BFA
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, Art & Technology, 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 Coalesce Center for Biological Art, 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.
Upon successful completion of all requirements, the student will have knowledge of:
- Students demonstrate visual literacy through the acquisition of analytical skills to identify and create meanings in visual culture.
- Students will acquire a broad, applied knowledge of fundamental strategies and methods of contemporary art-making, and creative problem solving to be used as a framework for future investigations.
- Students will develop and refine a set of technical tools and/or techniques that apply to their concentration of study.
- Students will acquire experience to equip them for professionally and publicly presenting a cohesive body of their own creative artworks in their chosen field.
- Students will create a professional, self-directed creative research project that reflects their own voice, and gain explicative skills to assess the work of others.
- Students will acquire a foundational understanding of the roles of art history in visual culture.
- Students gain exposure to contemporary art and design practices through experiential learning.
See the Undergraduate Catalog for program requirements, lists of all courses, and schedules of offerings by term.
There are seven pathways for the BFA degree:
- General Studio
- Art and Technology
- Graphic Design
- Painting
- Photography
- Print Media
- Sculpture
There are 120 credit requirements within the BFA program.
See the Overview of Art degree programs green button above for details on each pathway.
