Art Practices Emphasis, BFA
Introduction
Please click here to see general Visual Arts information.
The Art Practices emphasis provides students with a comprehensive education in visual art practices, which includes creative influences, ideas, materials, tools and skills, as well as theory and art history, with an emphasis on current trends in contemporary art. Art Practices is designed for students whose creative ideas move across media and who are looking for a more comprehensive critical approach to developing their art practice. Art Practices provides students with focused professional skills in two self-selected areas of studio art, whereby the student can develop a fully formed and thoughtful body of work with conceptual impact.
The emphasis is a focused degree program that provides students with greater knowledge and tools to make them competitive in the professional world of contemporary art. The work of contemporary artists is a dynamic combination of materials, methods, concepts, and subjects that challenge traditional assumptions and definitions. Contemporary artists give voice to the varied and changing landscapes of identity, values, and beliefs in the increasingly global culture of our diverse and technologically advancing world. Artists today explore ideas, concepts, questions, and practices that examine the past, describe the present, and imagine the future. This program is designed to address the needs of students looking to become successful emerging artists with the skills to become active individuals in the art world through multiple outlets through exhibitions and sales, arts education, curation, critical art writing, art therapy, fabrication, public art, entrepreneurship, art consulting, costume and set design, fashion/accessory and textile design, performance art, portraiture, various facets of business employment and much more!
Students may choose from two areas for their primary concentration: Painting and Drawing or Transmedia Sculpture. They then select a secondary concentration--different from their primary concentration from the following: Painting and Drawing, Illustration, Transmedia Sculpture or Photography. Students take 21 semester hours in their primary concentration and 15 semester hours in their secondary concentration.
Program Delivery
- This is an on-campus program.
Declaring This Major
- Click here to go to information about declaring a major.
General Requirements
To earn a degree, students must satisfy all requirements in each of the areas below, in addition to their individual major requirements.
- CU Denver General Graduation Requirements
- CU Denver Core Curriculum
- College of Arts & Media Graduation Requirements
- Click here for information about Academic Policies
Program Requirements
- A minimum letter grade is required for each course in the major for the course to satisfy the degree requirement. All grades apply to the major and are averaged to generate the major-specific GPA.
- A minimum grade of C (2.0) is required to satisfy degree requirements for any major course taken at CU Denver.
- A grade of C- (1.7) or lower will not fulfill a major, minor or certificate requirement, but is calculated in the major GPA.
- A grade of P is acceptable for courses in which the only grade available is Pass or Fail
- All upper-division visual arts courses must be taken at CU Denver unless approved otherwise by Department of Visual Arts faculty.
- At least 27 semester hours of visual arts credits (at any level) must be taken at CU Denver.
- At least 24 semester hours of total visual arts courses must be upper-division.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Arts Foundation | ||
| Take all of the following Arts Foundation courses: 1 | ||
| FINE 1100 | Drawing I | 3 |
| FINE 1400 | Two Dimensional Design | 3 |
| FINE 1500 | Three-Dimensional Design | 3 |
| FINE 2155 | Introduction to Digital Photography | 3 |
| FINE 2600 | Art History Survey I | 3 |
| FINE 2610 | Art History Survey II | 3 |
| Main Studio Concentration | ||
| Take all of the Main Studio Concentration courses from one of the following categories: 1 | 21 | |
| Secondary Studio Concentration | ||
| Take all of the Secondary Studio Concentration courses from one of the following categories: 2 | 15 | |
