Looking for a way to explore different forms of art as part of your undergraduate experience? Whether you’re an arts or science major with a desire to develop visual communication skills, or a Teacher Education Stream student who wishes to teach the joy of creative self-expression to children, Trent’s new Visual Arts option is the perfect complement to any degree.

Because of the unique nature of this option, you’ll get a chance to study the visual arts through both hands-on practice and theory. In addition to workshop classes offered by Cultural Studies in drawing, photography, film, and other visual media, you’ll also take courses in theoretical, historical, and contemporary issues in the visual arts from a range of contributing departments. Not only will you get to practice the necessary techniques for creating visual art, you’ll also be encouraged to play, experiment, and approach the creative process with an open mind.

FYI: An option is a “mini-minor” – a set of courses in one discipline that can be completed in conjunction with any undergraduate degree program, allowing you to focus on an additional subject of interest.

This Option Is Perfect For Students Who Want To:

• Take some arts-focused courses without majoring in visual or fine arts
• Become primary or secondary school teachers who teaches art in the classroom
• Learn how to express themselves visually and creatively
• Challenge themselves through visual exploration, technique and play.

Courses & Eligibility

Almost any undergraduate degree can be combined with the Visual Arts option.  The only exception is if you have fulfilled the requirements for a Specialization in the Integrated Arts as part of your Honours or General degree in Cultural Studies, you will therefore not be eligible to graduate with an Option in Visual Arts.

If you have fulfilled the requirements for an Honours or a General degree in any other subject, you may graduate with an Option in Visual Arts so long as you successfully complete the following 4.0 credits:

• 1.0 credit from Category A (Practice)
• 1.0 credits from Category B (Theory and History)
• 2.0 credits from either Category A or B

Category A: Practice

• CUST 2511H/2111Y: Workshop: Drawing
• CUST-ERST 2114H: Workshop: Ecological Art
• CUST 2186H: Workshop: Photography
• CUST 3111Y: Workshop: Visual Arts Studio
• CUST 3184H: Workshop: Documentary Film
• CUST 3186H: Workshop: Experimental Film
• CHYS 3003H: Arts: Theory to Practice

Category B: Theory and History

• ANTH-AHCL 2205H: Archaeology and Art History of Ancient Greece
• ANTH-AHCL 2206H: Archaeology and Art History of Ancient Rome
• ANTH 3230H: Meaning and Materiality
• CAST-WMST 2600H: Documenting Canada
• CAST-WMST 2755H: Women in Canada: Women and the Arts
• CAST-HIST 4200Y: Canadian Images
• CHYS 2003H: Children: Learning Through the Arts
• CUST 1510H: Introduction to the Integrated Arts
• CUST 2016Y: Introduction to Visual Studies
• CUST 2581H: Introduction to Film I: What Is Cinema?
• CUST 2582H: Introduction to Film II: Film Movements, Film History
• CUST 3080Y/3580H: Text and Image
• CUST 3515H: Modernism and the Avant-Garde
• CUST 3556H/3056Y: Place Matters – Art, Letters, and Landscape
• CUST 3581H: World Cinema I: Experiment and Innovation
• CUST 3582H: World Cinema II: Images of Globalization
• CUST 4015Y/4515H: Art Culture Theory
• CUST 4080Y/4580H: Text and Image
• CUST-HIST 4090Y: American Visual Culture
• CUST 4512H: Arts of Conflict: Violence, Art, and The Irish Republican Army
• CUST 4586H: Cinema in the Digital Age
• HIST 2805H: Green Screen: Film and Environmental History
• HIST-CUST 4090Y: American Visual Culture
• PHIL 2790H: Aesthetics
• POST-CUST 3465H: Politics and Film