Taught at the Delaware Art Museum and the Academy of Lifelong Learning, the following courses adapt the coursework of “Theoretical and Critical Studies in the Fine Arts” to a classroom setting. During class time at each location, students view and discuss projected images. Field trips to area museums allow the instructors and students to view and discuss specific works of art.

I - Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, Delaware

This seminar, our first course held in a classroom setting, began in 2000 with 65 students. Inspired by the writings of Albert Barnes, John Dewey, and Violette de Mazia, and based on Violette de Mazia’s 1920s to 1980s program of study at The Barnes Foundation—a program that became a significant approach to the understanding of art—this seminar reinterprets Barnes’, Dewey’s, and de Mazia’s work and represents their concepts for 21st century students.

The course explored visual expression and its relationship to daily life. In three sessions of seven weeks each, or twenty-one classes, students were taught to experience works of art directly, guided to make aesthetic discoveries, and introduced to an objective method for revealing the art in painting as well as life.

Aesthetic theories were directed toward the analysis of paintings from many traditions of art. Paintings in the Delaware Art Museum’s collection were also studied so that students could practice using the tools they learned. Most classes included both lecture and discussion. Approximately 130 students completed the course during its three-year history.

Once the Delaware Art Museum reopens after its renovation is complete, The Foundation plans to offer a new course which will make full use of the museum’s newly designed galleries.

II - Academy of Lifelong Learning, Wilmington, Delaware
This seminar, our second course held in a classroom setting, was presented to seniors enrolled in the University of Delaware’s continuing education program held in Arsht Hall. It followed a similar format as the Delaware Art Museum course, but adapted to the needs of a different audience. In its three-year history, more than 220 students have completed the course.
Beginning in February 2005, The Foundation offered a new course, “Tradition as Ingredient in the Recipe of Art,” an adaptation of the Part II course previously offered in galleries of The Barnes Foundation and at Villanova University.