Studio Art - B.F.A.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art is a pre-professional program that develops students' conceptual prowess, technical competency and independent problem-solving to meet the challenges of a career or advanced study in the visual arts. Through studio critiques, the study of sophisticated art and design concepts, mastery of skills and technologies and critical analysis of historical and contemporary issues, students learn to analyze and evaluate visual art and apply this knowledge to their own creative practice. Graduating students demonstrate their competence by producing a cohesive body of work presented in their senior thesis exhibition to a panel of faculty reviewers.

The Studio Art major comprises the following concentrations:

The Ceramics concentration offers students the opportunity to hone their command of ceramic material to create both artistic and functional forms. Students find new ways of practicing an ancient craft, drawing on both traditional and contemporary thought and practice. In addition, they investigate practices from around the world for a global context in understanding the medium.
The Drawing concentration cultivates foundational through advanced observational, conceptual and experimental processes to enable students to explore ideas across media and disciplines. All majors in the School of Art are able to complete a sequence of drawing courses to strengthen their drawing as a tool for visual thinking and recording. The concentration encourages advanced students to work with a wide range of approaches and to pursue drawing in diverse contexts.
The Glass concentration challenges students to explore glass as a creative medium, both technically and conceptually, within the broader context of contemporary art. In addition to the fundamentals of glassblowing, students learn glass casting, slumping, fusing, flameworking, enameling, cold-working and assembly. Both interdisciplinary and mixed media approaches are actively encouraged.
The Jewelry, Metals and Enameling concentration equally embraces its rich history and the contemporary theory, materials and technology present in the discipline. Students are exposed to fabrication, smithing, enameling, rapid prototyping, alternative materials and industrial processes to encourage the creation of thoughtful art objects. Students are encouraged to meld the rich traditions and applications of the field into the development of their own artistic signatures.
The Painting concentration is rooted in observation and technique while stimulating abstract, conceptual or material-driven ideas about painting and contemporary art practices. The curriculum supports a variety of specific approaches to painting — including collage, figural, landscape and abstraction — while simultaneously promoting an interdisciplinary approach and emphasizing engagement with contemporary practices. Advanced painting students work in consultation with faculty advisors to pursue individual directions and interests.
The Print Media and Photography concentration introduces students to all traditional print forms as a foundation for conceptual approaches. Students are able to learn print techniques such as intaglio, lithography, relief, silkscreen and large-format digital printing. In addition, students can explore traditional and experimental photography and develop print matrices. Students learn how to develop printed and photographic works of art through layering, problem solving and thoughtful material applications.
The Sculpture and Expanded Media concentration encourages proficiency in foundational methods of making-modeling, carving and assembly. The concentration is a springboard for students to learn how to communicate ideas through sculptural works. Although sculpture classes are rooted in the history of object-making, new forms of sculptural practice (installation, time-based practice, sound and kinetic works) are all part of a comprehensive three-dimensional program.
The Textiles concentration is distinguished by a transdisciplinary approach that fosters conceptual vision, technical facility and formal and material sensitivity. Coursework includes weaving, digital fabrication, off-loom construction, dye and print. The curriculum emphasizes the position of textiles within a contemporary art landscape and is supported by evolving theoretical discourse. Making and meaning are engaged as interdependent elements of studio production. Consideration of the distinctive properties and processes of textiles – repetition, geometry, line, color, pliability and embodiment – engenders a rigorous vocabulary to support formal and conceptual inquiry. Students explore thinking and working with age-old hand processes while incorporating digitally-interfaced approaches to making. Individual and collective studio practice is contextualized through the study of histories, political meanings and social themes that are deeply interwoven into the discipline of textiles.