Bachelor of Arts Degree in Art
Live out your passion with a Bachelor of Arts (B.A) in art degree at the University of Mount Union. Whether you're pursuing an art teaching career or a graphic design career, our program helps you form innovative ideas and perspectives as you learn essential skills, tools, and resources needed for personal interpretation and individual artistic expression. At Mount Union, you get to craft your path toward a successful and rewarding career in your chosen art major.
Dynamic Art Degree with Specialized Concentrations
Find and create inspiration in our B.A. in Art degree program. Through our lecture and studio courses, you will learn through a curriculum that enables you to acquire a broad knowledge of an array of art disciplines. With concentrations in graphic design, studio art, and art education, students will be ready to accomplish their career goals with determination and drive.
Art Quick Facts
- Personalize your training by choosing between three tracks of study that will match coursework with your interests – Graphic Design, Studio Art and Art Education
- 44-48 credit hours within the program, depending on the specific track
- 32 credit hours in the well-rounded Integrative Core
- Student Artwork can be featured in student showcases in our art galleries on campus throughout the year.
- Scholarships are offered and renewable for up to eight semesters.
Learn more about the Art Major
Develop into a skilled, versatile, and accomplished artist who is empowered with tools and support to help you grow in your creative journey. Whether working as a graphic designer, professional artist or teaching in a K-12 art program, the University of Mount Union will prepare you for a proud and purposeful career. Our art major is designed to help you succeed in fields like a graphic design career or art education.
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Curriculum
Art CurriculumThe two-stage art program begins with two years of foundation courses in fundamental theory and studio skills. In your third and fourth years, you will choose advanced studio courses to hone your craft, develop your personal creative approach, and begin to articulate your individual vocabulary for inquiry and communicating humanistic ideas.
The art degree at the University of Mount Union is a two-stage program involving freshman-sophomore foundation courses and junior-senior advanced study studio skills. The foundation courses deal with the fundamental theory and provide the broad base from which any artist functions.
In the junior-senior advanced studio courses, you use the theory skills learned to develop a personal creative approach and begin to articulate your individual vocabulary for inquiry and communicating humanistic ideas.
You’ll learn from our talented art faculty, who are artists themselves and still regularly exhibit work. Our faculty are committed to providing students with the best experience in both classes and extracurricular activities, encouraging you to find and explore your own passion.
Our studio courses include design, sculpture, printmaking, painting, photography, motion graphics, illustration, graphic design, and more. The art degree builds on knowledge and inspiration from art history courses and exhibition opportunities.
Learn more about our full range of foundational, traditional, and media-directed courses in the course catalog.
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Learning Objectives
Our degree in art prepares you to:- Demonstrate a facility in design theory as the foundation for further growth in specific media.
- Be proficient in employing art theories in discussions, critiques, and written assignments.
- Use any media to communicate their interpretation of a subject through solid theory and technical development.
- Integrate the streams of theory, practice, and communication in the Senior Culminating Experience.
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Experiential Learning
First-hand experiences strengthen your classroom learning and facilitate communal education, support, and growth. In applied practice and exhibition courses, internships, and student organizations, you will strengthen your application of course concepts and prepare for career opportunities.
InternshipsInternships provide you valuable opportunities to immerse yourself in the workforce and gain hands-on, “real-world” experience, which is crucial for securing a job after graduation. You’ll be able to choose internship roles and aspects of your placement that align with your career goals, granting you significant, relevant learning experience outside the traditional academic environment.
Student Organizations and Art ExhibitsShowcase your talents through student art exhibits and develop leadership skills through student organizations at the University of Mount Union. Getting involved in extracurricular opportunities and student organizations like Kappa Pi will prepare you for a successful career and graduate school. Student artists can also exhibit work as part of the student art exhibit and senior culminating experience exhibit.
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Careers and Graduate School
Careers in Art
An art degree prepares you for a wide variety of careers, from traditional pursuits in craft and fine arts to design and directorial roles to other professions that benefit from the capabilities of an artist. In these roles, your creativity can flourish, and you can exercise your capacity for care in meaningful ways.
Common CareersAccording to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, arts and design roles that require a bachelor’s degree can earn median salaries from $50,000 to $100,00 per year. Consider careers like:
Art historian
Art Director
Museum curator
Painter
Sketch artist
Graphic designer
Fashion designer
Floral designer
Advertising designer
Recent EmployersStudents majoring in art, work in visual communication, studio arts, art education, and museum work. The well-rounded program allows students to work with many different companies.
Akron Art Museum
WRL Advertising
Tuscarawas County Center for the Arts
InterDesign, Inc.
The Youngstown Vindicator
Concrete Mystique Engraving
Kohl’s
Unique Careers through Interdisciplinary Double MajorsEmbrace opportunities to explore multiple passions through a double major in art and another subject. These pairings equip you to pursue opportunities defined by the many facets of your college experience. Our creative graduates take their empathy, visual awareness, emotional intelligence, and keen hand-eye skills into diverse fields.
An art degree also pairs well with other majors like biology, engineering, business and religion. Consider double major combinations and their career outcomes
- Art and Psychology, leading to art therapy
- Art and Biology, leading to medical illustration and sustainability
- Art and Engineering, leading to industrial design and architecture
- Art and Business, leading to fashion and marketing
- Art and Religion, leading to curating and book illustration
Pursuing Graduate Education in Art
Graduate study can foster the growth of your craft, expand the foundations laid in an interdisciplinary double major, or unveil new professional opportunities. Art majors have gone on to study visual communication, studio arts, art education, museum work, art therapy, and medical professions like physician, physician assistant, and nursing.
Recent Grad Schools
- Rochester Institute of Technology
- Kent State University
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Facilities and Equipment
Dedicated creative spaces on campus amplify learning, build community, and nourish our collective yearning for beauty in the everyday. In addition to the main art center, we host art galleries in the Giese Center for Performing Arts and in Beeghly Hall.William H. Eells Art Center
Our inspiring hub for creativity and performance hosts a lecture room, painting studio, Mac computer lab, faculty offices, and studio spaces for printmaking, sculpture, drawing, and design.
The William H. Eells Art Center is named for the late Dr. Eells, who was a patron of the arts, a member of the Mount Union Board of Trustees, and a former faculty member at Mount Union.
