The Senior Thesis Honors Program in Studio Art is designed to enable
senior studio art majors to pursue serious and substantial work that
may qualify them to graduate "with honors" or "with highest honors."
Students
who pursue this program may work in any variety of media, but must
produce a coherent body of work by the end of the two-semester
sequence. This work constitutes the Honors Thesis and will be presented
at an exhibition or approved alternative public display along with a
written statement concerning the work.
Eligibility
Studio art majors with a UNC-Chapel Hill grade point average
of 3.2 are eligible to apply for the Honors program. Students must have
a faculty sponsor to apply, and should have completed at least two
intermediate-level studio art courses. It is preferred that applicants
have also completed some course work at the advanced level. Applicants
should be aware that it might be necessary for some students to achieve
sufficient maturity for eligibility, so an additional semester in
residence may be necessary for the successful completion of the Honor's
Thesis.
Application Procedure
Students usually apply for the Senior
Thesis Honors Program during the last semester of their junior year.*
Students interested in applying should attend any informational meeting
organized by the Department of Art and/or consult with the
Undergraduate Advisor for Studio Art [link] during the second semester
of the Junior year. The Undergraduate Advisor will clarify the details
of eligibility, application and program requirements, and will provide
application forms.
*Note that this is typically late in the
spring semester, but should take place at the end of the fall semester
for those intending to graduate in December. In special instances -
such as for students studying abroad and therefore unavailable for a
scheduled review - students may apply to the Honors Program during the
first week of the senior year. However, students anticipating such a
need should contact the Director of Undergraduate Studies for Studio Art to
determine eligibility
Admission to the program is determined
through nomination by a faculty sponsor and a review of the student's
work by the studio faculty. The faculty considers all elements of the
student's application in making acceptance decisions. Each applicant
must submit:
- a completed application
- a selection of 8-10 works of art*
- a proposal for the intended Honor's inquiry
The work
submitted for review does not necessarily have to be along the same
lines as the intended Honors project, but it should demonstrate the
student's capability to perform mature visual research. Reviews of
application materials for the Honors Program take place annually in
mid-April.
*It is preferable to submit actual works of art, but
if original works are unavailable, representations of art works may
also be submitted in the form of slides or digital images. In the case
of video, installation, site-specific, or similarly elaborate work, the
number of pieces may be negotiated through consultation with the
student's faculty sponsor.
Procedure for Honors Enrollment
Once the student's proposal
has been accepted, s/he must choose a faculty member to serve as the
Thesis Advisor. This faculty member-typically the student's application
sponsor-must be in residence at UNC-CH during both semesters of the
student's Honors study.
The student should register for ART 691H during the first semester of Honors work and ART 692H during the second semester.
The
Thesis Advisor and the student will confer and choose two additional
faculty members to serve on the Honors Committee. One of the three
committee members may be from a department other than the Department of
Art. Within two weeks of the beginning of the first Honors semester,
the student should submit a consent form to the Department Honors
Advisor indicating the names of the committee members. For deadlines,
see the
current schedule.
How to Apply for Honors Funding
Students who wish to apply for funding from the
UNC-Chapel Hill Honors Program
should consult with their Thesis Advisor and the Department of Art
Honors advisor. Applicants submit proposals to the department, where
they are then ranked by the faculty and submitted as a group to the
Honor's Program office. The competition for these awards takes place
early in the fall semester (late September or early October). The
deadline for submission of applications to the Art Department is one
week prior to the Honors Office deadline. For current deadlines, check
the
Honors Office website.
Procedures for Completing the Honors Project
ART 691H (first semester)
Using the application proposal as a
point of departure and in consultation with the Thesis Advisor, the
student will define the inquiry to be undertaken in the Honors project.
By the third week of the semester, the student must have prepared a
statement of the project to be undertaken and submitted it to the
members of the Thesis Committee. This statement should be both
technical and conceptual in scope, and should outline the motivating
ideas behind the student's project, as well as her/his goals for the
first semester of work on it. In addition to the proposed art work to
be produced, the statement may include course work, reading, or any
relevant research to be conducted as deemed appropriate by the student
and the members of the committee.
