Art History (ARTH)

Program Option: B.A.

A St. Kate's art history major covers the depth and breadth of Western art history, specializing in contemporary issues in art and the work of women. You will study and analyze visual art from ancient times through contemporary art, engaging with questions about the role of art and critically reflecting on the contributions of visual art in our culture. St. Kate's offers classes that focus on modern and contemporary art, such as Modern Art, Contemporary Art in the U.S., Latin American Art and Women in Art. In this program, you combine academic studies in art history with foundation studies in studio art.

This major prepares you for gallery and museum work and graduate work in art history and museum studies.

Located in the Visual Arts Building, we have first-class facilities and studios, including traditional ceramic, painting, drawing, printmaking and sculpture studios, as well as a photography and state-of-the-art computer lab. The Visual Resources Library has more than 30,000 images and offers you an opportunity to work there, capturing and cataloging artwork.

As an art history major, you will be encouraged to participate in activities at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery. Located in the Visual Arts Building on the St. Paul campus, it features national and regional artists, with an emphasis on the work of women. The Gallery functions as a community resource offering special workshops and lectures for students in conjunction with most exhibitions. The culmination of each exhibition season is the annual Senior Exhibition, showing the best work of graduating studio art majors.

St. Kate's is located in the heart of the vibrant Twin Cities arts community, ranked ninth among mid-sized U.S. cities in terms of the arts, including the visual arts. Major museums in the Twin Cities include the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Walker Art Center, both within minutes of St. Kate's. Many other smaller museums, galleries and sculpture parks await your visit.

The same vibrant arts community that makes the Twin Cities a great place to view first-rate art also makes this a great place when it comes to finding an internship or your first professional position. Art history interns have the opportunity to observe and help with appraisals of fine art and antiques, research and many other activities related to the art market. The Catherine G. Murphy Gallery is an excellent internship for art history majors, working with exhibiting artists or researching historical shows.

A minimum cumulative grade point average of B (3.0) must be earned for course work in the art history major. Transfer courses, substitutions, courses taken in foreign studies programs and at other colleges in the ACTC require the approval of the department chair.

Courses considered for transfer credit must be comparable in content, purpose and standards to courses offered by the department. As a transfer student, you will submit your academic transcript for evaluation of your record. Final determinations of transfer credits that apply to your major and placement are made by the department faculty at that time.

 See also: Education - Visual Arts with K-12 Teaching Licensure, Studio Art

Major Requirements:

Seven art history courses including:
ARTH 1100 Introduction to Art History: Ancient through Medieval
ARTH 1110 Introduction to Art History: Renaissance to Modern
ARTH 2650 Modern Art History
ARTH 2900 Latin American Art (non-Western art history course) or ARTH 1150 Ways of Seeing
ARTH 3630 Women in Art
ARTH 3700 Renaissance and Baroque
ARTH 4000 Methods in Art History

Required supporting studio art courses: (must be taken for a letter grade)
ART 1000 Two-Dimensional Design
ART 1010 Three-Dimensional Design
ART 2250 Art and Technology

Required supporting course:
PHIL 2900 Philosophy of the Arts (also fulfills the liberal arts core requirement in philosophy) or City Arts through the HECUA Program.

Recommended course:
ART 4604 Slide Library Internship

Petitioning to the major:
The art history applicant petitions for admission to the major during her sophomore year.

Art history majors satisfy the Writing Requirement for Majors by completing ARTH 2650. You complete the Liberal Arts and Sciences Core Writing Requirement with three other writing-intensive courses (CORE 1000 and CORE 3990, and any other writing-intensive course in another department).