Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art

The UMass BFA in studio art is an intensive, professionally oriented degree in visual art intended for students pursuing careers as artists or designers.

As a first-year BFA student, you’ll take courses in the art foundations program, which provides an introduction to the materials, techniques, language, and concepts of art. This interdisciplinary approach balances formal concepts, hands-on skills, imagination, and critical thinking, and gives you flexibility to develop your work while exploring the range of contemporary media.

Once you complete the foundations program, you’ll choose an area of concentration from six studio disciplines: animation, ceramics, intermedia (photography and video production), painting, printmaking, and sculpture. You can also take design and creative technologies courses if you are interested in those areas. Finally, you’ll take art history, as well as General Education courses, but you will be exempt from the foreign language requirement.

At the end of your BFA experience, you’ll complete a senior thesis: a one-semester multifaceted project in which you’ll create of a body of work, write a thesis, have an oral defense, and mount a solo exhibition.