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2025-2026 Academic Bulletin (Review Copy) [ARCHIVED CATALOG]
Visual Arts BFA
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The BFA in Visual Art is recommended for those wishing to work as graphic design, fine art or photography professionals. The degree program combines the study of art, communication, film, design, web development, photography, and advertising as technology mediums for visual communication and/or personal artistic expression. Students join the BFA in Visual Art because they possess the ability to think, speak, draw, write, take photos and design. Students graduate as visual artist leaders, having learned to inform, guide, clarify, promote and empower through visual form. The Senior Project and BFA Exhibition, as well as internships, bring students face-to-face with the visual art community. At the same time, students acquire valuable experience in problem solving and the application of visual principles, making them cultural catalysts and sought-after professionals. Students take a core base of classes focusing on the disciplines of Drawing, Photography, Design, Color, Ethics and Art History. Students then select a Concentration in Fine Art, Photography or Graphic Design.
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Visual Art Core - 32
All BFA students will take the following courses and then selection a concentration from the areas of Fine Art, Photography or Graphic Design Concentration - 33
Students will select a concentration in one of the following areas of study: Photography, Fine Art or Graphic Design for a total of 33 credits.
Photography - 33
These are the required courses for a student seeking to complete the requirements for the Concentration in Photography. Fine Art - 33
Courses required for students pursuing the Concentration in Fine Art. Graphic Design - 33
These are the required courses for student pursuing the Concentration in Graphic Desgin Additional Requirements
Academic Standards Students accepted as a BFA major in any program are expected to have a GPA of 3.0 or higher in all BFA major coursework. Students whose GPA falls below this minimum requirement are not allowed to graduate with the BFA. Internships Students enrolled in graphic design, photography, and documentary film degree tracks are expected to complete an internship (ART 487) that includes supervised work experience in the student’s intended major/emphasis area. Students are encouraged to apply to any company to secure an internship, based on their interests and specific skill set. This is a unique opportunity for students to observe and acquire inside knowledge of a specific company, and gain more working experience in their chosen fields. Multiple internships are encouraged.
Student Learning Outcomes
VACD Learning Goals VACD is dedicated to cultivating a learning environment rich in creative opportunity, one that fosters innovative problem-solving, critical thinking, diversity and equity, and interdisciplinary investigation. Our departmental outcomes promote the value relevance of art and communication as a vehicle for individual creative expression, as a tool for examining diverse cultures and time periods, as a powerful voice for social justice and the Christian experience, and as a path to a greater appreciation of our world and the human experience overall. While each area of study and each course applies to student-centered and applicable outcomes, our department has the aim that every student who graduates has the following skills: - Creativity and Innovation: Our graduates will be able to approach their work in imaginative ways characterized by a high degree of experimentation, risk-taking, and divergent thinking, and be able to produce work that challenges the status quo while being aligned with our Christian principles.
- Technical Skills and Communication: Our graduates will be able to produce work at a level of proficiency demonstrative of comprehensive knowledge of their particular area of study and indicate their capacity to succeed as creative professionals. This includes being able to express ideas in a coherent, logical, and compelling way, both orally and in writing.
- Critical Thinking and Literacy: Our graduates will be able to identify, analyze, and contextualize issues clearly in order to make connections across experiences, disciplines, and challenges and apply those skills to well-reasoned and creative work in physical or digital formats (dependent upon area of study).
- Faith Integration: Our graduates will be able to demonstrate faith awareness of the ethical and social impacts of art and communication, and produce creative, sustainable, and ethical solutions in their work, bring positive change to their communities.
Visual Art Student Outcomes Our Visual Art program is for students who love producing fine art, photography, graphic design, and/or studying the history of those pursuits. Many creative and professional pathways are open to visual artists who are encouraged to develop a strong personal style in their work and use their skills to support the communication needs of a variety of clients in multiple contexts, including but not limited to editorial illustration and design, marketing, concept art, design, commercial work, gallery/museum work, and art direction.
Students majoring in the Visual Arts will:
- Engage and utilize past and present theories and histories while evidencing professional mastery of relevant methodologies, skills, and tools applied to a broad range of media.
- Demonstrate best professional practices, including editing and presentation of work, networking, time management, project planning, budgeting, and collaboration.
- Cultivate, model, and continuously improve confidence in one’s communication skills, including listening, writing, empathizing, negotiating, presenting, critiquing, and reflecting as well as presenting solutions for problems using a forward-thinking and reflective studio practice.
- Creatively and effectively express abstract concepts in a tangible form and use techniques and methods appropriate to the intended result.
- Understand that the meaning of the art they produce has powerful implications and influence dependent upon the content and manner in which it is exhibited/presented and distributed. Therefore, the student will learn to recognize how their faith can positively impact the career they pursue.
- Exhibit skills which visually inform stories that inspire, motivate and illuminate diverse subjects, sharing their experiences with new audiences, and influence change on a global scale.
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