Art Degrees Online

FULL-TIME TUITION
For students attending full-time (12-18* credits per semester), the annual direct costs for the 2008-2009 academic year are as follows:
Full-time tuition $21,926
Student fee $ 500
Total direct costs $22,426

The annual required student fee covers the cost of academic computing labs, library acquisitions, lab chemicals, lab and shop equipment and student support services.

ESTIMATED INDIRECT COSTS
In addition to the direct costs listed above, students should also budget for indirect expenses for the school year. The numbers below are estimated costs, and may vary based on each student’s individual situation. For assistance in estimating your indirect expense budget, please contact the Financial Aid Office.
Estimated books and supplies $2,330
Estimated room and board $4,594
Estimated transportation $1,312
Estimated personal expenses $2,690

PART-TIME AND NON-CREDIT TUITION
Students who are attending CVA part-time (less than 12 credits per semester) or are auditing courses pay tuition and fees as follows:
Part-time tuition (per credit) $1,100
Non-credit/audit tuition (per credit) $ 633
Student fee (per course) $ 50

ADDITIONAL FEES
The following fees may be incurred by students during their enrollment at CVA.
Academic transcript fee $ 4 per transcript requested
Graduation fee $ 50 billed during enrollment in senior thesis
Late tuition payment fee $100
Locker rental deposit $ 10 annual-refunded upon return of lock
Photo ID replacement fee $ 5 per ID, charged at time of replacement
Photography Lab Fee** $125
Credit Card Payment Fee 3% of balance paid by credit card

*Students who take more than 18 credits per semester will be charged the full-time semester tuition plus an addition $1,100 per credit above 18 credits.

** Charged only for PH310 & PH311

“Our curriculum is dynamic and evolves as the demands of the disciplines in art and design practice evolve.”

—Ann Ledy,
President and Chief Academic Officer
The College of Visual Arts welcomes applications from first-year, transfer, and second-degree prospective students interested in a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in art and design. All applications for admission are evaluated on the basis of portfolio review, statement of interest essay, and records of academic aptitude and performance. Admissions decisions are individualized and take into account all aspects of the applicant’s background.

Now is the time to apply for the fall 2009 semester! Apply online.
We recommend that applicants complete all of the admissions requirements by the end of January. This allows plenty of time to hear back from us, and if eligible, compete for CVA scholarship. Accepted students with a minimum GPA of 3.0 are encouraged to compete. The CVA Scholarship Deadline is March 1.

Graphic design at CVA embraces traditional and new media practice, theory, and technology in the pursuit of crystal clear information management. Students express their conceptual talents within a rigorous curriculum that emphasizes typography, information architecture, and cutting edge interactivity.

Students begin by mastering the foundations that define all higher education and professional graphic design. These classes prepare students for a unique three-course immersion in the fine art and craft of typography and three courses in applied graphic design practice. Computer hardware and software proficiency training wraps around these classes and progresses through a separate five-course sequence of study and practice in new and emerging digital mediums including interactive usability.

A studio practicum, internship opportunities, and a course in professional practice augment the curriculum. Combined with liberal arts coursework in graphic design history, art history, aesthetics, math, humanities, and the natural and social sciences, these courses anticipate a final year capstone experience that includes a demanding studio and seminar thesis and professional portfolio development.

All graphic design course content is cumulative and successive. Each class builds on the strengths and skills developed in its predecessor. Early sequential courses are structured to stress advanced craft, theory, process, and technical skills designed to ensure refined success in a student’s advanced application-based project work. Advanced courses and the capstone experience may be customized to reflect individual interests, among others, in package design, publication design, advertising, signage and exhibition design, new media, web and interactivity, motion graphics, and corporate branding identity.

PRINTMAKING
The scope of printmaking is rich in artistry and history spanning detailed designs on fabrics and wall-coverings, intricate wood-block prints to hand-engraved intaglio prints. CVA printmaking is a fine arts study that bridges time and the fields of graphic design, illustration, and book arts.

The print shop provides a generous range of printmaking facilities in a condensed space allowing students to pursue traditional and alternative techniques in screen-printing, intaglio, plate lithography, relief, monotype, collagraph, collage, and the book arts..

