I thought I was going crazy or something til I read these recent reviews. I took this class this fall due to the good reviews on this site. I'm guessing TAs wrote those to encourage people to take this class or something, because for one -- I have never attended lectures more un-engaging, and two -- this is NOT an easy GE. Yes, it's concerning art, and it is a GE, so it should be easy, but this class is taken way too seriously. The homework is impossible to read. Top marks received in this class are Bs. You can follow directions and still fail. The reviews left on how the ridiculous the final was were accurate. Your life has to absolutely revolve around art history if you want to get a decent grade in this class. Probably gonna have to get my grade expunged from my record. Do not take.

She sucks so much. This class is way too much work for a GE. So much memorization, whatever you do, do NOT take this class. You will regret it

This is NOT an easy GE so if that’s what you’re looking for keep it moving. The midterm and final are graded harshly and require a lot of memorization. The material of the class is interesting but not worth the 4 in class essays that you have to write for the final.

I regret taking this class. You have to memorize in total about 70 different artworks (35 for the midterm and 35 for the final), the artist, the patron, the date, the location, context, and specific details of every single one. This wouldn't be a problem if you were given the lists more in advanced instead of a few days before the final. Lecture was incredibly boring. The professor just spoon feeds you information for an hour and fifteen minutes. She tries way too hard to sound eloquent, often times pausing to find a good word. She often has leaps in logic, as she makes a claim but poorly explains it or doesn't at all. The readings were confusing. It's much better to use online sources for contextualizing the artworks. But you are expected to have one page notes each time you go to discussion.

This class tries way too hard to be taken seriously, and it is shown in the exams. Most art history classes have usual slide comparisons and art critiques but professor Wilson apparently feels like that isn't enough. So she slaps together 35 paintings/sculptures/monuments and makes students not only respond to 2 slide comparisons but also 2 FREE RESPONSE ESSAYS??? Are you serious? Do not take this class with this professor. I can confidently say that anybody who rated this professor above a 2 just lied. Not to mention that the grading on the exams is extremely unforgiving as well.

Not sure what all these other reviewers are on, but I found prof. Wilson inCREDIBLY boring. She can listen to herself analyze 2 artworks for 45 minutes, no joke. The weekly homework isn't so but, but people failed to mention the INSANE expectations for the midterm and final. The midterm is 2 in class essays, each comparing 2 artworks selected for us. Keep in mind she gives us a list of objects we might see on the test, but that list has 30-35 objects!!! So basically to study we need to memorize the artist, date, location, patron, and historical context of over thirty pieces.

Then for the final there are FOUR IN CLASS ESSAYS. We have another 2 comparison essays with a whole new list of 35 objects to know. Then we have 2 more free response questions that we can choose 2 of 6 prompts.

Just warning you now, this is not an easy class solely because of the tests.

I've always liked history classes so I found the class to be interesting, but I do know that a lot of students found it to be very boring. Where this class turns out to be difficult is that your grade is almost entirely based on papers analyzing art pieces, this should be fine but they actually graded very harshly, at least my TA did. I got stuck with this class freshman fall quarter because all the other AGEs were full, so my advice is if you don't absolutely have to take this class then don't. The professor was very nice and I do feel that I learned quite a bit, but not worth it for that harsh grading.

I really loved this class!!! However, I don't think I would have liked it nearly as much if I took the class in person.

Professor Wilson held live lectures over zoom that I thought were very very interesting. Each week we cover a different theme in art such as gender or power. Lectures were always insightful and I personally found them very interesting.

I also loved my TA, Catherine. Discussions were made optional for fall 2021 quarter but I went every week because my TA made the discussions so engaging.

We have three essays to write where we compare 2 different art works. These were easy and fun but ONLY because we did not have to do them in person. In the essay you are required to fully identify the two art pieces you are comparing and give a full in-depth analysis of them. We are not told what 2 pieces we have to compare before the paper, so this would be extremely difficult if the papers were in-class papers because that means you would have to memorize everything about every art piece we discussed in class. I was lucky enough to not have the papers be in-class essays so I was able to use my notes and refer to the recorded lectures to write them. I got As on all my papers because of this.

I personally really enjoyed this class but also I took AP art history in high school so I had a little bit of background info. I think that if I've never taken an art history class I would definitely be very confused because a lot of times the professor and even the TAs assume we know a lot of art history terminology and stuff like that.

If you're already familiar with analyzing art or have some historical knowledge about the Renaissance era, the class will be much less challenging. But even without prior knowledge, if you attend (and take notes on) every lecture, participate in discussions, and do all the reading, you can do well. That said, the lectures are a little dry, and I personally skipped a few towards the end since I knew I can access the recordings later.

The class was graded on two comparison essays, a research project, and a final, which is another two comparison essays. It may sound like a light workload, but this meant I barely had any opportunities to learn from practice, so make sure to go to TA office hours to maximize your opportunities for feedback. The final project prompt was worded very vaguely - Prof. Wilson had to send 3 clarification emails and also clarify the requirements multiple times in lecture. No rubric was given, either.

All things considered, I did enjoy the course content. I've never given much thought to art before, so it was very eye-opening to see how other people synthesized the social, political, and even personal contexts around a work of art and produce unique and meaningful interpretations.

yeah I'm that stem major who took this class as a GE and took that L. I think this class could be easy if you're knowledgeable with the Bible figures symbolisms and know how to write essays. but if you're not familiar with Christianity and/or essay writing makes you stay up until 4am procrastinating in pain, be ready to drop.