We offer BFA degrees in Art Studio and Art Education and BA degrees in Art History, Art Studio, and Media Arts.
Our Art Education Bachelor of Fine Arts program has trained most of South Carolina’s K-12 art teachers. The major is an intense combination of art studio, art history and teacher education courses.
In addition to becoming accomplished artists in their own right, our art ed students also get hands-on experience teaching in local elementary and secondary schools and running our Young Artist's Workshop, which brings children from the community into the USC School of Visual Art and Design for Friday afternoon art classes.
Our Bachelor of Arts in Art History allows for specialization in Renaissance, Baroque, 18th, 19th and 20th-century, American art and architecture, and Asian art, as well as film and photographic history. In addition, surveys and special-topics courses in art history are offered on a regular basis.
We prepare agile, independent artists, makers who are ready to succeed as workers and partners, as innovators and entrepreneurs in America's biggest export. Our graduates are driving the next wave of media culture.
When you begin pursuing your Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts, you'll take the helm of a media art production project. At the end, every student has an internship and applies valuable skills from class to the industry. Every course in between puts you at the center of a practical curriculum that is also intellectually challenging.
Our professional facilities have the right equipment to make any idea a reality. Our courses inspire you to meet your goals, then to dig deeper and go further. You have a creative drive, and you want to turn that into a satisfying career.
The art studio program offers a Bachelor of Art degree that provides a well-rounded liberal arts education along with an art major. As an art studio major, you will benefit from outstanding facilities and hands-on experience through internship and research opportunities.
We also offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Studio, geared toward students serious about becoming professional artists or pursuing graduate-level study. If you choose to pursue the B.F.A. degree, you will choose a concentration from graphic design, drawing, printmaking, ceramics, painting, 3-D Studies and photography.
Philosophy
Today’s art program should provide options for individual self-development. We recognize
that the artist’s role has become more complex; technology has opened new frontiers,
and divisions between mediums have all but disappeared. During the graduate years,
students are expected to work as maturing artists motivated by independent ideas.
In the sculpture area at USC students find an atmosphere of stylistic freedom, which
allows the realization of their visual concepts.
Facilities
Sculpture at USC occupies more than 4,000 square feet of studio and shop space. Graduate
studios are in a building separate from the undergraduate area. Each graduate student
has approximately 400 square feet of individual studio space. Additionally, due to
the generally mild climate, students take advantage of the large covered outdoor working
area. Graduate students have 24-hour access to their studios and studio equipment.
The sculpture facilities include equipment appropriate for most sculptural techniques.
Equipment
Table saws, band saws, scroll saw, radial arm saws, chop saws, drill presses, belt
and disc sanders, planer, four mobile oxyacetylene rigs, mig and arc welders, plasma
cutter, bench grinders, foundry and mold making area, large metal cutting horizontal
band saw, various pneumatic tools, large sandblasting cabinet and mobile pressure
pot, forge with treadle hammer, paved, lighted and covered outdoor work area, fork
lift, and most major hand and power tools.
Visiting Artists
The faculty is committed to an ongoing program of visiting artists. This policy gives
our students exposure to the realities of the professional art world along with a
chance to exchange ideas with some of today’s top artists. Visiting artists have included:
James Surls, Greg Elliott, William Martin, Nam June Paik, Leo Castelli, William Wegman, Gregory Armanoff, Alfred Leslie, Shaun Cassidy, Robert and Paula Winokur, Norwood Viviano, Bernadette Vielbig, James Alexander, John Douglas Powers, to name a few.
Our program offers a B.F.A, M.A. and M.F.A. degrees in Ceramics. Ceramics students' personal interests vary from a strong vessel orientation to sculptural and conceptual art forms in clay. Students are encouraged to develop a sense of ceramic history and contemporary art issues through graduate seminars, guest speakers and Art History classes. The size of our program allows for considerable interaction between students and faculty. The M.A. degree is a two year progam and involves a minimum of 30 hours of course credit. the M.F.A. degree is a three year program and involves a minimum of 60 credit hours.
The drawing program is designed to provide a wide range of drawing experiences and approaches. Introductory courses (100 level) heighten visual awareness and develop traditional drawing skills. Figure Structure is offered at the 200 level with the option of taking subsequent classes. Inter-mediate level courses (300 level) introduce more physical and tactile materials and techniques as well as theoretical and expressive concepts. Drawing projects are set up to make you more aware of your culture with an emphasis placed on personal creative thinking. Advanced courses (400 level) offer the opportunity to learn to be more independent and creative through mentored personal investigations and thematic drawing series leading to portfolio preparation for career opportunities after graduation. Class enrollments are limited to ensure lots of one-on-one instruction.
