Bard College at Simon's Rock (Division of the Arts)

About Simon's Rock

No other college in the country does what we do.

We’re a small, selective, supportive, intensive college of the liberal arts and sciences in the middle of the Berkshires, one of the nation’s cultural and natural treasures. All of our 400 students come to us after 10th or 11th grade in high school. We give them a broad-minded, paradigm-shifting education; faculty trained in the country’s best universities; inspired and inspiring classes; first-class facilities for the sciences, the arts, and athletics; and an astonishing range of opportunities for conducting specialized research and gaining hands-on experience. We offer 43 concentrations, many of them interdisciplinary; our academic program leads to an A.A. or a B.A.

Simon’s Rock was founded by Elizabeth Blodgett Hall in 1966. In 1979 we became part of Bard College (established in 1860), one of the country’s outstanding (and most innovative) liberal arts colleges, located 50 miles away, in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York.


Academics

We offer an education with immediate practical value and lasting implications for our students’ minds and hearts and hands: their intellect, their imagination, the work they’ll do in the world.

We’re a college of the liberal arts and sciences. What does that mean? At Simon’s Rock, it means our students become conversant in the languages of science and math, the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts. It means they’re able to translate from one language to another, to find commonalities, connections. We also expect our students to write (and write, and write) in every class, tangible proof of their ability to think clearly and coherently and to develop a complex, persuasive argument. Finally—and crucially—we ask our students to take responsibility for the shape and scope of their education, working with advisors and professors to choose (or design) courses, independent projects, and off-campus opportunities.

Our education, in other words, isn’t just a series of isolated classes; it’s part of the fabric of our students’ daily lives. Wrestling with unfamiliar and complicated ideas, dreaming about improbable solutions, finding a new language to describe the human condition—this is the kind of thing we do at a seminar table, in the dining hall, in the meadow, and in a friend’s room in the darkest hours of the morning.


Division of the Arts

The Arts Division is dedicated to serving our students by advocating an active role for the arts in society. The faculty in the division, all active professionals, are devoted to teaching that encourages the inward reflection and outwardly directed social communication essential in art training. Whether the arts become the student’s central focus, or simply complement work in other areas, the skills and perspectives students are offered in our studios, classrooms, and tutorials foster valuable self-confidence and self-knowledge.

The special demands of the arts—performance, skilled work in various media, and historical analysis—are fundamental to liberal arts education. The faculty in the division value and nurture creativity, while helping younger scholars come to appreciate the need to discipline creativity in producing and responding to art in its multiple forms. Encouraging students’ love of the arts and their understanding of cultural history is, we believe, crucial in the education of informed, humane citizens.

Art History
Visual arts courses allow students to integrate the practice and historical analysis of painting, sculpture, drawing, ceramics, prints, photographs, video, and other media. Art history courses provide a historical and theoretical grounding for studio courses. Studio arts courses enable students to experiment with various media, practicing techniques they learn about in both art history and the studio, and developing their own creative vision. The art history program is designed for arts majors, and also for other students who want to increase their understanding of art, culture, and history. The introductory courses develop basic skills in art analysis and critical writing and introduce concepts and images fundamental to the issues considered in the upper-level courses. The 200-level courses explore topics in greater depth, both historical and aesthetic. The 300-level courses are designed for advanced students and offer the opportunity to examine both art-historical writing and art objects.

Studio Arts
The introductory courses in the studio arts program allow students to explore basic studio areas through structured assignments. Students are encouraged to supplement their studio work with a range of art history courses. Intermediate and advanced studios allow students to continue to work in specific disciplines or visual directions independently and comprehensively. Critiques, historical and critical lectures, technical demonstrations, and visits to art exhibits are integrated into the program. Advanced students work with faculty to prepare portfolios and exhibits of their work. The visual arts program presents professional art exhibits in the Alumni Library Atrium Gallery, the Daniel Arts Center, and other venues on campus.

Dance
This program presents dance as the development of a technical skill, a creative experience that integrates feeling and movement, a performing opportunity, and as the subject of historical and aesthetic analysis. The curriculum, open to any interested student, includes modern dance and ballet technique, improvisation, choreography, history, and dance in comparison to other art forms. Students are encouraged to combine dance training with work in theater, music, and art. Semiannual dance concerts provide opportunities for student performance and choreography.

Music
The music program at Simon’s Rock combines a thorough grounding in essential musical skills with explorations of diverse musical languages, including the gamut of Western classical periods and styles, jazz, electronic music, and many “non-Western” forms of music. Students explore music’s connections to other dimensions of human experience, expression, and inquiry.

The program offers historical, theoretical, comparative, and applied course sequences as well as performing opportunities. The historical sequence acquaints students with the trends and literature of Western music and with the stylistic development of jazz. The comparative musicology sequence (ethnomusicology) starts with Music in World Cultures and continues with various special courses (i.e., Cultural Perspectives: Music of India and Cultural Perspectives: The Music of East Asia) which may tie in with subjects such as anthropology. The goal of this sequence is an understanding of music as a universal human activity.

The theory sequence moves through harmonic, contrapuntal, and analytic units. The composition courses may be seen as components of the theory sequence, which is equally relevant to all advanced-level courses and practical musical activities.

The applied sequence offers many opportunities for developing performing skills. Private instruction in piano, voice, string, brass, woodwinds, and percussion is available through the Community Music Program at an additional fee. Students may earn one credit for private instruction. Advanced students may earn one or two additional credits by preparing and performing the major portion of a solo recital. Advanced students planning to take three combined applied performance credits in a semester are also required to file an Independent Music Project Contract at the beginning of the semester, outlining their goals and strategies. Other courses encourage students to pursue additional directions in the world of music, including electronic music using a state-of-the-art MIDI (Music Instrument Digital Interface) laboratory, jazz improvisation, and composition in which students creatively explore many forms, styles, and methods.

Theater
The theater program integrates classroom study with practical experience in productions. Students in the program develop familiarity with a body of representative plays, examine the theoretical and historical foundations of drama, and build skills which they test and refine in the rigors of performance.

The program is designed to serve both those who plan to pursue theater as a career—whether as professional actors, directors, designers, technicians, and writers, or as scholars and professors—and those simply interested in learning more about theater as part of their liberal arts education. To that end, the program offers the college and local community opportunities to experience unusual and adventurous live productions.

Work in the program begins with introductory courses which offer students the opportunity to explore aspects of performances and production. As they progress in the program, students are encouraged to continue to take courses which expand their familiarity with the entire field of theater, from writing and history of drama to lighting, set design, and costume.

Students may arrange independent studies, tutorials, internships, and extended campus projects with theater faculty members; these may include play readings and workshops with professional actors.

---

Division of the Arts Art School Location

Other art schools in Massachusetts

Clark University (The Department of Visual and Performing Arts) The Department of Visual and Performing Arts consists of scholars and artists whose areas of expertise encompass different disciplines in the arts: ar... Address: 950 Main Street

American International College About the College American International College is a private, co-educational institution located in the geographic center of Springfield, Massachu... Address: 1000 State Street

Newbury College (School of Arts, Science & Design) School of Arts, Science & Design Mission The School of Arts, Science & Design at Newbury College engages students in social, intellectual, and h... Address: 129 Fisher Avenue

Back to: » Art schools in Massachusetts » Art schools in Great Barrington

More information: » Marinas » Boats for sale