Course Descriptions

American Documentary Tradition

The study of American documentary fosters an appreciation for the use of mass media in shaping civic discourse, creating public memory and framing social issues. The course will focus on the use of photography, film and writing to reflect major social upheavals during the 20th century, with particular emphasis on the Depression. Study of individual works and artists will be contextualized historically, with attention to issues of racism, poverty, immigration and labor conditions.

Approaching Beethoven (HON 373)

What is it about Beethoven? He is large mountain in a landscape of plains. Is it his hair (subject of a recent bestseller)? Is it his birthplace (chosen as the capital of the German Federal Republic in 1949)? Is it that his music is so closely associated with Christmas in Japan? Is it because Schroeder always plays Beethoven in Peanuts? How do you approach such a mountain? Is there any hope of reaching the summit without a guide? What route do you take? Do you have the proper equipment?

In this course we will investigate a variety of approaches through books, films, cartoons and, of course, the music, too.

Art and Artists of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance represents a flowering of the arts in the African-American community following World War I that included poetry, jazz, painting, sculpture and literature. This course wil examine the art itself, and the underlying ideas that nourished them. This is a Diversity Intensive class.

Art and Ideology

From the ancients to the moderns, from first peoples to post-moderns art has served to both reinforce and subvert dominant cultural practices and political discourse. Drawing on the work of cultural theorists and working artists, writers, poets and film makers, this course explores how art has been used to resist hegemonic and unjust regimes, as well, as in, self-conscious efforts to build reflexive communities through an understanding of the complexity of the human condition and political experience. The course also explores the question of whether political art can move beyond propaganda and whether art for arts sake is a liberal aesthetic ideal worth preserving. Works by Bertolt Brecht, Murakami Haruki, Anna Deavere Smith, Michelangelo Antonioni, and the photographer Robert Frank, among others, will be studied, analyzed and emulated in field work assignments.

Art and Place

As human beings place is essential to our experience. And yet while we may think we know what "place"is, artists, philosophers, geographers, and postcolonial thinkers have their own and very different ways of examining, questioning, describing, documenting and (re)creating place. Exploring their approaches in relation to themes of home, sustainability, identity, nationalism, diaspora, displacement, placelessness, experience of space and place, and landscape should give us a better understanding of our own place in the world. This course will examine places in the real world and in the art world that are natural, artificial, historical, imagined, and virtual. Key texts include--Place:A Short Introduction, Tim Cresswell; A Global Sense of Place, Doreen Massey; Space and Place, Yi-Fu Tuan; The Lure of the Local, Lucy Lippard; Senses of Place, ed. Communities, Benedict Anderson; The Hidden Dimension, Edward T. Hall.

Art and Politics

The focus of this section will be to examine the intersection of art, politics and culture. We will study a wide variety of works from this perspective. We will look briefly and occasionally at ancient and classical art, but focus primarily on contemporary, American works. We will study literature, film, theater, music, dance, and visual art. We will look at art whose purpose is to create social change or promote a specific political ideal. We will also examine the issue of censorship, the politics of identity, the role of the artist as witness, public versus private art, and the political content of mainstream art and popular culture. In addition, we will occasionally explore some gentle art-making processes that will deepen your understanding of the creative process itself.

Art and Religion

This stimulating course focuses on Art and Spirituality, primarily in the monotheistic world. We look at the ways art and spirituality inform each other, and explore common impulses, themes, techniques, possibilities, limitations, intentions and effects. We look primarily at poetry and prose fiction from the Christian tradition, but also visual art, drama, film, music and dance from world traditions. Topics we investigate include: chaos and order (why do people need religion and art), the relationship of craft to inspiration and empirical to revealed knowledge, the artist as creator and the creator as artist, art and religion as transformative (transcendent) experience, the role of melancholy in the spiritual and artistic journeys, to what degree and in what ways truth and beauty are absolute or relative, the artist as prophetic voice of the divine, the nature of the divine, the nature of evil, the feminine in the divine, and issues surrounding free will, ethics, redemption, and authenticity. Finally we ask what a world void of art or spirituality would look like. Required Texts: Dante's Inferno / Milton's Paradise Lost / William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience / Goethe's Faust Part I / Thomas Mann's Death in Venice / Flannery O'Connor's Everything That Rises Must Converge / Miriama Ba's So Long a Letter. Students write weekly prompts in class, one take-home midterm, one take-home final and create a 10 minute power-point presentation combining art, music and text.

