Art - BFA, BA, BS

About This Degree

Students majoring in art at USU have a world of options at their disposal. Each emphasis features in-depth coursework that encourages students to develop their own artistic ideas and style, in addition to solid foundation knowledge of artistic traditions throughout history. Professors are extremely talented artists as well as effective teachers, and they are dedicated to giving students individual attention and mentoring. The Department of Art has a competitive portfolio admission, which allows it to offer smaller classes where students receive individual time with professors. Students also have the opportunity to participate in faculty-supervised group and solo exhibitions.

The Art Department has more study abroad programs than any other department on campus, and students are able to study each year in places across the world, including Switzerland, Korea, Scotland, and Germany. The program also has a longstanding tradition of hosting visiting artists from across the country and the world.

The BFA is a professional degree requiring above-average accomplishment in art. Students must first apply and be accepted to a specific emphasis area. Students receiving a BS do not have an emphasis, and instead have a non-specific, general art degree. To receive a BA, students must also gain proficiency in one or more foreign languages.

Emphases:

Art History:

This is the only emphasis where students complete a BA rather than a BFA. The BA also has a foreign language requirement. The program prepares students for graduate school by cultivating research and writing skills as students seek to understand political, social, and religious contexts of artworks.

Art Education:

This emphasis prepares students to teach art in secondary schools. Students graduate with a BFA and obtain a secondary education teaching license.

Sculpture:

Students in the sculpture emphasis investigate specific problems involving technical, aesthetic, and conceptual considerations of sculptures. Students will also develop their own direction based on their experience with form, materials, and techniques, and their understanding of traditional concerns and contemporary issues.

Ceramics:

In this emphasis, students are acquainted with the technology of ceramic materials and the firing processes to aid them in developing sound craftsmanship. Additionally, students receive inspiration and instruction from the ceramics collection of the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum on campus, numerous ceramics exhibitions, and visiting guest artists.

Drawing and Painting:

This emphasis includes the two-dimensional study of form and space, as well as the exploration of drawing and painting media, graphic elements, and visual dynamics.

Graphic Design:

Students in graphic design complete a variety of courses that involve working with symbols, trademarks, typography, layout, and all formats of print and publication design. Illustration, digital imaging, motion graphics, animation, and interactive media are also part of the graphic design curriculum.

Photography:

Rooted in fine art and documentary traditions and guided in our belief in photography’s critical role in contemporary culture, USU Photo guides students in developing thoughtful visual practices marked by rigor, empathy, and community engagement. Led by renowned faculty mentors, students incorporate a range of techniques–from 19th-cen. and darkroom processes to digital technologies–and are supported through generous resources and state-of-the-art equipment.

Printmaking:

Printmaking covers the process of creating prints with an element of originality, rather than just a photographic reproduction of the painting. It can be done by etching, woodcut, silk screen, lino cut, etc.

Education Component

This is for the art education emphasis only. In order to obtain a secondary teaching license for grades 6-12, students must complete the 35-credit Secondary Teacher Education Program (STEP), which includes one semester of student teaching in a public school. This program is administered by USU’s School of Teacher Education and Leadership (TEAL) within the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services. Student must apply to the School of TEAL the semester before taking STEP courses. This is usually the fall of their junior year. Students learn subject content through the Art Department, and spend the last year or two studying education techniques through the STEP program.

Students in the art teaching program do not need to have a minor because the program provides students with knowledge in several art-focused areas, therefore, expanding their teaching role.