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Studio Art - B.A.

The Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art program offers a comprehensive curriculum that combines traditional and contemporary art practices. With expert guidance from faculty, you'll develop your skills and creativity in painting, sculpture, drawing and more, preparing you for a variety of careers in the arts.

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Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art

The Studio Art major offers abundant opportunities for students to work in a variety of media with guidance from our talented faculty. The more general Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art degree is a more generalized course of study for students who desire a solid foundation in the visual arts within a liberal arts curriculum to pursue arts-related careers. This degree also affords students the opportunity to pursue a minor. 

Studio concentrations include: 

Students work with traditional and non-traditional materials while learning contemporary art concepts. Our state-of-the-art facilities are located under one roof, including a new school-wide digital fabrication studio called the ARTech Studio is accessible to all majors. Students are encouraged to work across disciplines and employ a contemporary approach to art making, helping them define what it means to be an artist and a maker in the 21st century. The School of Art offers B.F.A. and B.A. degrees in Studio Art.

Program Information for Studio Art - B.A.

Program Description

Full Description

The Bachelor of Arts degree in Studio Art is a liberal arts program that provides students with the breadth of study that complements core work in the visual arts. Students may choose one or more studio art minors or a second major outside the arts to prepare themselves for a wide range of careers or for further specialized study.

Students in the program are encouraged to take advantage of travel opportunities to New York, Washington D.C., London, Paris and China. In addition, students can participate in study abroad full semester or summer experiences at Kent State's Florence, Italy location.

Admissions for Studio Art - B.A.

Admission Requirements

The university affirmatively strives to provide educational opportunities and access to students with varied backgrounds, those with special talents and adult students who graduated from high school three or more years ago.

First-Year Students on the Kent Campus: First-year admission policy on the Kent Campus is selective. Admission decisions are based upon cumulative grade point average, strength of high school college preparatory curriculum and grade trends. Students not admissible to the Kent Campus may be administratively referred to one of the seven regional campuses to begin their college coursework. For more information, visit the .

First-Year Students on the Regional Campuses: First-year admission to Kent State’s campuses at Ashtabula, East Liverpool, Geauga, Salem, Stark, Trumbull and Tuscarawas, as well as the Twinsburg Academic Center, is open to anyone with a high school diploma or its equivalent. For more information on admissions, contact the Regional Campuses admissions offices.

International Students: All international students must provide proof of English language proficiency (unless they meet specific exceptions) by earning a minimum 525 TOEFL score (71 on the Internet-based version), minimum 75 MELAB score, minimum 6.0 IELTS score or minimum 48 PTE Academic score, or by completing the ELS level 112 Intensive Program. For more information, visit the admissions website for international students.

Transfer Students: Students who have attended any other educational institution after graduating from high school must apply as undergraduate transfer students. For more information, visit the admissions website for transfer students.

Former Students: Former Kent State students or graduates who have not attended another college or university since Kent State may complete the reenrollment or reinstatement form on the University Registrar’s website.

Admission policies for undergraduate students may be found in the University Catalog's .

Some programs may require that students meet certain requirements before progressing through the program. For programs with progression requirements, the information is shown on the program's Coursework tab.

Transfer applicants to the program who meet the general transfer admission requirements should schedule a meeting with the academic advisor in the School of Art and submit a portfolio to a studio art faculty member to review for proper course placement. The faculty member may specify additional requirements considered reasonable and necessary. Transfer credits are evaluated consistent with the state-wide Transfer Articulation Guides (TAG), although each student will be evaluated individually in terms of his or her ability to perform in the program. Transfer students should make every effort to complete admission requirements before the deadlines and to schedule a portfolio review with before registration.

Learning Outcomes

Program Learning Outcomes

Graduates of this program will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate technical competencies across a range of media, processes and materials.
  2. Articulate in both written and oral form the contemporary and historical contexts within which the visual arts have been created.
  3. Integrate design and visual literacy in their work.
  4. Demonstrate the ability to make workable connections between concept and media.
  5. Integrate knowledge across studio art disciplines, and make connections with other disciplines.
Coursework

