Travel Courses

Course Title: Art & Ecopsychology in Ireland

Art and Ecopsychology in Ireland is designed to introduce and strengthen students’ relationship to nature as it relates to their own artistic practice, and to embrace a new way of seeing the natural world through what they make. A focus on ecopsychology will expand students’ knowledge of mindfulness, ecology, and environmental sustainability.

In partnership with our host organization, the Burren College of Art, students will have studio space to make their work and access to fellow art students and faculty at the college. Field trips to natural wonders like the Cliffs of Moher, the Caves at Ailwee, and the Aran Islands will expose students to dynamic landscapes where nature will inspire creativity. Guest lectures and visiting artists will include poets, painters, ecologists, and musicians. Students will work on a collaborative project with students from the Burren College of Art and return home with new artwork and new perspectives on the natural world.

Course Title: Drawing Identities in Mexico/Norteamérica

Drawing Identities in Mexico/Norteamérica is a travel course that explores Mexico City, one of the most vibrant cities in the world, and considers the ways that art, history, and public policy intersect in tactile and potent murals and interior spaces, both domestic and public. By visiting museums and cultural sites, students will study how visual culture has shaped –and continues to shape– collective identities across borders. We will visit modernist architecture designed by Juan O’Gorman for Frida Kahlo and see how she hung her own art as well as the ways that these modernists in addition to Bauhaus and Boston artists were inspired directly by their pilgrimages to ancient archeological sites such as pre-Aztec Teotihuacán.
Students will engage in historical and contemporary discussions by sketching and immersing themselves in observational drawing in personal sketchbooks –not with a focus on finish but reportage. All participants in the class (including instructors) will contribute to a shared sketchbook. The concept of a ‘viral image’ is crucial to both studio practice and historical research: How might drawings communicate diverse ideologies and how can they be unwrapped? How might our drawings pry open questions and connect and dissect images?

Course Title: A Journey Through Time & Craft: Contemporary Jewelry in Historic Dundee, Scotland

This immersive course introduces students to contemporary and historical jewelry, objects, and art through on-site engagement in Dundee and Edinburgh, Scotland. Students participate in an intensive workshop experience at the internationally recognized Jewelry and Metals Department at the University of Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design.

Through studio-based projects, students gain experience with specialized techniques, including aluminum anodizing, and a theory-based introduction to the innovative practice of recycling precious metals from electronic waste. Skills developed in the course are broadly transferable, equipping participants with the ability to explore new methods, expand their creative practice, and pursue creative goals.

This course integrates regional culture and history through studio visits with local jewelry artists and traditional artisans, as well as visits to significant cultural sites, including contemporary and ethnographic museums, botanical gardens, and historic castles. The program is based primarily in Dundee, the United Kingdom’s first and only UNESCO City of Design.

Course Title: Ghana: Color, Pattern & Culture

This immersive travel course invites students to learn through a direct cultural engagement in Ghana. Participants will live, work, and create in Nungua, a coastal town just outside Accra. Students will gain firsthand experience of daily life while connecting with local artists, educators, and community members. Ghana serves as a dynamic classroom where students explore culture through textiles, fashion, art, history, food, and people.

Through hands-on workshops, artist talks, and historical tours, students gain skills and cultural knowledge rooted in Ghanaian creative traditions. The course introduces historic and contemporary practices such as Kente weaving, Adinkra stamping, batik, tie-dye, Asafo flags, and recycled glass bead making. Excursions to Accra, Odumase, and Cape Coast further enrich students’ understanding of Ghana’s artistic heritage and history.

Open to all majors, this course offers an exciting, interdisciplinary learning experience centered on cultural exchange, creativity, and global awareness.