UHCL School of Human Science and Humanities
MASTER OF ARTS IN HUMANITIES
Subplan II:  Images

“As the sun colors flowers, so does art color life.” Lord Avebury

 Full Member: Association of Graduate Liberal Studies Programs

Is your principal academic interest in painting, sculpture, ceramics, printmaking, weaving, graphic design, art history, or visual arts education?  Would you also like to explore the foundations of civilization by studying history, literature, and philosophy?  The M.A. in Humanities is a broad, interdisciplinary degree designed to help you unlock your creativity, develop your capacity for reflection and judgment, gain visual literacy, improve your writing skills, and acquire self-knowledge and cross-cultural understanding.  The visual arts track of this degree will help you become the artist you’ve always wanted to be.

If you want to expand your frontiers through broad liberal learning at the graduate level, you are a candidate for this degree.

In Subplan II:  Images of the M.A. in Humanities, you may choose to extend your skills as a studio artist through 15 hours of graduate Arts electives in studio production, or you may decide to study art history and criticism and visual arts education.  Students concentrating in studio production must have completed 15 hours in studio work prior to taking graduate-level studio courses.  They may enroll concurrently in the Texts and Images core courses while completing these prerequisites at UHCL.  Prerequisite hours, however, will not count toward the master’s degree.  Students concentrating in art history and criticism or in visual arts education are not required to take prerequisite courses.

To be admitted to the M.A. in Humanities, you must hold a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university. Our students include engineers, homemakers, nurses, business executives, lawyers, teachers, physicians, bankers, retirees, and many others.  Classes are scheduled primarily in the evening for the convenience of adult students. 

Requirements

The Core - (9 hrs.)

The core of this degree is a required sequence of three Texts and Images courses that integrate the study of great works of art and literature.  HUMN 5031, Texts and Images I, begins with ancient epics, such as the Gilgamesh and Homeric epics, matches them with Mesopotamian art and classical Greek sculpture, and concludes with medieval and Renaissance writers and artists such as Dante, Michelangelo, Christine de Pizan, and Artemesia Gentileschi.  HUMN 5033, Texts and Images II concerns western culture from the 18th through the 20th century:  writers and artists from Rousseau and Goya to Toni Morrison and Jasper Johns.  HUMN 5035, Texts and Images III, designed to increase awareness of cultural diversity, breaks away from traditional concentration on western civilization to study touchstones of literature and art from Asia, Africa, and Native America.

Subplan II:  Images - (15 hrs.)

You are free to devote 15 hours of course work to your area of principal interest.  All graduate Art offerings are open to you.  You may select your courses from studio painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, graphic design, and weaving; art history and criticism; and visual arts education.  Courses from the social sciences—anthropology, psychology, and sociology—may also be included in the degree. 

Master’s Options:

  • Thesis - 6 hrs. (30 hrs. total)

  • Project - 6 hrs plus 6 hrs. electives from HSH courses (36 hrs. total)

  • Internship - 6 hrs. plus 6 hrs. electives from HSH courses (36 hrs. total)

The thesis, project, or internship serves as the culminating experience for each student’s degree program.  In Subplan II:  Images, the thesis is ordinarily a substantial, documented research paper in art history and criticism.  Projects may concern curriculum or the gathering of research materials, but most projects consist of student art works.  Both theses and projects should be interdisciplinary in concept and content and draw on the student’s understanding of other areas of the humanities.  Internships may be arranged by students to translate their interest in the arts into preparation for employment.   Assistance to museum curators or document collectors, for instance, would qualify as internships. 

For more information contact:

Professor Nick DeVries, Art Faculty, (281) 283-3377, devries @uhcl.edu

Deborah M. Griffin, Director of Humanities (281) 283-3358; griffin@uhcl.edu

or Ann Hinojosa, Advising Coordinator (281) 283-3333; HSHadvising@uhcl.edu

2700 Bay Area Blvd.

Houston, TX  77058