To Chelsea Fralick, art history is not merely the study of musty paintings.
Her definition goes much deeper: “Art history is all about what we do as creative beings to express ourselves,” she said. “Art is what engages us.”
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Instructor Profile: Chelsea Fralick, "Art Through the Ages: Rococo to Impressionism"
A UC San Diego Extension instructor, Fralick’s personal definition of art includes not only paintings, drawings, sculpture, and other tangible forms of expression, but also literature, film, drama, performance art, and music.
“I enjoy teaching at Extension because the students really seem to get engaged with the material,” she said. “They want to be there, not because it’s a requirement.”
After earning her BA in art history with an emphasis in public art and architecture at the University of San Diego, Fralick obtained a master’s in art history at MIT.
Her thesis profiled the artwork and influence of the late Wallace Berman, an acclaimed "California Beat" artist of the 1950s and '60s.
As a measure of his pop culture appeal, Berman’s likeness appeared on the Beatles' 1967 "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" album cover.
To Fralick, observing various art forms is part of everyone’s daily experience.
“Today’s world is an age of images,” she said. “We’re constantly processing and analyzing those images. The sciences are fantastic, but learning the humanities will always be relevant because they allow us to be critical of what we see and think.”
Fralick’s four-session course, Art Through the Ages: Rococo to Impressionism, starts Aug. 5.