Susannah Blair

reading every class - usually pretty short like 5-10 pages and kinda interesting; midterm & final - both are more analysis and not memorization so just pay attention in class and you'll be fine; 2 papers

Just another day another girl singing Susannah's praises - class discussion was great, prof is amazing at leading discussion but also providing her perspective, would challenge people on their point of view (but in a constructive way like okay can you back up your claim), provide helpful feedback. Prof really understands the ArtHum mission and teach you the analysis tool to enjoy going to museums on your own, she cares much more about whether your learn how to enjoy/analyze art rather than transforming you into one of those annoying people who just recognize stuff

Papers + midterm + final - all perfectly reflective of what has been learned in class

Great professor, generous grader, gives constructive criticism, a little intimidating, funny, passionate

Workload was alright, doing the readings really helps process what's going on in class. And will need to both memorize and understand content of readings.

Expectations - uninteresting class. Expectations incorrect! Professor Blair is so committed to helping students understand the material, especially those with no 'art' background whatsoever. Super charismatic during class, but very participation-based class.

I don't have much to add to the review from Jan 31, 2025 –I agree with most of what was said. Completely agree with the fact that it's not an automatic A (in that regard, I think the pre-2025 reviews are a bit misleading; I envied people who were in arthum classes with more generous graders.). She said she wouldn't reread drafts of our essays, which was a shame imo because I would have liked more guidance. She did accept to reread my intros though. Not a fan of the exam formats. She gave us three prompts asking us to contrast and compare two specific works. We only had 75 minutes to answer three prompts and the prompts asked a lot of things –each prompt could have easily have been a prompt for a 3000 word essay. Overall, I still disliked arthum, but I wouldn't blame blair for it –she was a good professor; I think I'm just not cut out for this course.

There were a few easy discussion posts, weekly readings (sometimes easy to skim, sometimes required a little more attention), two 4-5 page papers, a 75-minute in-class midterm (no memorization required, just the same formal analysis you practice in class), and a 75-minute final (same as the midterm).

Professor Blair is incredible. She told us early in the semester that if we gain nothing else from the class, she at least hopes that we will become better museum-goers by the end of it, able to think more deeply about the things we see, and I can confidently say that I am a much, much better museum-goer than I was before Art Hum (I also just enjoy museums much more). Classes are centered around formal analysis of artworks, and she'll invite people to agree or disagree with each other's arguments as long as they back it up with formal evidence, so every class you're practicing the kind of analysis that you're asked to do on the exams and papers in a more casual, discussion-based format. She really prioritizes practicing analysis over any kind of memorization, and she'll never make you do any kind of ID on exams.