The website is updated with new course offerings for 2024-25. Fall 2024 courses include Space Studio, Image Studio, Curatorial Studio, and Civic Studio. In Winter 2025 we are offering Curatorial Studio, Image Studio, Time Studio, and Interactive Studio. Three of our courses are Issues Courses in the General Education program. These include: Civic Studio, Interactive Studio, and Curatorial Studio.
Any questions about Visual Studies courses or the studio program can be directed to visualstudies@gvsu.edu or contact area coordinator Paul Wittenbraker.
Students considering extended work in Visual Studies are invited to create a LEARNING PLAN and share it with Visual Studies faculty. Learning plans help articulate and represent student learning needs and objectives as they develop during your time at GVSU. They help structure effective and efficient progress through the program and facilitate institutional acknowledgement.
Visual Studies is a studio emphasis area in the Department of Visual and Media Arts at GVSU. We offer six studio courses to both Studio Art and Non-Studio-Art Majors. NON-Studio-ART MAJORS are WELCOME for real studio art learning. These courses do not require traditional art skills like drawing. Art Majors may select Visual Studies as their emphasis area in the BFA Program or take the courses as electives.
Visual Studies reflects interdisciplinary approaches to making art that address significant aspects of contemporary life. One aspect we focus on is the increasingly flexible use of space and context. In Space Studio, Civic Studio, and Curatorial Studio we design special contexts and engagements in the creation of culture.
Another aspect of contemporary life is the prevalence of digital media and networks in human experience and interaction. In Time Studio, Interactive Studio and Image Studio we investigate what this means for human culture by learning to make these media, and think critically about what they do.
Visual Studies graduates are employed doing design, curating and arts administration, photography, and other creative work.