March 14, 2003
Temple University, Japan Campus (TUJ) is pleased to introduce an exciting addition to its Undergraduate Program: a major in art. The new major has the dual goals of developing professional artists and of broadening opportunities to acquaint students with art. TUJ believes that achieving these goals will help raise the standard of art and culture in Japan.
TUJ’s new art major follows the curriculum of Temple University’s Tyler School of Art. That school, located in Philadelphia, has been well known for its faculty since its establishment in 1935. It also is well known for its many alumni who have become important artists in the history of American Modern Art. Working with this school, TUJ’s art major offers students the opportunity to cultivate a better understanding of art and to obtain the knowledge and skills required of professional artists. Its courses span basic arts, including design, drawing, painting, and three-dimensional design; digital photography; digital imaging; Internet imaging; moving images; motion graphics; media arts; and art history.
Graduates of TUJ’s art major earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art. That degree, in turn, opens doors for them enter to graduate school and to art schools throughout North America, including to Temple’s Tyler School of Art. There, they can further their study of art and of English. Thereafter, they can pursue careers in digital media, design, and other arts-related activities.
Professor Shinya Watanabe is a TUJ alumnus who earned his M.F.A. from the Tyler School of Art. Now the art instructor at TUJ, he is dedicated to introducing students in Japan to art and arts studies. “I look forward,” he says with excitement, “to having many students explore art and to supporting them as they pursue their goals in the arts.”