WKU News

“From Medieval European cloisters and gardens to ink paintings of mountains in Song Dynasty China, to the Hudson River School of American Landscape Painting, the museums and galleries of New York contain a wealth of visual art that depicts and utilizes landscape,” said Professor Guy Jordan. 

Jordan and University Distinguished Professor Yvonne Petkus led a group of 18 students through a unique study away experience starting with 10 days in New York City and finishing with classes in Bowling Green. 

The students, representing different academic majors, had the choice to take up to six credit hours through three course options: Art and Landscape, Art of NYC: Special Topics in Art History, and Art of NYC: Studio Response. They completed required readings before departing for the trip that addressed places and objects that they saw in person during their time at the museums, galleries, and other sites. Then, the course-related activities varied based on the group. 

In Art and Landscape, students used the vast collections of museums and galleries to investigate the relationship between art and landscape across many different cultures and periods. Students in this class were asked to think critically about the history of landscape as a subject of visual art and develop a sense of the poetics of space itself as we negotiated the city.

In Art of NYC: Special Topics in Art History, the collections of art in New York City allowed for the intensive study of virtually any time period and geographical region addressed by their upper division art history courses, according to Jordan, who personally curated a learning experience for each student that met the requirements of each chosen course.

For Art of NYC: Studio Response, Petkus said, “While in New York, students participated in all group activities while also sketching on site, at the museums, galleries, and other locations visited. This course was designed to expose students to that flow, between external inputs and studio-based processing, often found in professional artists’ practices, so included a responding portion – gathering, sketching, and taking in artwork, concepts, and the experience of place while in New York City and State – followed by an in-studio portion, with strategies set to help students process those sources and influences back into their studios and studio practices.”

Katie Bush and the Office of Global Learning & International Affairs helped with coordinating the Study Away experience. The main locations and destinations visited included: the Highline, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Chelsea Gallery District, Central Park, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Brooklyn Museum, a trip to upstate New York to visit Dia Beacon, the Cloisters, the Frick Collection, and the Museum of Modern Art.

For more information on WKU’s Department of Art & Design, visit https://www.wku.edu/art/.