Teaching Artist Minor: Degree Information

In this course students plan and implement projects in collaboration with community partners to express identity or sense of place, address concerns, and support local aspirations through the arts. Topics covered include surveying contemporary and historical arts-based community projects, classroom training in group work facilitation, theory and criticism in the field, cultural diversity and social justice issues, and grant writing. Taking this course is an exciting way to earn credit while building relationships with the greater Twin Cities community through the development of art and design works.

Psychology is the science of behavior and mental processes. Psychologists use scientific methods to study the behavior and the mental activity of humans and animals. Psychologists search for the causes of behavior both within an organism (biology) and within the environment (experiences). This course introduces students to the broad discipline of psychology, focusing on theories and research explaining behavior. Major areas include, but are not limited to, motivation, sensation, perception, learning, cognition, development, stress and health, personality and psychopathology, and psychobiology. Students gain knowledge of the terminology and methods used in psychological science including fundamental principles, people, and theories important in the field while learning to analyze, synthesize, and critically evaluate ideas, arguments, theories, and opposing points of view regarding fundamental psychological principles. 

The first of a two-course sequence, this course engages undergraduate art and design students in the theory and practice of the teaching artist in schools and community and introduces professional opportunities in the field. Students explore teaching and learning theory in historical and contemporary contexts, applying theory in arts-infused peer presentations, peer teaching, classroom observation, and team teaching in K–12 classrooms. Teaching artists, arts administrators, and leaders in the art education community present models of teacher-artist collaborations, inquiry-based learning, arts-infused curriculum, arts and core content standards, organizational cultures, and teaching-artist residency opportunities. 

After the completion of Teaching Artist: Theory And Methods, students are involved in classroom observation, interaction, and visual arts-infused teaching experiences. Collaborating with mentors and supervised by a faculty member, students participate in two visual arts residencies and shadow a teaching artist. In addition to on-site observation and teaching, students also reflect on their teaching experience, create lessons and assessments, and develop presentation packets required for residency applications. 

The Teaching Artist Minor is not designed or approved for teacher licensure, certification, or endorsement in any state or territory. Graduates will not be eligible for any K-12 teacher license, certificate, or endorsement based on completion of this Minor. As a result, graduates may not be eligible to work in public K-12 school settings in all states/territories.

Select either the Teaching Artist Internship or one 3-credit studio elective that is outside of your major

Most Native American tribes do not have a word in their languages for “artist,” yet the arts are a living part of both daily life and ceremonial tradition. Focusing on the works of selected tribes, students in this course look at Native American art, architecture, and aesthetics. Emphasis is placed on the nineteenth century to the present. The impact of outside forces on continuities and changes in traditional forms is also explored. Classes are primarily lecture with some discussion. 

This course focuses on the idea of gender and its impact on the production, consumption, and analysis of art. Course topics may include gender and gender ambiguity in art and visual culture, the shifting definition of the artist in history, institutions that shape artists' outlooks, and feminist and postmodern theories of gender. The relationships among gender, art, and society are examined by focusing on particular topics, such as fetishism and fashion, and these topics are analyzed from historical, theoretical, and cultural perspectives.

This course examines the art of Asia from its beginnings to the present day. It involves a regional approach, focusing on representative works from India, Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. While regional characteristics are emphasized, cross-cultural influences are also studied. Through a variety of media, including sculpture, architecture, and painting, students gain an understanding of the broad themes and concepts that run throughout Asian art. Students consider the role of religion, for example, and gain a basic comprehension of Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, Islam, Taoism, and Shinto. The structure of the class includes lectures, large and small group discussions, and visits to the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

This course provides a comprehensive introduction to the visual art of African Americans from the Colonial period to the present. The course examines a variety of visual media from painting, sculpture, and photography to popular culture objects and mass media images. In addition, students critically examine the ways in which the constructed meanings of "blackness" intersect with representational practices of gender, sexuality, and class, as well as the training and education of artists, public and private patronage, and the history of arts criticism and art history. Class sessions include both lectures and discussions.

This course examines the impact and effects of globalization on the visual culture of the Atlantic world (defined by Europe, Africa, and the Americas) from the period of the Columbian encounter to the contemporary moment. Students examine the circulation and exchange of goods, ideas, knowledge, culture, and peoples across the Atlantic world through an investigation of visual representations, performance, and collecting practices. The course narrative is guided by thematic issues of gender, race, the politics of display, and national and cultural identities, tracing the movement of visual cultures across the Atlantic through individual case studies. This course fulfills a Histories, Places and Philosophies requirement for Humanities and Sciences.