Fine Arts

Description

In the Fine Arts BFA Program at Suffolk University, you'll discover the importance of art in culture and society while building your studio practice. The small size of our Fine Arts program allows you to work individually with faculty, who will challenge you to develop your visual language.

As a Fine Arts major, you'll become well versed in current and traditional visual precedents. From there you'll expand upon the art you create and the way you think about your work while investigating how to place your vision within the context of contemporary art movements. You'll visit local galleries and museums during upper-level seminars and begin the process of immersing yourself in the Boston arts community.

As a senior, you’ll prepare for post-college life by acquiring the job search strategies and survival skills that are essential for artists. You’ll create a catalogue to market your work, participate in gallery talks, and learn the techniques involved in gallery and museum exhibition. Your Bachelor of Fine Arts studies will culminate in a professional-level exhibit of your artwork, which will be installed in the University’s gallery at the end of the academic year.

Your Success is Important to Us

For over 85 years, the New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University has prepared its graduates for success as professional artists and designers. Our alumni have worked around the globe in an impressive array of roles–exhibiting work in New York galleries, hosting design shows for HGTV, illustrating books, or designing for the NBA and the NHL. We’re proud of what our alumni have achieved, and what they continue to accomplish as members of the Suffolk community. And most would agree that it’s the training that began early on in their academic careers that has fueled their professional success.

Career Preparation

In your very first semester as an art and design major, you’ll be immersed in class critiques and portfolio reviews, where you’ll learn how to defend your ideas, build your public speaking skills, think critically, and solve problems. A mastery of these skills is important no matter what profession you choose, and it’s a big part of why our graduates are in demand.

To prepare you for the work world, we offer courses in best business practices and portfolio development. Internships are available in every program, and we maintain lists of current employment opportunities. In today’s job market, the connections that you build at Suffolk are essential. Throughout your studies, our faculty will serve as your mentors, and when you join our robust alumni community they’ll become your peers, further expanding your professional network.

Fine Arts Careers

Studio artists create, exhibit, and sell their artwork locally, nationally, and internationally and often begin their careers as studio assistants for professional exhibiting artists. Graduates of our BFA in Fine Arts program have gone on to work in the fields of education, curatorial and arts administration, art conservation, and art therapy. In addition to exhibiting their work, our graduates are high school art teachers and college faculty, Disney animators, set and stage designers, and visual merchandisers for companies such as Anthropologie and H&M.

Detailed Course Facts

• USD 16265 Semester (National)

Full-time: 12-17 credits per semester $16,265

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree is a minimum of 124 credits.

• English

Course Content

Major Requirements: 26 courses, 80 credits

Courses in the Fine Arts program have as a prerequisite the completion of the Foundation Studies program or its equivalent. Exceptions may only be made with permission of the instructor and the Fine Arts program director.

The letter "S" preceding a course number indicates a studio course. A studio fee is assessed for all studio courses.

For specific sequence of courses, contact your advisor or the department.

• ADF-S101 Foundation Drawing I

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This course concentrates on the traditional techniques of observational drawing. Fundamental principles and elements of drawing are introduced in structured lessons and exercises, which are supplemented by additional outside assignments. Foundation Drawing I stresses the development of visual skills as well as the broad use of drawing concepts, vocabulary, techniques and variety of materials.

  Term:

  Offered Both Fall and Spring

• ADF-S102 Foundation Drawing II

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S101

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This course will refine the basic visual skills developed in Foundation Drawing I (ADF S101). The elements of color and mixed media are introduced to expand technical possibilities, while more intensive work with the human figure provides exposure to gesture, structure and complex form. As students begin to develop a more sophisticated and personal approach, issues of expression and interpretation will be investigated, focusing on personal style and expression.

  Term:

  Offered Both Fall and Spring

• ADF-S123 Painting

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S101, ADF S166

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  In this introductory course, students will learn to accurately perceive relationships of shape, form, color and value, and to translate that information through the medium of paint. In a series of in-class and outside projects on canvas, prepared paper and panel, students will explore various approaches to the use of acrylic and oil paint. Emphasis will be placed on the development of disciplined technical skills as well as the exploration of painting's potential as a medium of communication and creative visual expression.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

• ADF-S152 3-Dimensional Design

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S151 or ADF S166

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This course focuses on the fundamental elements of three-dimensional form. Line, plane and volume will be explored as students develop visual analysis and critical thinking skills in the round. The role of scale, proportion, structure, surface, light and display will be addressed, as students create forms that activate space and engage the viewer. The course will proceed from work with simple forms and techniques to more challenging and comprehensive problems addressing both additive and subtractive methods.

  Term:

  Offered Both Fall and Spring

• ADF-S166 2D/Color

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This is an introductory-level course in the basic concepts and practices of two-dimensional design and color theory. The study of color and design is supportive of all studio disciplines and is vital to the understanding of all visual media. This course features an intensive, hands-on approach to color and design as students create, modify and master the three dimensions of color (hue, value, and strength) plus the principles of design(line, shape, value, composition and image). This in-depth study is essential and underlies all of the visual arts as they are practiced today. An understanding of color and design influences all artists' decisions, affecting the look, meaning and use of visual phenomena.