Program Requirements

Major Requirements

Major Requirements (courses count in major GPA)
ART 100222D COMPOSITION 3
ART 100233D COMPOSITION 3
ART 10024DIGITAL MEDIA 3
ART 30001COMMON REVIEW 11
ART 40099B.A. STUDIO ART CAPSTONE (ELR) (WIC) 23
ARTH 22006ART HISTORY: ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL ART (KFA) 3
ARTH 22007ART HISTORY: RENAISSANCE TO MODERN ART (KFA) 3
ARTH 32066ART AND THEORY SINCE 1940 3
ARTS 14000DRAWING I 3
Art History (ARTH) Upper-Division Elective (30000 or 40000 level)3
Studio Art (ARTS) Upper-Division Electives (30000 or 40000 level) 318
Foundations Electives, choose from the following:12
ARTS 14001
DRAWING II
ARTS 24002
DRAWING AS A STUDIO PRACTICE
ARTS 24010
INTRODUCTION TO FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY
ARTS 24040
INTRODUCTION TO PRINT MEDIA
ARTS 24051
INTRODUCTION TO SCULPTURAL PRACTICE
ARTS 24061
INTRODUCTION TO PAINTING
ARTS 25310
FOUNDATIONS IN WEAVING
ARTS 25400
CERAMICS I
ARTS 25600
INTRODUCTION TO GLASS WORKING
ARTS 25700
INTRODUCTION TO JEWELRY METALS
Additional Requirements (courses do not count in major GPA)
UC 10001FLASHES 101 1
6
3
3
6
6-7
6
General Electives (total credit hours depends on earning 120 credit hours, including 39 upper-division credit hours)31
Minimum Total Credit Hours:120
1

Selected upper-division Studio Art courses (ARTS 30000 or 40000 level) may be taken without first successfully completing ART 30001. At the completion of seven specific courses (ART 10022, ART 10023, ART 10024, ARTH 22007, ARTS 14000 and two of the four foundations electives), students register for ART 30001 and submit a portfolio of representative studio work selected from these courses to a studio art faculty committee for review. An examination of knowledge of art history also will be included. Incoming transfer students are expected to provide examples of foundational coursework equivalent to School of Art requirements for ART 30001. The review is a formative assessment of the student's foundations work including a digital portfolio, installation of sampling of works and proficiency in written and oral critical thinking.

2

A minimum C grade must be earned to fulfill the writing-intensive requirement.

3

A maximum 3 credit hours of ARTS 45090 may be applied toward Studio Art Electives. Students may apply this course toward fulfilling general electives, with no maximum credit hours required.

Graduation Requirements

Minimum Major GPA Minimum Overall GPA
2.250 2.000
  • ARTH 12001 is designed for non-art majors, and will not fulfill major requirements for art majors. 
Roadmap

Roadmap

This roadmap is a recommended semester-by-semester plan of study for this major. However, courses designated as critical (!) must be completed in the semester listed to ensure a timely graduation.

Plan of Study Grid
Semester OneCredits
ART 10022 2D COMPOSITION 3
ART 10024 DIGITAL MEDIA 3
ARTH 22007 ART HISTORY: RENAISSANCE TO MODERN ART (KFA) 3
ARTS 14000 DRAWING I 3
UC 10001 FLASHES 101 1
Kent Core Requirement 3
 Credit Hours16
Semester Two
ART 10023 3D COMPOSITION 3
Foundations Electives 6
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
 Credit Hours15
Semester Three
ARTH 22006 ART HISTORY: ANCIENT TO MEDIEVAL ART (KFA) 3
Foundations Electives 6
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
 Credit Hours15
Semester Four
ART 30001 COMMON REVIEW 1
ARTH 32066 ART AND THEORY SINCE 1940 3
Studio Art (ARTS) Upper-Division Elective (30000 or 40000 level) 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
General Electives 6
 Credit Hours16
Semester Five
Art History (ARTH) Upper-Division Elective (30000 or 40000 level) 3
Studio Art (ARTS) Upper-Division Electives (30000 or 40000 level) 6
Kent Core Requirement 3
General Elective 3
 Credit Hours15
Semester Six
Studio Art (ARTS) Upper-Division Elective (30000 or 40000 level) 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
General Electives 6
 Credit Hours15
Semester Seven
Studio Art (ARTS) Upper-Division Elective (30000 or 40000 level) 3
Kent Core Requirement 3
General Electives 9
 Credit Hours15
Semester Eight
ART 40099 B.A. STUDIO ART CAPSTONE (ELR) (WIC) 3
Studio Art (ARTS) Upper-Division Elective (30000 or 40000 level) 3
General Electives 7
 Credit Hours13
 Minimum Total Credit Hours:120
Program Delivery
  • Delivery:
    • In person
  • Location:
    • Kent Campus
    • Stark Campus
Accreditation for Studio Art - B.A.

National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD)

Foundations

The Foundations Program in the School of Art at Kent State is a series of courses that reveal the underlying visual rules and artistic strategies that run throughout all of our School's majors.

