Foundations Program

Think like a maker 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 connection to history as a part of an emerging studio art practice.

Curious to see what kind of projects you'd be working 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.

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 their work. Students are required to develop their skills in both verbal and written expression – you’ll do so by researching underlying concepts that to 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.