Foundation Program

Larry Mitnick
lmitnick@uarts.edu
Co-Chairperson
215-717-6210

Mark Campbell
mcampbell@uarts.edu
Co-Chairperson
215-717-6210

The mission of the Foundation program is to educate entering students through the experiential study of art and design principles, and to introduce them to the world of visual thinking. Building from tradition and encouraging innovation and invention, the Foundation program attempts to develop the student’s awareness and abilities. Our goal is to develop aesthetic sensibility, increase cultural awareness and orient the student to a life as a creative visual artist. Student work is assessed in faculty led group critiques and in individual meetings. Faculty actively solicit peer input in group critiques which serves the dual purpose of providing additional feedback on studio projects and develops the student’s critical and analytical abilities for assessing visual artworks.

Program Goals:

• Students begin their explorations in the studio by learning how to use simple tools of the artist and to develop solutions to problems utilizing these tools and techniques. They begin to experience the production of artwork based on a series of exercises designed to increase their visual acuity and their ability to understand and process visual phenomena.
• Student progress is measured by their ability to demonstrate how to communicate using the fundamental compositional elements of art. Students are assessed in comparison to their peers and in relation to their own  development over the course of the semester.
• The primary goal of the program is to equip students with the artistic, intellectual and technical skills that will allow for the broadest possible range of creative expression over a lifetime of making art.