Studio art classes offered at the University of Minnesota provide a creative outlet for students of all majors.
There are a variety of introductory classes offered to students of all skill levels, including variations of drawing, painting, photography and more.
Many of the introductory art classes satisfy the University’s arts and humanities liberal education graduation requirement and also serve as prerequisites for the more in-depth intermediate art classes for students who want to further pursue an area of art.
Introduction to Drawing
Introduction to Drawing instructor Melissa Benson said she tries to teach both the skill of drawing and also how to be observant, present and focused.
“Drawing is understanding not only what you’re drawing but how the components fit together, where they’re placed in space, how they relate to each other and how those objects can relate to you,” Benson said.
Benson takes her class to different locations like the College of Botanical Sciences Conservatory & Botanical Collection, the Bell Museum in St. Paul and the Wangensteen Historical Library of Biology and Medicine in Minneapolis to focus on and study certain objects.
These trips are special to Benson’s class, she said. Her hope with the excursions is to make sure students are drawing from actual objects.
The class is very sketchbook-heavy, Benson said. In her opinion, using a sketchbook can be a learning moment for students.
“The first time you draw something in a new way with a new set of eyes, it can end up being kind of ugly,” Benson said. “There’s part of me that really celebrates bad drawings, because there is a real kind of moment of learning within a bad drawing.”
During the semester, the class uses their sketchbooks to master drawing techniques and also have four larger assignments to supplement the sketchbook work.
To Benson, there are many benefits to taking art classes that students cannot necessarily achieve in more traditional academia.
“One of the beauties of art is that there is no one answer,” Benson said. “Being in that space of exploration where they can reflect and explore things they normally don’t have the space to do in a science class or a math class where there is a right answer, that’s such a big thing.”
Digital Art classes
Along with the studio drawing class, there are digital art classes available to students.
Introduction to Digital Drawing instructor Caitlin Skaalrud said the class is focused on learning basic drawing skills as well as learning how to use programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator.
“It kind of balances a little bit of basic drawing skills but really focuses on learning the program so that you can draw as naturally as with a pencil and paper,” Skaalrud said.
Skaalrud said there are new assignment prompts every year, but the final project gives students a chance to create anything they want using the skills they learned over the semester.
Since it is a beginner class, Skaalrud hopes her students can see the progress they make by the end of the class.
“My hope is that you can kind of level up from wherever you’re starting,” Skaalrud said. “If that’s 0% experience, you can definitely level up, and even if you’re very experienced, you can still get something out of it.”
Additional introductory art courses the University offers include introduction to printmaking, introduction to ceramics, introduction to photography, introduction to sculpture and introduction to moving images.
