UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS
Art students graduating from Florida Atlantic University have established careers as photographers, ceramicists, printmakers, painters, sculptors, and graphic designers. They have taught the fine arts and art history in colleges and universities, after advanced studies, as well as in grammar and secondary schools. They have been involved in Art in State Building projects and worked as museum directors and gallery personnel. They handle digital imaging for corporate clients, and many are involved in advertising and corporate design.
The undergraduate curriculum required for majors in Visual Arts and Art History allows a specialization in the areas of Ceramics, Computer Arts in Animation, Graphic Design, Painting, Printmaking, Sculpture, Photography, or Art History.
Transfer students with AA degrees must have had Art Appreciation, Design, Drawing I, Figure Drawing, Color Fundamentals, possibly Three-Dimensional Design, and some studio experience prior to entering the program. If not, these lower-division requirements may be satisfied at Florida Atlantic University.
Undergraduate Visual Arts and Art History majors may not take an art course under the pass/fail option, nor will a grade below “C” in an art course be counted toward fulfilling the requirements of the major. The Visual Arts and Art History Department reserves the
Bachelor of Fine Arts with Major in Computer Arts in Animation
The Computer Arts in Animation Program is designed to provide students with skills to pursue career opportunities in 3D computer animation and digital video production. The overall goal of the program is to produce competent computer animators who have originality and aesthetic ability in their artwork. Computer arts courses include Digital Audio, Storyboarding, 2D and 3D Modeling and Animation and Digital Compositing for Animation.
Students learn to develop original projects that encompass multiple skills needed for professional positions or graduate work. The program provides students with a firm foundation in art history and studio art and prepares them for careers in feature film animation, broadcast design, gaming, interactive media, and digital video. Computer arts courses use leading software.
Curiculum: BFA in Computer Arts in Animation
Portfolio review and application: BFA in Computer Arts in Animation
Bachelor of Fine Arts with Major in Graphic Design
The Graphic Design Program provides students with the skills to pursue career opportunities in graphic design and visual communication. The overall goal of the program is to sharpen students’ abilities in visual problem solving and translating verbal concepts into visual images, image-making techniques, and graphic techniques that communicate intended messages, moods, and concepts. Graphic design projects include posters, brochures, corporate identity systems, trademarks, books, magazines, and advertisements of all kinds. Courses cover all facets of the visual communication process, from thumbnail sketches to printed pieces. Students are given assignments much like those they would encounter in professional settings. The program is planned to help students balance studies in art history and studio art with studies in graphic design and computer graphics. Through each course in the program, students are encouraged to develop an appreciation of the various philosophical and ideological positions that could affect their design perspectives.
Curriculum: BFA in Graphic Design
Portfolio review and application: BFA in Graphic Design
Bachelor of Fine Arts with Major in Studio Art
The Studio Art Program offers diverse and challenging programs of study that emphasize the development of each student’s intellectual and artistic vision and goals. The program is dedicated to preparing practicing studio artists to participate in a dynamic art world. Students are given rigorous training in the foundations of art, as well as in ways to explore new and innovative questions, theories and ideas that drive art today. Majors are expected to explore the variety and breadth of contemporary art practice. These concentrated studio and seminar experiences are supplemented with field trips, visiting artist lectures, and critiques in order to help students begin to develop their own interests and projects as artists. At the advanced levels, students benefit from evaluation in individual and group critique sessions of their work, seminars, field trips, guest artists, lectures by curators and critics, and exhibition opportunities. These experiences prepare the studio major for advanced study and a career in art.
Students have the opportunity to concentrate primarily on Ceramics, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, or Sculpture
Portfolio review and application: BFA in Studio Art
Bachelor of Arts with major in Studio Art/primary area of interest in Ceramics, Computer Arts in Animation, Graphic Design, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, or Sculpture
The BA in Studio Art is designed for a general education in the visual arts. Students are given rigorous training in the foundations of art, as well as in ways to explore new and innovative questions, theories and ideas that drive art today. Students are encouraged to create individualized programs of study anchored by a primary area of interest and complemented by work in two other areas of visual art. Majors are expected to explore the variety and breadth of contemporary art practice in order to develop their own understanding of directions in visual art and their own artistic practice. Studio and seminar experiences are supplemented with field trips, visiting artist lectures, and critiques in order to help students begin to develop their own interests and projects as artists.
The BA in Studio Art does not require application and portfolio review.
Curriculum: BA in Studio Art with a primary area of interest in Computer Arts in Animation
Curriculum: BA in Studio Art with a primary area of interest in Graphic Design
Bachelor of Arts with Major in Art History
The Art History Program requires courses in art appreciation, foundations drawing and design, an upper division studio art course, a course in aesthetics and art theory, a minimum of 28 credits in upper level art history, and a senior seminar in art history. Graduates in Art History have gone on from FAU to jobs at museums and galleries, and many have continued on to pursue graduate degrees. It is the belief of the faculty that a well-rounded preparation in Art History is also important to success in every branch of the visual arts, and to this end foreign study programs are offered in France, Italy, and Spain and departmental awards are available both to concentrators in the studio areas and to those in Art History.
Minors in Art
The Department of Visual Arts and Art History offers a minor in Art History as well as in Studio Art in the following concentrations: Ceramics, Drawing, Graphic Design, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture. All courses must be completed with a “C” or better. Satisfactory / unsatisfactory or pass/fail grades will not be accepted. Art majors are not eligible for these minors. Interested students should contact the department for advising in the appropriate minor.
