Mar 29, 2024  
2010-2011 Undergraduate Course Catalog 
    
2010-2011 Undergraduate Course Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

Fine Art, BFA


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The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fine Art is centered on the individual student’s artistic growth and self-definition. An emphasis on historical tradition and new ideas in contemporary art expands students’ perceptual reach and aesthetic awareness. By engaging critical thinking, exploration, and experimentation, the program helps students discover and examine the world through the practice of art making. Fine Arts students study ideas, examine artworks, and learn about artists through slides, lectures, and practical application. Students learn to rely on their personal experience and encounters as sources for concept development and visual form. Mastery of technique is put at the service of conceptual problem solving.

The BFA in Fine Art begins with the core curriculum (level one) required of all Art and Design students. This includes 2-D Design, 3-D Design, Beginning Drawing, Art History I and II, Foundations of Photography, and Darkroom Workshop. Once these common department-wide requirements have been completed, there are additional required courses (level two) designed specifically for Fine Art majors, which together constitute the Fine Art Foundation. These courses include Contemporary Issues in Painting and Drawing, Contemporary Issues in New Media, Contemporary Issues in Printmaking, and Contemporary Issues in Sculpture, which collectively lead to the BFA review at the end of the second year of study. The student subsequently has a great deal of latitude in designing her or his area of investigation, with over 30 studio electives in all media being available. The final phase of the curriculum (level three) includes capstone classes designed to prepare the student for graduate study, including Critique Seminar and Professional Practices for Artists, as well as rigorous art history and studio requirements.

The strength of the program rests in technical, material, and conceptual diversity, including traditional approaches to art making as well as immersion in new media; its low student-teacher ratio; state-of-the art facilities; and an exceptional faculty that is dedicated to the growth of each student. Advanced BFA students have the opportunity to work in their own studio space, a benefit unavailable in many BFA programs. Regular end-of-semester critiques with all Fine Art faculty members chart students’ progress through the program, culminating in the required terminal exhibition in order to receive the BFA degree.

The final two years of the BFA program prepare students to enter the world as working artists or to pursue an advanced degree. Our students are accepted to many prestigious MFA programs nationally. They are prepared to present their portfolios to galleries, learn how to apply for grants and other funding, and put their skills to work in a variety of fields in the visual culture.

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