The members of the Thesis
Committee will evaluate the proposal, considering process, media, and
conceptual motivations. During the semester, the student must meet
regularly with the Thesis Advisor (at least every two weeks) and other
committee members (every 3-4 weeks) to refine and focus the project as
it progresses. The student is responsible for scheduling these meetings
and maintaining contact with the members of the committee. S/he should
be prepared to show work in progress and to discuss the development of
the issues addressed in the project. The student should inform the
committee members of her/his progress in all areas of the project,
including research.
At the end of the first semester of Honors
work, he student will prepare a revised version of the original project
proposal. This statement should summarize the work s/he has completed
during the first semester and refine the parameters of the project to
be completed during the next semester. This document should address:
- the motivating concerns behind the work
- influences (other artists, readings, other fields of study, etc.)
- the path of the exploration-how the student arrived at the current state of the work
- any relevant technical/process exploration (i.e., anything that
contributed to new realizations or interpretations/insights about the
possible content of the work)
The members of the Thesis
Committee will review the student's revised statement and provide
feedback on which the student will base her/his work during the second
semester.
ART 692H (second semester)
During the final semester, the
student must focus the work in preparation for exhibition. S/he should
meet with the Thesis Advisor early in the semester to establish goals
for the semester. Regular meetings with all three committee members
should continue during this time as well.
Note: All Honors work
must be completed by the deadline set by the UNC Honors Program, which
is typically early- to mid- April, or two to three weeks before the end
of the semester.
Early in the second semester, the student must
begin planning for the Honors Exhibition. To coincide with the Honors
Program deadlines, the Department reserves two weeks in mid-April for
exhibiting in the main John and June Allcott Gallery and in the John
and June Allcott Undergraduate Gallery. Students who plan to exhibit
their work in these spaces will meet with the other Honors candidates
to discuss exhibition logistics, negotiate space allocations and plan
exhibition publicity.
It is not mandatory that students exhibit
their work within the departmental facilities, and use of an
alternative site is encouraged if the limitations of the departmental
facilities are not desirable for the student's work. However, it is the
student's responsibility to make any necessary alternate arrangements.
Students should also schedule the Oral Thesis Defense early in the final semester. Consult the
UNC Honors Program website, for information regarding the deadline for the Oral Defense meeting.
During
the second semester, Honors students must also prepare a final Thesis
Statement to accompany the visual artifacts to be exhibited. This
document should expand on the ideas addressed in the preliminary
project statement and should be submitted to the Thesis Advisor in
draft form and then revised before it is submitted to the entire Thesis
Committee. The student must submit a final draft of the written
statement to the members of the Thesis Committee no later than one week
before the scheduled Oral Defense meeting. Students should note that
the Thesis Statement is auxiliary to the visual artifacts. For
questions of style and format for the written statement, students
should consult a style manual such as
MLA or the
Chicago Manual of Style.
At
the Oral Defense, the student should bring three copies of the Thesis
Statement and cover sheet to be signed by the members of the Thesis
Committee. At the end of the Oral Defense, the members of the committee
will discuss whether to recommend the student for graduation with
honors. The student will be verbally informed of the committee's
decision and the committee members will sign a document indicating
their decision to be submitted to the Honors Program office. If the
student's project is approved, the members of the Thesis Committee will
also sign a departmental form stating their approval, as well as the
cover sheet of the Thesis Statement.
After completing any
changes required by the Thesis Committee, the student will submit two
copies of the Thesis Statement to the Department Honors Advisor by the
date of graduation. The materials submitted should include both the
Thesis Statement and photographic documentation of the thesis work
and/or exhibition. One copy of the Thesis Statement is deposited in
Wilson Library, which requires that it be on regulation bond paper
(100% rag or cotton fiber and 16 or 20 lb. weight) and have a left
margin of 1.25". The print quality should be clear and easy to read.
The second copy of the Thesis Statement is deposited in the Sloane Art
Library. It should be on good quality paper and placed in some form of
binding. Copies of the cover sheet are bound with each copy of the
project statement.
In the event that a student elects to
withdraw from the Honors Program, or if the thesis work, statement
and/or oral examination are found to be inadequate, the Thesis Advisor
will assign an appropriate letter grade and the student will graduate
without honors.
) "Jody Cedzidlo")