Our Mission:
The Photography minor provides students the opportunity to explore the technical,
formal, historical, theoretical, and ethical concerns of fine art and editorial photography
through a combination of studio and art history courses. A variety of traditional,
experimental, darkroom and digital approaches will be explored as students develop
their individual representational languages.
Participating Departments:
Animation
Animation: Motion Design
Fashion
Game & Entertainment Design
Graphic Design
Illustration
Product Design
Toy Design
Program Learning Outcomes:
Students enrolled in the Photography minor will:
- Articulate the relationship between their major and minor(s) and how these will help them achieve personal and professional goals.
- Develop and apply interdisciplinary skills, experiences, and knowledge in fields outside of their majors.
- Develop an art/design practice that is grounded in two or more disciplines.
Course Requirements
Photography Minor Required Courses
Total: 15 credits of Photography courses.
This can be 5 studio courses or 4 studio courses + 1 LAS course.
*Students select courses based on guidance from the Director of Interdisciplinary Studies, Minor Area Heads and Academic Advisors and must follow prerequisites when applicable. For the full list of courses that will count for this minor, along with recommended courses to take first, see the Minors Course Lists on the Registration page of the Dashboard (my.otis.edu). Students are advised to take minor classes in place of studio electives (or in place of one LAS elective), or for majors without electives by taking one extra class in each of 5 semesters spread out between sophomore and senior year.
Studio III: Painting, Photography, Sculpture/New Genres
FINA 374
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: This advanced studio course allows students to learn advanced methods, materials, and techniques in painting, photography, and sculpture/new genres and accomplish advanced projects with the guidance of faculty. The course is also a welcoming place for students and faculty to exchange artistic and cultural attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions to develop together a more open-minded and generative approach to our artmaking and the evaluation of the works of other artists. Attending the Visiting Artist Lecture Series is required. Offered fall semester only.
Pre-requisites: PNTG 214 PHOT 214 SCNG 214
Advanced Topics: Wilderness
FINA 406
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: This course allows the student access to a cohesive body of information connected with simultaneous components of subject and object making. A three- or six-hour seminar and/or studio explores the historical and contemporary models and contexts of artistic practice. See the schedule of classes for course offerings and course descriptions. Only certain courses will count for the Sustainability Minor. Please see the Interdisciplinary Studies Director.
Section Description: "This course begins as a seminar exploring aesthetic and political uses of the Western United States’ landscape as preparation for a five day trip across the Great Basin, ending amidst stalactites in a cave below Nevada. Some of the topics covered in the seminar section of the course will include: Kant’s Analytic of the Sublime, the Freudian Oceanic, Anton Ehrenzweig’s concept of dedifferentiation, Romanticism, the writings of Robert Smithson, the history of land art and earthworks, the role of landscape in narrative cinema in particular the Western and science fiction genres, distinctions between land and landscape and space and place, and an analysis of wilderness as an ideological construct. This class culminates in a road trip across the Basin and Range. Students will camp and cook each night, practice the skill of extended observation, as well as have fireside group discussions of the surroundings and the experience in light of texts. Travel Fee $400."
Adv. Topics: Embodied Expression, Movement, Creativity and Emotional Intelligence
FINA 406
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: This course allows the student access to a cohesive body of information connected with simultaneous components of subject and object making. A three- or six-hour seminar and/or studio explores the historical and contemporary models and contexts of artistic practice. See the schedule of classes for course offerings and course descriptions. Only certain courses will count for the Sustainability Minor. Please see the Interdisciplinary Studies Director.
Section Description: This course explores dance and movement as a medium for self-expression, creative discovery, and social-emotional learning. Designed for artists and designers, the course will introduce students to various movement practices that enhance body awareness, creativity, and emotional intelligence. By integrating physical practice with reflective discussions, students will explore how movement impacts artistic expression, collaboration and personal well-being
Photography I
PHOT 204
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: This course introduces students to the technical, aesthetic, and conceptual aspects of the medium of photography. Basic skills, including digital and analog (film) camera operation, the fundamentals of image exposure, black-and-white film processing, black-and-white and digital color printing, and basic presentation techniques, are covered in regular lab sessions. Group critiques, slide lectures, and field trips help students to develop a critical vocabulary. Offered fall semester only
Photo Genres: Thinking LA
PHOT 335
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: Genres courses provide students with the opportunity to explore a variety of topics within the context of photography, targeting specific conceptual, aesthetic, and material approaches in-depth, offering theoretical and vernacular driven investigation. Recent topics offered include Text and Image, Photography and Space, and Our Private Selves. Offered on a rotating basis. See schedule of classes for course offerings and course descriptions.
Section Description: In this class we will wonder about this brightly lighted, 4000 square mile tissue of enigmas and contradictions.Through field trips, literature, visual art and screenings of many films we will look at the portrayal of Los Angeles and the myths surrounding it. We will analyze it through issues such as ecology, race relations, power structures, urban planning and car culture. We will strive to understand the dreams and promises that the city offers reflected through its film industry, infrastructure and geography. Eventually, as appropriate for a city that is widely considered as a city of the future, will will try to imagine it’s potential prospects and where is it heading to. Throughout the course the students will be encouraged to find their own interests in the city, develop their own research, and create a body of work relating to it.
Photo Genres: Editorial
PHOT 335
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: Genres courses provide students with the opportunity to explore a variety of topics within the context of photography, targeting specific conceptual, aesthetic, and material approaches in-depth, offering theoretical and vernacular driven investigation. Recent topics offered include Text and Image, Photography and Space, and Our Private Selves. Offered on a rotating basis. See schedule of classes for course offerings and course descriptions.
