BFA

Sculpture in a warehouse.

A BFA (Bachelor of Fine Art) degree is a more studio-oriented degree than a BA, with a greater focus on fine art concentrations supplemented with smaller, more defined programs of general studies. 

Our students come from diverse backgrounds, bringing their own perspectives and experiences to the Departmemt of Art community.

Our undergraduate majors regularly have gone on to graduate school at other prestigious universities, later building careers as leading artists, designers, artistic directors, researchers, scholars and educators in their disciplines.

Bachelor of Fine Art Concentrations include general studio, emerging practices, graphic design, painting, photography, print media and sculpture.

Our studio art labs are spacious, well equipped and organized. Specialized studios support traditional, digital, and experimental processes in art and design. Highlights include a biological arts laboratory, an electronics art lab, galleries for exhibition and experimentation, digital and multimedia labs, digital and analog photography labs, extensive printmaking labs, an audio lab, and a large sculpture facility that includes a laser cutter, a large scale CNC router, and one of largest university foundries in the Eastern United States.

Our highly ranked Department of Art faculty and staff consist of professionally and internationally active artists, scholars and technicians who make available a diverse range of discourse and expertise. Faculty honors and distinctions include fellowships and awards from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Warhol Foundation, the Fulbright Fellowship, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Creative Capital Foundation, the Pollock Krasner, the MacDowell Colony, the Corporation of Yaddo, the Chalmers Arts Fellowship, the Aperture Foundation, the Zentrum Moderner Orient of Berlin, the New York Foundation for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the National Science Foundation, the Prix Ars Electronica, the FILE Prix Lux Art, the Vilcek Foundation, the MIT Council for the Arts, the Canada Council for the Arts and the TED Conferences LLC.

Prerequisite Courses

  • ART 200 Department of Art Speaker Series
  • ART 150 Visual Theory, Aesthetics, and Criticism
  • ART 120 3D Concepts
  • ART 220 Time Based Concepts

Required Courses

For a Major

  • ART 105 2D Concepts
  • ART 111 Drawing Fundamentals
  • ART 120 3D Concepts
  • ART 220 Time-based Concepts
  • ART 207 Drawing I: Perception, Space, Illusion
  • ART 494 F Senior Thesis Project 1
  • ART 494 S Senior Thesis Project 2
  • ART 150 Visual Theory, Aesthetics, and Criticism
  • ART 200 Department of Art Speaker Series (2 times)

Plus two of the following courses:

  • AHI 101 Survey of Art History I: Egypt to Renaissance
  • AHI 102 Survey of Art History II: Italian Renaissance to Contemporary
  • AHI 103 Survey of Art History III

Total Credit Hours Required

Credits Required for Major 81
Additional Credits Required for UB Curriculum 40 
Additional Credits Required for Electives 0
Total Credits Required for Degree 121 

Quick Links

To individual concentration overviews, application requirements, program requirements, opportunities, experiential learning, study abroad and honors and curricular planning.

Course Catalogs

Current Class Schedules

Schedule a Visit

Come see for yourself what the Department of Art at UB has to offer you.

How to Apply

Contact Us