Art and the Apocalypse

Since the begining of time, humans have had a fascination with the end of time. Artists have struggled to make sense of our apparent desire to embrace catastrophe. Beginning with early interpretations of the book of Revelations, this class will examine art in a variety of disciplines that take the Apocalypse as it's theme. We'll look at paintings by Brueghels, William Blake and Michelangelo, novels from the 'Left Behind' series, and Cormac McCarthy's current best-seller, 'The Road', several post-apocalyptic films including 'Mad Max', 'On the Beach' and '12 Monkeys', and graphic novels such as 'Y:The Last Man' and 'Tank Girl'. We will pay particular attention to the meaning modern people find in the Apocalypse, religious versus secular understandings, and how apocalyptic art reflects our current ecological crisis. We will examine how young people view the world they're inheriting, and the role Art plays in their understanding of that world.

Art as a Reflection of Self

Artists use photos, films, paintings or words to express their personal experience and shape the narrative of their life. We’ll look at examples of autobiographical art and explore art-making activities to better understand our own experiences and personal stories. Through journaling, mixed media and digital storytelling, we will approach art as a tool for self-reflection and self-identity.

Art of the Warriors

This class looks at the fighting styles, armor, weapons, concepts of honor, and the art produced by these societies. The class will explore these topics through projects, actual combat training, and readings to find what it truly means to be a warrior. Possible periods can include: Greek, Roman, Elizabethan, Japanese, and Chinese just to name a few.

Art on the Edge: Contemporary Artists Challenge the Status Quo

This section will focus specifically on art that blatantly questions and undermines the status quo. We will begin by focusing on works by activist artists of the 1960's--artists who reflected the sentiments of the anti-war movement, the civil rights movement, the women's liberation movement, etc. Our study will encompass literature, music, theatre and visual arts.

Art of the Young Child

Explore literature, creative drama, visual arts, movement, and music for young folks (preK-5). Appropriate for people working with camps, church groups, school-aged kids of their own, future teachers, and for folks who just want to have fun!

Arts and Community Development

What is the role of artists in the community? In what ways, can the arts help develop a community? Using experiential and applied learning techniques, this course will examine the intersection of the arts and community. (Kloeppel)

Body and Earth

Body and Earth is a three credit course exploring patterns and perceptions about the relationship of the human body to the earth and the earth to the human body. The course will utilize physical explorations, writing, reading and arranging bodies and other things.

Body Stories: Demystifying the Body

First of all, Body Stories is NOT a dance class. It is a class in which we examine the conceptions and misconceptions of human potential and functional anatomy. Various approaches to learning are included: factual information, personal stories, evocative and descriptive images, guided movement explorations. The fruits of our explorations and learning are evidenced in projects examining the intersections of anatomy and the arts.

Caribbean Arts

This class can include a mixture of readings of essays, artworks, attendance at outside performances and events, lectures, classroom presentations and performances, informal discussion and development of written responses. Each section will have a specific topic that will serve as the focus of the semester.

Celtic Arts

In Celtic Arts, we will be exploring three primary artistic arenas: literary arts, music, and visual arts. For the literary arts, readings and original creative writing will lead us through classical tales of heroes in Celtic mythology and immortals of the Otherworld. The art of storytelling-the oral tradition-transcends time, connecting legends and lore. In studying Celtic music, we will examine primary instrumentation stemming from Bardic traditions, folklore motifs in ballads, and creative sources compelling contemporary songs/tunes. Visual art covers broad areas such as fiber arts (weaving), tartans, smith craft, jewelry, and architecture. Celtic symbols, interlacings, and knotwork found in illuminated texts proved creative outlets for the ancient Celts. Rich legends concerning holy grounds, sacred animals, and festival traditions create overarching ties with superstitions and folkloric beliefs.

Community Arts Project

In this participatory arts and humanities class students will gather oral histories from a specific community (of place, cultural identity or tradition) and create art based on those stories. Students will learn several techniques for recording and preserving community stories and study examples of successful community-arts projects across the world. Finally, the class will create and present an original community arts project that preserves the cultural heritage and history of our community partner.

