Chair: Hirsch Oded
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The department offers academic interdisciplinary studies in visual arts. The program combines diverse opportunities for art practice with studies of art history and art criticism. Students also earn a teaching certificate in art education
The teaching faculty includes both young and more experienced artists, who are active in a range of artistic disciplines. Lecturers in the study and criticism of art include experts in the field, with an emphasis on curators who combine art practice with gallery work.
The curriculum is structured around studies that serve as a foundation for development in a range of disciplines, discussion, criticism, and gallery work. Study trips and visits to various artists are a regular part of the program.
Professional workshops, with all the necessary tools and materials, are offered in the areas of drawing, sketching, ceramics, photography, digital media, animation, engraving, and video art.
Personal studios and educational gallery spaces are available for the students.
The Gallery for Israeli Art has been active on campus for 25 years. Around a decade ago, the Eye Contact Center was established, offering exhibits which include activities for children in response to the artwork.
Who we are:
We see art, education, and society as overlapping and influencing one another. Therefore, studies encourage the integration of the personal and the social, and promote the understanding of art as a field of action and social responsibility. Studying art is an opportunity for an intercultural encounter and for an “out of the box” way of looking at our surroundings. In contrast to institutions that are located in the center of artistic life, we who are located on the sidelines in the Galilee take advantage of the “right” distance from the noise of the center in order to invent, to innovate, to dare, and to experiment in the relative quiet that is necessary for young artists to find their voice while still being involved in what is going on in the field. Today, many opportunities are available as a result of international partnerships, for artists, exhibits, and projects that focus on personal creativity within the local context – most often in partnership with the local community. This artwork, that creates interaction with the audience and blurs the line between life and art, is the cutting edge in the field of art.
In keeping with the spirit of today, one can see contemporary art moving in the direction of partnerships and activity in public spaces. To whom does art belong? Who has the right to enjoy art? The desire to make art available to all guides our approach as an institution that educates artist-teachers. We promote artwork in public spaces in partnership with communities and sectors that are often distant from art, at the same time that we work in the schools. We are witnessing a new spirit of activism in the field of art and a desire to influence, which comes from a renewed belief in the power of art to create change in the world.