Arts & Letters

Visual Arts

The Visual Arts at Prescott College offers a BFA in Visual Art, and BA Competences in the following areas of study: Studio Arts (Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Printmaking, and Public Art), Integrative Photographic Studies (Digital and Analog Image Making, Video and New Media), and Visual Studies (Critical Theory and Practice). We provide an environment where students transform ideas and concepts into objects and visual experiences. Through a curriculum designed to introduce the importance, impact and influence of visual arts on the individual and society, students receive hands-on instruction in a variety of media, while developing a critical understanding of their art practice within contemporary visual culture. The faculty of artists in the Visual Arts Area endeavors to cultivate a sense of community through the common experience of the creative process and by sharing their professional experience with students. Our studio and field-based courses encourage students to refine creative thought and apply acquired knowledge and skill to the making of images, objects and experimental works. While our Practicum and Development courses provide students with professional experience in gallery and curatorial studies, preparing the student for careers in the arts after Prescott College.

Writing and Literature

The Writing and Literature competence corresponds directly with the liberal arts mission. Literature students have the opportunity to explore classic and contemporary poetry, fiction, plays, screenplays, and nonfiction. The program introduces students to literature from various cultures. They become careful readers, able to effectively analyze and synthesize. In writing courses, students hone their creative and critical writing skills, producing original pieces of polished work in a variety of genres. They learn to give and receive constructive criticism in workshop settings, to evaluate each other’s work and to use that feedback to create strong stories, poems, essays, and scripts.

Performing Arts

The Performing Arts are an integral part of a liberal arts education. Students explore aspects of history, culture, literature, the environment, and society through their study of theatre, dance, and music. Courses range from appreciation to full production, challenging students to move from foundation courses to skills courses, from theory to practice, from the academic study of performance to actual performance. The courses in the Performing Arts Program, especially skill-building and production courses, are experiential, demanding that students develop a high level of problem-solving skills.

Performing arts offer an important contribution to the larger community, and the Performing Arts Program hosts numerous student shows and class presentations. Village Life, in connection with the African Inspired Dance and Drumming course, meets weekly to celebrate the power of community through music and dance. The Dance Workshop and Theatre Production classes produce shows each year. Students can arrange independent studies and internships with various regional and national dance and theatre companies. Choreography in the Community, Children’s Theatre Workshops, and the Green River Project, an inspired dance performance in the canyons of the Green River, engage the local community.

Interdisciplinary Arts and Letters

Many students wish to emphasize Prescott College’s liberal arts mission by pursuing a broad-based competence or breadth in the Arts & Letters area rather than a more narrowly defined field of study. The Interdisciplinary Arts & Letters Program strongly encourages this approach. It allows students to make connections across disciplines, to deepen their appreciation of all the arts, and to learn the theory and techniques of more than one discipline.