Program Information

The BFA Degree
The Department of Visual Art offers the Bachelor of Fine Art degree with a core of basic courses and specialization in an area of the student's choice. Minors are offered in Art History, Fine Arts and Graphic Design.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is considered a professional degree. This program is developed to enhance the art student's career placement opportunities and/or entrance into graduate school. The program of study provides students with an intensive studio-based degree and a variety of curricular options.

The BFA degree combines general understanding with the development of personal style in studio work selected from the following: Painting, Printmaking, Ceramics, Graphic Design, Sculpture, and Photography. Complemented by a general education in liberal arts studies, this studio program enables each student to master creative techniques and to comprehend the meaning and importance of the visual arts in a diverse social, historical, and intellectual context.

Upon completion of the program the student will possess:

• an understanding of the fundamentals of visual communication and mastery of the artistic instruments used in such communication;
• the ability to analyze and judge complex issues in aesthetics, art history, creative expression, craft and image making; and ...
• the capacity to synthesize from individual to universal problems and their prevailing modes of resolution in aesthetics, art history, and creative expression. By integrating artistic communication fundamentals, intensive studio practice and creative research, students will:

  *create originally designed images, exhibiting proficiency in and appreciation of the communicative functions of selected art media

  *complete portfolios of finished work, engage in practical experience, and participate in critiques designed to develop and to manifest visual and verbal comprehension of the media

  *undertake critical research in historical and contemporary aesthetic concerns enabling the verbal and written skills regarding art to emerge.

Graduates of this program will have begun developing their own style--an indispensable notation or signature formed by the interplay of visual thinking and the study of traditional achievements in the arts.

Art Education Certification
The Department of Visual Arts provides a foundation of knowledge and skill in the visual arts which will prepare students to practice art on a professional level. Students may elect an art degree program, which is designed to prepare practicing artists, plus certification, which is designed for students who wish to teach art in the public schools.

Program Structure: The art focus concentrates on skill development and creative expression in ceramics, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Other courses include computer graphics, photography, and crafts. Theoretical knowledge is embedded in practical learning. Students are trained as both practicing artists and educators. Art history and art criticism courses acquaint students with multicultural artistic styles, movement, and aesthetic/critical problems in art, thereby giving students a better historical perspective. Graduates are certified to teach in the public schools at all grade levels.

Preparation for teaching includes the following unique features: a teaching laboratory, supervised observations and aiding experiences in the public schools, and a supervised internship.

Art History Minor
Art history and art criticism courses acquaint students with multicultural artistic styles, movement, and aesthetic/critical problems in art, thereby giving students a better historical perspective.