The Balanced Curriculum

The Balanced Curriculum at Whittier College is a hybrid Studio Art + Art History & Visual Culture Track that is primarily for future K-12 art teachers.

The track provides coursework in Studio Art and Art History & Visual Culture, and it aligns with the California requirements for the single-subject art credential. Students take 21 units in studio art and 15 units in Art History & Visual Culture. They can choose to do their senior presentation in either Studio Art or Art History & Visual Culture. 

What You'll Learn, See, and Do as Balanced Curriculum Major

• learn the foundational principles of drawing, painting and sculpture
• learn to analyze and interpret works of art, both historical and contemporary

Sample Courses in the Balanced Curriculum

Drawing I

In this class, students learn the fundamentals of observational drawing. From line drawings to gesture drawings, perspective drawings to figure drawings, students learn to transcribe the world around them onto a flat picture plane. 

Intro to Visual Culture & Media

Topics include public visual spaces; Visibility, Political Power, and Activism; Art & Feminism; Sports & Visual Culture; Family Pictures; Computer Vision & Networked images; and Surveillance, Mapping, Visibility & Ethics.