A student wishing to enroll in Program 2 should have completed two courses in The Department of Art and Archaeology and two studio courses in the Program in Visual Arts by the end of the sophomore year. Students normally apply to Program 2 in the spring of their sophomore year. In special circumstances, applications are accepted as early as the fall of the sophomore year or as late as the beginning of the spring term of the junior year.

Please note that film/video production is included among the studio arts covered by Program 2. Anyone wishing to concentrate in film production instead through the Film Track Certificate should see the different requirements in that section below.

Course Requirements

Twelve courses combined from the Program in Visual Arts and the Department of Art and Archaeology:

a) A minimum of six courses from the Program in Visual Arts in at least two different media and with at least two being 300- or 400-level courses.

b) Visual Arts 392, Issues in Contemporary Art or a cognate. This course is strongly recommended for studio artists, for whom it has been specifically designed. However, it is possible to substitute a relevant 300- or 400-level seminar directly related to the medium a student practices, but with the prior permission of the director of the program. This course fulfills one of the six Visual Arts course requirements.

c) The Department of Art and Archaeology courses must include Art 400 (taken in the fall of the junior year); a course in the modern distribution area (nineteenth-century to the present); and courses in two other distribution areas.

Independent Work

The Junior Independent Work consists of both an art historical and a studio component:

a)  In fall, under the direction of the instructor of the junior seminar (Art 400), students write a fall   independent paper of approximately 20 pages addressing the state of the literature and various methodologies appropriate to a particular topic. This paper is usually advised and graded by the instructor of the student’s junior seminar.

b)  In fall, students select two advisers the Program in Visual Arts and complete the Program 2 Adviser Approval Form. The Junior Independent Work is done in consultation with the student's advisers, and also with the general Visual Arts faculty in “open studio” meetings.

c)  The advisers’ spring-term grade for the Junior Independent Work represents an evaluation of the entire year’s studio work. The Junior Independent Work is exhibited in a group show at the beginning of the senior fall semester.

Senior Independent Work—The Creative Thesis:

a)  In fall, students select three advisers, including one from the Art & Archaeology faculty, and complete the Program 2 Adviser Approval Form. The creative thesis studio work is done in consultation with the student's advisers, and also with the general Visual Arts faculty in “open studio” meetings. The creative thesis is a major studio project completed by the end of the spring term.

b)  Senior Departmental Examination: This takes the form of a one hour critical discussion of the thesis work with the student’s three advisors at the end of the spring term.

c)  Students present their creative thesis in an exhibition at the end of the year, usually in a two-person show with another Certificate or Program 2 student. The grade for the creative thesis represents an evaluation of the entire year's studio work and is the average of two grades: (1) the average of the grades given by the student's three advisers and (2) the average of the grades given by the rest of the Program in Visual Arts faculty who view the senior exhibition.