Contemporary Spanish Theater and Film

In this course we will examine Film and Theater production in Spain from mid-20th century to present, focusing on autochthonous vs. pan-European thought and aesthetic; and the "dialogue" with which these artistic manifestations challenge this evolving society and are formed by it. IN our film choices, special emphasis will be placed on certain Spanish auteurs (Bunuel, Erice, Saura) as well as examples of a more current Spanish cinema aesthetic and history, and in theater, more contemporary playwrights, including Antonio Buero Vallejo, Jeronimo Lopez Mozo, Juan Mayorga and Diana de Paco.

Craft and the Machine

What motivates us to make things by hand? Why do we need more? What is sacrificed? William Morris states in 'Art and Socialism', "The wonderful machines which in the hands of just and foreseeing men would have been used to minimize repulsive labour and to give pleasure ... to the human race, have been so used on the contrary that they have driven all men into mere frantic haste and hurry, thereby destroying pleasure..." This class will investigate the efficacy of machinery and its impact on society. Using many forms of craft, or the handmade, as examples, we will discuss architecture, furniture design, textiles, and pottery to understand the affects of industrialization in 19th century England as well as 21st century Asheville, NC. Readings and discussions will cover the Great Exhibition of 1851 as well as Wal-Mart and small town America. In addition to discussing handmade objects and commerce, we will work on several in-class projects such as making books, dyeing cloth, and designing gardens.

Crafting Community with Teens

In response to a community initiative to address achievement gaps and teen violence related to area middle school students, this course forms a partnership between the university and Asheville City School’s Listening to Our Teens program by providing an after-school, service-learning collaborative craft project. UNC-Asheville students will work in teams with middle school students to create a craft project together. Through readings, guest lecturers, class field trips to artists’ studios and peer learning, UNC-Asheville students will explore concepts and practices related to art making, collective leadership, intercultural awareness, listening and communication skills, creative problem solving, innovative thinking and community cultural development. Students will conduct research on a topic of their choosing related to this project and present their findings. They will also be responsible for helping conduct a needs assessment and contributing to the design, develop, delivery and evaluate their team’s project. Journal writing will encourage self-reflection related to the goals of the project.

Creativity, Chaos and Consciousness

Where does the creative spirit come from? Can we affect conditions in which it thrives? How can we re-integrate creativity and imagination into our own lives? How can creative endeavor be applied to cultural as well as personal evolution? This course explores such questions through interdisciplinary studies in creativity, transpersonal psychology, consciousness, the arts, and chaos science. Interdisciplinary readings will be assigned from a number of sources. Other requirements: daily journaling; student-led discussions; final paper and presentation.

Faust Legend in the Arts

The legend of Faust is an ancient one, but from the 17th through the 20th centuries this story of humanity’s dealings with inhuman powers has become a metaphor for our age. The Faust story has been told in almost every artistic medium during this period: drama, music, fiction, poetry, painting, film and many others. During the semester we will explore the nature of these various art forms using the Faust legend and its modern significance as a common thread. We will see how the story evolved from rumors about a historical character, to a children’s tale and puppet show, to one of the central works in European culture of the last three hundred years. Artists of many kinds have been fascinated with the character of Faust, especially during the 19th and 20th centuries, when it seemed to many that we had made a Faustian bargain with industrialization and technology. We will focus on five artistic elements in our exploration of these themes: structure, color, space, time, and line.

Film Noir

Hollywood's classic film noir from the early 1940s to the late 1950s was inspired by the stories and attitudes of the hardboiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression by pulp fiction novelists such as Dashiell Hammett, James M. Cain and Raymond Chandler. In this course we will be exploring these books and films--and, in doing so, we will explore some of the most enduring themes in American film: corruption, greed, lust, and redemption. Films include: 'The Big Sleep', 'The Maltese Falcon', 'Double Indemnity', and 'Chinatown'.

From Temple to Bollywood: Religion and Dance in South Asia

This course explores the performance of religion through focusing on the mythology, ritual, history and aesthetics of Hindu storytelling dances. The allied arts of music, theatre, and temple sculpture are indispensible aspects included in our inquiry into embodied religion. Indigenous theories of audience-receptivity, Bollywood adaptations, transnationalism, and Western encounters reflected in photography, literature, film and other arts illuminate insider/outsider perspectives.

