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Visual Arts

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About Us

Bowdoin's Visual Art Department has three full-time, five half-time, and two part-time faculty members who teach a range of media at all levels. Our commitment to teaching a strong foundation, offering a broad-ranging curriculum, engaging students as individuals, and being actively engaged as professional artists keeps the department vibrant and successful. Teaching and research are equally valued at Bowdoin and faculty are expected to excel at both.

Students

The department is comprised of about 30 declared majors (juniors and seniors), 15-20 minors, and several interdisciplinary majors in Art History/Visual Art. There are also a number of self-designed majors that include Visual Art courses in their self-designed curriculum.

Introductory and intermediate classes, which are most often filled to their enrollment limit of 18, typically include students with a cross-section of academic interests, including those who chose to go on in the major or minor, or who simply take additional classes in the Visual Arts.

Student exhibitions—both organized class exhibitions and self-initiated solo and group shows—are regularly seen in the department’s public exhibition areas. Many of our students volunteer for local arts-related organizations, including Spindleworks, a center for learning-disabled adults; Five Rivers Art Association, a local arts interest group; and SMART, a student-founded, student-run organization that teaches art in a local elementary school every Friday. In addition, an active student art organization, Art Union, sponsors and co-sponsors various art-related events, field trips, guest speakers, workshops, and so forth.

Curriculum

The Bowdoin curriculum is well-known for its emphasis on providing a strong foundation, the better to equip students for independent and self-designed work in their upper level work and beyond. We also place a strong emphasis on the social responsibility of the artist, as well as the interdisciplinary potentials of one’s creative practice.

The department is at an exciting juncture as we prepare to unveil major changes in the curriculum in the coming year--as well as more flexible requirements for the major/minor--that will make both more rigorous and more attuned to ongoing changes in the field.

Faculty

Full-time faculty teach two courses per semester, and half-time faculty teach one course each semester. Over the last ten years the department has expanded to include four new half-time positions to allow a wider range of topics and to better allow artist/scholars who are primarily engaged in their own research to bring the benefits of that engagement to the classroom.
With the full-time sculpture position currently under consideration we are seeking to augment the three-dimensional aspect of our program—at present a half-time sculpture position and a half-time architectural design position—while also adding a fully vested colleague to take part in departmental leadership.
During the coming year our most senior member of the faculty will transition out of his teaching role into that of Artist in Residence, leading to a replacement search the following year (2008-09) in which our new colleague in the full-time sculpture position will figure prominently.

Faculty Research & Resources

The College supports faculty teaching and research in a number of ways. Internal funding is available for course development, research, collaborative projects with students, and so forth. Bowdoin provides yearly travel allowances (currently $1200) for conferences. Studio faculty are also given studio space for their work. The College's junior leave policy allows faculty to take their first sabbatical leave after the successful re-appointment review (taking place in the third year of service). This affords an opportunity to make significant strides in research prior to tenure. The College also provides new faculty with modest startup funds to meet individual needs. As one of the benefits of a smaller campus, faculty also have the opportunity to build ties to faculty and departments throughout the College.

Facilities

The Visual Art program is located in four different buildings—the Visual Arts Center, Burnett House Printmaking Studio, and the McLellan Building, with the newest addition being a 2000 square foot Sculpture Studio located in a renovated textile mill not far from campus. The college has made a commitment to consolidating the department into a single facility in the reasonably near future.

The department is also served by our newly renovated Museum of Art, an excellent teaching museum that makes the collections readily available for class visits.

The Brunswick Community

Bowdoin is located on a beautiful 110-acre campus in Brunswick, Maine, a town of 20,000 that serves as the gateway to the mid-coast region. Brunswick features a welcome environment for raising families, as well as an array of cultural resources, including galleries, theaters, local history attractions, independent bookstores and restaurants. One-half hour south is Portland, Maine, the state's largest metropolis (75,000) and its cultural mecca. Portland is host to a vibrant gallery scene, the Maine College of Art, and the Portland Museum of Art. Portland is a lively city with a surfeit of ethnic restaurants, an active waterfront, theatre companies, a symphony, etc. Boston is just over two hours away and is easily reached by train (from Portland), bus or car. The Portland Jetport has direct flights to many northeastern and mid Atlantic states (New York is a one hour flight). These amenities together with the unparalleled natural assets of Maine (beautiful coastline and nearby mountains) make the Brunswick area a great place to live.

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Bowdoin College is committed to equality through affirmative action and is an equal opportunity employer. We encourage inquiries from candidates who will enrich and contribute to the cultural and ethnic diversity of our college. Bowdoin College does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, creed, color, religion, marital status, gender, sexual orientation, veteran status, national origin, or disability status in employment, or in our education programs.