Academics

The Digital Media major integrates art and technology into a program that is relevant to today’s digital marketplace. Students develop innovative media projects using photography, video, web, sound, programming, game design, and/ or animation technologies. This major develops creative, critical thinkers and problem solvers, who are sophisticated in the use of a range of technology including interactive art, installation, photography, video art, print and performance.

The Graphic Design program exposes students to the tools necessary to express themselves in a field that is essential in today’s media-saturated world. The major allows students to explore, develop, and apply their personal artistic vision in the commercial marketplace. The major covers core graphic design and typography courses along with design history, color theory, environmental considerations, systems thinking and information design. Courses in the Graphic Design program are specifically designed to mimic professional settings with real-life projects, deadlines and professional feedback.

The Painting/Drawing major offers students instruction in a wide range of media, concepts and approaches to painting and drawing that echo the media’s own evolution. As a Painting / Drawing major, students are exposed to both traditional and contemporary methods of painting and drawing and develop the purpose, confidence and technical skills needed to express ideas as an artist. This major prepares students to set up their own studio and begin to show their work, while also preparing them for possible careers in galleries, museums, other design fields, or graduate school.

The interdisciplinary approach to this major allows students to combine courses in traditional and emerging sculptural media. Students will have the opportunity to work with a multitude of materials— metal, wood, clay, glass, fibers, plastics—and processes such as fabrication and construction, carving, casting and mold making; as well as video, performance, site-specific, installation and time-based art. Exposure to a range of techniques and processes will give students the confidence and technical command to express ideas, while the study of historical and contemporary issues within a sculptural context will provide them with the framework to develop into practicing artists. This major will prepare students to set up their own studio and to begin to show their work, while also preparing them for possible careers in galleries, museums, other design fields, or graduate school.

This major allows for flexibility and enables students to pursue studies in Painting / Drawing, Interdisciplinary Sculpture, Digital Media, Pre-Art Therapy or Community Art Practices to achieve their individual artistic goals. These goals are established through careful counseling with faculty who assists each student in designing a well-coordinated, diversified program.

The BFA Degree includes two concentrations that provide students with unique opportunities that are particularly relevant to the missions of both Spalding and KSA. Both the Community Art Program and Pre-Art Therapy Program place “emphasis on service and the promotion of peace and justice” and “open the door to a creative and productive life.” Community Art Practices is modeled on a worldwide interest in taking art out of galleries and into the community where a broader audience can benefit and participate. Community Art often considers how art can address issues of social injustice and effect positive social change within communities. Art Therapy is a mental health profession that uses the creative process of art making to improve and enhance the physical, mental and emotional well-being of individuals of all ages. Pre-Art Therapy provides students with the necessary Art and Psychology pre-requisites to pursue a Master’s degree and become a registered Art Therapist.