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About the Major

At Hamilton, art students create, learn, and display their talents in the new Kennedy Center for Theatre and the Studio Arts. Across the street is the Wellin Museum, another acclaimed facility that hosts professional exhibits. As part of this exciting, rigorous, interdisciplinary art-making community, students explore the meaning art holds in their own lives and how art communicates ideas to others.

Students Will Learn To:

  • Construct meaning using visual information
  • Demonstrate a knowledge of the basic tools and techniques of new and traditional media
  • Analyze their studio processes by diagramming the stages in creative thinking
  • Use critique to formulate and build personal direction
  • Generate a public exhibition

A Sampling of Courses

Pottery

Introduction to Ceramics

Handbuilding techniques will be employed to explore the sculptural possibilities of clay. A developed visual and conceptual vocabulary will accompany the technical aspects of ceramics through studio practice and class critique.

Explore these select courses:

An introduction to the history, tools and language of basic animation styles. This course will trace the history of experiments in animated imagery from 19th Century photography through 20th Century film into 21st Century digital works. The class will cover basic techniques in Photoshop, Adobe Premier, and illustration and animation software interfaces.

Study of advanced elements in imaginative and representational drawing with emphasis on color and mixed media.

Advanced study of photography through the investigation of alternative processes. Emphasis on the use of various historic and non-traditional processes, including photograms, pinhole cameras, cyanotype printing, and polaroid transfers, as well as emerging digital techniques including digital negatives and solarplate photogravure printing. Continued exploration of personal vision. 

Advanced study of materials such as clay, wood, plaster, steel, and plastic utilizing processes such as moulding, casting, fabrication, carving and construction. 

Exploration of the process and theory of museum exhibition curating, taught in conjunction with the preparation of an exhibition in the Wellin Museum. Emphasis on the history of photography and the role of western art institutions in the appropriation and repurposing of archival imagery. Studio-based artistic response required based on materials presented. Students will work collaboratively on exhibition materials, including image selection and layout, catalog and wall text production, and multimedia materials such as podcasts.

Meet Our Faculty

Robert Knight

Chair, Professor of Art; Director of Digital Arts

rbknight@hamilton.edu

photography, history of photography, video capture and editing, Adobe premiere, art foundations curriculum, and 2D and 4D fundamentals

Bhen Alan

Assistant Professor of Art

malan@hamilton.edu

Painting, drawing, printmaking, weaving, performance

Amy Brener

Assistant Professor of Art

abrener@hamilton.edu

sculpture, drawing, and digital media

video, performance, installation, photography, electronic media, and history and contemporary practices in each of those areas

painting and drawing

Rebecca Murtaugh

Kevin W. Kennedy Professor of Art

rmurtaug@hamilton.edu

sculpture, ceramics

Grace Sachi Troxell

Visiting Assistant Professor of Art

gtroxell@hamilton.edu

Sculpture, ceramics, drawing

Analog and digital photography workflows, studio lighting, image and society

Film, mixed media and performance

Careers After Hamilton

Hamilton graduates who concentrated in art are pursuing careers in a variety of fields, including:

  • Editorial Assistant, Random House
  • Director, High Museum of Art
  • Visual Designer, Fidelity Investment
  • Director, Credit Suisse
  • Landscape Design, Living Green
  • Technical Director, Pixar Animation Studios
  • Photographer, United Nations
  • Major Gifts Officer, Grand Teton National Park Foundation
  • Owner/Founder, Vermont Glass Workshop

Explore Hamilton Stories

Carolyn Levin ’26 (left) with ceramicist Ana Illeuca at her studio in Valencia, Spain.

Cultivating an Aesthetic Eye: Levin ’26 Studies Ceramics in Spain

Many people assume that being pre-med means sacrificing hobbies and travel opportunities. Not so for Carolyn Levin ’26, a biochemistry and art double major, who is nurturing her pre-med goals by tapping into her enthusiasm for ceramics. With the help of an Emerson grant and the Global Study Office, she has traversed continents, languages, and ceramics studios to explore her passion.

Bill Salzillo

The Last Kirkland Professor: Bill Salzillo

When Professor of Art Bill Salzillo retired in June, it marked more than the end of a productive 50-plus year career. The artist, teacher, and gallery director is the last member of the Hamilton faculty to have begun his tenure at Kirkland College.

Mia Horvath ’25 working at the Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown as part of the curatorial studies program.

Curating Curiosity Through Summer Museum Internships

In 2023, the National Endowment for the Humanities awarded Hamilton a grant for its new curatorial studies program, and this summer a handful of students had the opportunity to work behind-the-scenes as interns at regional galleries and museums. We talked with a few about their experiences.

Contact

Department Name

Art Department

Contact Name

Rob Knight, Chair

Office Location
198 College Hill Road
Clinton, NY 13323

Help us provide an accessible education, offer innovative resources and programs, and foster intellectual exploration.

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