UB, University at Buffalo, State University of New York

• Fine Arts - B.F.A.
  Major Studio Concentrations in Communication Design, Computer Art, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Sculpture
• Studio Art - B.A.
  General Studio, Communication Design, and Photography Concentrations
• Photography - Minor
• Course Descriptions
• Undergraduate Faculty Listings

You are here: Undergraduate Catalog 2005 - 2006 > Academic Programs > Art

Department of Art

College of Arts and Sciences
202 Center for the Arts
North Campus
Buffalo, NY 14260-6010

Phone: 716.645.6878
Fax: 716.645.6970
Web: www.art.buffalo.edu

About the Program

The Department of Art and the University at Buffalo highly value and support creative research/scholarship and teaching excellence. The Art department is committed to diversity, innovation and progressive practice, and boasts an internationally recognized and professionally active full-time faculty. As one of thirty-two programs in the College of Arts and Sciences, and in the setting of a large research university, collaboration with faculties and programs outside of art is both encouraged and supported. The National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD) accredit the visual arts programs, and UB is an AAU accredited research institution.

Why Study Art? Visual artists and designers are responsible for some of the most provocative and enduring expressions of culture, because they possess flexible, inquisitive minds along with an understanding of the forces that shape and redefine our culture and our world at large. To be successful in today's competitive environment, artists and designers are best prepared through a broad university education combined with a rigorous art curriculum emphasizing critical thinking in combination with art production skills.

Study of art is an opportunity to open the mind to unforeseeable possibilities, and to identify and value one’s own particular and unique set of skills. These skills are transferable to an ever evolving and wide range of applications and career paths.

Degree Options

Four-year BA and BFA degrees (of 120 credits) are offered with undergraduate concentrations in computer art, communication design, painting, photography, sculpture, printmaking, and general studios. These concentrations interface with a growing range of studio art, visual studies, and university electives.

Acceptance Information

All BFA and BA art majors must apply to and be accepted by the Art department.

Students accepted to the university who have chosen 'fine art' or 'studio art' as their intended major on their university application are “block registered” into fall semester freshman foundation courses on a first-come, first-served basis. Portfolio reviews for admission to the major take place during the spring semester of the freshman year.

Currently enrolled UB students with a minimum GPA of 2.5 are eligible to apply to the Art department's BA or BFA program. Admission is determined by a portfolio review and interview. Freshman foundation courses are required for the BA and BFA degrees and are prerequisites for most upper level courses. Students are encouraged to take these courses before applying to the major.

Portfolio Review Procedure. To schedule a review appointment, students must sign up (apply) for the portfolio review. Application forms are available through the Art department academic advisor's office; contact Kim Yarwood, 205 CFA, for more information.

Advisement

Advisement is provided for accepted majors by a full-time academic advisor located in the department, along with faculty members in the student’s area of concentration.

Advanced Placement. The department gives studio art or open elective credit for AP, depending on the score, but does not waive degree requirements.

Academic Requirements

Freshman Foundations Curriculum. Undergraduate study in art begins with the Freshman Foundations Program, a series of five thematically focused studio courses and one critical theory course. Limited to sixty-eighty students, the foundations program provides a structured and supportive framework that eases the transition to a large university and helps students adjust to its demands, especially valuable in the freshman year. The goal of the program is to build a solid base of concepts and skills for subsequent study. Structured thematically, these courses introduce the student to two- and three-dimensional media, surfaces, and modes of conceptualization through group and individual projects. Students learn to record and refine initial ideas, clarify relationships of form and space, and develop skills of perception and eye-hand coordination. The first year develops vocabulary, critical and creative thinking, good working habits, basic tools and concepts of artmaking, ways of seeing, and the transition of experience into artwork.

Sophomore and Junior Years. During the sophomore year, BFA and BA students take introductory (200-level) studio courses of their choice. Focused study in a concentration generally begins in the junior year. Three- and 400-level courses provide in depth and more individually focused studio experiences.

Studio Electives. Due to an evolving and expanding curriculum, a growing number of hybrid studio electives exist outside of the six concentration areas. These studio electives allow students to have the flexibility to select the courses most appropriate and interesting to them. A variety of seminars in contemporary art and visual studies are offered along with instruction in production modes, such as video, installation, public art, intervention art, new media, gizmology, and drawing media, to name a few. Studio electives may also be used to take courses in the Departments of Media Study and Theatre & Dance.

Senior Thesis Project. A two-semester senior thesis project culminating in an exhibition or presentation is a requirement for the BFA degree. This sequence involves preparation, research, proposal development, and advanced studio exploration. Advanced work is expected to demonstrate technical expertise, independent motivation, maturing personal interpretation and expression, and the student's comprehension of their own work within the context of current works by accomplished artists. Students can work in one or a combination of studio areas.

