Professor Valerie Cicero

Sites become subjects in this relaxed outdoor watercolor class! Focused on capturing light, color, and atmosphere directly from nature, sessions will include painting amidst the park’s state Champion Trees, the Tudor revival-style Pump House, and the Corning Fountain. All levels welcome, with guidance on basic techniques, composition, and landscape painting in a park setting. 

Professor Jeffrey Partridge

Writing assignments are based on class field trips to museums and historic sites around us here in Hartford. In 1010, you will trace the footsteps of Hartford’s first Black church and school, explore Hartford’s oldest home, and research current issues facing Hartford residents. ​In 1020, you will read excerpts from the Hartford Literature Anthology and visit the homes and archives related to famous authors like Mark Twain. You’ll learn why Hartford is a significant site for Black American literature.

Professor Don Buda​

Students visit and research public spaces and cultural institutions around the city of Hartford, and drawing on their observations and research, they’ll develop analytical and argumentative writing about what these places reveal and the stories they tell. 

​Professor Alexa Carey​

​Using the theme "Ways of Walking" we will walk in the footsteps of those who came before us in Hartford, exploring the city and the people who make it what it is.  We will explore our surroundings in Hartford, considering all the ways people walk – now and then! Marches, protests, pilgrimages, remembrances, nature hikes, contemplation, and just going about daily life! Read philosophies of writing, study Hartford writers of the past and present, visit museums and parks. Walk for meditation, relaxation, and to boost creativity! 

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Professor Kevin Lamkins

Students in this course will examine the question, does street art belong in a museum? In addition to reading several texts about the topic, students engage in field research. We will explore Hartford's rich street art scene, including multiple murals right in Capital's neighborhood. We'll visit Heaven, the local skate and graffiti park, which is home to amateur and professional artists, a pair of memorial murals, and an ever-evolving combination of tags, cartoons, stickers, stencils, and marker drawings. Then, we'll visit the Wadsworth museum of art, which is one of the oldest museums in the country, home to masterworks by artists from ancient times to the present.Students will synthesize their experiences in these different spaces with the texts as they ponder the central question. 

Professors Jennifer Roberts and Nina Pinchin

See live, professional theater in Hartford! Meet the artists and examine their collective contributions to contemporary American Theater. Class discussions and writing assignments are led by professional theater staff from Hartford Stage.