• ADF-S171 Integrated Studio 1

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This cross-disciplinary course will integrate the ideas and practices of two-dimensional design, color and drawing emphasis will be placed on understanding the creative process, exploring concepts and developing research skills. Students will undertake individual and collaborative projects in three spaces; the studio classroom, the digital world and the city at large.

• ADF-S172 Integrated Studio 2

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S101

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This course builds on the Integrated Studio 1 experience: synthesizing fundamental visual ideas. IS 2 investigates the construction, documentation, and transformation of volumetric form, environmental space, and time. Projects will explore narrative strategies and the creation of immersive experiences. Students will develop critical and analytical skills while employing a range of traditional and digital media-including video/sound capture and editing-as they explore the creative boundaries of the classroom studio, the city of Boston, and virtual space.

• ADFA-S201 Drawing: Language of Light

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S102

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This course is an extensive exploration of the human form and how it is represented in drawing. Refining their drawing skills, students use a variety of dry media (graphite, charcoal, pastel, collage) to articulate figure/plane

  Term:

  Offered Fall Term

• ADFA-S204 Sculptural Thinking

  Prerequisites:

  Take ADF-S152

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  Art is not just visual. Artists also think with their hands", understanding that engagement with the physical world is vital to the creative process, and often gives rise to unexpected and fruitful ideas. In this course, students will explore traditional and experimental sculptural processes in a spirit of directed play", focusing on both intuitive and critical responses to materials.

• ADFA-S220 Drawing: Shifting Scales

  Prerequisites:

  ADF-S102 or ADF-S502; ADF-S151 or ADF-S551;

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  We live in a world of great contrasts in scale, where hand held screens can download Google earth and nanotechnologies can change the lives on entire continents. How do these shifts in scale alter our perceptions of space, and therefore change the way we understand and make drawings? This figure-based course uses descriptive observation as the starting point for addressing visual invention. Students will work from a model, using traditional figurative techniques to combine and contrast with digital imaging techniques, graphic novels, and various contemporary drawing approaches. A variety of wet and dry drawing media will be used with more experimental materials.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

• ADFA-S241 Advanced Painting

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S123.

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This course will involve the concepts and techniques of 20th and 21st century painting. Students develop an individual approach to non-objective and objective painted space. Open-ended assignments, lectures, critiques and discussions will clarify the work students produce. Substantial independent studio time allows students to focus on work that responds to contemporary issues in painting.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

• ADFA-S242 Sculpture Studio

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S152

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  A focused study on the language of dimensionality in sculpture, students will explore traditional and non-traditional materials. Issues of craft, concept and context will aid students in developing work that responds to currents in contemporary sculpture. This class will also provide students with a substantial grounding in 20th and 21st century sculptural theory and practice.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

• ADFA-S251 Printmaking Studio

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S102

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This course is designed to familiarize students with the printmaking studio and various techniques. Students will gain exposure to a number of techniques including non-toxic processes. Over the course of the semester, students will be expected to develop a portfolio of prints while working in class and independently. Open to NESADSU majors only.

  Term:

  Offered Fall Term

• ADFA-S271 Fine Arts Seminar I

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S102 ADF S123, and ADF S152

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  Fine Arts Seminar is designed as a vehicle for students to develop a personal relationship to contemporary art theory and practice. Questions are posed as a point of departure for the students to generate work. Visiting artists and weekly gallery and museum visits aid in examining aspects of current art making in order to assist students in creating a strong vision for their work. Restricted to Fine Arts Majors only.

  Term:

  Offered Fall Term

• ADFA-S272 Fine Arts Seminar I

  Prerequisites:

  ADFA S271

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  A continuation of the first semester, this course aids students in recognizing the patterns and questions posed in their own studio practices. A large number of technical approaches to content will be explored.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

• ADFA-S311 Contemporary Trends & Practices

  Prerequisites:

  Intended for Majors only

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  Contemporary Trends & Practices moves art theory into the studio and the studio out into the world. Students will look at the most significant artists and movements of the past 50 years while examining their social, cultural and political context. Canonized contemporary art categories (postmodernism, appropriation, anti-art and performance art are some examples) are assigned as group projects. Movements, strategy or style of art making is discussed as an expressive problem solving experience, blurring the lines between media. This course conflates contemporary art history with contemporary art practices.

  Term:

  Offered Fall Term

• ADFA-S344 Advanced Drawing Issues

  Prerequisites:

  Take ADFA-S272;

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This course has students assess their work of the past several years in order to determine current and future goals. Students use the tools they find in the relationship between 2D and 3D in order to define contemporary drawing for themselves.

  Term:

  Offered Fall Term

• ADFA-S361 Figure Studio: 2D

  Prerequisites:

  ADF S123 AND ADFA S241

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This painting course is designed to provide an in-depth study and practice of two-dimensional contemporary figuration. Basing all students on the Masters and movements of the past, this course focuses on the methodology and effects of four major figurative painters from late-twentieth century through the present.