History of Clothing

A look at the history of clothing from ancient man to early 20th century. We will explore clothing and its relationship to historical events and world cultures. Through peer learning, students will observe pictures of historical artifacts and artworks in order to understand the lifestyle of people within the context of specific periods in history. The objective of this course is for the students to equip themselves with the skills required to recognize and analyze costumes of various time periods. This course is also cross-listed as: DRAM 358.001.

Holocaust and the Arts

Writers (probably artists in other media, too) have said that it is impossible to write about the Holocaust—that what happened during the Holocaust is beyond imagining. Yet literature and artistic works in other media have been created in response to the Holocaust—by victims, survivors, children and grandchildren of survivors, and by others with no direct personal connection to the Holocaust. How were the arts and artists treated during the Nazi period? What kind of art was created as the events of the Holocaust unfolded? How has the Holocaust been represented since 1945? Have artistic responses to the Holocaust changed as we’ve gotten further from the event? As the body of art created in response to the Holocaust has grown, do new works respond both to the Holocaust itself and to the ways its been represented artistically? What are we looking for when we seek out films, novels, works of visual art and music on the Holocaust? These are some of the questions we’ll consider this semester as we read, view, and listen to various works of art having to do with the Holocaust.

How We Danced

The study and discussion of the ways that humans have used movement to create and regulate their societies, commune with their gods, to and order their life experiences—to celebrate and to mourn. This course replaces DAN 331. Cross-listed as DAN 373.001

Japanese Culture to the Outsider

The outsider has always been an unavoidable subject in Western literature, visual art, music, cinema, etc… due to its ability to provide a somewhat objective window onto modern society, but also due to its ability to shine a light on the difficult but necessary relationship between individual and group. This class will examine the concepts of both the artist and his or her characters as outsiders. However, we will be looking at this phenomenon in Japan, through the lenses of history and various media, to appreciate how the island nation has naturally absorbed, reconfigured, and even then reintroduced this subject to the West.

Mise en Scene: Creating the Environment for Performance

The famous line from the Wizard of Oz, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" captures the curiosity and fascination we all have for the mysterious art of creating a fictitious world. This class will draw the curtain back, and explore how designers support the world of the play, dance, film or photograph by creating mood, setting, and environment. Course topics include: lighting, scenic elements, costumes, sound, and special effects.

Modern Art and the End of Art

This course will investigate the challenges posed by modern art: What makes a work of art "art"? Is art finished? Is art really important? We will study the beginnings of modern art and its acceptance in Western Europe and its rejection in the Soviet Union. Artists and musicians studied include Kafka, Rousseau, Satie, Shostakovich, and many others. We will also read Milan Kundera's musings on the previous questions. Emphasis will be placed upon music and literature. Critical thinking on the subject is emphasized.

Murder and Imagination

In this course, we will examine the public’s appetite for murder. From ancient times to modern – as religious sacrifice, motivated by hatred, justice, greed, lust, insanity, or patriotism – killing has always fascinated us. Through the examination of visual art – photography by WeeGee and Robert Capa, paintings by Goya, Picasso, Cezanne, and others – films such as Double Indemnity and The Talented Mr. Ripley, television programs like CSI and Dexter, and works of literature such as Oedipus Rex, Brutal Imagination, and Native Son, we will look at how the taking of human life has triggered, stimulated, and troubled the artistic imagination. We will discuss government-sanctioned murder, as evidenced by war and the death penalty, the taboos of patricide and matricide, and the glamorization and fetishization of killing.

Postcolonial Francophone Arts Experience

We explore, in English, cultural, social, and political dimensions of the postcolonial arts of poetry, drama, the novel, cinema, the visual arts and music of francophone Asia, Africa and the Antilles. Students prepare short oral reports, a mid-semester and final exam, and a final paper or project on the postcolonial francophone arts.

