Foundations

Mission

The Florida State University Foundations Program provides beginning art and design students with the fundamental skills, knowledge, and experiences essential to their further development as visual arts professionals. To maximize learning, each course includes challenging and purposeful assignments, high expectations, and a strong sense of adventure.

Approach

Beginning and transfer students will be encouraged to expand their technical skills, develop their critical judgment, explore interdisciplinary connections, refine their personal goals, and increase their understanding of contemporary art and design. Inventive concepts fuel development of compelling compositions and constructions. Our curriculum is designed to provide a solid basis on which BA and BFA programs in the School of Art & Design can be built.

Outcomes

Through Foundations, we want each student to gain:

• an ability to develop and solve visual problems using a variety of ideation strategies;
• an understanding of the basic elements and principles of design and the ability to use them effectively;
• the means of translating ideas into images, objects and experiences using a wide range of materials, methods, and processes;
• a capacity to think critically and write and speak clearly about multiple forms of visual experience;
• an introduction to contemporary visual expression in art, design, and the kinetic arts;
• a work ethic that reflects integrity, teamwork, dedication to professional growth, social responsibility and the confidence to take risks.

Courses

• ART 1000, Success Strategies (a 1 credit hour lecture course)
• ART 1201C, 2D Foundations
• ART 1203C, 3D Design
• ART 1300C, Drawing Foundations
• ART 1602C, Digital Foundations
• ART 2204C, Contemporary Art Foundations (a 3 credit hour lecture course)

Area Head

Carolyn Henne