The Department of Visual Arts and New Media provides a balanced, comprehensive undergraduate program in the practice, theory, and history of the visual arts and new media. The department offers both majors and elective students an opportunity to experience the arts as an important and enriching facet of a liberal arts education. Whether the goal is a career or advanced study in the arts and new media, or simply a greater understanding of art and technology’s cultural impact, the curriculum offers a dynamic mix of studios, lectures, and seminars. The program provides a comprehensive foundation of design skills and conceptual approaches to visual expression. Visual Arts and New Media majors study an interdisciplinary curriculum emphasizing the concepts, theories, design, aesthetics and skills that inform all visual arts, including those involving electronic mediated expression. Content consists of traditional methods and materials, emerging technologies, and the ideas inherent in art making and art awareness.
Our graduates possess a unique set of hybrid skills that provide a critical edge for leadership positions in the competitive and evolving marketplace. Our graduates have successful careers in corporate and public settings as art directors, working artists and designers, teachers, creative freelancers, and owners of pottery studios, photo studios and design firms. Others work as photographer’s assistants, web designers, gallery directors, exhibition curators, and in the special effects industry for film and entertainment. Many Visual Arts and New Media graduates have also been accepted into some of the country’s best graduate schools for advanced study.
Degree Programs
The department offers Visual Arts and New Media majors multiple opportunities for professional education in studio specialties and art history through various degree options. Students may receive a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art History or in Visual Arts and New Media or a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is available with majors in Ceramics, Drawing, Graphic Design, Illustration*, Media Arts, Painting, Photography or Sculpture.
The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) degree in Art History offers a wide variety of courses ranging from ancient times to the 20th century. The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Visual Arts and New Media degree is a balanced, comprehensive overview of the range of creative and career possibilities in different media, with the added benefit of incorporating an interdisciplinary pedagogy within a traditional liberal arts curriculum. Both of these degree options, more general than the Bachelor of Fine Art (B.F.A.), provide an excellent grounding for students interested in dual majors or graduate studies in areas such as secondary education, art therapy, imaging technologies in the visual arts, advertising and marketing, public relations or arts administration.
The Bachelor of Fine Art (B.F.A.) in specific majors emphasizes the range of skills, theories and media necessary for the development of the designer or creative artist. The creative process, from inception to presentation, is emphasized. This degree option fosters intellectual and creative curiosity, critical aesthetic thinking, encourages fusion between different artistic disciplines, and extensive use and evaluation of current technologies. Visual design is of great importance, but equal consideration is given to the concept and context. The historical relationship between an extensive range of media, and the impact of interaction on those media, are thoroughly explored. Critical awareness, and the ability for self-evaluation, is encouraged and developed. Visual Arts and New Media students may apply after completing a minimum of 27 credit hours in the Visual Arts and New Media courses for a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in a specialized major.
*The B.F.A. in Illustration major is currently under curricular revision to develop 2-D Animation components. Please contact the department for more information.
Students from other departments may also receive a Visual Arts and New Media minor to complement their major field of study. Minors consult with a department advisor in choosing either a variety of arts and media arts courses or specific area of study.
Admission to the Program
Admission to the department requires the submission of an acceptable portfolio and transcript evaluation for both freshman and internal and external transfer students. Prospective students are required to submit documentation of their work, or they may schedule an in-person review; all accepted students must have examples of their work as slides, CD or DVD-ROMs or other approved media in their departmental file. In-person reviews are recommended for transfer students. Transfer students are advised that it may take more than two years at Fredonia to complete degree requirements, depending on their chosen major. It is recommended that all prospective students contact the Department of Visual Arts and New Media for additional information concerning portfolios and admission requirements.
Visiting Artist Program (VAP)
All Visual Arts and New Media majors are required to participate in the Visiting Artist Program each semester. This program provides an enrichment opportunity for exposure to a variety of artists, historians and professionals from around the country.
24-Hour Review
The 24-Hour Review takes place after students have completed, or are in the process of completing, 24 credit hours in visual arts and new media courses (reviews take place in the spring semester). The purpose of the 24-Hour Review is to evaluate student performance, offer constructive criticism and advice, and to help the student assess their career goals. This review is a mandatory departmental requirement. Any student failing to participate in the 24-Hour Review process they will be suspended from taking further courses in the Department of Visual Arts and New Media.
Bachelor of Fine Arts Program (B.F.A.)
Students wanting to apply for the B.F.A. degree may do so after completing a minimum of 27 credit hours in Visual Arts and New Media courses. In order to apply for B.F.A. degree status, applicants must have attained at least a 3.0 average in all Visual Art and New Media courses, including Art History, with a 2.0 required for courses taken outside the department to qualify for review. Students native to Fredonia must apply for B.F.A. status before completing six semesters of Fredonia course work; transfer students must apply before completing four semesters of Fredonia course work. In areas heavily impacted by enrollment, only a limited number of students may be admitted to the B.F.A. program. Students with a 3.25 or higher GPA in all Visual Art and New Media courses and 3.0 or higher cumulative GPA and a score of 3.5 or greater during the 24-Hour Review may gain advanced acceptance to B.F.A. without committee review. Students waived out of the review requirement must still receive major area approval and complete a Change of Major form for admittance to the B.F.A. program. All B.F.A. students are required to participate in Senior Exhibition.
Graduation Requirements and Senior Seminar
All Visual Art and New Media students must maintain a 2.0 average in the Visual Arts and New Media Foundation Program. B.A. students must maintain a 2.0 in all Visual Arts and New Media courses to remain in the program, B.F.A. students must maintain a 2.0 in all Visual Arts and New Media courses and a 3.0 in all major courses to remain in their B.F.A. major. Students may repeat courses to improve their class standing. All Visual Arts and New Media students (B.A. and B.F.A.) must submit an exit portfolio documenting their senior work and complete a senior assessment report to remain on file in the department. B.F.A. students will submit the required material during ART 460: Senior Seminar. B.A. students are required to submit this material to their advisors prior to graduation approval. The material must be in their file to receive final approval to apply for their degree.
In their final semester at Fredonia, all B.F.A. students are required to enroll in ART 460: Senior Seminar to present an exhibition of their work. B.A. students are also encouraged to enroll in the course to exhibit their work, but participating is not a graduation requirement. Most B.F.A. students will exhibit their work in the Senior Exhibition held in the Michael C. Rockefeller Arts Center Gallery, although some students may choose to exhibit in another venue for course credit.
Awards and Enrichment
Visual Arts and New Media students have departmental as well as campus wide scholarship possibilities. The Alford Bjurlin Scholarship, the George W. Booth Scholarship, the Marano-Gnirke Scholarship, the Robert W. Marvel Scholarship, the Chautauqua Craft Alliance Scholarship and Fredonia Potters Co-op Awards are given to exceptional Visual Arts and New Media majors. Additional scholarships are often available through portfolio competitions on a regional or national level.
The studio and classroom experience is enriched by participation in the student clubs Art Forum, Media Arts Club and AIGA. Student members of these clubs have visited major art museums and studios in New York, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Cleveland and have attended photography, sculpture, ceramic and design conferences and workshops around the country.
Internships are available and encouraged for students who want practical experience in addition to course work in their chosen major. The department, as well as the Office of International Education and Internships, will assist students in arranging internships either in the United States or abroad.