Drawing and Painting

All Studio majors in the Department of Art work with drawing tools and techniques in their first and second year as they take foundational courses for their chosen discipline. Many students of all concentrations go on to take some upper-level Drawing and Painting courses as part of an interdisciplinary experience in their Studio degree program.

The combined Drawing and Painting concentration is available to students who look to specialize in these media as the springboard for their contemporary art practice. Students take a minimum of three upper-level Drawing or Painting courses and one upper-level Studio elective for an intensive focused study that culminates in an individual body of work.

At the 300 level students choose between an array of courses that offer opportunities for technical development, material experimentation, and the growth of individual approaches and subject matter. In each course studio practice is enriched by historical and theoretical research and the engagement with contemporary issues and problems.

Courses

Check the course catalog for descriptions and prerequisites.

  • ART 110 - View and Gesture

  • ART 111 - Drawing for Non-Majors

  • ART 120 - Surface and Color

  • ART 303 - Drawing Projects

  • ART 304 - Figure Drawing and Issues of the Body

  • ART 305 - Experimental Drawing

  • ART 422 - Advanced Drawing and Painting

  • ART 320 - Painting I

  • ART 322 - Painting II

  • ART 324 - Figure Painting

  • ART 325 - Experimental Painting

  • ART 422 - Advanced Drawing and Painting (offered in alternating years)

WWU Course Catalog

Art Studio Areas of Study

A person speaking, wearing a respirator mask, to a class in an art studio. Students are painting art on easels. In the background is a wall of vertical storage full of paintings.
a person stands in front of a table filled with paint supplies, speaking to students sitting on stools in a room surrounded by easels and canvas storage
Looking down upon a busy, crowded paint studio: several people painting artwork on easels.
View from behind a person painting a still life of fruit arranged on a decorative box. Surrounding them are empty easels and a cart holding paints and paper paint pallettes.
two people painting on the same canvas, on a table filled with art and art supplies
A student smiles as they add to a painting on an easel, holding a portrait photo in one hand which they have based the painting on
A person smiling as they add detail to an illustration taped to an easel
An over the shoulder view of a student working on a high contrast, detailed drawing
A student leans over a corner panel of a large four-panel ink drawing
a chalkboard filled with drawings and notes
A person presents art exhibited on the wall to a group gathered on the floor
three people looking up and smiling at an assembly of 3D squares with illustrations exhibited in a gallery. Behind them is a mock hut on the floor and more artwork on the walls
two people in conversation in front of a curved painting on the wall of a gallery
Two people looking at a large abstract painting displayed in a gallery. The painting is concave, rather than flat, against the wall. It depicts cubic and floral shapes.
a person standing between two paintings in a gallery, talking with a smile to two other people. The paintings depict birds laying on their backs among flowers.
a person speaking in front of a row of painted portraits
two people discuss paintings
a person stands next to elaborate paintings depicting people and nature, in front of a group of people sitting on the floor
A seated person wearing a mask takes notes next to an anthropomorphic sculpture encased in glass in a gallery