CERAMICS
BYU ceramics is a broad based program combining essential skills with critical art thinking. Students are mentored to learn the traditions of ceramics and to expand upon these to arrive at original solutions.
Students have access to 9 electric kilns, 2 down draft gas kilns, a shuttle kiln, a gas fired raku kiln, an updraft gas kiln, a wood fired train kiln, a soda kiln and a salt kiln. Students also have access to a complete glaze room and materials room as well as a pug room for recycling and formulating clay. The studio has 20 electric wheels, a kick wheel and a slab roller. BFA and MFA ceramic students are granted individual studio spaces and storage. Former students include an NCECA board member and an NCECA emerging talent artist. Our students continue to exhibit nationally and abroad with many opportunities to exhibit and travel during our program.
Students are involved in every aspect of the ceramic process including opportunities to build and fire kilns according to their needs. We have an open relationship with the sculpture area and hot glass shop so that materials, methods and equipment from both areas can serve students in their artistic practice.
Faculty Representative – Brian Christensen – brian_christensen@byu.edu
PAINTING/DRAWING
As central to the studio curriculum of the Department of Art, painting and drawing prepares students to engage in the broader visual culture by focusing on contemporary issues and methodologies as related to investigations of more traditional questions and problems. The program is unique in its ability to provide students with strong visual and conceptual reasoning skills critical in each individual student’s search for identity and place among their peers and other professionals.
Faculty Representative – Joseph Ostraff – joseph_ostraff@byu.edu
ART EDUCATION
The Art Education area is a vibrant and growing part of the Department of Art. It gives students knowledge and experience to both understand and work with children in many contexts, including K-12 schools and has a critical mission within the context of the Aims of a BYU education. Art Education has strong undergraduate and graduate programs with consistent success placing students in teaching, research, and leadership positions within the field. The student chapter of the National Art Education Association is one of the strongest professionally affiliated student groups on campus and has received national attention for its standards of scholarship, service, and activity.
Art Education faculty are actively engaged as scholars and artists and are well known at both national and international levels. In addition to the BA in K-12 Art Education, the program provides K-12 licensure opportunities for BA and BFA students in Studio Art, Illustration, Photography, Graphic Design and Media Arts. The program also provides courses and teaching experiences for elementary educators and General Education courses for students in other majors. Art Education offers a minor to students majoring in education in other fields. Its graduate program is robust, providing opportunities for teachers to develop as scholars, teachers, artists, and school leaders.
Faculty Representative – Dan Barney – danieltbarney@gmail.com
FIGURE
The Art Department maintains traditional figure drawing and figure painting studio courses. Students are introduced to an intensive observational drawing and painting regiment necessary to accurately describe the human form. As they progress in these courses students will synthesize art historical practices with the current dialogue in contemporary art – examining key artists, movements, theories and methodologies.
Our program offers figure models, a resource library, image database, and the Museum of Art to support student learning. Classrooms are equipped with, plaster casts, lighting equipment, drawing benches, easels, tables, painting racks, flat files, and model stands.
Faculty Representative – Fidalis Buehler – fidalis_buehler@byu.edu
NEW GENRE
Our New Genre courses allow students to explore non-traditional approaches to art making including installation, video, digital, sound, performance, and everything in between. Beginning with an overview of the histories of these practices and an in-depth examination of noteworthy contemporary work, students gain critical knowledge and expand their sense of possibility. Through these courses students learn to prioritize their ideas and to find the best means by which to activate them.
Faculty Representative – Daniel Everett – danieleverett@gmail.com
PHOTOGRAPHY
Through our photography courses we provide students with the technical knowledge and the means to explore the ever-expanding range of applications of the photographic image within contemporary art. Students are introduced to key artists, movements, and related theory, and are encouraged to think critically about the role of photography within culture.
Faculty Representative – Daniel Everett – danieleverett@gmail.com
PRINTMAKING
Printmaking in the BYU Department of Art is seen more as a means of artistic expression rather than a meticulous technical process for mass-producing pictorial objects. Students are encouraged to first attain proficiency with a variety of print mechanisms and then develop conceptual reinterpretations of the ever-expanding medium. It is an objective of the print area to cultivate a more self-initiated approach that innovates and redraws the boundaries of the contemporary print. This objective is enhanced by: one-on-one attention and participation in individual and group critiques, access to the print collections at the BYU Museum of Art, visiting artist lectures and demonstrations, occasions to participate in collaborative exchange portfolios, and opportunities to participate in group activities that stimulate connections with other disciplines.
Faculty Representative – Jen Orton – jen_watson@byu.edu
SCULPTURE
Sculpture students will explore a broad range of contemporary and traditional sculptural practice through a rigorous investigation of concepts and materials. They will develop technical mastery, creative problem-solving, personal sensitivities and critical self-awareness about their own work as they participate in a curriculum that concentrates on a blend of theory and practice. The program embraces new technologies and emerging genres on a foundation of tradition sculptural methodology. Students will participate in individual and group critiques in a studio environment that is both stimulating and supportive. They will become informed, critical-thinking artists, that are engaged in relevant dialogues within contemporary art.
Faculty Representative – Bryon Draper – bryon_draper@byu.edu
