Transylvania’s Division of Fine Arts houses a vibrant, supportive community of student and faculty artists passionately involved with music, drama, and the visual arts. Students and distinguished faculty work closely with one another to hone technical talents, expand creativity, and develop an ever greater love and appreciation for the arts.
Transy offers majors and minors in drama, art, and music, and provides exciting opportunities to every student, regardless of major. Many choose to perform in a musical ensemble or participate in theater productions. Others take classes in painting, sculpting, graphic design, or music appreciation. Still others enroll in fine arts travel courses; recent destinations include Australia, Europe, Mexico, New York City, Washington, D.C., and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. All Transy students, whatever their specialty or special curiosity, are encouraged to explore the arts.
Majors available in this division include art, drama, and music.
Art
Rooted in a strong liberal arts curriculum, Transylvania’s art program encourages the interplay of ideas from a variety of disciplines.
Students explore personal and global issues in their studio work and analyze these ideas in art history classes. The program’s philosophy rests on the firm belief that the best art draws from both broad social issues and aesthetic concerns.
The art curriculum introduces students to the fundamentals through courses in drawing, design, painting, photography, sculpture, ceramics, and art history. Art majors select an area of specialization in one of the studio disciplines. The major culminates in a capstone course in which seniors learn to craft a portfolio and, under the personal guidance of a professor, make a final, original work of art.
Faculty Members:
- Jack Girard; Professor of Art; B.F.A., M.F.A., East Carolina University.
- Kurt R. D. Gohde; Associate Professor of Art; B.F.A., New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University; M.F.A., Syracuse University.
- Dan S. Selter; Professor of Art; B.F.A., Louisville School of Art; M.F.A., Syracuse University.
- Nancy Wolsk; Associate Professor of Art; B.A., Mount Holyoke College; M.A., Institute of Fine Arts, New York University; Ph.D., University of Kentucky.
- Wei Lin; Assistant Professor of Art History; B.A., Nanjing University; M.A., Beijing University; Ph.D., The Ohio State University
Drama
Drama at Transy combines both theory and practice in a series of imaginative theatrical experiences, with numerous opportunities to act, design, direct, write, and participate in productions in our new, highly flexible, and well-equipped Lucille C. Little Theater.
Drama students enroll in courses in acting, directing, designing, and literature. In acting classes, topics vary from voice production and textual understanding to interaction among characters and development of a character’s objectives. Directing classes include hands-on work with scripts and staging scenes. Classes in theater history are practical and coordinated with production.
Transylvania University Theater stages two to three major productions each school year, in addition to a number of student-directed plays.
Faculty Members:
- Mark S. Krause; Assistant Professor of Drama; B.F.A., Boston University; M.F.A., University of Louisville.
- Timothy Soulis; Professor of Drama; B.A., M.A., University of California-Berkeley; Ph.D., University of Denver.
Music
The music program at Transylvania provides rigorous training for music majors, gives music minors ample exposure to the discipline, and opens participation in instrumental or choral groups to all students.
The ability to cross disciplines is a unique advantage of the music program. Applied music majors receive continuous training in their instruments while acquiring a thorough grounding in theory and history as well as exposure to numerous other disciplines. Students may choose between an applied music major with instrumental, keyboard, and vocal options, or a music education major.
The program emphasizes personal instruction through applied music lessons. In addition, small classes in music theory and history provide an intimate learning experience. Transy’s music majors tend to have great success in their chosen area of music.
Faculty Members:
- Gary L Anderson; Professor of Music; B.M.E., Millikin University; M.S., D.M.A., University of Illinois.
- Larry J. Barnes; Professor of Music; B.M., M.M., Cleveland Institute of Music; D.M.A., Eastman School of Music.
- R. Ben Hawkins; Professor of Music; B.M., Southwest Texas State University; M.M., University of South Carolina; Ph.D., Texas Tech University.
- Gregory Partain; Professor of Music; B.M., University of Washington, M.M. and D.M.A., The University of Texas at Austin.
- Scott L. Phillips; Assistant Professor of Music; B.A., Brigham Young University; M.A., University of Central Florida, Ph.D., Univesity of Iowa.
