Requirements

The GISFA program requires that students complete a minimum of 17 credit hours over four courses.

• REQUIRED COURSE – All students must take the core course, a five-hour multidisciplinary seminar for artists in all fields, offered through the College of Arts and Sciences

Artist: Alexandra Copley, MFA art (photography) In the core course, Arts and Sciences 750, a group of graduate students from across various art fields will meet weekly and consider the ongoing and finished work of the members of the class, approaching this work not from the narrow perspective (and the concomitant emphasis on technique, and the conventions and jargon) of a single field, but from the wider perspective of art (process, practice, and theory) overall. Manuscripts and CDs of student work are distributed, studio visits made, slide shows viewed (et cetera). Sample topics for discussion include, but are certainly not limited to, the following: the pursuit of meaning in a work of art; notions of truth and verisimilitude; inspiration; social content; the meaning and nature of “beauty” in art; autobiography and “confession”; the projection of an artist’s personality; communication; symbolism; questions of when a work of art is “done” (how does the artist know? what does “done” mean in the case of an abstract painting or sculpture versus a lyric poem versus a dance piece?); time-based versus still-based work; and the role of performance (in the composition of a work of art as well as its execution—and the inherent differences in, for example, such fields as music and dance, which most often rely on artists other than the composer for its performance, and literature and painting, which are not “performed” in the usual sense of the word at all and are composed in solitude). Arts & Sci 750 will be taught in rotation by various members of the faculty in the arts throughout the university, including Michelle Herman (from Creative Writing, in the English Department), Rebecca Harvey (Ceramics, in the Art Department), Candace Feck (Dance), Suzanne Silver (Painting and Drawing, in the Art Department), Ed Adelson (Viola Performance, School of Music), Joy Reilly (Acting & Directing, Theatre), and others.
For some students, this course will be a natural capstone to their graduate education; for others, it will serve as a doorway to the other courses that will constitute GISFA.

• ELECTIVE COURSES – At least three courses can be chosen from the following list, all of which must be outside the student’s home discipline

Artist: Erin Belieu,
OSU MFA creative writing It should be noted that many (if not most) of these courses will require the permission of the instructor, and that virtually all of the courses in Category B (Arts Practice) will require it. (Courses listed in Category B that will that will not require permission based on an interview, audition, portfolio, etc., are starred.) But while permission will often be required (for example, for all of the course offerings in Category A in Music), in many cases that should only be a formality. (For example, Music 646, Music in the United States, normally attracts a wide clientele throughout the university, as does the course in Russian opera, currently offered as Music 694. These courses require a background in music, but not expertise or sophistication.) In any case, advising oversight will be provided for students contemplating these lists of options, as will a brochure that specifies the level of expertise, technical and otherwise, expected to gain permission to register for each course listed.

