"afterimage", MFA Thesis Exhibitions
3/16/26

The eight MFA in Studio Art candidates who are slated to graduate this Spring present their theses in solo exhibitions at art galleries across the Buffalo region.

March 6th ARTBus Trip
3/9/26

From the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to the MoMA, down to Chelsea District for the 1st night of the Whitney Biennale being open to the public, students discovered art from dawn to dusk in New York City!

Recent Department News
11/17/25

Professors, current students, and alumni, show work in exhibitions, share new projects, and engage with new audiences.

MFA and BFA Artist Open Studios
11/17/25

MFA Candidates and BFA Senior Thesis students welcomed visitors to discuss their art and see works in progress, during Art in the Open on October 30th, 2025. 

Photo: Meredith Forrest Kulwicki

Undergraduate Studies
4/28/20

The University at Buffalo’s Department of Art is housed within New York State’s premier public university. Our programs offer a unique convergence of contemporary art, technology, and critical discourse.

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Both Department galleries are open Monday-Friday!

2026 Evelyn Rumsey Lord Travel Award Exhibition in the Lower Gallery -- extended 1 day, through Saturday 4/4, 10AM-8PM

Rooted in Resilience, Presented by UB Sustainability in the Project Space

OPEN CALL: One and Many Chairs, a cradle to grave exhibition for Fall 2026.

The Department of Art Statement of Acknowledgment, Inclusion and Equity

Areas of Study

The Department of Art at the University at Buffalo is dedicated to developing creative and academic skills in studio art, post-studio art, graphic design, aesthetics, critical theory, and art history. Since its founding, our Department has been committed to shepherding innovative approaches and new practices. We empower our students to represent their unique visions within a contemporary cultural environment.

  • Painting
    9/25/19
    Painting is continually evolving, producing an enormous variety of responses to philosophies and technological developments. These changes have always been part of the discipline, whether it meant moving from the frescoed surface to wood panels or from hand-mixed paints to digital techniques.
  • Print Media
    9/30/19
    Print Media students work in an atmosphere of intellectual exploration and investigation, with comprehensive print facilities for developing and refining their personal vision.
  • Performance
    11/10/21
    The currency of performance-based art lies in its capacity to be utilized in the most extreme, urgent, and quotidian of situations, incorporating live and mediated means.
  • Biological Art
    7/22/24
    Coalesce: Center for Biological Arts is a hybrid studio laboratory facility dedicated to enabling hands-on creative engagement with tools and technologies from the life sciences. Coalesce offers multiple short term BioArt Residencies to visiting artists each year.
  • Drawing
    4/18/23
    Explore line, shape and form in a variety of mediums on a diversity of scale. Work in large rooms with skylights and spotlights at dimensions that are only limited by your imagination. Here, we explore everything from still-life and life drawing to anatomical and architectural drawing. Our award-winning instructors are here to help you refine and expand your skills.
  • Graphic Design
    7/16/24
    Today’s digitally networked culture and industry demand increasing levels of visual literacy. Communication in the 21st century is an ecology of information, knowledge production, and visual rhetoric that shapes the way people understand our world.
  • Sculpture and Installation
    11/20/24
    The sculpture and installation program encourages students to investigate a multitude of methods, materials, and conceptual approaches. Students in this area employ a range of fabrication techniques and technologies to engage with the material, technical, aesthetic, and theoretical dimensions of contemporary sculpture practice.
  • Art History
    10/31/24
    In today’s broad and immersive visual world, the Art History program is committed to studying the visual arts as tools for exploring and decoding culture.
  • Photography
    3/31/25
    Photography is concerned with producing creative artists and professional photographers who are fluent in a wide variety of photographic productions, techniques, and critical concerns.
  • Emerging Practices, Art and Technology
    11/5/21
    Explore and shape the future of art. Emerging Practices, Art and Technology
    is a multidisciplinary studio practice that builds on knowledge of emerging technologies such as interactive multi-media, electronic installation, networked telematic communication, robotic art, three-dimensional simulation, biotechnology, and algorithmic image synthesis.

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