Studying Fine Arts and Design at MADE means learning from creative professionals, working in top level MADE studio spaces, and drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean Basin. Consider the constantly changing role of visual arts and technological transformations in our culture and develop your understanding of practical techniques and processes.
Subject Offerings
- Art
- Architecture
- Ceramics
- Design
- Fashion
- Graphic
- Interior
- Set
- Sound
- Film
- Music
- Photography
- Printmaking
- Sculpture
- Urban Planning
Art & Design Track
MADE aims to work at the crossroads of design, art, traditional crafts, and local culture. Designed for both fine arts & design and non-fine arts & design majors, this program offers the students a multifaceted experience through a diverse array of accredited programs covering everything from Design (including Graphic, Fashion, Sound, Product, Interior, Set Design, and Urban Planning) to Fine Arts, such as Painting, Drawing, Sculpture, Videomaking, and Photography. This track is strongly integrated with the MADE BA Programs in Design, Visual Arts, and Fashion, allowing study abroad students to take classes and learn alongside Italian students in English.
Fall 2025 Art & Design Courses
- Local Craft for Global Product Design
- The Conquer(ing) of Space
- Sicilian Traces. Designing a Living Font
- Shaping, Molding, and Casting
- Ceramics: Technique and Intuition in the Art of Making
- Ancient Mosaic Making
Course Descriptions
Local Craft for Global Product Design
Credit Hours: 6 ECTS
*Note: Counts for the International Migration Studies Certificate
Sicilian handicrafts have always been linked to a folkloric and rhetorical image. Today, however, some sophisticated and contemporary realities on the island try to transform local materials into products “speaking” a global language. During the course, students will be invited to analyze the materials and production techniques of the Sicilian territory, to reinterpret them in a contemporary key, through the development of a product or a small collection of objects, to be physically produced through the realization of prototypes.
In this course, students will learn about the artisan history of Sicily, examining the traditional creation of ceramics, crafts, textiles, and more. Coursework will include visits to local workshops as well as guest lectures from Sicilian artisans. Students will complete hands-on projects using traditional regional materials and techniques. As students deepen their understanding of the historical and cultural significance of Sicilian handicrafts, they will begin to draw inspiration for how to honor these customs in new and innovative ways. Students will examine the role of traditional artisanal products and methods in modern day society, contemplating how to preserve their important cultural significance while also making the adaptations needed to succeed in the current international marketplace. Students will consider sustainable product design as they aim to create innovative interpretations of traditional products.
The Conquer(ing) of Space
Credit Hours: 6 ECTS
*Note: Counts for the International Migration Studies Certificate
Cities are intrinsically linked with their spaces and what happens in them. Starting from the reality of spaces, we see the city as a stage for situations. Situations are a set of conditions: informally, accidentally, or potentially planned. The aim of the course is to question critically the realm of existing realities, changing the perception of the ordinary through an investigation of the anatomy of the space, built or not built, defined or not defined, connected or disconnected. We rely on the potential of design to reconnect broken spaces and reopen them to experience.
In this course, students will consider the unique relationship between spaces and the people that interact with them, analyzing the impact that a setting can have on human activity and experience. As a case study, students will examine the spaces around Syracuse, analyzing how they shape their interactions with and impressions of the city. They will contemplate how the spaces found in Syracuse interplay with behavior, customs, and daily life for the local community as well as tourists and visitors. Students will then create their own designs, proposing adaptations to public spaces that could improve the human experience. Coursework will involve theoretical context for urban planning as well as practical projects, utilizing critical thinking and creative problem solving skills. Throughout the duration of the course, students will continually return to the concept of "design for change," to build a deeper understanding of how creativity can impact society.
Sicilian Traces: Designing a Living Font
Credit Hours: 6 ECTS
We all leave traces: when we move, when we communicate, when we listen, eat, and live. These “traces” are imprinted in the urban space, modifying and sculpting its identity. During the course students will collect these traces to use them as a starting point to create an original analog font to be used for poetic and pictorial compositions, to rethink the identity of a place and make it more coherent with the territory that generated it.
Shaping, Molding, and Casting
Credit Hours: 6 ECTS
Through a theoretical and strongly experiential learning process, students will be introduced to molding and casting techniques, which are the basis of tridimensional reproducibility. They will create their own shapes and learn how to cast copies of them in different materials such as clay, plaster, silicone, and resins. Ranging from the oldest to the newest techniques, including 3D printing, students will be able to take inspiration from their use in some of Sicily's iconic objects, such as typical ceramic shapes (“formelle”) for quince marmalade, plaster molds for sugar puppets (“pupi di zucchero”), and casting techniques to produce the Moro Head (“Testa di Moro”).
Ceramics: Technique and Intuition in the Art of Making
Credit Hours: 6 ECTS
Students learn the skills that will allow them to construct their own personal artistic development in the field of ceramics, which is necessarily an experiential process. The selection of clays, decorative techniques, and interaction with fire and oxides opens up an infinite range of conceptual and decorative research and experimentation inherent in the art of sculpture and potting.
Ancient Mosaic Making
Credit Hours: 6 ECTS
Students will be introduced to the basic mosaic techniques, to the theories of color, and to the materials used for the creation of a mosaic.
They will also receive basic notions about the different mosaic styles, particularly the Roman and Byzantine mosaics present in Sicily. They will learn to cut the materials available (stones and marbles) with traditional tools and will be introduced to the complexity of a fascinating technique that requires all-round skills.