Studio Art
As a studio art major (or minor) you can take courses in collage and assemblage, installation art, intermedia performance art, and casting and mold-making along with traditional coursework in ceramics, sculpture, painting, and photography.
In ceramics, you'll learn utilitarian design and casting, along with more standard slab construction and standard modeling. The sculpture lessons may include 3D digital design processes.
You'll work in a space that is devoted to your class, meaning you can leave out your paints or other supplies during the entire block. McWethy Hall is home exclusively to the study of art and features large, up-to-date classrooms, a darkroom, wet room, carpentry shop, and ceramics studio. An annex provides space for electric and atmospheric kilns.
The Peter Paul Luce Gallery, which hosts major exhibitions and senior thesis shows, is housed within McWethy Hall.
Study off-campus
You'll have rich opportunities for off-campus experiences, with study-abroad programs regularly in Italy. These courses are supplemented by those that also address topics like African American, Latin American Art, and American Indian art. This breadth is an advantage as graduate schools and employers increasingly demonstrate a preference for broad undergraduate coursework that addresses cross-cultural experiences.
The One Course At A Time curriculum provides you unparalleled focus on your work, and the ability to get the experience of what it is like to work as an artist. Classes frequently take daylong field trips to the Chicago Art Institute and the Des Moines Art Center. If an appropriate exhibition is on display, it would not be unusual for classes to visit the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis or the Milwaukee Museum of Art. One Course makes these types of field trips possible when a semester plan would not.
Finish strong with a creative capstone
In your senior year, you'll complete your senior capstone, which will consist of sustained creative work. You'll receive your own studio space with 24-hour access. You'll develop your senior thesis exhibition consisting of an entirely fresh body of work in the mediums of your choice.
You'll design and execute the creative work, mount the exhibitions in a public gallery space on campus, advertise and archive the shows. You'll defend your thesis (your show) in front of the art faculty.