  Term:

  Offered Fall Term

• ADFA-S362 Figure Studio: 3D

  Prerequisites:

  Take ADF-S152 ADFA-S361;

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This sculpture course considers the figure in its importance both as a historical element and as a reflection and definition of self. Established an understanding of the figurative form in the space by relating gesture and structure through manipulated form. Weight, mass, plane and volume are considered while working directly from the model.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

• ADFA-S371 Fine Arts Seminar II

  Prerequisites:

  ADFA S271 and ADFA S272

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  In this third semester of the Seminar sequence, students are responsible for integrating their visual culture influences and references within an expanded body of work.

  Term:

  Offered Fall Term

• ADFA-S372 Fine Arts Seminar II

  Prerequisites:

  ADFA S271 and ADFA S272 and ADFA S371

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  During this final Seminar semester, the focused studio practices of students are channeled into the development of their final thesis exhibition. The four-semester Fine Arts Seminar sequence.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

• ADFA-S410 Senior Thesis

  Prerequisites:

  Fine Arts Senior status required.

  Credits:

  3.00

  Description:

  This senior-level course readies the student for the furtherance of his or her career as a creative artist. Though the development of a written artist's statement, slide and electronic documentation and the charting of their individual artistic lineage, students will begin to place themselves within the context of the contemporary art world. Normally offered Spring semester.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

Choose one of the following courses:

• ADF-181 Ideas of Western Art I

  Credits:

  4.00

  Description:

  This course will survey the major concepts and issues of Western Art, from prehistoric to the Early Renaissance. Architecture, sculpture and paintings will be studied individually for their formal elements and visual importance, and also within their own aesthetic, historic and cultural context. Class discussion and visual analysis of works of art will encourage personal interpretation and critical thinking.

  Term:

  Offered Fall Term

  Type:

  Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement

• ARH-101 Art History I

  Credits:

  4.00

  Description:

  A survey of the art of western civilization from prehistoric caves to the cathedrals of the Middle Ages. Works of painting, sculpture, and architecture are presented in their historical context. Course covers Egyptian, Ancient Near Eastern, Greek, Roman, early Islamic, Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic.

  Term:

  Offered Both Fall and Spring

  Type:

  Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement

Choose one of the following courses:

• ADF-182 Ideas of Western Art II

  Credits:

  4.00

  Description:

  This course will survey the major concepts and issues of Western Art, from Renaissance to contemporary art. Architecture, sculpture and paintings will be studied individually for their formal elements and visual importance, and also within their own aesthetic, historic and cultural context. Class discussion and visual analysis of works of art will encourage personal interpretation and critical thinking.

  Term:

  Offered Spring Term

  Type:

  Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement

• ARH-102 Art History II

  Credits:

  4.00

  Description:

  A survey of the art of Europe and America from the Renaissance to the present. Works of painting, sculpture, and architecture are presented in their historical context. Course covers the Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Realism, Impressionism, Post-Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, Abstract Expressionism, Pop, and Post-Modernism.

  Term:

  Offered Both Fall and Spring

  Type:

  Humanities & History,Humanities Literature Requirement

Choose two studio electives (6 credits).

English Language Requirements

TOEFL paper-based test score : 550 TOEFL iBT® test : 77

To study at this university, you have to speak English. We advice you to

Requirements

We do not use specific minimums for scores or grades in the decision process, but weigh all factors together to gain a whole view of you and your potential for success as a Suffolk University student:

• Level and range of high school courses selected
• Grades achieved (official high school transcript with senior year grades)
• SAT or ACT scores (our code is 3771)
• Recommendations (two required; one from a guidance counselor, one from a teacher)
• The essay
• Other required forms
• Admission interview (optional)
• Transfer students should view the transfer requirements page for more details.

In high school, you should have completed:

• Four units of English
• Three units of mathematics (algebra I and II and geometry)
• Two units of science (at least one with a lab)
• Two units of language
• One unit of American history
• Four units distributed among other college preparatory electives

We may also consider other factors in the review process, such as:

• Class rank
• Honors courses
• AP courses

We are also very interested in personal qualities that will offer us further insights into you as an applicant, including:

• Admission interview
• Extracurricular involvement
• Community service
• Special interests

Work Experience

No work experience is required.

Want to improve your English level for admission?
Prepare for the program requirements with English Online by the British Council.

• Flexible study schedule
• Experienced teachers
• Certificate upon completion

📘 Recommended for students with an IELTS level of 6.0 or below.

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Related Scholarships*

• Academic Excellence Scholarship

  "The Academic Excellence Scholarship can provide up to a 50 % reduction in tuition per semester. These scholarships will be renewed if the student maintains superior academic performance during each semester of their 3-year Bachelor programme. The scholarship will be directly applied to the student’s tuition fees."

• Alumni Study Travel Fund

  Scholarships for students who are already attending the University of Reading.

• Amsterdam Merit Scholarships

  The University of Amsterdam aims to attract the world’s brightest students to its international classrooms. Outstanding students from outside the European Economic Area can apply for an Amsterdam Merit Scholarship.

* The scholarships shown on this page are suggestions first and foremost. They could be offered by other organisations than Suffolk University.