Painting & Drawing

Faculty of international acclaim guide students in the painting and drawing program through their journey to self-discovery as artists.

[ BA DEGREE ]

Visual Arts majors who choose a BA degree track will develop a general competence in the understanding, appreciation, and practices of visual arts. Each track is designed to serve students who are interested in a degree in the visual arts, but are unable or choose not to pursue a BFA degree, and who plan to enter professions within this field or pursue other paths that require artistic skill and knowledge, clear thinking, intellectual maturity, and aesthetic awareness. It is also designed to develop skills and nurture habits of thought and appreciation that will provide a source of life-long personal satisfaction to the student.

[ BFA DEGREE ]

As central to the studio curriculum of the Department of Visual Arts, painting and drawing prepares students to engage in the broader visual culture by focusing on contemporary issues and methodologies as related to investigations of more traditional questions and problems. The program is unique in its ability to provide students with strong visual and conceptual reasoning skills critical in each individual student's search for identity and place among their peers and other professionals.

Pre-major students are required to complete the freshman core courses in drawing, figure drawing, two- and three-dimensional design their freshman year. In their second year they are to complete sophomore foundations including courses in aqueous media, painting, ceramics, sculpture, intaglio, and lithography. These classes are designed to teach students basic principles and techniques traditional to the practice and will aid their conceptual understanding of the media later in their academic progress.

After completing the studio arts core, students then apply to the program by submitting a portfolio of work to a faculty admissions committee. After acceptance into the program, each student is required to complete a number of upper-division classes expanding on the fundamental courses taken in the first two years. As students develop artistically they are required to complete art history and art criticism courses, which cultivate content and meaning in their work. They are also taught professional practices in business classes and learn how to speak and write about their art in a sophisticated manner.

BFA/MFA students are provided and assigned an individual studio space for the production of their works for the duration of their study and through close interaction with faculty of regional, national, and international acclaim, are guided through their experimentation and journey to self-discovery as artists. Beyond the traditional campus experience, students have the opportunity to study abroad in various locations across Europe, the Middle East, and South America during regularly provided Study Abroad programs as well as annual internship programs in New York City.

As a culmination of study and practice, students are required to hold an exhibition of works accompanied by an artist statement and defense, which is displayed publicly in either of two student gallery spaces.