The Colby College Art Department includes both practicing artists and art historians of various academic and studio disciplines. With special studios for drawing, photography, printmaking, and sculpture, the department features a curriculum that allows students not only to explore the intrinsic nature of materials and techniques but also to develop their own expressive abilities. Art history offerings are designed with the recognition that the artistic products of any period are essentially related to the social, political, and cultural concerns of that period. Students at Colby are able to approach art from both a practical and historical perspective and thus are better able to understand the total experience of art.