Art + Media + Design
College of Arts and Sciences
The Faculty of Arts and Letters
Fine and Performing Arts Center, Room 202
570-422-3694
www.esu.edu/art
About the BFA, BA, and BFA Programs
The Art + Media + Design Department offers three programs: the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Integrated Art + Design, the Bachelor of Arts in Art + Design, and the Bachelor of Science in Digital Media Technologies. The Department empowers students to explore their academic and creative interests in various disciplines. There is a wide range of options from digital to traditional studio art, media, and design, as well as art history that will prepare you to meet the challenges of careers that include graphic design, web design, studio television and video production, digital animation, photography, painting, illustration, interactive and social media, audio sound recording, ceramics, product and industrial design, studio arts, digital production, arts administration, virtual reality, and 3d printing.
The department’s New Mind Design, the student design agency is a unique student run, faculty mentored business where you will meet with real world clients to provide an array of design services, such as digital, graphic, display and product design, rendering and prototyping.
Highly qualified faculty and small class sizes provide individualized instruction that fosters creative and artistic growth.
The BFA Program
Both the Graphic and Product Design concentrations develop creativity, innovation and skills in graphic design and product design. A combination of hands-on techniques and industry standard digital design software prepares you for careers in visual communication and product design. Hands on studio projects and integrated design history and theory as well as courses in studio art and art history develop your aesthetic and cultural literacy, highly valued by professionals in the field. A required internship gives you real-world experiences and potential employment opportunities. The BFA program provides increased flexibility to integrate courses across concentrations as well as from other disciplines as part of your major credit requirements.
The Fine and New Media Art concentrations allow you to create your own individualized program in studio art by taking courses in a variety of artistic disciplines, whether your interest is in a traditional studio art or in new media art which may combine multiple disciplines in digital, installation, or performance-based art. With this concentration, taking classes from both Art + Design and Digitial Media Technologies provides cutting edge skills that will prepare you for emerging creative careers with skills in the latest technology. If you plan a career as a studio or fine craft artist, in art therapy, teaching, or any field that values creativity, you may also choose this concentration. A senior capstone project allows you to create a consummate record of your achievement that can be used for exhibition opportunities or entrance to graduate school. The BFA program provides increased flexibility to integrate courses across the concentrations and from other disciplines such as Business, Science, Communications, Theater or English.
The BFA is a more competitive degree. It will also prepare you for entering a Master of Fine Arts.
Required art history courses strengthen both the studio and design components by developing your aesthetic literacy, a highly valued qualification in all creative careers.
The BA Program
The Bachelor of Arts in the Studio or Design concentration is a 42-credit general program that develops skills in Design, Fine Art and Art History. Selected courses in these areas provide a foundation for careers or further study in these fields.
The Art History concentration (BA program only) develops your knowledge of major periods in art and architecture of the past to the present and an acquaintance with the art of non-Western cultures. Art history majors may develop careers in museums, galleries, restoration, journalism, education or arts administration. Art History majors are valued in areas as diverse as cultural consultancies to real estate to law for their strong research and writing skills. A senior capstone project requires you to complete a written thesis and/or curatorial experience.
Core courses common to both programs lay a strong foundation for upper-level work in both BFA and BA degree programs and provides the opportunity for students to easily move from the BA into the BFA program within the first two years to timely graduation
The BS Program
The Bachelor of Science prepares students to create media through a blend of hands-on teaching and applied theory. Ten foundation and production courses in interactive media, video and television production, audio, photography, web design, and media theory are required. Our students use industry standard equipment, including a six camera 4k TV studio, audio recording studio, portrait photography studio, computer labs with powerful Mac and PC computers, 4k video cameras, VR Headsets, a VR Motion Capture Lab and all the production equipment needed to succeed in the major.
Art + Media + Design Minor Programs
Students find that adding a minor from the Art + Media + Design Department adds to their skill set, strengthening their prospects while others enjoy the opportunity to stretch themselves creatively.
Art + Media Design Certificate Programs
The Art + Media + Design Department offers major and non-major opportunities to acquire the following certificates:
Art + Media + Design Recommended and Popular Student Clubs
Art + Media + Design Internships
Internships provide a unique learning experience that allows students to use the knowledge they have obtained in the classroom in a real-world setting. The internship experience takes place in a professional environment where the course work competencies are applied and refined. In planning for an internship, students are advised to discuss career goals, qualifications and potential internships with their academic adviser and department faculty.
Choose Art + Media + Design at ESU
Art + Media + Design Facilities
The Art + Media + Design Department is established in three buildings on campus: the Fine and Performing Arts Building, Rosenkrans Building and the McGarry TV Studio. Facilities range from:
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State-of-the-art 3D printing/additive manufacturing lab with 3D printers for metal, PolyJet, PLA, ABS, TPU and more. A range of 3D scanners, digital design and fabrication software.
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Fully stocked equipment lab with camera equipment for 360 video, HD video, lighting, sound recording, Virtual Reality, Motion capture and more.
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The product design studio equipped with a CNC, 3x4 foot 80W laser cutter, a brainstorming wall for design-thinking, workshop tools, 64 RAM laptops with professional industry standard software for rendering, animation, CAD and generative design.
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The Madelon Powers Art Gallery, located within the Fine & Performing Arts Center, features an ongoing series of exhibitions by professional artists and students in a 1,000 square foot exhibition space with two-story high ceilings.