ARTS 2000

Conrad is an artist and a visionary. Conrad is also incredibly condescending and mean. While the course structure itself is strong and touches on digital media, drawing, and performance, the professor delivered the assignments and feedback in a way that was more harmful than helpful. Maybe the current state of the world has Conrad in a perpetual state of despair but he needs to not reflect that into class. Would it kill to speak with a nicer tone and offer respect in the studio? Grading rubrics were also not given out before crit, making the criteria for evaluation for each assignment very ambiguous.

Absolutely do not take this class. Not graded as an entry level class in the slightest. Conrad exhibits childish behavior- extremely rude and passive aggressive. He says that he encourages questions, yet many students' comments and questions were laughed at during critiques. I did not feel comfortable attending office hours or asking questions in class. Super concerned that UVA hired him tbh

Conrad can definitely make or break this class. I personally wasn't too affected by Conrad's personality as I have been in art critiques in the past, but I could tell others who didn't have this experience were upset/ashamed during crits which is very odd for an intro studio art class. Basically, I would be wary of taking this class with Conrad if you have no experience with taking an art class before -- this would be a pretty bad introduction to formally learning art.

That being said, I did actually quite like the assignments we were given. We ranged from traditional to digital to performance mediums, and I found myself actually enjoying creating most of them. But the critiques were another story, as the professor seemed to prefer to play a kind of devil's advocate role where they would push you to improve as much as you can. That works for some people, but most people found it quite demeaning. Another thing that can make the assignments unenjoyable is learning the software required quickly enough to actually create the project -- learning Adobe Premiere Pro in two days and then creating an entire video project in a few more days all while finding time to go to Clem 3 to use the Adobe Suite can be annoying.

TLDR: Probably take this class with another professor unless you are accustomed to taking art classes

I think a lot of the negative reviews come from people who were expecting an easy A in the class. Yes, I too thought this would be an easy A, but I (like many others) was wrong. I mean, I can't hate on Conrad, he did say this at the beginning of the semester.

Yes, Conrad is sassy and the critiques and lectures are painful. But if you put in the time and actually think about the artwork you interact with (both your own and your peers), you will get an A. Personally, I enjoyed the projects. I learned a lot and got to experiment with a lot of different platforms. However, they are definitely time consuming, so if your taking difficult classes, it may be hard to manage. If you love to create, it's worth it. But don't expect it to be a walk in the park.

Tbh I think some of my peers understood Conrad’s tone/personality very differently than I did. On the outside Conrad is incredibly intense sometimes, even when it’s just talking about a piece of art. I don’t think he’s mean, I think he is intense in a way that is sometimes intimidating especially because this was an art intro class. I actually really liked Conrad. He does like to challenge you- there was a lot of digital software we had to learn quickly and during the critiques we spent a huge amount of time talking about details. But then outside of critiques he was one of the most kind and accommodating professors I had this semester- he gave me 4 extensions and he wrote a nice, understanding reply back each time. :/

This class was by no means an "easy A," and Conrad did not go easy on their students when it came to putting in true effort into each assignment. I learned a lot over the course of one semester in their class, learning to not only have more confidence in my work and my skills but to accept when I needed to put in more work to get where I wanted to be. Conrad was tough, but also encouraging and believed in each student's potential to improve with effort and time. Some of the projects were more challenging or more enjoyable than others based on personal preference, but all were graded fairly based on not only the finished product but the effort shown by the student, which is to be expected in an intro class.

I usually just lurk on tcf but this is so messy. I got an A- but I feel like the person who said Conrad is childish and unfair with grading just got bad grades or called out.

This semester was one of my favorites. The professor does have a strong personality and a sailor's mouth (which was surprising to some people including myself) but obv means well and runs a tight ship. That part really clicked for me when we got to the drawing section and honestly from that point onward it just made the class hilarious. I feel like what you see sometimes is Conrad getting frustrated with people's bs.

Aaaanyway. I did put in a lot of work but the grading is honestly pretty fair for entry level

Conrad is definitely a personality lol. The class isn’t hard in terms of content (except maybe photoshop and audacity but you can j YouTube if need be tbd) , but it does take more time and effort than you might expect. If you're looking for a low-commitment, easy-A class, this probably isn’t it.

That said, the projects are genuinely fun — you get to be creative, and if you choose to work in groups, you’ll probably make a few new friends along the way. We did everything from charcoal drawings to Photoshop work to designing and implementing social experiments, so there’s a lot of variety and useful art vocab built in.

Ultimately, if you can show that you learned something — even if you’re not perfect at it yet — and that you’re here for more than just the grade, this class is totally worth it. Conrad values effort and thoughtfulness, he’ll see that and you’ll get a lot out of it if you engage.

As someone who had never had an instructor who held in-depth critiques and felt I already had a basis in art, it was a bit challenging adapting to the class structure at first. I wasn't too receptive to taking criticism very bluntly, which can make it difficult to enjoy this class, especially if you are expecting an easy A or a free course to fill up a gen ed credit.

However, while the critiques are harsh, Conrad is actually very encouraging of students' ideas and provides very good advice for students to improve in their work. And while the projects can be long and challenging at times, they are genuinely a ton of fun, and you really do learn a lot from them. Conrad is the type of instructor who sees that you put your best foot forward and that your work won't always be perfect, and will grade you fairly based on it.

All in all, this class requires a lot of effort and engagement. If you're new to art courses and don't think you click with the professor, sit in on some courses or try another professor's class.

I recommend this class to anyone who is passionate about being creative and engaging in the artistic process. My favorite thing about this class was that every project was a chance to challenge my creativity in a new way. There was a huge variety of projects, from digital art to charcoal to sculpture, so if you're looking to specialize in any medium this is not the class for you. Conrad was my professor, and I personally found them to be fantastic and I genuinely learned a lot from them. I found all of their feedback to be very fair and honest -- if you struggle with criticism, this class will teach you to take criticism and learn from it. I always felt safe and welcome in Conrad's class, and I would take it again absolutely! One thing to note, this class is NOT a blow off class and can be a lot of work at times. I easily spent over 5 hours on several projects (but if you like art that shouldn't matter).