Emily Spratt

The readings helped me a lot in interacting further with the lecture material. There was a wide variety of resources ranging from art reviews to technical videos on the intricacies of sculptures and different artistic techniques, and even literary works that offered interdisciplinary perspectives. Overall, I think that the workload was manageable, with two writing assignments, a midterm, and a final.

Going into this class, I expected to build upon my prior interest in art. Taking Art Humanities with Dr. Spratt made me go far beyond that expectation; it not only nurtured my fascination for art both intellectually and conceptually, but also helped me develop a much more nuanced, multilayered understanding of art. The syllabus was extensive, covering masterpieces of Western art in chronological order, enabling me to approach art within a historical continuum that demonstrated its cumulative nature. Beyond the formal structure of the syllabus, Dr. Spratt's passion for art and ambition to instill in her students an interest in art were quite evident in her teaching style. She is a passionate, disciplined, and eloquent lecturer who seeks to enrich her lectures by asking students to comment on artworks, providing them with constant feedback on their use of art terminology and analysis. I think one of the unique qualities of Dr. Spratt is her multidisciplinary approach, which stems from her expertise in various domains from Data Science to Archaeology, and culminates in a vast knowledge of art. Other than that, Dr. Spratt is a scholar who highly values expertise and she is more than happy to help her students succeed in their future endeavors. From architecture to sculptures, paintings to photography, and a glimpse at the influence of AI in the art world, I greatly appreciated thi…

The short writing assignments are 25 percent and the mid-term and final exams total 50 percent, 25 percent for participation. You do have to memorize some artworks for the exams but other than that they are not too difficult.

I think Spratt is a very good professor and you are going to learn a lot of in-depth material in her class. I liked how she brought her experience in the art and archaeological world into the topics that we covered, and think she should talk about that more as that makes the ideas more relatable. I literally see art in a totally different way as a result of her class. The only drawback is that in-person attendance is really required to do well. I strongly feel there should be a digital option for all classes if you can’t make it to campus. But I enjoyed her teaching style and got a lot out of the class. Her recommendations of exhibitions were great. I don’t think it was more rigorous than other humanities classes, which tend to require solid effort.

Daily readings that are hundreds of pages. She expects you to be able to cite them for an essay on both the midterm and final. Two papers, both are light but be particular about your formatting. Midterm and Final, both are extremely vague and difficultly graded (spelling, dates, titles must be perfectly as what her slides say, and not online materials)

This is a Core class on Art humanities, but Emily treats it like a PhD level graduate class. She is unwavering in her desire to make the material entirely inflexible in interpretation, and makes the material extremely hostile to students. She is hostile to students and vaguely accuses students of using AI tools or being "bad students that will fail at life" when we never use AI. Extremely unprofessional, opaque grading, and no class notes are provided nor does she review material.

• Attendance + Oral Participation 25% • Writing Assignment 1 10% • Writing assignment 2 15% • Mid-Term Exam 25% • Final Exam 25%

I never feel compelled to write reviews for professors on CULPA, Emily Spratt has changed that. Incredibly rude and passive aggressive. She does not at all care about what you have to say, your questions, your contributions. Several times people have made contributions/given some perspective and she's scoffed and responded with "Is that a question or...?" She is so rude, it is not a safe place to learn. She also grades incredibly harshly for no reason, I think she forgets its a CORE class not a graduate level niche course. Yes she is super knowledgeable but really it is not worth it at all. ANY professor would be better.

There are two exams and two minor writing assignments (I wouldn’t call them papers). I see some of the other reviews complaining about tough grading, but if you pay attention in class you will get a good grade. There is nothing on the exams that wasn’t covered extensively in class.

One of my favorite classes I’ve taken at Columbia. This class covers a lot of different time periods and artistic styles, but it didn’t feel like a perfunctory core class. In each lecture Professor Spratt went into great detail about the subject and included interesting historical context that wasn’t mentioned in the readings. Her passion for art history is infectious and her vibe is smart and patient. I asked a lot of questions in class and she gave in-depth and specific answers to each one. I only took this course because it is part of the core curriculum, but Professor Spratt made me want to take more art history classes.