Visual Arts Major

Visual Arts Overview

The Visual Arts program offers an interdisciplinary, process-driven approach to artistic practice that integrates traditional and emerging media. Students engage with painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, printmaking, graphic design, and digital media through an expanded practice that combines analog techniques, digital technologies, and critical engagement with contemporary social, cultural, and ecological issues.

Through immersive studio work and collaborative learning, students experiment across media, engage in critical dialogue, and develop a personal artistic language grounded in material exploration, technological fluency, and conceptual rigor. Committed to innovation and inclusivity, the program challenges students to respond creatively to the cultural, social, and ecological complexities of contemporary life, fostering bold artistic voices and new ways of seeing, thinking, and making.

Major Requirements

The Visual Arts major consists of 12 courses and offers flexibility for students to explore traditional, digital, and interactive media. Students complete one interdisciplinary course within the Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) Department, selected from a broad range of offerings in arts and media history, theory, and/or production.

Requirements include one ARTS foundation course, six ARTS electives, one professional development course, and the VPA capstone. ARTS electives may be selected from Visual Arts offerings, with the option to include up to three Interactive Media courses; one interdisciplinary course may also count toward the ARTS electives. The major culminates in a cohort-based VPA capstone experience that brings together students from six majors, with projects completed individually or in collaboration.

The Visual Arts major prepares students with the creative, critical, and professional competencies needed to thrive across artistic, educational, and cultural fields in a rapidly evolving visual landscape.

Professional Development

1 Professional Development ARTS Elective (select from one of the following):

ARTS 220 Portfolio Development

ARTS 234 Studio Topics

ARTS 274 Contemporary Directions

ARTS 289 Senior Thesis (requires B or better in capstone to register)

ARTS 296 Gallery, Culture, Practice

ARTS 298 Internship

Additional ARTS Professional Development electives can count towards an ARTS elective.

Capstone

1 Capstone Course:

• VAPA 290 V&PA Capstone

Required VPA Electives

1 100-Level VPA Elective

• Must be in Screen Studies, Theater, Music, MCA, OR Art History

2 Art History Requirements

• 1 Must be ARTH 101 Ways of Seeing
• Any additional ARTH elective

Capstone for Major and Honors

The required capstone for students majoring in Visual Arts is VAPA 290 V&PA Capstone. This course is offered during the fall semester for all 4th year students who are V&PA program majors and is required for graduation. This course consists of readings, discussions, writing assignments, community and solo projects, guest speakers and other focused work aimed to develop the portfolio/research skills, artist/statement of purpose, and artistic/research practice of each student in such a way as to be sustainable after graduation.

Students can apply for permission to take ARTS 220 Portfolio Development, ARTS 234 Studio Topics, ARTS 298 Internship as a capstone course. This must entail an additional component beyond the scope of the course, and students must complete an application and proposal the semester prior to receive consideration for an outside course to be a capstone, typically by the spring of junior year.

Visual Arts majors invested in Interactive Media can also apply to take GAME 255 Game Studio as a capstone. Students must have at least 2 prior interactive media courses and permission by faculty in both Visual Arts and Interactive Media. Students must also complete the application process as described above.

HONORS

Successful completion of a Visual Arts capstone (a grade B or better) is a prerequisite for ARTS 289 Senior Thesis. Students with a strong commitment to intensive study and departmental approval can elect to undertake a senior thesis project, which culminates in an exhibition of work in the Schiltkamp Gallery. Participation in this class is not a guarantee that the student will receive honors. This decision is made by a committee of faculty after the work is presented and “defended” by the student. Credit is given for coursework completed even if a project is not recommended for honors.

Visual Arts Faculty