Section Description: In this course, students will gain an understanding of what it is like to work for a variety of contemporary publications. From straightforward, traditional portraiture to more conceptual stories, students will experience realistic, industry-related challenges gaining valuable knowledge of the field. While making work of their own, students will also closely examine both historical and contemporary work. In the interest of developing a professional practice, students will be encouraged to get to know their potential clients, establish connections with photo editors and art directors, shape ideas and concepts using art references, and create a clear production plan before a session. Formulating one's own visual style will be encouraged. Over the course of the semester, students will have various assignments that underscore the value of pre-production, thoughtful planning, and overall professionalism. Course work will also simulate the experience of meeting clients, fulfilling requests and executing their own clear, distinct vision. They will also develop their taste and personal portfolios, ultimately putting them in a strong position to strategically enter the field.
Course Fees
Fine Arts Lab Fee: $30
Creative Industry Internship
INTR 330
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: Upper division studio courses that facilitate student work across media, genres and disciplines, while also developing skills in interdisciplinary thinking in a supportive community. Topics vary each semester. Examples include: Design Lab, Interdisciplinary Practices, Interdisciplinary Career Pathways Fulfills studio electives.
Section Description: In this Blended Course, students will synthesize and analyze the connections between what they are learning in their major or minor and what actually happens in professional creative industry settings. Students will do so by participating in a 10 week internship assisting with a design firm, studio, cultural organization, or with an individual artist /designer of their choice. This field experience along with readings, videos and discussions provide the opportunity to expand and reflect on one’s place within the creative economy, all of which culminates in the development of a professional online portfolio and preparation for life after Otis. No Pre-requisites. Open studio elective to all majors/minors.
Fine Arts Contemporary Art Survey
AHCS 226
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: This Contemporary Art for Fine Artists is a survey of key fine art objects, practices and issues from the late 1950s to the present. Taking key historical events as its structure, the class uses contemporary art movements and counter movements to investigate mechanisms of form, taste, value, class, gender and exclusion, as these are demonstrated and challenged by artists in the US and globally. Included is a consideration of postmodern theory and fine art creation as systems capable of both perpetuating and effectively challenging normalized and marginalized identities. Required for All Fine Arts majors and Art History, Painting, Photography, and Sculpture/ New Genres minors. This course may be taken in either fall or spring, must be completed in the sophomore year.
Fine Arts Contemporary Art Survey
AHCS 226
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: This Contemporary Art for Fine Artists is a survey of key fine art objects, practices and issues from the late 1950s to the present. Taking key historical events as its structure, the class uses contemporary art movements and counter movements to investigate mechanisms of form, taste, value, class, gender and exclusion, as these are demonstrated and challenged by artists in the US and globally. Included is a consideration of postmodern theory and fine art creation as systems capable of both perpetuating and effectively challenging normalized and marginalized identities. Required for All Fine Arts majors and Art History, Painting, Photography, and Sculpture/ New Genres minors. This course may be taken in either fall or spring, must be completed in the sophomore year.
Sophomore Seminar: DEI in Global Art and Culture
AHCS 237
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: With diversity and equity at its core, Sophomore Seminar engages the western and non-western philosophical canons as a way to critique and de-center eurocentrism, white privilege, ableism, misogyny, patriarchy, systemic racism, power and exclusion at the very root of Western culture. The class asks the following: How do officialized and unspoken philosophies or worldviews shape our most essential and normalized standards/canons of beauty, value, "truth," as well as produce our centuries old privileges and prejudices? Who/what is advanced by these entrenched ideas; who is excluded? Who are the non-dominant but powerful voices that oppose philosophical givens? This is an interconnected two-semester class. Sophomore Seminar 1 introduces key concepts in ancient and modern, European, and non-western philosophical systems, to trace the impact of these ideas on current art, thought and racial/gendered biases. Then Sophomore Seminar 2 critically considers contemporary theorists, non-western and LGBT creatives who challenge the classical and modern philosophical canons covered in Soph Sem I. In both courses/semesters, students learn to evaluate the ideological impact of power, gender, economics, and social class on social and artistic norms. This course may be taken in either fall or spring, must be completed in the sophomore year.
Sophomore Seminar: Global Ar
AHCS 237
Credits: 3.00
Course Description: With diversity and equity at its core, Sophomore Seminar engages the western and non-western philosophical canons as a way to critique and de-center eurocentrism, white privilege, ableism, misogyny, patriarchy, systemic racism, power and exclusion at the very root of Western culture. The class asks the following: How do officialized and unspoken philosophies or worldviews shape our most essential and normalized standards/canons of beauty, value, "truth," as well as produce our centuries old privileges and prejudices? Who/what is advanced by these entrenched ideas; who is excluded? Who are the non-dominant but powerful voices that oppose philosophical givens? This is an interconnected two-semester class. Sophomore Seminar 1 introduces key concepts in ancient and modern, European, and non-western philosophical systems, to trace the impact of these ideas on current art, thought and racial/gendered biases. Then Sophomore Seminar 2 critically considers contemporary theorists, non-western and LGBT creatives who challenge the classical and modern philosophical canons covered in Soph Sem I. In both courses/semesters, students learn to evaluate the ideological impact of power, gender, economics, and social class on social and artistic norms. This course may be taken in either fall or spring, must be completed in the sophomore year.