A) Theory, criticism, history, research

• History of Art 600 Introduction to Contemporary Art Historical Theory (5 hrs)
• History of Art 638 Twentieth Century American Art(5 hrs)
• History of Art 640 Contemporary Art Since 1945(5 hrs)
• History of Art 646 Introduction to Film Theory(5 hrs)
• History of Art 649 Recent Cinema: 1948-present(5 hrs)
• History of Art 653 Avant-Garde and Documentary Cinema(5 hrs)
• History of Art 710 Studies in Art Theory and Criticism(5 hrs)
• Art 695.10 History of Photography(5 hrs)
• Art 695.11 Photographic Theory(5 hrs)
• English 761 Introduction to Narrative and Narrative Theory (5 hrs)
• English 762 Graduate Study in Performance and Drama(5 hrs)
• English 770 Graduate Study in Folklore(5 hrs)
• English 770.02 Field Research in Folklore(5 hrs)
• English 792 Interdepartmental Studies in the Humanities(5 hrs)
• English 890 (cross-listed in French, German, Spanish, Women’s Studies, and Comparative Studies) Interdepartmental Study in Critical Theory (5 hrs)
• Psychology 662 Psychology of Creativity (3 hrs)
• Philosophy 640 Advanced Aesthetic Theory (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 651 Topics in Comparative Studies (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 660 Modernism: Its Origins and Development in 20th-Century Culture and Politics (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 677.02 Studies in World Folklore: Themes in World Folklore (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 677.03 Studies in World Folklore: Folk Custom, Art, and Material Culture (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 706 Complex Ethnography (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 716 Theorizing Culture (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 741 Theorizing Genre (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 760 Theorizing Performance (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 790 (cross-listed in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish) Foundations of Contemporary Critical Theory (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 850 Wexner Center Seminar (5 hrs)
• Comparative Studies 862 Performance and Politics (5 hrs)
• Dance 658 Early Ballet History (3 hrs)
• Dance 659 Ballet and Modern Dance History of the 20th and 21st Centuries (3 hrs)
• Dance 753 Aesthetics and Criticism (3 hrs)
• Dance 757 Dance in Times of Turbulence (5 hrs)
• Dance 759 Postmodernism in Dance (3, 5 hrs)
• Dance 758 Theories of the Body (3 hrs)
• Dance 760 New Ground I (5-10 hrs)
• Dance 801.30 Black Continuum in American Dance (3 hrs)
• Dance 801.31 Current Issues in Dance (2 hrs)
• Music 646 History of Music in the United States (3 hrs)
• Music 647 Individual Composers: Their Lives and Works (3 hrs)
• Music 648 History and Literature of Chamber Music (3 hrs)
• Music 649 History and Literature of Symphonic Music (3 hrs)
• Music 650 History and Literature of Choral Music (3 hrs)
• Music 651 History and Literature of Opera (3 hrs)
• Music 672 Introduction to Ethnomusicology (3 hrs)
• Music 694*Opera and Identity in Russia Today (5 hrs)
• Music 694D Music’s Meanings (3 or 5 hrs)
• Music 675 Music of the Russian Folk Tradition (3 hrs)
• Music 740 Studies in Medieval Music (4 hrs)
• Music 741 Studies in Renaissance Music (4 hrs)
• Music 742 Studies in Baroque Music (4 hrs)
• Music 743 Studies in Classic Music (4 hrs)
• Music 744 Studies in Romantic Music (4 hrs)
• Music 745 Studies in 20th-Century Music (4 hrs)
• Music 746 Studies in 19th-Century Russian Music (5 hrs)
• Music 747 Studies in 20th-Century Russian Music (5 hrs)
• Music 748 Contemporary Art Music Traditions of Africa and the Diaspora (5 hrs)
• Music 787 Chinese Music (5 hrs)
• Music 789 Performance Practices in African Music (5 hrs)
• Music 847 Development of Notation: 900-1600 (5 hrs)
• Music 850 History of Performance Practices (5 hrs)
• Music 851 Approaches to Historical Musicology (5 hrs)
• Music 885 Fieldwork in Ethnomusicology (5 hrs)
• Music 886 Theories and Methods of Ethnomusicology (5 hrs)
• Music 887 Representation and Analysis of Musical Sound (5 hrs)
• Music 950.01 Seminar in Musicology [special topic seminars] (5 hrs)
• Architecture 610 Survey of Architectural Theory (3 hrs)
• Architecture 671 Social and Psychological Influences on Architecture (3 hrs)
• Architecture 700 Allied Arts (3 hrs)
• Design 780 Design Issues Seminar (4 hrs)
• Design 797 Interdepartmental Seminar (1-5 hrs)
• Theatre 649-650 Period Styles for Theatre I-II (3 hrs each)
• Theatre 762 Theatre/Cinema Styles (5 hrs)
• Theatre 671-673 Theatre Topics I-III (5 hrs each)
• Theatre 674 Contemporary Theatre History (5 hrs)
• Theatre 774 Cinematic Representation (3 hrs)
• Theatre 775 Concepts and History of the Repertory/Ensemble (3 hrs)
• Theatre 776 Issues in Contemporary Cinema/Video Production (3 hrs)
• Theatre 777 Studies in the Documentary (3 hrs)
• Theatre 778 A History of the Moving Image (3 hrs)
• Art Education 635 Photography Criticism (5 hrs)
• Art Education 670 Public Policy and the Arts (3 hrs)
• Art Education 672 Planning for Community Arts Services (3 hrs)
• Art Education 673 Issues across the Arts (3 hrs)
• Art Education 840 Criticism, Aesthetics, andEducation (5 hrs)

Artist: Herb Vincent Peterson, OSU MFA art (photography) B) Arts practice

This group of courses is meant primarily to provide the opportunity for artists to “live inside the world” of the artist in other disciplines, to experiment with using other art forms to explore ideas normally explored in the student artist’s own medium, to consider the possibilities of including other media within the artist’s work, and to increase sophistication and understanding of the process of art-making overall itself. For students who already have a background in an art form other than their primary disciplines, the GISFA will provide an opportunity to refine skills and to explore the links between the disciplines. For many of these courses, a considerable degree of sophistication in the discipline will be a necessary prerequisite (for example, a background in lithography or glassblowing); in others, “some background” will be sufficient (for example, the ability to read music). Other courses have no prerequisite other than graduate standing at OSU. (In some cases—for example, Music 607—the course material itself will be appropriate across disciplines, for any student artist whose work has a performance component.) In any case, as noted above, all the courses in this

group will require the instructor’s permission, with a few exceptions as marked by an asterisk.

