All Courses

The U.S. Constitution: Rough Drafts and Ratification — HIS2139.01

Fall 2015

Instructor: Eileen Scully

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 2

The United States Constitution began as a idea and a rough draft. Indeed, when first presented to delegates at the Philadelphia Convention, the draft was a proposed treaty among thirteen erstwhile British colonies. In this seven-week seminar, we delve into the pivotal events, people, and debates that produced the final draft. We go on to explore the year-long ratification

CAPA Society Culture and Thought

The Ultimate Record Album — MSR4107.01

Spring 2017

Instructor: David Baron

Credits: 4

Soup to nuts advanced course on all the skills involved in making a great album. This is the ultimate primer on being a producer, programmer, and engineer. What are the roles in making an album? What is the business involved? How do you make a compelling sonic landscape? We will create an album of works though our own in-class and individual recordings.

Music

The United States in the World — PEC2265.01

Spring 2022

Instructor: Carly Rudzinski

Credits: 4

The aim of this course is to use a political economic lens to explore the “inside-outside” connections between violence and struggle within the United States and beyond its borders. To do this, we will examine the political, economic, cultural, and militaristic reach of the United States in the global political economy. We will look at the political economic basis of the US’s

Society Culture and Thought

The University as a Radical Experiment — SCT4148.01) (cancelled 10/17/2023

Spring 2024

Instructor: Noah Coburn

Credits: 4

What does innovation look like in higher education? This course explores the history of experimentation in colleges and universities in North America, from the utopian visions of learning communities to the radical rethinking of how learning happens. It will examine the various waves of innovative institutions and how they reshaped higher education more broadly, and

Society Culture and Thought

The Veil and the Arts: Discourses and Experiences around the Veil in Contemporary Works — APA2201.01

Spring 2018

Instructor: Burcu Seyben

Credits: 4

The veil, the headscarf or hijab has been a very controversial issue all over the world. It has also been the subject of many artworks produced both by veiled women themselves, or by others. Some of these art works serve and create the discourses of nationalism. colonialism, patriarchy, and Islamophobia, while others (especially those which have been created by veiled women)

CAPA Drama

The Vessel: Introduction to Ceramics through History — CER2227.01

Fall 2020

Instructor: bbartlett@bennington.edu

Credits: 4

This class will be based on research into the technical and aesthetic aspects of ceramic history. The class will focus on events, directions and issues which have influenced the making of ceramic objects over time. Students will work collabratively to develop presentations to share in class as a way to develop research skills, as well as to acquire knowledge of the history of

Visual Arts

The Victorian Novel — LIT4320.01

Spring 2018

Instructor: Brooke Allen

Credits: 4

In this class we will cover almost the entire Victorian period in England, starting with Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, published in the year of Queen Victoria's accession (1837), and finishing with Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Between these two, we will read major novels by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans), Thomas Hardy, and Anthony Trollope. The class will

Literature

The Victorian Novel — LIT4320.01

Fall 2015

Instructor: Brooke Allen

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

Many have thought the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) the great age of the English novel. We will begin with Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, published in the first year of the Victorian Era, a novel full of the social concerns that obsessed Dickens and his contemporaries. We will move on to Middlemarch by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), a powerful

Literature

The View Camera Contemporary Practice — PHO4256.01

Spring 2023

Instructor: Jonathan Kline

Credits: 4

This course explores the many possibilities of using a large format camera to image the world and its unique ability to render light, texture, and form with exquisite detail. Particular attention will be paid to image manipulation employing tilts and swings, light meter techniques, and using three emulsions: black and white negatives, color negatives, and color transparencies.

Visual Arts

The Village Privileges of North Bennington — APA4153.01

Fall 2016

Instructor: Susan Sgorbati

Credits: 4

In earlier years one had to obtain a Privilege in order to use the public waterways. That term has since been changed to “License” which has changed our perceptions; thus devaluing in name the right that comes with access to our most precious resource as a species. Through this course, entrepreneur, innovator, businessman and Bennington alum Bill Scully will collaborate with

CAPA Environment

The Visual Art of China — CHI4496.01

Spring 2014

Instructor: Ginger Lin

Credits: 4

Whether it is the serenity of a classical Chinese landscape, the heroism of a CCP propaganda poster, or the humor of "The history of Chinese painting and the history of modern western art washed in the washing machine for two minutes", art is always somehow a reflection of the culture. In this class we will explore the ways in which art expresses culture. Each class or every

Languages

The Visual Art of China — CHI4496.01

Fall 2015

Instructor: Ginger Lin

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

Art is always somehow a reflection of the culture and society in which it is produced. In this class we will explore the ways in which contemporary (post-Mao) Chinese art reflects on modern Chinese culture and society. Each class or every other class, students will be given a packet with visual and written information on a particular work of art with a vocabulary list and

