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Programs & Applying


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ART EDUCATION

Art Education allows students to become licensed to teach K-12 art in Illinois public schools, engage in a broad and critical intellectual exploration of contemporary questions and debates in arts and education, and undertake advanced professional preparation for teaching and curriculum supervision.

Photo of colorful pillow-shaped student artworks

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ART HISTORY

Why are the objects that we call “works of art” made? Who makes them? Who sees them? What functions do they serve? What kinds of meaning have they offered to viewers in the past? What kinds of meaning can they have for us now? Questions like these are central to the study of art history.

Photo of terra cotta relief

Stereoscopic architectural drawing
Faithful Oladeji

DESIGN FOR RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION

Take your design skills to the next level and bring expertise from other disciplines into conversation with design research in order to explore responsible futures through traditional media and emergent technologies.

Stereoscopic architectural drawing
Faithful Oladeji

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FASHION

Explore the wide and varied field of fashion, from history and social psychology to sustainable manufacturing and brand development.

Closeup photo of two models' eyes

Looking up through spring trees into an early evening sky with a few clouds
Matthew Waldinger

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Negotiate challenges at the intersection of traditional craft and rapidly evolving communication technologies to create positive change in today’s social and cultural systems.

Looking up through spring trees into an early evening sky with a few clouds
Matthew Waldinger

Technical rendering of a design for a high-top athletic shoe.
Kaito Choy

INDUSTRIAL DESIGN

Ever wonder about why products look and work the way they do? From cell phones and computers to the microwave of the future, industrial designers find—and make—the answers.

Technical rendering of a design for a high-top athletic shoe.
Kaito Choy

Closeup of a video game with sihouetted characters against a green landscape scene
Daniel Harmon

NEW MEDIA

New Media students pursue sustained study in the art forms of time-based media, performance, digital imaging, and coding-based practices.

Closeup of a video game with sihouetted characters against a green landscape scene
Daniel Harmon

Photo of a student painting at an easel.
Paul Kenneth

PAINTING

Begin with rigorous instruction in traditional drawing and painting materials, methods, techniques, and concepts. Then explore experimental and multi-disciplinary approaches to painting, as well as its complex and culturally influential history.

Photo of a student painting at an easel.
Paul Kenneth

Photograph of a figure squirting mustard on a hot dog
Laura Today

PHOTOGRAPHY

We prepare serious photographers to serve as cultural leaders of the 21st century. Our studios and seminars explore historic traditions, wide-ranging techniques, recent innovations, and the role of the contemporary photographer.

Photograph of a figure squirting mustard on a hot dog
Laura Today

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PRINTMAKING

Printmaking offers a wide range of traditional, photographic, and digital printmaking methods that engage with contemporary art and design fields. Specific courses focus on screenprint, letterpress, comics and ‘zines, relief printing, intaglio, lithography, and other rotating special topics.

Photo of a student making a silkscreen print

Photo of a colorful vertical multimedia sculpture
Stephen Signa Aviles

SCULPTURE

Sculpture focuses on methods and concepts in three-dimensional art, form-making, and expanded spatial practices.

Photo of a colorful vertical multimedia sculpture
Stephen Signa Aviles

Painting of a soldier in a blue uniform
William Blake

STUDIO ART

Studio Art enables students to explore, combine, and specialize in an array of studio disciplines including fashion, new media, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture.

Painting of a soldier in a blue uniform
William Blake

Looking up through spring trees into an early evening sky with a few clouds

MINORS

The School offers four campus-approved minors.

Looking up through spring trees into an early evening sky with a few clouds

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