There are three dedicated drawing studio classrooms (two for general drawing and one for figure drawing) that are available for students both during classes and during off class hours. Each studio has a high ceiling, lots of windows and overhead specialty lighting.
The drawing faculty are all exhibiting professional artists and excellent teachers who look forward to working with you to achieve your creative potential. Numerous visiting and adjunct faculty also teach in the drawing area.
It is the mission of the USC graphic design faculty to make our students as competitive and prepared for the working world as possible. We want this transition from student to professional to be seamless.
The graphic design program teaches the theory, history and practice of visual communications design by providing students a firm foundation in formal and conceptual design. Our courses cover publication and editorial design, logo design and branding, packaging, illustration, poster design, multimedia, motion graphics and interactive design.
Graphic design, at its most effective, should communicate intelligently and appropriately to the intended audience. Solving client-based requirements is a major component of the designers' task in our program and in the profession.
The graphic design program has two full-time faculty and several instructors that work professionally in the field. Columbia is also home to the South Carolina Chapter of The AIGA, a national organization for professional graphic designers. AIGA SC offers a wide variety of programming that includes internationally- renowned guest speakers, workshops, and special design related events such as a summer design film series.
The painting program at the University of South Carolina is coordinated by David Voros and Pam Bowers, practicing painters who exhibit their work internationally. The focus of our faculty, on both graduate as well as undergraduate levels, is to create a community in which students can develop as serious committed artists who express themselves through painting. Our objective is to expose students to the history and aesthetic breadth of the medium, to challenge them to develop their own initiatives and to pursue excellence. Our focus is broad and interdisciplinary, it follows no ideological agenda, yet remains centered in a celebration of the medium of painting.
The photography program in Art Studio is located on the second floor of the McMaster College. We offer a classroom with print finishing and display areas, two black & white darkrooms with a total of 20 enlargers (including 3 new Saunders 4x5 VCCE's), a film developing area, and a fully equipped lighting studio. Digital facilities include: film and flatbed scanners, large-format inkjet printers, piezography and archival inkjet output, a comprehensive ICC profile library, and 20 calibrated E-Mac workstations. A selection of cameras and equipment are available for check-out through Media Services.
In the Art Studio photography program, emphasis is on personal exploration of ideas within the context of contemporary art and critical theory. BFA photography students will explore a variety of techniques & concepts including: advanced black & white printing, medium & large-format, studio lighting, digital imaging, non-silver, early processes, critical theory, and career practices. At the 400-level, students pursue individual projects in depth and work to create a course web gallery and an editioned portfolio project. Additionally, 400-level students complete an individual portfolio and group exhibition.
The photography concentration in Studio Art prepares students for a variety of careers including: fine art photographer, educator, curator, critic, gallery owner, and arts administrator.
The MFA degree in photography consists of a 60 hour program of study, which typically takes three years to complete. Successful completion of the program requires an understanding of one's work within the context of critical theory and contemporary art. Upon completion of the degree requirements, students are expected to demonstrate expertise within the field of photography through the exhibition of a substantial body of work.
The Printmaking Area in the Department of Art at the University of South Carolina is housed primarily in three classrooms at McMaster College. In McMaster there are facilities for all the major printmaking processes: relief, intaglio, serigraphy, lithography, and digital imaging. There are two hand-driven lithograph presses (and many stones to go with them), three hand-driven etching presses, a large vacuum table for screen printing, an exposure unit for large-format screen printing, and a photographic plate maker. There is also a well-equipped computer lab with a large plotter printer.
In addition to the facilities in McMaster College, there is a variety of letterpress and papermaking equipment in the new USC Studio for Book Arts. Along with the presses, there is another large vacuum table for screen printing and a motorized fiber beater for papermaking.
The atmosphere of the Printmaking Area at USC is one of tradition, experimentation and variety in terms of format and technique. In addition to creating prints in traditional methods, many students create installations and combine printmaking processes with photography, drawing, painting or three-dimensional work. There is a strong communal aspect among students and faculty, and a great deal of interaction with the other areas and programs in the Department of Art.