Advising for Studio Art Major

Art Major: Design Track

The Fine Arts track of the Art Major explores personal expression and interpretation to investigate aesthetic boundaries and to develop concepts relevant in today’s world. The capstone requires a senior exhibition of an authentic body of work. Students achieve the five program outcomes through four studio levels, Studio I: The Creative Process, Studio II: Technique, Studio III: Convergence, Studio IV: Production. Students are encouraged to collaborate and to work across disciplinary boundaries. 

Art Major: Design Track

The Design track links creative thinking with pragmatic implementation through problem-solving to create innovative solutions to complex problems. Drawing on excellent listening and communication skills, the designer integrates the needs of the client with available materials and technologies to achieve constructive outcomes that are appropriate to the situation at hand. Merging design thinking with aesthetics and hands-on making in the context of sustainability offers opportunities to consider the making process through a systems approach that integrates cultural values, social needs, and ecological impacts. Grounded in a deep understanding of materials and process, centered in skillful practice, and connecting the arts, humanities, and sciences, the sustainable designer/maker seeks to balance the tension between artisanal and industrial production modes in order to provide for the material and technological needs of a just society while respecting the boundaries and limits of the ecosystems that are the source of working materials.