Art Video BFA
Contact Tom Sherman, Department of Transmedia, 102 Shaffer Art Building, 443-1033.
Faculty John Orentlicher, Tom Sherman.
The art video degree program addresses the use of video as a medium for making contemporary art. This B.F.A. degree option emphasizes conceptual development and video design skills grounded in advanced production and post-production studio work. Within the context of the Department of Transmedia, the video option encourages a multidisciplinary approach to video, providing opportunities for students to interact with fellow students majoring in computer art, film, and art photography. Art video majors are immersed in the history and theory of moving image/sound relationships so that their work is informed and strengthened. The program has an active visiting artists program and one of the best collections of artists' tapes in the United States.
Students in this program investigate the many ways video technology is used creatively today: as single channel works challenging the conventions of narrative and documentary form; as a visual art form integrating computer-generated images, audio experimentation, and performance art; and as a sculptural medium used in site-specific installations. Beginning courses examine technical principles, and assignments introduce students to the video medium's complex nature and potential power. At first students develop ideas with their instructors, but in the junior and senior years, their work becomes increasingly self-directed; the goal is the emergence of independent, personally motivated and directed work.
The program is supported by a digital video and audio facility. Production is executed with mini-DV camcorders, mini disk audio recorders, and necessary peripherals. Post-production suites are equipped with Macintosh-based non-linear editing systems. Video projectors are available for exhibition. There is also a digital, multi-track audio studio, plus access to other University facilities to complement production, post-production and exhibition activities.
This major is designed to prepare students for careers in video art (a multidisciplinary field focused on creative video information design). Besides becoming independent video artists, art video graduates are video information specialists in a growing number of professional sectors, including professional production and postproduction firms serving education, training, publishing, and entertainment industries, as well as in-house video producers for major corporations in the United States and abroad.