Fall 2015

Students will learn the basics of sewing. Included will be various hand stitches used in garment construction and repair as well as learning how to use a sewing machine. This course is offered during the first seven weeks of the term.

Students will learn the basics of sewing. Included will be various hand stitches used in garment construction and repair as well as learning how to use a sewing machine. This course is offered during the second seven weeks of the term.

Students will learn the basics of sewing. Included will be various hand stitches used in garment construction and repair as well as learning how to use a sewing machine. This course is offered during the first seven weeks of the term.

In his comedies and in his late so-called "romances," Shakespeare presents us with the stage as a place of transformation and delight, of cognition and recognition.  In forests, islands, glades and gardens, the characters lose and find their lives and loves, and the magic of play-acting, of stage-craft itself, is the medium of discovery.  We will read and look at the

Do you compose songs but lack confidence in your singing? Learn skills to get your ideas across clearly while preserving your unique sound. We’ll study successful singer-songwriters to see how they do it, then study and apply breath, alignment, diction, phrasing, mic technique and timing to help you sing anything you can imagine writing.

Calling all innovators, catalysts and designers: this three-week module is for students interested in the process of developing creative solutions and ventures in response to societal needs. Participants are invited, as individuals or teams, to enter the workshop with a specific social or environmental issue or area of interest, from campus or community issues to national and

The everyday choices we make as citizens and consumers directly impact human and environmental health. From the food we eat to the clothing we wear, each choice has upstream and downstream impacts. The more global our society becomes, the more challenging it is to understand the impacts of our choices and to make informed decisions. This three-week module will explore social

In this course we examine the history of social practice and focus in on how artists are moving out of the studio and into the public realm with their work.  Social practices in art incorporates many diverse strategies from interactive media, online networks, public discourse, activism, manifestos, street interventions, social sculpture, design, performance, open systems

The best soundtracks create their own universe that is instantly identifiable. This course is a hands-on guide to creating sonic identity. We will explore soundtracks, sonic logos, environments, compositions, and other audio-visual media in an effort to distill what makes something stand apart with a strong identity. Why do we remember the NBC logo? Is it simply repetition or

“Spaces” have geographical coordinates, “places” are territories of meaning, and “identities” are the senses we have of ourselves and others. This course will examine links among these through (1) reading theory and research in several social science disciplines, (2) writing short essays, and (3) completing one or two research papers.

This is a practical course in the methods used to collect, analyze, display, and communicate spatial information. These methods are critical to the fields of geology, hydrology, ecology, environmental science and engineering, and include: compass and GPS data collection, projections, 3-D analysis, map and cross section construction, and use of analysis tools in geographic

In lieu of more conventional advanced Spanish classes, paralleling a series of often disparate tutorials, with tutees working in relative isolation, the proposal is to allow students free reign over an idea for a final, term-long project, while concurrently offering them an educated, exoteric audience to assist in fleshing out their work. Faculty will provide key secondary and

Working from George Perec's text, this studio will explore strategies of describing the physical world, with an emphasis on the elements of architecture.  The subjects of the work will include rooms, buildings, cities and maps, both real and imaginary. Beginning with a sheet of paper as our starting point, students will gradually work with increasingly larger scales,

An intensive, performance-oriented exploration of the chamber music literature . Qualified students wishing to form a chamber music group should contact a supervising faculty member to propose a specific group of players and determine the repertoire. Co-requisite: Must participate in Music Workshop (Tues. 6:30pm-8pm)

The process of making art work will be the major focus of the class. This studio class is designed to support the development of the creative process in ceramics with an understanding lending itself to all forms of art making. Projects will be conceptually based, requiring investigation on an individual level. Issues to be raised in this class will include functional and

In New England, parcels of land were traditionally described in reference to specific existing landscape features—a system called “metes and bounds.” This course, grounded in the ecology, history and culture of the Bennington region over its 250-plus year history, explores human interactions with the biophysical environment to produce livelihoods as well as economic commodities

This introductory course focuses on the weekly writing of extended essays, including nonfiction narrative, personal essay, literary criticism, research writing, and the analytical essay. It gives particular attention to developing individual voice and command of the elements of style. The class incorporates group editing in a workshop setting with an emphasis on re-writing. It

SUN RA...SPACE IS THE PLACE takes a look at the life of Herman Poole Blount, founder and creator of the Sun Ra Arkestra, considered a prolific composer of jazz and a pioneer of electronic music, Herman Blount aka Le Sony’r Ra or Sun Ra, was quite controversial for his electronic music and unorthodox lifestyle. He claimed that he was of the "Angel Race" and not from Earth, but

In the 21st Century, computer and electronic technology has emerged as a highly expressive tool for real-time musical and visual performance. In this class we will explore improvisation and live performance through technology. We will design expressive musical software environments and build hardware circuits for performance, investigate the relationships between human

An actor honors and bears witness to humanity by embodying and giving voice to the human element in the landscape of theatrical collaboration. Investigating the impulses and intuitions that make us unique as individuals can also identify that which constitutes our shared humanity. Through exploration of the fundamentals of performance, students address the actor’s body, voice,

The craft of acting will be the main focus of this class. Through physical and vocal warm-up exercises, sensory exploration, improvisation, scene work, and extensive reading students will be asked to develop an awareness of their own unique instrument as actors and learn to trust their inner impulses where this is concerned. Extensive out of class preparation of specific

Baltasar Gracián, master of the aphorism, summed it up this way: "something good, if brief, is twice as good." Jorge Luis Borges and Adolfo Bioy Casares sought in the microrrelato (a very short story) "the essence of narrative." In our time, compressed political slogans or tweets compete to attract the fragmented attention of the public. This course will explore the

In this class we explore the basic elements of conflict resolution with a focus on Mediation.  Students will learn and observe the differences between Mediation, Negotiation, and Court Processes.  We will examine which behaviors escalate conflicts, and which ones build lasting foundations of peace.  Incorporated into this class is a certified twenty-hour training

From Plato to the present, the human body has served as a compelling metaphor for political community and the nation state. This course interrogates the mechanisms of this metaphor in its various articulations across ancient, modern, and contemporary Western political thought. In the first half of the course, we read works of political philosophy to ask whether and how the

From Plato to the present, the human body has served as a compelling metaphor for political community and the nation state. This course interrogates the mechanisms of this metaphor in its various articulations across ancient, modern, and contemporary Western political thought. In the first half of the course, we read works of political philosophy to ask whether and how the