Languages

The Voice: a Prism of Musical Expression — MVO2305.01

Fall 2024

Instructor: Virginia Kelsey

Credits: 2

In this seminar, we will explore a large and diverse spectrum of repertoire focusing on the voice outside of the Western Classical tradition. Instead, we will look to popular and folk musics from around the world for inspiration in the myriad forms in which vocal expression has developed. Vocal techniques and styles to be studied in this course include but are not limited to

Music

The War in Ukraine — POP2354.03

Spring 2022

Instructor: Carly Rudzinski

Credits: 1

In this course, we will examine the chain of events that led up to the invasion of Ukraine ordered by Vladimir Putin. To what extent does the war in Ukraine represent the final collapse of Cold War-era understandings of international peace, with a ‘return of violence’ that scuttles international agreements in favor of preemptive defense? We will also consider the Ukrainian

CAPA

The WAR Room for Free and Fair Elections (2022 and 2024) — APA2231.01

Spring 2022

Instructor: Carly Rudzinski

Credits: 2

As a current response to the events leading up to and occurring on January 6th, 2021 and the threat to democracy specifically related to free and fair elections, this class will engage in a practical assessment of what is going on in each local, county, and state precinct in each State in the United States to determine where the threats are to free and fair elections for the

CAPA

The Web as Artistic Platform — DA2110.01

Fall 2019

Instructor: Robert Ransick

Credits: 4

This course is an introduction to creative practices with digital technologies specifically focused on creating online fine art projects. A broad survey of web-based digital arts is examined in tandem with an overview of tools necessary to create your own work. These include HTML, CSS, Photoshop (for prepping images for the web), content management systems, and a basic

Visual Arts

The Web as Artistic Platform — DA2110.01

Spring 2018

Instructor: Robert Ransick

Credits: 4

This course is an introduction to creative practices within digital technologies specifically focused on Internet based fine art projects. A broad survey of web-based digital arts is examined in tandem with an overview of design methodology and the tools necessary to create your own work. These include HTML, CSS, Photoshop, content management systems, and a basic introduction

Visual Arts

The Web as Artistic Platform — DA2110.01

Spring 2014

Instructor: Robert Ransick

Credits: 4

This course is an introduction to creative practices within digital technologies specifically focused on Internet based fine art projects. A broad survey of web-based digital arts is examined in tandem with an overview of tools necessary to create your own work. These include HTML, CSS, Photoshop, content management systems, and a basic introduction to JavaScript. Students

Visual Arts

The Web as Artistic Platform — DA2110.01

Fall 2014

Instructor: robert ransick

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

This course is an introduction to creative practices within digital technologies specifically focused on Internet based fine art projects. A broad survey of web-based digital arts is examined in tandem with an overview of tools necessary to create your own work. These include HTML, CSS, Photoshop, content management systems, and a basic introduction to JavaScript. Students

Visual Arts

The Web as Artistic Platform — DA2110.01

Spring 2016

Instructor: Robert Ransick

Credits: 4

Visual Arts

The Web as Artistic Platform — DA2110.01

Spring 2015

Instructor: Robert Ransick

Credits: 4

This course is an introduction to creative practices within digital technologies specifically focused on Internet based fine art projects. A broad survey of web-based digital arts is examined in tandem with an overview of tools necessary to create your own work. These include HTML, CSS, Photoshop, content management systems, and a basic introduction to JavaScript. Students

Visual Arts

The Web as Artistic Platform — DA2110.01

Fall 2015

Instructor: Robert Ransick

Days & Time: TBA

Credits: 4

Visual Arts

The Whiteness of the Whale: Moby-Dick and Melville's America — LIT2401.01

Spring 2022

Instructor: Benjamin Anastas

Credits: 4

Poet Charles Olson, in his groundbreaking work of lyric criticism Call Me Ishmael (1947), argues that Melville’s classic novel Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851) is a truer and more essential literary document than Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855) because “it is all of America, all of her space, the malice, the root.” A work of prophetic imagination that is almost endlessly

Literature

The Whiteness of the Whale: Moby-Dick and Melville's America — LIT2401.02

Fall 2018

Instructor: Benjamin Anastas

Credits: 2

The poet Charles Olson, in his groundbreaking lyric study of Melville Call me Ishmael (1947), argues that Moby-Dick; or, The Whale (1851) is a truer and more essentially American literary document than Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass (1855) because "it is all of America, all of her space, the malice, the root." We'll spend seven weeks reading Melville's account of Ahab's

Literature

The Working Class — SOC2203.01

Spring 2019

Instructor: Debbie Warnock

Credits: 4

The American working class has been nearly ubiquitous in the media the last few years. Purported to have fueled the rise of Donald Trump due to class resentment, many now claim to speak for the working class, their experiences, and their motivations. But who are the working class, really? Grounded in the academic tradition of working-class studies, this course will use an

Society Culture and Thought