Capstone Projects

Capstone courses in Visual Art and Visual & Media Studies are offered every spring for seniors majoring in these disciplines. These culminating courses will offer you the opportunity to bring together aspects of your academic engagement through the development of a semester-long (Visual & Media Studies) or year-long (Visual Arts) project.

The Capstone experience fosters integration and synthesis within the academic major, explicitly developing and honing skills, competencies and perspectives acquired during your four-year Duke experience. You will research and explore a topic that builds on the expertise gained in your course work for the major and may also incorporate other intellectual interests. Emphasis is on the production of either a practice-based or text-based project, or a combination of the two into a single body of work.

This Capstone course offers you the challenge and opportunity to engage in a long-term project through which you will gain insight and experience in a professional approach to practice. In the Visual Arts Capstone, your project will be exhibited at the end of the term. In conjunction with the development of your semester-long project, you will create a book/catalogue and accompanying website that augments the exhibited work.

ARTSVIS 497S: Advanced Visual Practice (Offered every fall). Majors in the fall of their senior year work on independent projects in a group situation. Students meet weekly with professor teaching course to discuss progress and monthly with full Visual Arts and Visual and Media Studies faculty for critiques. This course serves as anchor course for students participating in Graduation with Distinction in Visual Arts and those Graduation with Distinction students in Visual and Media Studies with a practice-based component to their project. Initial development of projects during the fall semester, brought to completion in the Capstone course in spring. Instructor consent required. Instructor: Staff
ARTSVIS 498S: Senior Capstone in the Visual Practice (Offered every spring). Capstone seminar focusing on advanced visual practice and theory, including the completion of a body of work and participation in a culminating exhibition. Consent of instructor required. Instructor: Staff
VMS 499S: Senior Capstone in Visual & Media Studies (Offered every spring). Capstone seminar focusing on advanced visual studies theories, as well as individual senior projects undertaken as a written research paper or visual production. Consent of instructor required. Instructor: Abe, Cobb, Olson, Stiles, Weisenfeld