BFA Overview

BFA in Art Education with K-12 Professional / Teaching Licensure

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education focuses on developing advanced studio skills, art history content, technology applications, preparation in liberal studies, and art pedagogy. Upon successful completion of the art education program, students are recommended for “A” teacher licensure. The program prepares undergraduates to become competent, dedicated, and effective art educators at the elementary (K-5), middle school (6-8), and secondary (9-12). Students apply to the BFA in Art Education after completing the Foundations program. Learn more about a Concentration in Art Education.

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BFA IN Studio Art

The BFA in Studio Art is a pre-professional degree leading to the MFA or directly to a career in the visual arts as an artist or arts professional. While studio intensive, the BFA at UNCG are is a comprehensive degree with a solid grounding in the humanities and sciences. Students in the BFA in Studio Art program concentrate in Animation, Ceramics and Sculpture, New Media and Design, Painting, Printmaking and Drawing, or Photography. Students apply to study in a BFA Studio Art concentration after completing the Foundations program.

Animation

Animation is the art of crafting sequential images to create the illusion of movement. As animators, we have the power to breathe life into something as basic as a bouncing ball, or something as complex as a three-dimensional character. Here at UNCG, students can explore a wide variety of artistic avenues across the field of animation ranging from concept art, character design, and storyboarding, to traditional 2D hand-drawn work, to advanced 3D modeling and CGI animation. Learn more about a Concentration in Animation.

Ceramics and Sculpture

The Sculpture curriculum offers a broad range of courses in three-dimensional studies that expose students to fundamental precepts through advanced concepts and innovation in sculpture. The curriculum is built upon a progressive sequence of courses designed to expand and deepen educational experiences in research, idea, and skill development, combined with art history, theory, and criticism. A wide variety of techniques, materials, and processes is available in the concentration.

Studio experiences emphasize traditional and contemporary creative approaches. Students fabricate in metal; model in clay; cast in plaster, bronze, aluminum, and iron; carve in wood and stone; and manipulate multimedia.

In addition to studio assignments and self-directed projects, students attend visiting artist lectures on campus, in galleries, and in museums to acquire a broader framework for understanding contemporary art issues. The overarching goals for the sculpture concentration are to foster individual student interests and personal sensibilities, and to prepare students for advanced studies in graduate programs. Learn more about a Concentration in Ceramics and Sculpture.

New Media and Design

Students begin in the New Media and Design concentration with core courses in typography, digital imaging, interactivity, motion graphics and video. This disciplinary foundation balances the progressive building of conceptual and technical skills with creative problem solving, and prepares students for advanced coursework. As they progress in the program, New Media and Design students are encouraged to innovate new forms, expand media and disciplines, and work toward personal expression and understanding. All studios are state-of-the-art and fully equipped with the latest hardware, software, and peripherals. Learn more about a Concentration in New Media and Design.

Painting

The Painting concentration embodies the significant cornerstones of studio practice: visual literacy, aesthetic understanding, and technical skills. The curriculum offers a broad range of materials, techniques, and processes in its representational and non-representational approaches to art making. A wide variety of media and genres are explored. Theories, method and studio practices representing recent trends in painting are emphasized. Our faculty is very diverse, spanning a broad range of styles and approaches in both their work and in their teaching. We encourage our students to participate in dialogues with faculty and each other.

Disciplines inherent in the Painting concentration include Drawing and Printmaking. Foundation-level courses focus on a greater understanding of pictorial principles and design through still life, landscape, interior and invented motifs. Observational analysis, spatial relationships, and compositional strategies are emphasized in the progressive stages of the curriculum. Intermediate life drawing courses focus on the human model and the representation of form and structure in a composed space. Advanced courses concentrate on the exploration of ideas and images to develop and encourage personal expression. Learn more about a Concentration in Painting.

Printmaking and Drawing

The Printmaking and Drawing concentration offer the opportunity to explore one of the most exciting areas of contemporary art. The concentration provides a comprehensive education in printmaking, drawing and mixed media that fosters innovation while sustaining traditions. By exploring traditional and nontraditional approaches in printmaking, drawing and mixed media, such as the integration of digital media, students develop a diverse set of technical skills and expand their conceptual vocabulary while discovering methods for personal creative expression and the development of ideas. Faculty encourages experimentation and interdisciplinary approaches to art making.

The School of Art’s Visiting Artists Program supports the Printmaking and Drawing Concentration by introducing students to a diverse group of artists brought in to teach, exhibit and critique student work. The Weatherspoon Art Museum expands our classrooms through an active exhibition schedule of internationally recognized artists, a vibrant artist talk series, and through its vast collection of paintings, drawings and prints. Learn more about a Concentration in Printmaking and Drawing.

Photography

The Photography concentration is dedicated to providing students with knowledge of digital, analog and alternative photographic processes. Students are expected to think critically, to participate fully in group critiques, and to defend their working process both technically and conceptually. The Photography concentration is a fine art program, which refers to photographs that are created in accordance with the creative vision of the photographer as artist. Fine art photography stands in contrast to commercial photography, the primary focus of which is to advertise products or services. Learn more about a Concentration in Photography.