ARTH 2053

First off I want to say that I am an archaeology major, so the course material was automatically more interesting to me than it would be to someone else. That being said, I really enjoyed this class. We learned about the history of Greek art and archaeology in a way that, by the end of the semester, I felt like I understood the story of it all. As a sidenote, the class focuses really only on the art and not much about Greek history, if that is more your thing. Some would say that Professor Smith can be a little ruthless, because she will call people out for being on their phones, but she is honestly a really cool person and wants you to pay attention because she knows so mf much about the subject its unbelievable. While her lectures are super fast paced sometimes, she will always pause for questions and answer them very accurately, unlike other professors I have had. The class is not easy. You have to memorize a TON of information for the midterm and final exam. What helped me was to take VERY thorough lecture notes throughout the entire semester. If you miss a class, get the notes from a friend, trust me. The readings are not really that important. I didn't really do any of them and got an A just from going all in on the lectures twice a week. There were a couple papers, but they weren't too long in length. If this is a subject that interests you, I highly recommend taking this class, as long as you're prepared for some studying and memorization before exams. Just drink a celsius before classes and you'll be good.

I really loved this class. I honestly went in not knowing what the curriculum would look like, but I feel like I learned an insane amount of information about Greek art and archaeology. I will say though, that for anyone who takes this class thinking they're going to learn only about the classic Greek sculptures and architecture, that's only the tail end of the class, maybe the last 1/3 of it.

Dr. Smith is so funny and a great professor. Her lectures are interesting and engaging, and she actually knows how to place humor in her lectures without making it weird (unlike a lot of other professors). You can tell that her knowledge on this subject is very expansive, and she absolutely loves teaching this class. I wish I'd gone to office hours because I feel like I'd get to hear about Dr. Smith's life story, but I could definitely go to her office hours next semester and she'd still make me feel welcome.

The readings for this class aren't so bad, but I definitely skimmed most of them if not all of them. They were all free to access online (including the textbooks) which was so nice. If you do get to read the readings, it does feel like they solidify your knowledge by a lot. For the weeks where I did do the readings, I'd say it would have taken me about 2 hours if I hadn't taken notes on them.

Your grade in this class comes from 2 papers, section attendance/participation, the midterm and the final. I thought that the papers were a little strange (atypical from other art history class papers), but still easy to write nonetheless. Section is interesting to attend because the topics are loosely related to lecture, and you get to learn a bit more about cultural elements of the different art periods. The midterm and final were definitely difficult in my eyes (ID's and essay questions), but honestly I think that's to be expected from a class with this much information to cover. I do wish that there were fewer required pieces to memorize for the exams because I honestly just guessed on the dates of essentially all the pieces in the ID sections; there were about 70-80 to memorize for each exam and I definitely didn't memorize most of them!

Overall, I'd definitely recommend this class. The exams were difficult, but the overall takeaways of information make the class feel so worth it. This was one of the only classes I've taken so far where I'd be sitting in class and think "This is so interesting, I love this." #tCFF23

I really enjoyed this class with Dr. Smith and Najee! They were a lot of fun and truly cared about the content. Would definitely take another class with them.

Solid class

Smith is one of those professors who is actually a good teacher. Her class was always easy to follow and understand. She was clear and a fair grader.