Furman offers a wide variety of study away options for students both domestically and abroad. These include May X and semester-long programs. Depending on one’s second major or language interest, there may be an appropriate study away opportunity specific to those areas. We encourage our majors to participate in semester-long study away during the Junior year thus acquiring sufficient experience in art/art history for the experience to be meaningful to their development as artists/art historians yet not to interfere with their Senior Seminar and Art Theory/Criticism class.
The Furman Art Department also has a long-standing affiliation with the Cortona, Italy Art and Art History program that is part of the University of Georgia’s Art Department. The major emphasis of their program is to expose students to the wealth of historical art and architectural masterpieces as well as provide opportunities to see modern Italian art and to visit contemporary artists and exhibitions. The program stresses its residential nature; therefore, ample time is provided for sustained studio and research work. They offer a wide variety of studio course offerings which makes it possible for Furman students to participate in studies in art areas not offered by the Furman Art Department.
May Experience
Art students can take advantage of studying away during the shorter May X term. Our May X classes offer students a chance to study art firsthand, traveling to major collections beyond the Greenville area. One course, Art and the Science of Observation, brings majors and non-majors to New York City to practice visual literary – learning to look more deeply and accurately. Based on medical school programs and with no art prerequisites, students from across campus join us to enhance their skills of analysis and communication while spending three weeks in world-class museums and libraries.
2023 May Experience Classes:
Arts & Empires (London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam)
Art & Empires combines the study of art history and drawing through group trips to major European museums, churches, and civic landmarks in London, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. Through on-site discussions and reflective drawing exercises in each city, we will examine how collecting and display practices at museums, building campaigns, and the preservation of cultural heritage have shaped national identities and historical narratives about global societies.
Led by Michael May and Kylie Fisher
Art & the Science of Observation: New York City
This course will bring students from a variety of majors to New York to spend the term focusing on the critical and pervasive core skills of observation and communication. Dr. Archino’s interest in this course stems from a desire to make art history relevant to other courses of study, in support of the Liberal Arts ideal. The focus then, is less on art historical content, then on the experiences of close looking, mindfulness and bias recognition, metacognitive awareness of the process of drawing conclusions and more effective means of communicating with others.
Led by Sarah Archino and Carmela Epright