School of Art

Spend up to a year exploring RIT’s art programs before you declare a major.

The ceramics degree option lets you explore your artistic expression in a dynamic environment. The curriculum focuses on intellectual development and practical knowledge within the context of art, craft, and design. You will learn the fundamental processes within ceramics, such as wheel-throwing, hand-building, mold-making, glazing, and material science. Individual critiques and group discussion will develop your personal aesthetic and enhance your critical thinking skills. RIT’s ceramics degree option prepares you with the professional and practical skills needed to establish a career in your field. This option is part of the Studio Arts BFA program.

Artists have always challenged the definition of art. These challenges have pushed art into new realms of expression and the public into new ways of seeing. The expanded forms option, like the wider art world, extends beyond the traditional forms of painting, printmaking, and sculpture. Artists have expanded the possibilities for expression. Object making goes hand-in-hand with performance, installation, computer art, and multi-media displays. Students are encouraged to explore the full spectrum of experimental and non-traditional artistic expression. This option is part of the Studio Arts BFA program.

The furniture design option engages you in pursuit of your creative interests while providing a comprehensive technical background in contemporary woodworking. It focuses on technical expertise, freeing you to investigate a full range of creative expression and professional interests. This option is part of the Studio Arts BFA program.

Through a rigorous and diversified curriculum, the glass option cultivates artists who are as versatile in their making as they are in their thinking. Studio instruction in glassblowing, flame-working, hot and kiln casting, cold-working, kiln-forming, glass imaging processes, and three-dimensional digital technologies help inform each student’s creative potential with glass. An emphasis on research, idea development, material exploration, execution, and presentation equips students with the skills needed to succeed as professionals. This option is part of the studio arts BFA program.

An illustration degree that mixes traditional drawing skills, the latest digital imaging technologies, and sculpted dimensional methods for effective visual communication.

In RIT’s medical illustration degree, you’ll take complex scientific and medical information and distill it into stunning visual images.

The metals and jewelry design option provides a stimulating space for students to learn metalsmithing and design techniques. You will learn key processes as you work to find your personal artistic voice. This option is part of the Studio Arts BFA program.

Students selecting this option engage in contemporary visual art practice through a personal exploration of painting techniques. The comprehensive curriculum covers traditional methodologies as well as contemporary visual art practices. Rigorous studio practice and critical discourse encourage the development of a strong personal language that allow for effective individual expression. This option is part of the studio arts BFA program.

Printmaking focuses on concepts and techniques. Organized to offer a flexible experience, this option targets the development of problem solving and skill building within the context of printmaking. The curriculum addresses a wide variety of media, tools, and both traditional and technological techniques, as well as theoretical concepts to facilitate skill development and experimentation processes. This option is part of the studio arts BFA program.

The sculpture option engages students in the exploration of three-dimensional art-making. Traditional sculptural processes are introduced, such as bronze casting, stone carving, steel fabrication, and mold-making, within a curriculum that focuses on both formal and conceptual development. Working with a broad variety of materials, ideas, and practices, students are prepared to engage in the dialogue of contemporary sculpture. Over the course of the major, students develop the technical, visual, and intellectual skills required to develop a sophisticated body of work. This option is part of the Studio Arts BFA program.

Acquire the conceptual and technical skills to succeed as a creative professional in ceramics, expanded forms, furniture design, glass, metals and jewelry design, printmaking, painting, or sculpture.