Foundations Program

Think like an artist and explore conceptual processes.

The Program

The Foundations experience at Colorado State University features an inclusive curriculum where individual students blend their own skills and experiences with a community of peers. Foundations courses actively engage students with questions surrounding what it means to be creative and how to extend curiosity across disciplinary boundaries by emphasizing experimentation, research, and connections to history as parts of an emerging studio art practice.

Curious to see what kind of projects you'd be working on in Foundations?

Embrace a broad spectrum of foundational knowledge.

COURSEWORK

A STARTING POINT FOR YOUR ART-MAKING

Foundations coursework helps students explore concepts that give them a starting point for their art-making. In addition to developing your ideas, the Foundations coursework will also help you gain specific skills and techniques in a variety of mediums. In each medium, you will expand your understanding of color, observation, form, composition, time, structure, materials and space.

Studio

Time & Structure (ART 120): Explores new media and foundational concepts of digital literacy through the creation of experimental media Artworks. Areas of exploration include photography, videography, sound, performance, and code manipulation.
Form & Observation (ART 135): Cultivates visual literacy through the development of observational skills and 2-D mark-making techniques. Areas of exploration include line, proportion, shadow, surface, and texture.
Color & Composition (ART 160): Establishes an understanding of color and composition through the creation of primarily 2-D works of art. Areas of exploration include color theory, applications of color, arrangement, visual balance, and rhythm.
Materials & Space (ART 170): Investigates 3-D forms and space through the manipulation and understanding of different materials and tools. Areas of exploration include woodworking, casting, modeling, installation, and material/site specificity.

Seminar

Issues & Practices in Art (ART 105): Provides an introduction to current issues, practices, and resources in the visual and performing arts and establishes a unified vocabulary for discussing art theory and concepts.
Global Art History I (ART 110): Chronicles key moments in art and architecture of ancient civilizations across the globe. Key concepts include religious leaders and kings, religious influences, human depictions, and manifestations of power.
Global Art History II (ART 111): Investigates important monuments in world art from the medieval period through 1900. Key concepts include public and private patronage, the power of representation, and art as a culturally specific practice.
Global Art History III (ART 212): Explores key events in world art from the early modern period to the present, with an emphasis on factors contributing to the rise of modernism. Key concepts include the industrialization of art, class consciousness, and abstractions.

View the Course Catalog

Get a hands-on introduction to the processes and principles involved in the creation of contemporary art and design.

Students develop both creative and critical thinking skills as they are introduced to an array of concepts and theories in the visual arts. You’ll be engaged in experimentation with contemporary and traditional art-making processes in a very active studio environment. You’ll be continually involved in personal invention, self-analysis, problem-solving, and problem identification within your work. Students are required to develop their skills in both verbal and written expression – you’ll do so by researching underlying concepts that apply to both the arts and outside fields.

Equip yourself with a unified visual art vocabulary, a thorough exposure to the fundamentals of artmaking, the history of art, and an introduction to current issues and practices within the visual art disciplines.

Jump In

Through your experience in the Foundations Program, you’ll be prepared to make a well-informed commitment to your major area of study within the visual arts. Together, these courses provide vital, collaborative experiences for you as an undergraduate student pursuing a career in the visual arts and comprise the required foundation year for all of our students.