StudyQA — Bachelor: Art — University of California

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The CCS Art Major is a program for self-motivated students who are committed to careers in the visual arts. They are admitted to the program on the strength of their portfolios, application essays, letters of recommendation and academic performance. CCS art majors usually experiment across a range of media and take classes in the Department of Art and the Department of the History of Art and Architecture as well as at CCS. They also have access to courses in the graduate program in Media Arts and Technology. To complete the CCS art program students must continually produce significant studio work, as well as successfully complete coursework devoted to historical and contemporary concepts, methods and movements in art.

CCS Art is not an "Honors" program (though CCS art majors often make up half the number of participants in the Honors Program of the Art Department in the College of Letters and Science). Rather it is a context and course of study for carefully selected students, many of whom fit the profile of overall high-achievers. Others are particularly focused students with intense creative preoccupations and goals who want to study and work in a locus of intimate support and challenge. Students choose CCS for two apparently contradictory reasons: they want the maximum of freedom and they want the maximum of guidance and they get both because they are treated from the beginning as uniquely motivated adults. They are artists among artists.

Art majors at CCS follow no set curriculum, but instead work very closely with their faculty advisors to determine the courses of study most productive and challenging for them. There are no prerequisites for CCS art classes, and no set order of progress. Students are expected to work independently at a high level and are subject to a formal mid-career review as well as quarterly discussions to insure that they remain on track. Students work in drawing, painting, book arts, spatial studies/sculpture and other media. CCS students provide a variety of exhibits to the campus community, as well as occasional "performance art".

A typical quarter sees an art major taking two studio courses, an art history or theory course as well as the joint CCS/L&S Art Symposium and one or two non-art courses. CCS students are intellectually ambitious and pursue their interests in the wider campus community taking classes in almost every department including Religious Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, and Music. Because they take part in UC’s Education Abroad Program at a rate twice that of the campus average, many take advanced language classes. Double-majors or unofficial ‘minors’ are common, and in recent years students in the program have earned additional degrees in Writing and Literature, Art History, Computing and Anthropology, in each case doing so in four years. CCS graduates gain entry to the best graduate programs in the US at an extraordinary rate.

Requirements for CCS Art Majors
It is important that you understand and adhere to the requirements of CCS and your major. Prior to each quarter, you must meet with your advisor to review your schedule. You should also meet periodically with the CCS Undergraduate Advisor to make certain you are on track with your required courses.

Studio Art Course Requirements
CCS Art Majors are expected to average 18 units of studio coursework per year. (A studio course is one in which the student is making art.) Studio art courses can be taken in CCS and in the Art Department of the College of Letters & Science. Because the number of units you may earn in a CCS class is variable, plan to take two studio art courses most quarters. A student here for 12 quarters must earn a minimum of 72 studio units. Note: it is not in the spirit of CCS to do the minimum; most students far exceed the required number of units by the time they graduate.

Non-Studio, Art-Related Course Requirements
CCS Art Majors are required to average 9 units of non-studio, art-related courses per year. (A non-studio, art-related course is one in which you learn about art but respond with written assignments or results other than art work.) Again, because the number of units you may earn in a CCS class is variable, you might take one or two non-studio courses per quarter to meet the unit requirement. A student here for 12 quarters will earn a minimum of 36 units of non-studio art in classes like these:

Art Symposium (ART CS 106), Art History, Art Theory, Visual Literacy (Art 1A), and the lecture portions of the 7 Series (7A, 7B, 7C, 7D) courses.

Specific Art Department Course Requirements for CCS Art Majors

CCS Art Majors are required to complete the following courses in the Letters & Sciences Art Department:

1A Visual Literacy: offered for 4.0 units and a letter grade. Students must enroll in both the course lecture and section.

The 7 Series:

7A The Intersections of Art and Life
7B Introduction to Contemporary Practice I: Image Studies
7C Introduction to Contemporary Practice II: Spatial Studies
7D Introduction to Contemporary Practice III: Art, Science and Technologies

These courses offer a weekly lecture and a section for the student to create art in response to the material presented in the lecture. CCS requires you to attend only the lecture portion of the 7 Series classes. To do this you will sign up for an independent study course with your CCS advisor for 1.0 unit (or more). You will attend the lectures, purchase the reader and do the work that you and your advisor agree upon.
Note: You may also sign up through the L & S Art Department for the lecture and section. Doing this means you will earn 5.0 units and a letter grade.

CCS Internship/Research:
All CCS Art Majors must complete at least 4.0 units of internship/research. The goal is to give you experience in the professional art world and related fields. You may work for an art institution or art business, or you might conduct research under the supervision of an art instructor or graduate student, or an instructor in another department, or a professional in the field, but you must enroll in a CCS Independent Study course with your CCS advisor as the instructor of record. Enrollment forms are available in the CCS office. Units will be awarded for work completed, and these may be studio or non-studio units.

Completion of CCS Breadth Requirements
(these are the equivalent of the General Education Requirements in the College of Letters and Sciences)

CCS art majors follow the same GE program as all other CCS majors:

2 courses outside of, but related to the major (in your case the major is making art):courses in art history and art theory satisfy this requirement, but this is also a good opportunity to take courses in other departments that might inspire new themes in your art and make you a more broadly informed artist. (Exploration of different types of courses is encouraged; check with your advisor about a specific course.) These classes must be taken for at least 3.0 units and be considered academic courses. (No physical education, exercise science, music performance, or drama performance courses.)

