Curriculum

The College of Art subscribes to the standards for the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree and Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree as set forth and accepted by the College Art Association of American (CAA) and the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD). For students entering the College of Art in fall 2021, a BFA degree requires a total of 121 credits of course work, and a BA degree requires 120 credits of course work.

In your first year, you’ll take core studios, including drawing, 2D design, 3D design, digital studio, and a weekly seminar. Drawing studios are team-taught by studio art and communication design faculty. You’ll develop observational and illustrative skills, working mainly with charcoal, graphite, ink, and pastel. In 2D design and digital studio, you’ll build essential skills in composition and communication through manual processes and digital design software. In 3D design, you’ll learn fundamental sculptural and spatial skills, experimenting with new materials and processes, while learning how to use specialized tools and machines.

As your education progresses, so will your course flexibility. You can choose between studios in core areas—Painting, Sculpture, Printmaking, and Photography—as well as ones in hybrid media, time arts, public art, socially engaged practice, and much more.

Your studio courses will be supplemented by readings and seminars that acquaint you with the field of contemporary art and in developing an understanding of where your interests fit in the historical arc. You will also take professional practice seminars, taught by our dedicated career specialist, in which you’ll develop essential skills like writing an artist statement, preparing a CV, applying for opportunities, and presenting a public lecture on your work.

All studio courses have a low student-to-faculty ratio to ensure personalized attention.

• Digital Fabrication for Object-Making
  
• Visualizing Otherness: Race, Gender, & Class
  
• Printmaking: Propaganda to Decoration
  
• Foundry & Blacksmithing
  
• Collage: History & Practice
  
• Art & Feminism
  
• Compositions in Clay
  
• Sculpture: Iterative Systems
  
• Architecture through the Photographic Lens
  
• Contemporary Portraiture
  
• Material as Metaphor
  
• Representation after History
  
• Drone Photography
  
• Documentary Filmmaking
  
• Painting: Place & Space
  
• Eco-Art
  
• The Painted Figure
  
• Art, Environment, Culture, & Image