Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art, Studio Arts

ADCI studio arts majors benefit from access to studio space, multiple exhibition venues, and new technology. Students choose from seven different studio art concentrations:

• Applied Drawing students develop an understanding of drawing as a means of communication and expression. From mixed media to traditional graphite and charcoal, students have opportunities to experiment, tell stories, develop characters, and work on and off the page. This concentration is geared toward studio artists as well as students pursuing illustration or cartooning as a profession. Classes include Mixed Media in Drawing, Book Design and Production, and Drawing for Visual Communication. With a mix of observational studies, narrative assignments, and conceptual projects, students’ problem-solving abilities will be pushed and creative excellence realized.
• Ceramics Media encourages experimentation in hand building, slip casting, wheel throwing, and glaze techniques. Students learn how to custom-make their own glazes and clay bodies to develop their professional artistic style. ADCI provides facilities and equipment to learn a number of firing processes, such as stoneware, low-fire, wood firing, and raku. The Ceramics Guild is one of the most active student groups in the school, hosting several events including the Empty Bowls Chili Cook-Off and twice-yearly ceramics sales. The Ceramics Guild also participates in the annual conference held by the National Council on the Education of Ceramic Arts (NCECA). 
• Community and Social Practices is a relatively new academic discipline where students develop their own work and focus on facilitating others' creativity. Students in Community and Social Practices typically focus on one of three paths: arts administration; work with specific communities; or preparation and studies for going to graduate school for Art Therapy. This concentration enables strong networking and communication skills. Students in Community and Social Practices are required to do an internship and work closely with a faculty adviser to help determine their creative and research interests.
• Painting offers endless expressive and conceptual possibilities. Students who choose this concentration set off on a demanding but highly rewarding academic and career path. ADCI’s painting program requires intensive studio work. Dedicated students will have a command of art history and theory and maintain an awareness of contemporary art practices. Mastering of technical paintings skills is important, but so is experimentation and interdisciplinarity. Take  risks. Unleash your creative potential. Make the unreal real and let your best ideas come to life.
• Photo Media is a means of self-expression just as much as a way to document the world around us. This concentration prepares students to be professionals in advertising, business, and media as well as fine art. ADCI provides high-end computers for post-production work and large format printers that produce museum-quality photographs. Our photo media facilities also include traditional darkrooms. Students are encouraged to experiment, challenge themselves, and develop their individual voices by exploring the medium from traditional techniques such as tintype and cyanotypes to contemporary digital methods.
• Print Media provides students with comprehensive education in lithography, etching, engraving, silk screen, and more. Through the creation of original work, studio critique, class readings, and discussion, students develop an interpretive and analytical approach to understanding their own work. Faculty teach traditional, paper-based print media alongside comic books, magazines, t-shirts, billboards, zines, signs, and posters. Learn how to embrace both technical proficiency and experimentation in order to develop your own multidisciplinary, contemporary practice. 
• Sculpture Media is arguably the most expansive of all studio art disciplines. Encompassing objects of all sizes, from miniscule to monumental, with materials as diverse as the imagination can ponder, students pursuing sculpture media learn all manner of making in 3-D and 4-D. Clay figure modeling, steel fabrication, wood and stone carving, bronze and aluminum casting, vacuum-forming, installation, performance, and digital design take place continually in the sculpture studios in Henrion Hall. Advanced students are expected to pursue disciplined study in theory, art history, and materials through original work, studio critique, class readings, and discussion.