Foundations projects are often faster paced, unpredictable, and are not specific to a particular material or process. Foundations projects frequently challenge students to transform cheap, free, or found materials into extraordinary new compositions and push students to work in new ways. Courses included in the Foundations Program are Drawing I, Drawing II, 2D Composition, 3D Composition, and Digital Media.

No matter what level of experience our students bring with them, by working with varying materials, sizes, time limits, and environments, each student's comfort zone rapidly expands to encompass new creative territory. Experimentation, collaboration, and online resources create a shared experience that introduces students to each other and to the breadth of experiences ahead in the School of Art. 

The four core Foundations Program courses are distinct but interconnected. Each explores the same concepts and structures from the perspective of different tools and processes. Students also learn how to create their own website, archive, portfolio, and blog which help students apply for scholarships, artist residencies, and exhibitions, among other opportunities. Students have the opportunity to show the artwork created in these courses at the Foundations Show at the Center for the Visual Arts every semester. The Jack and Dora Tippens Scholarship in Foundations is announced at the spring Foundations Show in the CVA Gallery where two students are awarded $500. 

 

Drawing professor and student

Drawing I and Drawing II

Drawing is a powerful component of any artistic practice as the best way to quickly visualize any idea. Drawing I and Drawing II give every student powerful tools to capture what they see accurately through observation, and to understand better why the interaction between our eyes, brains, and hands makes this skill so challenging to beginners and so valuable to those that master it.

 

Foundations 2D composition student working on a project

2D Composition

This course is a basic introduction to flat pictorial composition. Students will explore the basic principles of design and the application of line, shape, value, texture, and color to the two-dimensional surface. Students will learn to work with traditional materials as well as new technology. In addition to developing technical proficiency with a variety of materials and tools, emphasis will be placed on visual literacy and critical thinking skills throughout this course. The major components of 2D are ORDER, COLOR, ACTION, and CONCEPT. The rules explored in each of these sections apply equally to abstraction and to representational illusions of three-dimensional space.

 

Foundation Show 2017

3D Composition

This course introduces the basic principles of composition in three dimensions. Exercises and assignments are designed to heighten sensitivity to the visual environment and to provide a challenging introduction to a variety of media and methods for generating form. In addition to developing technical proficiency with a variety of materials, emphasis will be placed on visual literacy and critical thinking skills. 3D Composition brings the same ideas introduced in 2D into physical space. 3D also has four main components: FABRICATION, CASTING AND CARVING, ORDER, and REPRESENTATION. Before students get into the intro level studio courses, which delve deeply into how artists work in different materials, 3D Composition uses simple techniques to investigate how to communicate ideas through sculptural works.

 

Foundations student with digital media work

Digital Media

Digital Media applies existing and emerging digital tools, techniques, and strategies to the basic principles of composition and design introduced in 2D and 3D Composition. Strategies include creating and manipulating visual information, generating time-based and narrative imagery, translating digital information into studio production, and exploring various methods of presentation.  Students learn to use Adobe programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Premiere Pro and also use digital fabrication tools in the ARTech Studio

Admission to the School of Art does not require a portfolio submission.  If you have a scores of 4 or 5 on the Studio Art Advanced Placement (AP) exam through The College Board, you can receive credit for ARTS 14000 Drawing I, ART 10022 2D Composition or ARTS 10023 3D Composition. Students with a score of 3 on the Studio Art AP exam can receive art elective credit.  

The School of Art offers a limited number of scholarships for incoming art majors; the Scholastic Art Award is made through the competitive high school competition held each January on the Â鶹´«Ã½ at Stark campus. In addition, the School of Art awards scholarships for enrolled students from the general scholarship fund each year. Dates for submission of materials for competition are announced each spring and awards made to enrolled students at any undergraduate level. For additional scholarships and awards available through the School of Art, visit the Financial, Billing and Enrollment Center.

Art majors who also enroll in the Honors College (qualifying by meeting certain grade and ACT/SAT criteria) may apply for the Creative Artist Awards.

Examples of Possible Careers and Salaries for Studio Art - B.A.

Those who complete the Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art degree at Â鶹´«Ã½ can benefit from specialized career opportunities in the art industry.

Artists and related workers, all other

-0.2%

little or no change

13,100

number of jobs

$65,800

potential earnings

Fine artists, including painters, sculptors, and illustrators

1.0%

slower than the average

28,300

number of jobs

$52,340

potential earnings

Notice: Career Information Source
* Source of occupation titles and labor data comes from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' . Data comprises projected percent change in employment over the next 10 years; nation-wide employment numbers; and the yearly median wage at which half of the workers in the occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less.