| Visual Arts | ||
| FINE 3405 | Introduction to Digital Video | 3 |
| FINE 3500 | Installation Art | 3 |
| FINE 4990 | Contemporary Art: 1960 to Present | 3 |
| Electives | ||
| Take three semester hours of Pre-20th Century Art History elective. | 3 | |
| Take three semester hours of upper-division Art History elective. | 3 | |
| Take nine semester hours of Visual Arts electives. 4 | 9 | |
| Capstone | ||
| FINE 4950 | Studio BFA Thesis | 3 |
| Total Hours | 81 | |
| 1 | Note: students should choose a main and secondary concentration before continuing with upper-division (3000/4000-level) studio courses. Any 1000/2000-level course may be taken prior to making concentration selections. |
| 2 | Note that the Secondary Concentration must be different from the Main Concentration. |
| 3 | Note: students wishing to select Illustration as a secondary concentration area must participate in the Illustration portfolio Day. For more information, please click here. |
| 4 | These may include studio, lecture, internship or art history courses. |
Main Studio Concentration
Take all of the Main Studio Concentration courses from one of the following categories (Transmedia Sculpture OR Painting and Drawing):
Transmedia Sculpture
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FINE 2500 | Bronze Casting | 3 |
| FINE 2510 | Wood and Metal Sculpture | 3 |
| FINE 3510 | Mold Design & Casting | 3 |
| FINE 3555 | Concepts in Sculpture | 3 |
| FINE 4505 | Sculptural Drawing | 3 |
| FINE 4215 | Interdisciplinary Studio | 3 |
| FINE 4515 | Advanced Art Practices | 3 |
Painting and Drawing
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FINE 2030 | Life Drawing | 3 |
| FINE 2200 | Painting I | 3 |
| FINE 3030 | The Media of Drawing | 3 |
| FINE 3200 | Intermediate Painting and Drawing | 3 |
| FINE 3556 | Concepts in Painting and Drawing | 3 |
| FINE 4215 | Interdisciplinary Studio | 3 |
| FINE 4515 | Advanced Art Practices | 3 |
Secondary Studio Concentrations
Take all of the Secondary Studio Concentration courses from one of the following categories (Transmedia Sculpture or Painting and Drawing or Illustration or Photography). Note that the Secondary Concentration must be different from the Main Concentration.
Transmedia Sculpture
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FINE 2500 | Bronze Casting | 3 |
| FINE 2510 | Wood and Metal Sculpture | 3 |
| FINE 3510 | Mold Design & Casting | 3 |
| FINE 3555 | Concepts in Sculpture | 3 |
| FINE 4505 | Sculptural Drawing | 3 |
Painting and Drawing
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FINE 2030 | Life Drawing | 3 |
| FINE 2200 | Painting I | 3 |
| FINE 3030 | The Media of Drawing | 3 |
| FINE 3200 | Intermediate Painting and Drawing | 3 |
| FINE 3556 | Concepts in Painting and Drawing | 3 |
Illustration
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FINE 2405 | Introduction to Digital Design | 3 |
| FINE 3010 | Illustration I: Image Making | 3 |
| FINE 3014 | The Graphic Novel Workshop | 3 |
| FINE 3300 | Painting, Drawing and the Printed Image | 3 |
| FINE 3410 | Illustration II: Digital Media | 3 |
Photography
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| FINE 1150 | Introduction to Darkroom Photography | 3 |
| FINE 3161 | The Silver Fine Print | 3 |
| FINE 3162 | The Digital Fine Print | 3 |
| FINE 3171 | Concepts and Processes in Photography | 3 |
| FINE 4195 | Advanced Photography I | 3 |
Note that the FINE 3556 Concepts in Painting and Drawing Concepts in Painting and Drawing course and the FINE 3555 Concepts in Sculpture Concepts in Sculpture course encompass rotating course topics and can be take up to four times each, with a different topic. These topics are as follows: Concepts in Painting and Drawing-Abstraction, Narrative and Pop Culture, Figuration, and Spatial Approaches; Concepts in Sculpture-Modeling for Manufacture, Social Engagements, Iron Casting, Public and Environmental Art.
Please contact the College of Arts & Media at CAM@ucdenver.edu for course sequencing, any prerequisite updates and for lists of approved electives and more information about this emphasis.
To review the Degree Map for this program, please visit our website.