8 courses not related to the major. These courses may be broadly distributed in diverse areas of study, but they must be academic courses. To meet the breadth requirement you should take no more than two courses in one subject. These can be courses that might directly inform your art practice, or ones that will expand your academic experience. Again, these must be taken for at least 3.0 units. (No physical education, exercise science, music performance, or drama performance courses.)

Like all UCSB students, CCS students must also fulfill the following:

Subject A - Writing 1 English Composition course or examination requirement
UCSB American History and Institutions (AH&I) Requirement – 4.0 units
Ethnic Studies Requirement. – 4.0 units

CCS students must:

Complete 180 quarter units (includes approved transfer credits)
Complete 6 quarters of residency in CCS (one quarter may be waived in special circumstances)
Complete all courses required by the major

Additional Options

Independent Study in CCS : Independent Study can be arranged with a faculty member. The student creates work or conducts research under the guidance of the faculty member, meeting regularly to evaluate progress. This gives the student the opportunity to pursue focused study as she develops her studio practice. Independent Study forms must be completed, approved, and signed by the instructor and submitted to the CCS Office. There is no limit to the number of Independent Study units a CCS student may earn, and these may be studio or non-studio art, or other.
Independent Study outside of CCS. Follow procedures and fill out forms for the appropriate department and register on time just as you would for any other course. For Independent Studies taken outside of CCS you will earn units and a letter grade.

Required Exhibitions in the CCS Gallery
CCS Art Majors are required to take part in three important presentations of their work. The primary goal of these is to provide the faculty with opportunities to evaluate a student’s progress and to give their input toward the advancement of the work. Each is also an opportunity to display your work to the wider CCS community, and in some cases, to have a reception for friends and colleagues. Each occasion also provides the chance to articulate the central issues and themes that are important to you as an artist. You will be required to write an artist’s statement and discuss your work with the faculty at length. Written guidelines are available outlining the procedures for installing and exhibiting your work in the gallery, and the requirements for returning the space to suitable condition for the next exhibition.

Freshman: First Year Evaluation
Freshman students will be required to bring all work created at CCS to the CCS Gallery in the Fall quarter of their second year. At this First Year Evaluation the faculty will consider the progress of the student to determine at an early stage if the student should continue in CCS or perhaps transfer out. This evaluation will not have an exhibition format, instead the gallery will be reserved for two weeks and remain closed. The faculty will schedule a time for each student to present work for viewing and discussion, and will evaluate the work in the student’s presence. Freshmen students need to save all their work and be prepared to present it by early Fall Quarter of their second year. Each student will write a statement and provide it to the art faculty one week prior to the evaluation.

Mid-Residency Review
The Mid-Residency review is arranged with your advisor and Dan Connally who coordinates exhibitions in the CCS gallery. Ideally, a student entering as a freshman will have her Mid-Residency Review in the spring of her second year, but she must complete it no later than fall quarter of her junior year. Transfer students will have their mid-residency reviews at the end of their second quarter at CCS.

For the Mid-Residency Review students will typically mount their work in the CCS Gallery in groups of two. Each student is required to write an artist’s statement, and students are responsible for contacting faculty and arranging the day and hour of the M-RR. The group of faculty members attending should comprise the student’s advisor and other art faculty in CCS, and faculty from other departments who have shown an interest in the student’s work.

Senior Exhibition
All CCS art students are required to mount a solo exhibition during their last quarter in CCS. The Senior Exhibition is to be scheduled well in advance with your advisor and Dan Connally but you must have completed a grad check with the Undergraduate Advisor before you can be assigned a date. The student should approach this exhibition in a professional manner, presenting work that is representative of her achievements at CCS. An artist’s statement is required.

Additional Exhibitions
When invited by CCS or a faculty member to submit work for an exhibition in the gallery you are expected to provide the work along with requested information in a timely manner. You are also expected to attend all art receptions in the CCS Gallery to support your peers and the professional artists who exhibit there.

Requirements

Completion of Secondary Attestat with a minimum average of at least 4
Completion of at least 5 General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE, GCSE, O-Levels) and at least 3 General Certificate of Education (GCE, A-Levels) with a minimum average of B and with no grade below C
Completion of the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma with minimum average of 5.0 with no individual grade below 4.0 and a minimum of five IB exams, with at least two taken at the higher level. Exams must be taken in academic subjects comparable to the ‘a-g’ course pattern required for freshman eligibility. UCSB uses grades leading up to the final year to determine if a student will be eligible for admission along with predicted grades for year 12.
All applicants must submit scores from the ACT Assessment plus Writing or the SAT Reasoning Test.
Proficiency in English may be demonstrated by taking the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). The minimum accepted score for admission consideration for the TOEFL is 80 or better on the Internet-based test and 550 or better on the paper-based test.
Proficiency may also be demonstrated with the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam. The minimum accepted score for the IELTS is 6.5 or better band score (academic modules).