Art

Each year over 500 students across the Claremont Colleges enroll in thirty-nine courses offered by the Scripps Art faculty in: art theory, book arts, ceramics, digital art, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. Courses are designed to integrate theory and practice, enabling students to express their knowledge through research and diverse creative forms that can foster and enhance social discourse. The Art Department offers a rich and distinctive program that prepares our majors to pursue graduate work and careers in art, media, education, and the non-profit sector.

Taking advantage of Scripps’ long-standing position within the Los Angeles arts community, as well as the many opportunities found in a liberal arts environment, the Art major emphasizes hands-on learning and critical thinking. We support student research and production in traditional art to new media in various labs, classrooms and studios: the Lincoln ceramics building, Lang and Steele computer labs, and painting, drawing, photography, printmaking, and video studios. Individual studios are available for qualifying majors during their senior year. Students enrolled in Scripps Art courses have 24-hour access to their classroom facilities.

The Scripps College Press and the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery are also integral parts of the Art program. The Art faculty works closely with the Gallery to showcase the annual Scripps Senior Exhibition as well as other temporary exhibitions of interest to the College and the Claremont community.

An art major consists of 10 upper-division art and art history courses. Students are encouraged to explore a number of studio practices before choosing an area of concentration.

Scripps Senior Exhibition

The class of 2023 presents Reflect/Refract, on view at the Williamson Gallery from April 28^th until May 13^th. The opening reception will be from 6-9pm on April 28^th. Please join us in celebrating Sophia Frye, Sophie Mannes, Charlotte Meigs, Vivian Monteiro, and Olivia Wiebe in their senior art exhibition.

The multimedia works in Reflect/Refract encompass three primary themes: the language of digital culture, the erasure of femme and queer experiences, and our relationships to nature, tradition, and technology. In turbulent times, we use ourselves as lenses and mirrors. Our world imposes boundaries for how we should look and act—categorizations which serve capitalist ideals and reinforce outdated social structures. The artists acknowledge the inequities that exist today as a catalyst to redefine and reclaim their lived experiences. In doing so, alternate realities erupt. Whether it’s picturing conversations with fictional beings, imagining landscapes that never existed, or creating objects from other worlds, their work allows them to reach beyond the confines of tangible reality.

With thanks the Lori Bettison-Varga Endowment Fund, Scripps Fine Arts Foundation, and the Ames Fund which provided funding that enabled the artists to make the projects of their dreams. Special thanks also goes to the Mary N. Freedman Fund for the Senior Art Exhibition, an endowment created by the Daniel X. and Mary N. Freedman Foundation to honor Mary N. Freedman’s lifelong commitment to art and art education.

Visiting Artists and Speakers

The Art Department hosts visiting artists and produces a speaker series that attracts students and faculty from all areas of the Claremont Colleges. In addition to lectures and workshops, these visitors often conduct studio visits with our senior studio art majors. Previous visitors have included: Gina Osterloh, Wolfgang Brauneis, Shana Moulton, Diana Al-Hadid, Mark Bradford, Zackary Drucker, Kianga Ford, Andrea Fraser, Harry Gamboa Jr., Barbara Kruger, Carolee Schneemann, and Mario Ybarra Jr. For a complete list of our past speakers, click here.