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ARTS 378 Art and Gender

This art history, upper division course introduces students to an intersectional approach to gender and creativity. The course critically examines the complex ways various forms of visual art constructs, expresses, and represents gender. Queer Art and Feminist Art History theories and practices will serve as frameworks through which students will learn about the history and activism of the Feminist Art and LGBTQIA2S+ Art Movements, as well as contemporary art practices and exhibitions. The course will prioritize a fluid understanding of creative expressions of gender, challenging and re-defining traditional art historical approaches and art mediums. We will also look at how female-identified, non-binary and LGBTQIA2S+ artists also express gender representation through community and celebration, collaboration, politics, and the body.
4 Undergraduate credits

Effective December 15, 2025 to May 5, 2026

Learning outcomes

General

  • Articulate how art history methodologies apply to gender, the body, and identity in different art periods and the changing meanings of group identities in the United States' history and culture.
  • Analyze how artists challenge gender-based visual tropes, racism, sexism, homophobia, and transphobia in their work, while also exploring and celebrating difference, and in turn analyzing their own identity, attitudes, behaviors, concepts and beliefs regarding diversity, gender, racism, and bigotry.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of feminist art and queer art practices and their wider implications in Art History and art institutions as well as the visual impact in American society.
  • Apply a practical understanding of Feminist and Queer Theories applied to art when critically examining artists, artworks, art historians, exhibitions, and art institutions of the many groups that shape American society and culture, particularly those groups that have suffered discrimination and exclusion, and formulate their own response.
  • Critically explore Feminist and Queer Theories applied to artworks to better understand the role of gender bias in art and cultural institutions and to develop communication skills necessary for living and working effectively in a society with great population diversity.