At Bennington, students work closely with faculty to design the content, structure, and sequence of their study and practice—their Plan—taking advantage of resources inside and outside the classroom to pursue their work. 

The faculty in painting and drawing offer a broad range of courses, from introductory level studios, to thematic seminars, to workshops in which students conduct self-directed projects. Our approach to teaching painting and drawing is one that allows students to understand these fields as discrete disciplines, each complete with its own rich history.

At the same time, students have the chance to develop approaches to their work that are not defined by traditional parameters of painting or drawing. Students in many of our classes incorporate new technologies, moving image, photography, installation, language, literature, and architecture in their explorations of problems presented.

In all painting and drawing courses, we aim to create an atmosphere in the classroom which prioritizes inquiry into the nature of representation itself, and the questions inherent in the relationship between empirical experience/observation and image making/understanding. Emphasis is placed on the exploration of assignments that provide parameters and questions for students that will lead them into legitimately formidable inquiry—rather than determining the approach that they might take formally.  In this way, acquisition of technical skills is never separated from questions of the creation of meaning and the significance of images, especially in the world of today.