• Music 607-608 Performance Enhancement I and II (1 hr each)
• Music 610* Alexander Technique (1 hr)
• Music 630 Composers Seminar (1 hr)
• Music 676 Music Technology (2 hrs)
• Music 677 Multimedia for Musicians (3 hrs)
• Music 757* Dalcroze Eurhythmics (3 hrs)
• English 763B Workshop in Poetry for Graduate Beginners in the Form (5 hrs)
• English 765B Workshop in Fiction for Graduate Beginners in the Form (5 hrs)
• English 788* Theory and Practice of Imaginative Writing (5 hrs)
• English 763 Graduate Workshop in Poetry (5 hrs)
• English 765 Graduate Workshop in Fiction (5 hrs)
• English 768 Graduate Workshop in Creative Nonfiction (5 hrs)
• English 769 Special Topics Graduate Workshop in Creative Writing (5 hrs)
• English 871 Forms of Fiction/Creative Nonfiction/Poetry (5 hrs)
• English 897* The Disability Memoir (5 hrs)
• Dance 601 Elective Technique (1-5 hrs)
• Dance 605 Dance Dynamics (3 hrs)
• Dance 610 Issues in Videodance (3 hrs)
• Dance 633 Lighting (3 hrs)
• Dance 661 Video Documentation (2 hrs)
• Dance 691 Digital Video Editing (2 hrs)
• Dance 692 Interdisciplinary Workshop (2 hrs)
• Dance 707 Laban Movement Analysis (3 hrs)
• Dance 760 New Ground II and III (5-10 hrs)
• Dance 820 Labanotation I (4 hrs)
• Music/English/Dance/Theatre 693 Individual Studies (1-5 hrs)
• Theatre 610 Advanced Stage Directing (3 hrs)
• Theatre 625 Lighting Design (3 hrs)
• Theatre 631-632 Cinema Production I and II (5 hrs each)
• Theatre 633 Editorial Process (5 hrs)
• Theatre 634-635 Video Production I and II (5 hrs each)
• Theatre 635 Video Production II (5 hrs)
• Theatre 636 Screenwriting (5 hrs)
• Theatre 641 Stage Design Media (3 hrs)
• Theatre 642 Scene Painting and Watercolor (3 hrs)
• Theatre 643-644 Stage Design I and II (3 hrs each)
• Theatre 656 Costume Design (3 hrs)
• Theatre 660 Playwriting (5 hrs)
• Theatre 685** Mime (2 hrs)
• Theatre 771-773** Advanced Stage Movement Studio I, II, and III (2 hrs each)
• Theatre 780-782** Advanced Acting Studio I, II, and III (3 hrs each)
• Theatre 813-814 Cinema Video Sketchbook I and II (3 hrs each)
• Art 691.03 Directed Studies in Ceramics (2-5 hrs)
• Art 691.04 Directed Studies in Glass (2-5 hrs)
• Art 691.05 Directed Studies in Photography (2-5 hrs)
• Art 691.06 Directed Studies in Printmaking (2-5 hrs)
• Art 691.09 Directed Studies in Drawing (2-5 hrs)
• Art 691.10 Directed Studies in Painting (2-5 hrs)
• Art 691.11 Directed Studies in Sculpture (2-5 hrs)
• Art 691.12 Directed Studies in Art and Technology (2-5 hrs)
• Art 895** Seminar in Studio Art (2 hrs)
• Arts Col 683* Motion Studies Through Hand-Drawn Animation (5 hrs)
• Arts Col 730 * Concept Development for Sequential Imaging (3 hrs)
• Arts Col 740 * Interactive Arts Media I (5 hrs)
• Arts Col 749 * Light, Form, Motion (5 hrs)
• Arts Col 750 * Expressive Motion (5 hrs)
• Arts Col 751 * Film Visualization (5 hrs)
• Arts Col 752 * Digital Cinematography (5 hrs)
• Arts Col 756 * Programming Concepts and Applications for Artists and Designers (3 hrs)
• Arts Col 761 * Digital Media Production (3 hrs)
• Design 603 Computer-Aided Design Visualization (3 hrs)
• Design 673 Interaction and Visual Interface Design (4 hrs)
• Design 760 Graduate Design Studio (5 hrs)

Artist: Will Allison,
OSU MFA creative writing ** Opportunities for GISFA students will be quite limited, given the enrollment demands of graduate students in the field itself; enrollment for GISFA students will be made available, space permitting, on a case-by-case basis.

* No permission required.

Please note that this is not a comprehensive list and courses are subject to change. Please consult with Professor Michelle Herman.

Other courses may be used to fulfill the elective requirement at the discretion of the GISFA advisor.

One final note: concerning advising…
Although certainly any student’s advisor would be involved in that student’s decision to undertake this GIS while pursuing a degree in his or her home department, all such students should be directed to Professor Herman for general minor-program advising and oversight. Professor Herman will be responsible for submitting the request for formal recognition of GISFA completion on graduate transcripts for all students completing the program.