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Art and Design Major

Traditional Undergraduate

Developing Visual Artists for the 21st Century

Whether you’re interested in drawing, painting, photography, film, or design, Hiram’s new Art & Design major will help you explore your passion while challenging you to become a well-rounded creative thinker and visual problem solver. Through a flexible curriculum, intimate class sizes, and close collaboration with their peers and faculty members, students are able to combine creativity with practical skills.

DEGREE REQUIREMENTS AND ACADEMIC INFORMATION

Who are Hiram’s Art and Design students?

Students in Hiram’s Art and Design major are clever and imaginative. They share a calling to visually explore their interests, and express their ideas and unique take on the world. They are inquisitive and eager to find connections among their many passions. Students in Art and Design might also pursue Film Studies, Photography, Performing Arts, or one of the other academic programs that Hiram has to offer.

“In Intermediate Painting, my art skills were challenged in ways I had never been pushed before. My professor encouraged me to create pieces out of my comfort zone.”

-Abigail Semick ‘22

Program Overview

All majors begin with taking a core set of design and history courses that develop technical, formal, and conceptual skills. Students then have the opportunity to specialize in one of three pathways: studio art, photography/film, or digital design studies.

Throughout their time at Hiram College, students will compose a portfolio of diverse pieces that express their growth that includes many of the projects they develop. Toward the end of their exploration in these pathways, students immerse themselves in upper level courses that culminate in a capstone experience: the presentation of a technically proficient and conceptually cohesive visual portfolio. Art & Design majors will produce a body of visual work that expresses an original statement on a single idea or concept. This work will demonstrate an understanding of the creative process and an awareness of contemporary issues, art history, ideas from other disciplines, and/or aspects of personal experience. Often, this capstone experience is showcased in the Gelbke Fine Arts Gallery in a Senior Class Exhibition.

Benefits of an Art and Design Degree

Hiram’s Art and Design major is structured to assist students in turning their ideas into realities. They learn how to constructively critique their own work and ideas, merging their thoughts with research, experience, or other circumstances that influence their world. From learning art history to constructing their own masterpiece, students learn how to understand themselves, the artifacts they study, and the complex world around them. As part of a larger liberal arts curriculum, the Art & Design major provides a foundation upon which students can build rewarding careers.Our students aren't just prepared to create: They are ready to interpret and re-design the world around them with an analytical and skillful eye.

Wielding the Power of Visual Language

The Art and Design major enables students to engage in the expressive and communicative power of visual language through inquiry and experimentation, critical evaluation, personal reflection, collaborative dialogue, and engagement with the larger world. Whether working with time-honored traditional media or ever-evolving digital technologies, the major encourages interdisciplinary idea exploration and using skills from other disciplines.
Honing High-Performance Craftsmanship

Our students can demonstrate craftsmanship in utilizing the tools and technical skills associated with their chosen media, as well as versatility in utilizing both hand-crafted and digital media. Majors exhibit sophistication in applying formal design and composition principles as they pertain to both fine art and applied design contexts.
Crafting Professional Presentations

Our scholars demonstrate professional skills that are applicable to their future careers in art and design, as well as many other fields. They understand professional standards of presentation and exhibition, such as hanging and displaying their own work correctly. Furthermore, they know how to utilize written and oral communication in order to interpret and evaluate both their own work and that of others.

Gelbke Fine Arts Center

Art & Design students have the opportunity to work in a private building 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Gelbke Fine Arts Center includes a Mac Lab, art gallery, drawing and painting studio, private studio spaces, and ceramics lab.
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Art Gallery & Shows

Our students meet with artists from across the country in our Gelbke Art Gallery, learning how to hang shows, produce different varieties of works, and host gallery openings. Each year, we also display the Annual Juried Student Art Show in this gallery.
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