What You’ll Learn

You’ll begin with coursework to focus on the foundations of drawing, painting, sculpture, digital media, and art history, with electives in photography, printmaking, and ceramics. You’ll also explore arts technology through such courses as Interactive Media Arts, Website Design and Development, and more. Your coursework will help you to hone your skills, assess your work, and express yourself as you develop a solid foundation within a creative community. 

During your third semester, you’ll apply for formal acceptance to the B.F.A. and submit a portfolio of creative work for review. As a B.F.A. student, you’ll take on self-designed studio work while working in a small, tight-knit community of other artists and faculty. 

Through regular studio practice, you’ll create a professional portfolio to showcase your artistic discipline for your visual arts career. 

Out of the Classroom, In the Community

Art is meant to be shared. As a student, you’ll find abundant opportunities to reach beyond campus to build your resumé, network within the larger art community, and display your work:  

• Showcase your work at The Julian Scott Memorial Gallery and the Visual Arts Center on campus. 

• Visit major cities to soak up arts and culture. You might travel to Boston or New York City for lessons in art history with your senior seminar.  

• Engage with world-class art within easy reach at venues such as the Hood Museum, Williams College Museum, Clark Institute, Mass MOCA, Middlebury College Museum, and Fleming Museum, to name a few.  

• Work as an assistant for local and regional artists and intern in galleries, museums, art organizations, public relations firms, graphic design firms, and professional studios.  

Study abroad to fuel your creativity by exposure to art and culture in another country. Art students have studied in Canada, China, England, Greece, Holland, India, Ireland, Italy, Nepal, South Korea, Tibet and more. 

Special Facilities 

Enjoy a hub of artistic exploration in the VTSU Johnson Visual Arts Center. The large facility houses multiple studios for painting, printmaking, ceramics, sculpture, woodworking, and photography. You’ll also find a computer lab for digital art, a quiet room for focused study, a dedicated community art room, and two public art galleries.