Art and Environment Field School
Summer 2026
6 weeks total:Ìý May 11-July 19 (@ Mountain Research Station May 22-May 29 ) & 3 weeks asynchronous online
The Field School is a 6-credit, 6-week intensive field arts program available each summer. The structure is 3-weeks of travel and on-site fieldwork followed by 3-weeks of asynchronous online work and reflection. The program puts students in touch with various landscapes and is focused on teaching site and context-based approaches to art creation. The Field School is designed as an experiential course, meaning that students learn about places and context through being in the field and making artwork on-site. While living and working in the field, students create and discuss various approaches to art making with environments such as alpine tundra, sand dunes, forests and waterways. Students may explore many mediums including: writing, photography, sculpture, drawing and video and sound recording. Topics that are discussed and of which students work with in this course are: nature and process; ecology; conservation; highways and byways; non-urban phenomenology; climate change; borderlands; pastoralism; wayfaring; pilgrimages; identity; agriculture; cultural representation; reconciliation; idealized and ignored landscapes; and geomorphology. The 2026 session will travel through the San Luis Valley and 4 Corners region of the Southwest, ending at the CU Mountain Research Station for the 2026 session exhibition. Please note this course is off-campus and involves out-of-state travel. A signed university waiver and active health insurance is required.
Instructors:Ìý Aaron TreherÌý
Location:Ìý Mountain Research Station, Nederland CO
Dates & Times:Ìý Mondays-Fridays , (no class on Juneteenth, Fri June 19th)
Credit:Ìý 6 credit hours in art (ARTS 4444/5444)
Tuition for 2025 (2026 is TBD): $4,600.00
For more information on the course please contact:
FIELD SCHOOL STAFF
Field School Faculty Director:
Richard Saxton
Artist/Instructor:
Aaron Treher
Questions about staying at the Mountain Research Station during your course? ÌýSee our .
To Register:Ìý
CU degree students may simply search for ARTS 4444/5444 (screenshot below) and register online via the Buff portal.
Make sure you are searching “Â鶹ӰԺ Continuing Educationâ€
Please review theÌýSyllabusÌý, understanding that this is a residential field program for 3-weeks.
Ìý
For non-degree/1st-time students, or students transferring credits to other universities, please follow the below link and fill out a Summer 2026 Enrollment Application.Ìý.