Program Overview

The art department housed within the School of Art and Design fosters excellence, individuality and diversity while encouraging freedom of thought, imagination and honest, open inquiry in order to develop and expand students’ creative, intellectual and aesthetic development through its commitment to quality programs in studio art and graphic design. We focus on a one-on-one approach to develop each student’s artistic and expressive abilities with courses taught by professional artists/educators. All of our faculty members are practicing artists and historians who bring that knowledge to their individual classrooms.

We also give all students at High Point University the opportunities to explore their creativity and their artistic ideas in a wide range of classes including:

• Photography
• Digital Art
• Art History
• Ceramics
• Painting
• Drawing

A Focused Curriculum

Our art program is committed to developing students’ conceptual skills and technical knowledge in art through a solid foundation focusing on creative and critical analysis of practical, historical and theoretical knowledge crucial to the understanding of art.

The studio art degree emphasizes an observation-based approach with an exposure to a broad range of art media — from foundation level drawing and design to more advanced courses that examine aesthetics, history, criticism and studio practice.

The art department has numerous art studios, exhibition spaces and labs including:

• The Sechrest Gallery, with its renowned permanent collection of 18th through 21st century American and European Art, as well as rotating exhibitions of various contemporary artists
• The Deal Student Gallery with its rotating exhibitions of student art
• A Mac Digital Arts Lab with state-of-the-art hardware and equipment
• A fully equipped darkroom for photography
• Fully equipped 2-D and 3-D studios

Student Learning Outcomes

The Art Department has adopted the following learning outcomes. Upon graduation, students will:

• understand basic design principles, concepts, media, and formats in the various fine arts disciplines;
• be able to employ/use materials with proficiency across a range of artistic fields using a variety of methods;
• understand principles of visual organization sufficient to achieve basic visual communication and expression in one or more media;
• be able to make workable connections between concept and media;
• understand the works and intentions of major artists/designers and movements of the past and present, both in Western and non-Western worlds;
• understand the nature of contemporary thinking on art and design, and have gained at least a rudimentary discernment of quality in design projects and works of art;
• have an awareness of professional practices including museum and exhibition standards, visual culture, aesthetic assessment, and creative thinking.