In Art History, art becomes a lens through which to examine culture and history. Using various methods, students will study major periods of global art as well as individual cultures and artists.
In small classes, in both lecture and seminar format, professors use their areas of specialty to make classes interesting and relevant. Through coursework, students develop skills in writing, research, and critical thinking. Outside the classroom, students often undertake study abroad and internships or gain experience through community engagement and curatorial projects.
Often, student continue to pursue Art History at the graduate level, working towards careers in teaching or museums. The critical thinking, analysis and writing required by the discipline also have prepared our students for careers in architecture, law, business and marketing, medicine and many o ther fields.
The Studio Art major offers the opportunity to develop critical and visual thinking in a variety of media within Wofford's unique liberal arts curriculum. Coursework emphasizes conceptual, visual, and interdisciplinary thinking, experimentation, and creative problem-solving. You will learn to work with your hands, making objects, images, and mixed-media works at the intersection of traditional craft and technology. Over the course of study, our majors emerge as more thoughtful and sensitive viewers and makers of art objects, developing their own unique visual voices and a set of skills that will support them in a variety of career paths.
Preparation for a life-long creative practice is at the core of the major. Students have the opportunity to exhibit artwork regularly on and off campus, to interact with visiting artists, and to complete internships with regional organizations. During senior year, each major has a dedicated studio space for developing an individual creative practice, documenting their artwork, and compiling a professional portfolio.
The Department of Art and Art History is housed in the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts, which first opened its doors in the fall of 2017. Our state-of-the art facilities include five studio classrooms designed to accommodate classes in drawing, painting, sculpture, ceramics, and printmaking, as well as an external studio for large-scale 3-D work and a digital lab for courses in new media.
Our three museum galleries also serve as valuable resources for all of our arts students. The Richardson Family Art Museum features a wide variety of dynamic and engaging exhibitions that highlight the work of locally, nationally, and internationally renowned artists of the past and present. Art History faculty frequently incorporate these exhibitions into their coursework, and seniors may even curate their own exhibitions as part of their final capstones. Wofford’s permanent fine arts collection includes approximately 1,300 artworks, on regular display in our building, in the Martha Cloud Chapman Gallery located in the Sandor Teszler Library, and in academic buildings across the college’s campus.
Studio Art students regularly showcase their work in the Richardson Family Art Gallery in juried exhibitions and capstone showcases. The gallery also houses our annual Whetsell Exhibition, an exhibition of original works created by one Wofford student selected and mentored by members of the college faculty. A visit to the Rosalind Sallenger Richardson Center for the Arts will prove that the center itself also serves as a canvas for our arts students, as their original pieces grace our walls, our hallways, our courtyard, and the campus beyond.
Art History and Studio Art students at Wofford frequently pursue opportunities to study, intern, and work in the field, both on our campus and well beyond it. Upon graduation, they pursue graduate studies and employment opportunities in a wide range of academic and professional settings. While many of our alumni continue working in the arts — creating, curating, teaching, and more — many others have successfully translated the skills and expertise they developed while studying the arts at Wofford into careers in other fields. Click for more information about what our current Art History and Studio Art students and recent alumni are up to now!