Transfer Policy

Students accepted to UB must apply to and be accepted by the Art department, and must have a minimum GPA of 2.5 to be eligible to apply. Admission is by portfolio review and interview; this review takes place in the fall semester. Due to space limitations, delay of a portfolio review could jeopardize admission to the Art department.

Only courses evaluated as equivalent to UB art courses that earned a grade of B or better are transferable. Accepted transfer credits are applied to the department's degree requirements upon acceptance as an art major. Transfer students interested in communication design or computer art must also have a second portfolio review for these concentrations.

Honors, Awards, and Scholarships

Honors scholarships and performing and creative arts scholarships are awarded by the university, not the Art department. See the UB Honors Program section for further information. Honors students intending to major in art are accepted to the program and do not need to go through a portfolio review. Scholarship funds based on talentships are also available for exceptional art work, determined by a slide portfolio review in February.

Numerous Art department scholarships and awards, ranging from $200 to $2,000, are available to currently enrolled accepted art majors; these funds are designated for art-related travel and study, art supplies, tuition, and general support.

Practical Experience and Special Opportunities

Special undergraduate academic opportunities include study abroad programs, semester internships in New York City, and local internships in all areas of study. Summer art courses at a variety of U.S., Canadian, and international venues may be completed for credit with preapproval of the department.

Notable Program Features

Visiting Artists. As part of the Visual Studies Speaker Series, lectures and critiques by visiting artists, critics, historians, and designers take place every Monday at 6:00 p.m. during the fall semester in the Center for the Arts Screening Room. Organized by the Department of Art, these lectures are co-sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, and the Departments of Media Study, Art History, and Comparative Literature, among others.

Facilities. Studio art labs are communal, spacious, well equipped, and intelligently organized. Specialized studios support all major conventional, digital, and experimental processes in art and design. Highlights include: a dedicated interactive art lab for advanced work; access to high-end computing and multimedia programs; and digital color and chemical black-and-white darkrooms, extensive printmaking labs, and sculpture facilities that boast the largest university foundry in the country. Video editing and production studios are available in the Department of Media Study.

Studio courses are small, generally ranging from fifteen to twenty students, to maximize teacher effectiveness.

Professional Staff. Our instructional support and staff assistants are invaluable in keeping specialized labs and equipment up and running every day of the school year. The Art department’s full-time support staff includes four technicians (digital, photo, print, and sculpture labs), the undergraduate academic advisor, and three administrative staff.

Center for the Arts. The Center for the Arts, opened in 1993, houses the Departments of Art, Media Study, and Theatre & Dance, along with the University Art Galleries, and 4 performance spaces.

The exhibition spaces at UB are a vital component of cultural discourse and the educational experience we provide. The Art Department Gallery presents undergraduate and graduate work along with invitational exhibitions, while the University at Buffalo Art Galleries' mission is to bring current issues and practices in the visual arts to UB. The UB Art Galleries are located on two floors in the Center for the Arts, as well as near the UB South Campus at the Anderson Gallery in North Buffalo. The full-time director, curators and support staff of the gallery also administer the Museum Studies Program and sponsor lectures, symposia and publications.

Buffalo Metropolitan Area. The Art department extends its activities and cultural programming off campus, frequently collaborating with area alternative media and exhibition spaces, galleries, and internationally recognized institutions.

Buffalo's diverse intellectual and cultural heritage continues to attract and sustain artists in the visual arts, performance, video/film, theater, poetry, literature, music, and architecture. Grass-roots and alternative spaces dedicated to new and experimental genres, such as CEPA, Hallwalls, Big Orbit, and Soundlab, complement such world-class institutions as the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and provide opportunities and support for the production of new work in all genres. The Theater District in downtown Buffalo is home to numerous experimental theaters. Locally owned art theaters, along with Hallwalls, regularly show acclaimed films not available for widespread commercial distribution.

Toronto, a ninety-minute drive from Buffalo, is the largest metropolitan center in, and the art capital of, Canada. Its hundreds of alternative spaces and commercial art galleries including the Power Plant and the Ontario Gallery of Art.

Student Organizations. The Student Visual Art Organization (SVAO) provides leadership opportunities to university undergraduate students and organizes exhibits and events, open figure drawing sessions, and trips to museums and galleries.

Career Opportunities/Further Study

Our art and design graduates find professional opportunities in an increasingly wide range of fields where creative problem solving, critical thinking, and understanding of cultural context are valued. They have found successful careers in art galleries, museums and alternative spaces, auction houses, exhibit design, art handling, curating, conservation, fabrication, and installation, along with writing and criticism on art and popular culture. Our alumni are now independent artists, assistants for world-class artists, collaborators, educators, technical instructors, community activists, and entrepreneurs; many freelance in illustration, webpage design, electronic publishing, and media. UB art alumni exhibit internationally and have received numerous and prestigious national and international awards. Many have pursued MFA degrees at outstanding schools across the country.