Spring 2027

Introduction to Art

Introduction to Art explores the definition of art through historical, theoretical, and practical lenses, developing visual literacy and a survey of global art movements and media.

offering recorded3 credits

Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 No instructors listed

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Matthew Mauk

Weekly workload consisted of 2–3 short writing assignments and one art project, which was manageable if spaced out.

What you’ll be able to do

Identify major functions, themes, and styles in the visual arts from pre-history to the present.
Recognize the formal elements and design principles in works of art and analyze their effect on interpretation and meaning.
Conduct technical exercises as well as open-ended experiments with art tools and media to determine how to articulate an idea visually and conceptually.
Demonstrate habits for researching, analyzing and creating artworks.
Communicate the role of art and artists to the larger society.
See oneself as an active participant in the art world.

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗

average GPA
letter grades

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

Not open to students declared in Art BS, Art BFA, or Art Education BS

Not open to students declared in Art BS, Art BFA, or Art Education BS

ART 100 used by

“Used by” includes alternatives; linked courses may have other requirements. This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Not open to students declared in Art BS, Art BFA, or Art Education BS

Professors

Spring 2027

No instructors recorded for this selection.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ELIZABETH SHEELER is recorded teaching in Fall 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

FIKRIYE OZMERAL is recorded teaching in Spring 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

JEFFREY CHELF is recorded teaching in Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KAYLYN GERENZ is recorded teaching in Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

KYLE HERRERA is recorded teaching in Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MATTHEW MAUK is recorded teaching in Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

MICHAEL VELLIQUETTE is recorded teaching in Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2010, Spring 2011, Fall 2011, Spring 2012, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015, Fall 2015, Spring 2016, Fall 2016, Spring 2017, Fall 2017, Spring 2018, Fall 2018, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Fall 2020, Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Fall 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PRAVEEN MARIPELLY is recorded teaching in Fall 2021, Spring 2022, Spring 2023. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

Section	Mode	Enrolled / capacity
LEC 001	Classroom Instruction	0 / 180
LEC 002	Classroom Instruction	0 / 180
LEC 003	Classroom Instruction	0 / 180
DIS 301	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 302	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 303	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 304	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 305	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 306	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 307	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 308	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 309	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 310	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 311	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 312	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 313	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 314	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 315	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 316	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 317	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 318	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 319	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 320	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 321	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 322	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 323	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 324	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 325	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 326	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 327	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 328	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 329	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18
DIS 330	Classroom Instruction	0 / 18

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records

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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Matthew Mauk

Students described the online format as interesting and accessible for non-artists, with no tests or quizzes required.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.88 GPA, 95.6% A/AB (n=474 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.88 GPA, 94.4% A/AB (n=572 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.90 GPA, 95.5% A/AB (n=511 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Matthew Mauk

Weekly workload consisted of 2–3 short writing assignments and one art project, which was manageable if spaced out.

Past student reviews · Jeff Chelf

Jeff Chelf graded creative assignments by effort and kept course materials and textbook costs low.

Topics

Survey of art media, movements, and global cultures
Artist creative processes and conceptual development
Functions, themes, and styles in visual arts

Skills

Visual literacy and interpretation
Analysis of formal elements and design principles
Artistic experimentation with tools and media

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.06 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Spring 2027

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

Download part 1

Selected offering source records

ART 100 · Spring 2027

Introduction to Art

Recorded 2026-10-14

Raw records

[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:168:001062",
    "course_id": "ART 100",
    "course_uid": "course_70b55edff8cee9bd21597ef7",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "001062",
    "source_subject_id": "168",
    "title": "Introduction to Art",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall"
  }
]

Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews

Download part 1

Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades

Model outputs & technical records

Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B

LLM outputs across runs

Download part 1

Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1 Download part 2

Model & dataset provenance

{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "ecd9d976ea6d468e7bada6023fea497d585527fe91c0672caf5c0d4f4b4c6f00",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}

Introduction to Art

Summary

What you’ll be able to do

Grade history

Prerequisites

Professors

Calendar & sections

Student experience

the class

difficulty & workload

Topics

Skills

Grades

Spring 2027 · Projected

Grades over time

Where this course fits relative to UW–Madison

Sources & history

Catalog & offerings

Student reviews

Grade history

Where this course fits relative to