Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art & Design

Develop your artistic talents through an exceptional art program

Enhance your career opportunities or prepare for graduate school by earning a comprehensive four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Frostburg State University. The art and design degree program provides an intensive studio-based learning experience with multiple curricular options. You’ll begin to develop your own artistic style, master creative techniques and gain a broad appreciation for the visual arts in a social, historical and intellectual context.

Choose from the following visual arts areas of focus: graphic design, photography, illustration, painting, ceramics, sculpture or printmaking.
Add teacher certification to your degree to prepare to teach art in Maryland public schools.

Bachelor of Art & Design (BFA) Highlights:

Participate in art studies that build on a firm foundation of design exploration, technical skills and the accrued knowledge from related coursework.
Build a pre-professional portfolio that shows original thinking, media mastery, personal style and demonstrates an understanding of what constitutes a serious design project.
Develop and maximize your creative problem-solving skills.
Put on your own art exhibit in FSU’s Stephanie Ann Roper Gallery, handling everything from publicity and invitations to hanging the works and hosting the event.
Take part in the Arts Connection, a student club that organizes exhibitions in Cumberland and other regional communities.
Gain real-world experience through an undergraduate internship in a design studio, public relations firm, advertising business or government agency.

About Our Visual Arts Faculty:

Learn from talented visual arts faculty members, who are professional artists who regularly exhibit their works and have expertise in a wide range of creative media.
Take part in small classes that maximize the opportunity for one-on-one interaction with faculty and classmates to enrich your art learning experience.

Sample Art & Design Courses You May Take:

Art Appreciation – Gain an introduction to understanding the visual arts.

Artistic Traditions: Asia – Enrich your creativity with a global perspective: Complete a survey of cultures outside the European tradition. Study the iconographic and aesthetic analysis of Asian traditions: Buddhist, Hindu and Islamic.

Art Criticism – Explore problems in describing, analyzing, interpreting and evaluating art. Study the history, purposes, conceptual bases and methods of art criticism.

Find out more about Frostburg State University’s Bachelor of Fine Arts program requirements.

Career Outlook for Artists:

A BFA from Frostburg State University can lead to a variety of career possibilities, including becoming an art teacher (with acquisition of a teaching certificate), curator, art historian, graphic artist, game designer or practicing fine artist. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics anticipates career growth of 3 percent for fine artists through 2022. For more information about this career direction, check out some of the possibilities open to art majors at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ webpage on craft and fine artists. For information about any of the many other career directions associated with a visual arts degree, visit the crafts and arts main page (U.S. Government Occupational Outlook Handbook).