The BFA in Art is a professional degree for students who want intensive study of the visual arts. The BFA in Art is divided into studio emphases and areas of focus. The Department of Art and Design offers emphases in graphic design and studio art. Students pursuing a studio art emphasis choose two areas of focus: drawing and painting, graphic design, printmaking, photography, and ceramics. All emphases in the BFA programs share the same requirements in General Education Curriculum and Art Core but vary in the Major Courses requirements.
Our graphic design curriculum explores visual communication through creative problem solving. Students explore principles of visual literacy, typography and layout design by completing projects on logo design, branding, editorial design, illustration, publication design, packaging design and interactive design.
The ceramics curriculum provides a learning environment and experience that prepares students for careers in ceramics. Students will learn various technical methods of clay construction, such as coil, slab, slip casting, and wheel to apply in traditional and nontraditional formats.
The drawing and painting curriculum provides students with an understanding of the evolution of representation, illusion and meaning through a range of media including graphite, charcoal, watercolor, acrylics and oil paint.
Students exploring the photography curriculum engage in traditional analog/film and digital processes in a creative environment that emphasizes photographic seeing.
Students studying printmaking focus on the creation of the printing matrix and the necessary skills needed to transfer an impression of the matrix to the printed surface.