Storytelling

This course will focus on the art of storytelling as a literary art form blending both the art of storytelling and dramatic performance techniques, beneficial for all levels of experience. The examination of folklore and fairy tales offers today’s lover of stories, tellers and listeners alike a wealth of eccentric characters, intricate plots, and vivid settings. Students will discover and develop their own style, choosing options from the stylistic continuum ranging from the seated quiet delivery to more dramatic tellings. Comparative analysis of stylistic elements in variants and motif usage offers deeper understanding of Story. Creative writing opportunities will occur in classroom exercises dealing with the basic constructs of fiction, point of view and dialogue exercises. Weekly textual readings allow choices for story presentations as students continue to develop and synthesize their delivery techniques such as characterization, voice, gestures, and movement as well as providing historical and cultural contexts.

The Arts as a Mirror to Humanity

This course assumes, "we are what we make." While exploring made things, we can understand much about human identity in various eras and cultures. This is not a Humanities course, though it is about the human. This is not an Art course, though it is about the arts. This is not a History course, though it spans thousands of years of the human story. The course will explore the components of, and the human need for, Drama, Poetry, Painting, Music, Sculpture, Prose, Dance, Photography, and Film. This is a class to take forward with you for your own future.

The Arts at Black Mountain College

Black Mountain College was an experimental liberal arts college in Black Mountain, NC that put the arts at the center of education. While it existed for just a few short years it has exercised a tremendous influence on the history and development of the contemporary arts. Founded by John Andrew Rice along Deweyan lines, it has been described as an experiment in education. Among the important artists that were affiliated with the college were Josef and Anni Albers, Willem de Kooning, Rober Rauschenbert, John Cage and M.C. Richards. Buckminster Fuller developed his dome structures at the campus. Finally, there were the Black Mountain poets led by Charles Olson. In this class we will investigate the history, mythology and legacy of Black Mountain College and analyze its relevancy for contemporary life.

Through the Lens:Film Creates History

Have you ever considered how film influences your perspective of history? Artists have always described, interpreted, commented on, and in some ways created the culture in which they are imbedded and the events that unfold around them-personal, social, theological, and political events. Let's go to the movies and see! This course is about watching 8-10 movies and investigating their importance to different eras and cultures. While this is not a history of film class, we will necessarily touch on technique, genre, patronage ($), politics of the industry, and intended audience, as we would if we were looking at painting or literature or music. Possible films covered: A Man for All Seasons, Modern Times, The Pianist, Seventh Seal, The Mission, Das Boot, The African Queen, A Passage to India, and The Magnificent Seven.

Under the Covers & Between the Sheets

Students will explore books as sculptural art by using mixed-media to create personalized texts, alter existing books, and consider their own lives and experiences with the arts (visual art, architecture, music, dance, theater) as "content". Includes several field trips to off-campus sites; and a final project for display.

Visual Culture

From daVinci, to Warhol, to Facebook, culture informs and reacts to the visual. This course explores the many incarnations of image: visual arts, advertising, film, multimedia, the snapshot, etc. Through reading, writing, and looking, we will discover how visual rhetoric shapes the way we perceive our world and each other. Comparing visual communication to the written word, we will learn to read image as text, and text as image, while creating images of our own along the way.

Women on the American Performance Front Lines

This course will highlight pioneering women in the performance arena who challenge our thinking, make us laugh, shock us, and enlighten us with their writing, directing, acting, and stage designs. The majority of class time will be spent watching performances, interviews, and listening to readings of text excerpts and then discussing the impact the artist's work had on ourselves as well as others. Some of the artists covered in this course are: Anna Deavere Smith's provocative political one-woman plays based on interviews with diverse voices from communities in crisis; Eve Ensler's (author of 'The Vagina Monologues') newest monologues from interviews of women of all ages including recently published 'I Am An Emotional Creature'; the directing and design creativity of Julie Taymor, the wildly controversial writing and performances of Karen Finley, and the plays written by Wendy Wasserstein, Paula Vogel, and Marsha Norman.

Humanities Linked ARTS Courses

Arts Modern World:17-20th Century

This course will investigate the challenges posed by modern art: What makes a work of art "art"? Is art finished? Is art really important? We will study the beginnings of modern art and its acceptance in Western Europe and its rejection in the Soviet Union. Artists and musicians studied include Kafka, Rousseau, Satie, Shostakovich, and many others. We will also read Milan Kundera's musings on the previous questions. Emphasis will be placed upon music and literature. Critical thinking on the subject is emphasized.