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School of Art & Design students are encouraged to engage the world around them. Global Positioning Studies is an interdisciplinary visual art and design initiative that positions students at the crossroads between a local sense of place and a global understanding of that place in the world.
Through direct experience, Global Positioning Studies (GPS) courses encourage students to engage the world as a fertile ground for creativity and critical research. GPS courses are open to all students and some majors are required to take at least one GPS-designated course.
This spring-break study abroad art history course examines a variety of geographical locations and types of landscapes, artistic schools and a wide selection of artists, through the media of painting and photography.
Read More: 19th-Century Art History in FranceThis course provides an opportunity to look closely at Wright’s life and work and place it in the context of developments in modern architecture.
Read More: The Architect Frank Lloyd WrightArt and Environment is a multidisciplinary graduate and upper division undergraduate studio/seminar course open to Art, Art History and Art Education majors.
Read More: Art and EnvironmentThis is a four-week, indoor/outdoor field course for artists. The focus of the course will be to study and discuss the notion of place as it pertains to the unique microenvironment of Coastal Maine.
Read More: Art and Environment: Coastal MaineArt & Environment: Hawaii is a semester-long, outdoor field course. Study and discuss the notion of place as it pertains to the to the unique microenvironment of the Hawaiian Islands. This is done by engaging water, natural resources and recreational adventure as means to explore the larger environmental and cultural issues that form and shape the area.
Read More: Art and Environment: HawaiiThe Art of Andy Warhol is a three-credit GPS course that provides an overview of the ground-breaking and controversial art of Andy Warhol (1928-1987). We look closely at Warhol’s life and work putting it in the context of both the Pop Art movement and American history of the second half of the twentieth century.
Read More: The Art of Andy WarholWest Virginia University has a unique linkage with the famed ceramic city of Jingdezhen. The WVU ceramics program has teamed with the Pottery Workshop to offer a study and travel program in the Peoples Republic of China where students will have the opportunity to study with some of China’s most prominent teachers and ceramic artists.
Read More: Ceramics in ChinaThe senior capstone Art 425 section with Eve Faulkes is entitled Design for Social Impact, and uses a Human-Centered Design approach to working with communities that have included a Palestine-Israel agricultural collaboration, communities in El Salvador through an NGO, towns in the Monongahela National Forest and other state and local communities.
Read More: Design for Social ImpactJoin us in this four week, six-credit hour summer study abroad program in Italy!
Read More: Disegno ItaliaThe Jackson Hole Photography Workshop explores the diverse and remote region of northwestern Wyoming, including Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
Read More: Jackson Hole Photography WorkshopThe international Painting in China program provides an opportunity for tudents to study landscape painting in Chinese ink style in Nanjing and Tangka (scroll painting in Tibetan) in Tongren, Qinghai Province with extensive traveling to major historical and cultural sites throughout China.
Read More: Painting in ChinaWest Virginia University’s GPS-Photography in France course is a Spring semester field course that explores the landscape and culture of France. Daily excursions exploring this stunning region are complemented by digital work sessions, critiques of work in progress, lectures and numerous gallery/museum visits.
Read More: Photography in FranceThe San Gemini Preservation Studies GPS course is a four-week, 6-8 credit hour course in San Gemini, Umbria, Italy. This program is a series of courses, field projects and media and place-based experiences aimed at fostering the preservation of cultural heritage. The program offers students both theoretical knowledge in the class- room and hands-on skills on field projects and workshops.
Read More: San Gemini Preservation StudiesSpace: Atacama is a six credit, four-week multimedia, adventure art course that will take students into the remote, northern desert region of Chile to investigate themes of perception, space, positioning, self-awareness and environmental appreciation.
Read More: Space: AtacamaStudent award funding is available to help fund full-time outstanding School of Art & Design students to take a GPS course. Funding preference is given to those planning to attend off-campus courses with greater travel expenses.
West Virginia University maintains a passport acceptance facility on the Downtown Campus located in Purinton House (1505 University Ave.), room 102 (at the main entrance). The facility is open to WVU students, faculty, and staff, as well as the general public for passport application services and passport photo services.
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