The Curriculum
The first–year Foundation Program, a focused progression of studio and critical art theory courses, enables students to explore many forms and philosophies of art making, giving them an unusually wide array of skills and visual languages with which to express their ideas. Students develop technical and analytical skills, as well as creative discipline, and a clearer understanding of the relationship between art and society.
In the following years, students begin to take core liberal arts classes and choose studio courses in consultation with an adviser. Students complete a studio concentration and complete interdisciplanary projects and department electives. Praxis courses combine critical theory with innovative artistic practices, and classes in experimental forms, such as Autobiography, Art and Activism, Sex and Contemporary Art, and The Artist as Visionary and Saboteur, expand the definitions of art and its audiences. Students may also select a minor concentration from among many of the undergraduate programs at NYU.
General Descriptions of Art Department Courses
Seniors may apply to the studio honors program, in which they are given studio space to work on independent projects, culminating in a senior exhibition. (Senior Honors Studio Blog)
Liberal arts courses, both required and elective, encourage a broad historical and aesthetic perspective and the cross-pollination of ideas. At the core of the liberal arts program is the Morse Academic Plan (MAP), offered through the College of Arts and Science. MAP courses immerse students in comparative, critical, exploratory, and interdisciplinary studies in the liberal arts.
Internships, in the junior and senior years, allow the exploration of career opportunities within the context of the professional art world.
Dual Degree Program B.F.A. Studio Art / M.A. Art Education
In the senior year, students may begin to take graduate level art education courses and then continue for a fifth year to earn the M.A. in Art Education with certification for K-12 art teaching.