpts
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- PROFESSOR: Jill Carrick
- DESCRIPTION: This course focuses on art produced in France during the swinging ‘Sixties.’ Found-object art, performance, painting, and sound-poetry were just a few of the genres experimented with by artists keen to engage with the pressing issues of their time. Emphasis is placed on the social, historical, and artistic contexts of production of art in France, and on contemporary re-readings of its significance.
Key themes include politics and contestation, memory, decolonialism, and feminism; key genres include Neo-Dada, Nouveau Réalisme, food art, performance, and found-object art. - METHOD OF EVALUATION: Research essay, seminar participation, reading responses. Details TBA.
- READINGS: Online readings.
- Cross-listed with: ARTH 5115W
Summer 2024
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- PROFESSOR: Sheena Ellison
- DESCRIPTION: This course is a survey of Western painting and sculpture from the Renaissance to the present. Because we will be covering a great deal of material in only one semester, the nature of the course is necessarily selective. The aim of the course is to introduce students to some of the major monuments, issues and themes in Western art. Through lectures, readings, and research, we will develop different ways of interpreting and viewing works of art in their historical and social contexts.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Weekly Reflection Papers (25%); Midterm Exam (25%); Weekly Participation (20%); Final Exam (30%)
- READINGS: NA
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- PROFESSOR: Alessandra Mariani
- DESCRIPTION: This course features the development of the built environment from the Renaissance to the present. Primarily focused on culturally significant Western architecture, it includes some references to non-Western buildings. Buildings and key architectural projects will be considered in relation to their cultural, social, political, and economic contexts. They will be analyzed through the concepts that gave them their form, their materiality, and their function. Students will gain an understanding of the language of architecture and its evolution, through a diversity of programs and typologies, as well as the technology that made them possible. The course will explore the following themes: the architecture of faith and power, image and representation, the role of architecture, the geometrization of space, rationalism and mechanization, eclecticism, resistance movements, form and function, globalization and formal experimentation.
- METHOD OF EVALUATION: Online quizzes, Formal analysis, Final exam.
- READINGS: TBD
Previous terms:
- 2023-2024 Course Listings (F/W/S)
- 2022-2023 Course Listings (F/W/S)
- 2021-2022 Course Listings (F/W/S)
Courses in the BA programs
The goals of the majors and honours program in Art History are to give students a thorough knowledge of the history of art, and to engage them critically in the current debates within the discipline and in the humanities in general. Such an education provides students with an awareness and understanding of various cultures as well as an appreciation of cultural difference. It also enables them to think and look critically. Students gain important communication skills, verbal and oral, through exchanging ideas in the classroom and writing research papers.
This training gives students a curiosity for intellectual endeavours, as well as a critical advantage that is necessary for professional life. It also provides them with the communication and research skills that are demanded in a variety of workplaces. Finally, our thorough training in art historical matters enables students to go on to studies at the graduate level, as many of our students do.