The GISFA requires 12 credit hours spread across at least four courses. One of these courses must be the program’s core seminar, ARTSSCI 6750 – Multidisciplinary Seminar for Artists (3 credit hours). The seminar is offered at least every other year, generally in Spring. The other 9 credit hours/three courses (electives) may be chosen from any graduate-level course offerings outside the discipline in which the student is pursuing their degree. The required seminar and elective courses may be taken in any sequence the student wishes.

About the Core Seminar

ARTSSCI 6750 is a seminar for graduate students in all arts disciplines in which we consider the process of art-making through the lens of everyone’s medium and the wider lens we can provide collectively. We explore one another’s work without relying on—or being hindered by—the jargon or limitations of our respective fields. Yet we welcome and entertain those big questions common to us all, such as Why are we doing this?, Who is it for?, and Where do we source ideas? We attempt a journey from the individual to the collective, beginning with presentation and reflection on our own practices before later assembling into groups to see what we might generate and absorb, learn and unlearn, through collaborative partnership. 

Our “texts” and other course materials are mainly our own works—both finished and in-process—that we share and encounter through a variety of channels including studio visits, talks, performances, videos, concerts, readings, and printed materials.

Some terrain the seminar might cover, but by no means is limited to, includes:

• the pursuit of meaning in a work of art
• notions of truth and verisimilitude
• inspiration
• social content
• the meaning and nature of beauty in art
• autobiographical work and the projection of an artist’s personality
• methods of communication
• questions of when a work of art is done, and how this criterion might differ by discipline
• the role of performance in a work of art

About the Electives

Many courses a student may wish to take as electives may require the permission of the instructor. Pay close attention to prerequisites and course scheduling as you plan your GISFA experience. Reach out to a course instructor or sooner rather than later if you have questions. GISFA co-directors, Tom Dugdale and Richard Finlay Fletcher, are also available to assist and answer questions.