Art Studio
BFA or BA Degree
The visual arts at URI include painting and drawing, sculpture, printmaking, film and video, digital art and design, photography and art history. Students work in various media to develop technical skills and to provide opportunities for creative expression as well as hands-on practical experience working closely with artist-instructors on a one-to-one basis. Art History courses expose students to the history and variety of fine arts, crafts, and architecture through the ages, focusing on interpretation and analysis of works within their social, cultural, and historical contexts. The Art and Art History department participates in several interdisciplinary programs on campus which offer students specialized experience and instruction, including Film Media, The 3D Group for Interactive Visualization (with the Computer Science department), Women's Studies, African and African-American Studies, and Underwater Archaeology.
URI graduates are employed as practicing artists, designers, photographers, illustrators, arts administrators, architects, teachers, researchers, and museum professionals. Although we do not offer concentrations in commercial art or art education, our courses provide the skills and conceptual training for those who wish to pursue careers in these fields. It is our experience that prospective employers are centrally interested in the technical skills and conceptual range (in photography, drawing, or computer imaging, for example) demonstrated by prospective employees in the portfolios they present. To judge by the success of our alumni, our studio programs provides excellent training for a wide variety of careers in the arts.
Many of our art studio graduates have gone on to MFA programs in painting, photography, sculpture, filmmaking, and other specialized areas of visual studies. The Master of Fine Arts degree provides specialized training for professional artists and is a necessary credential for entering into the field of college or university teaching. Other students have entered MA programs in art education, arts administration, and art therapy. We have been successful in placing students in excellent graduate programs throughout the country. These include the Rhode Island School of Design, Chicago Art Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara, San Francisco Art Institute, Tyler School of Art, University of Arizona, and the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program.
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Visiting Artists
The Italo Scanga Visiting Artist Fund was established with a donation from A&AH alumna Katherine Scanga and the Italo Scanga Foundation. Italo Scanga was an internationally renowned sculptor who taught at the University of Rhode Island.
Hasan Elahi | 2009
Sandro Del Rosario | 2009
Albert Chong | 2008
Nina Katchadourian | 2007
Holly Laws | 2007
Gregory Coates | 2006
Kurt Ralske | 2006
