Undergraduate | Minor

Art + Text

Close-up of suspended wooden letters hanging from strings, spelling words backward as they are viewed from behind. People are blurred in the background, engaged in conversation in a gallery space.
Undergraduate | Minor

Art + Text

get a minor

Explore the visual power of words and language.

Language becomes material in this minor, moving beyond words on a page into image, structure and concept.

You’ll experiment with how text shapes creative work across mediums, expanding the ways visual expression can emerge and take form.

White fabric panels hang loosely, printed with large blocks of black text and faded photographs. The installation creates a layered, draped environment with overlapping text and imagery.

What You’ll Learn

You’ll delve into how text enhances visual art across mediums like painting, sculpture, illustration and design. Through hands-on projects, you’ll experiment with artist books, typography, digital archives and sound-based practices, integrating language into your art practice.

This minor enriches your creative practice, providing a deeper understanding of the text’s role in visual expression through an equal focus on materials and ideas.

Program Highlights

  • Investigate how text is used across visual art practices, including painting, sculpture, illustration and design
  • Experiment with artist books, archives and digital projects
  • Explore typography as both communication and artistic expression
  • Engage with contemporary practices like text-as-image and sound-based art
large artwork featuring the word “zhong” spelled out in red, three-dimensional letters covered with Chinese characters and patterns. The background is densely filled with repeating black calligraphy-like symbols.
Two visitors stand in front of a wall projection consisting of repeated squares of black-and-white text. Printed sheets with the same text are scattered on the floor, creating an immersive installation.
A projected video on a wall shows two women smiling and interacting in front of a backdrop filled with dense black text. In the foreground, silhouettes of viewers raise their hands toward the projection.
An art installation with phrases in multiple languages, including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Japanese, and English, made from cut-out letters suspended on strings from the ceiling. The text reads, “and design is the action of audiences’ reaction.” A visitor with a backpack stands at a wooden table beneath the text.
Three large posters with bold orange text hang in a row, each overlaid with heavy black spray-painted graffiti-like markings. Additional artworks, including blue fabric and posters with black text, are visible around the installation.

Faculty

Randy Lee Cutler

Professor
Faculty of Art, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Undergraduate Studies

Beth Howe

Associate Professor, Print Media
Faculty of Art, Undergraduate Studies

Liz Knox

Sessional Faculty
Faculty of Art, Undergraduate Studies

Parvin Peivandi

Lecturer and Continuing Studies Instructor
Continuing Studies (Adults + Teens) , Faculty of Art, Undergraduate Studies

Daphne Plessner

Associate Professor
Faculty of Art, Faculty of Graduate Studies, Research, Undergraduate Studies

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