After solid grounding in basic printmaking techniques, materials, safety, and shop practices from the introductory course, students may elect to explore contemporary methods using digital and photosensitive materials. In all print classes, emphasis is placed on students developing a cohesive portfolio of work that reflects a clear concept and knowledge of producing multiple prints as well as unique one-of-a-kind variations. The successful combination of alternative with traditional processes, and presenting the prints publicly in book, box, portfolio, or unusual formats is encouraged.

The print experience is enhanced by the book arts courses where successful small press entrepreneurs teach students both traditional and experimental approaches to constructing and making books. The letterpress studio offers an important link between typography and fine art, and continues students’ education in the rich traditions and contemporary issues of printmaking.

PAINTING
Students who choose painting as their concentration begin by strengthening their powers of observation while exploring the many ways which painting can capture perception. Materials and methods are explored as relationships between form and content are developed. Students become familiar with the theory and practice of painting through extensive studio exploration, visiting artists, readings on contemporary issues and working with experienced faculty, who are accomplished within their fields. Students are exposed to contemporary issues in painting, and explore the relationship between painting and drawing and other media such as video and photography.

The advanced drawing/painting students are challenged to create bodies of work for exhibition in the community and will learn about the broad range of professional opportunities to pursue—from maintaining a studio practice, working in set design, creating public murals, working on commissions, illustrating, teaching, and preparing to exhibit and sell their work.

The liberal arts are an integral part of the CVA curriculum. Students acquire essential skills in writing, public speaking, and mathematics. They develop the knowledge base and the conceptual skills essential to artists and designers through courses in art history and the humanities, natural sciences, and social sciences. Students also acquire the skills in research that promote lifelong learning. Because of the importance of these academic studies, all students at CVA take courses in the liberal arts throughout the four years of their education. Liberal Arts classes are closely coordinated with studio classes at CVA.

The Photography Program at the College of Visual Arts embraces the overarching principles of photography, including a comprehensive understanding of darkroom and digital techniques, plus an historic and working understanding of alternative processes in photography.

After completion of the first year Foundation Program, students embrace their photography program with hands on camera and darkroom work, in both black and white and color. The objective is for students to gain an in depth understanding of how an image can be created through careful photographic manipulation.

The advanced photography classes build on this foundation teaching the use of medium and large format cameras, working in the studio on lighting strategies, understanding metering, film choices, and other professional techniques. Simultaneously, students address content, exploring the power of the medium and contemporary issues in photography. These issues are further explored within the history of photography and the art and criticism courses in the Liberal Arts Program.

In the third year, students will examine the techniques and possibilities of digital photography. They will investigate digital capture and film scanning, color management, advanced image editing with Adobe Photoshop, outputting to the web, use of our archival photo inkjet printers with beautiful 100% rag art papers, how to work with service bureaus, and how to best implement a digital work flow into their practice.

In the final year students will explore age-old alternative photographic processes. This will include compounding sensitizers and hand coating beautiful art papers to create cyanotypes, gum bichromate, platinum/palladium, and other hands on processes that will round out an understanding of the old and new of photography.

Through CVA’s internship program, students will have an opportunity to explore the various professional opportunities open to photographers. This experience will be supported by the development of a professional portfolio in conjunction with the capstone Photo Studio and Seminar Thesis courses.

As a photography student, you will take courses in photographic processes, art appreciation, art history, black-and-white photography, color photography, digital imaging, design, drawing, painting and sculpture. You will learn black-and-white, color and computer-enhanced photography techniques.

A portfolio is not required for admission to UNT or the College of Visual Arts & Design (Formerly School of Visual Arts), but you must participate in an entry review prior to completing Black and White Photography II in order to pursue a major in photography. At the end of your sophomore year, the photography faculty will review your portfolio to determine whether you can continue in the program. You also must submit your work for a senior exit review. Further information regarding the reviews is available from the photography faculty.

Photography faculty members are considered experts in their field. One faculty member’s photographs hang in the Bibliothéque nationale de France in Paris and in the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. Another faculty member’s work is part of the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

Continuing UNT students may apply for scholarships that are awarded by the College of Visual Arts & Design (Formerly School of Visual Arts) primarily on the basis of performance in the student’s major. Academic scholarships are available through UNT’s Student Financial Aid and Scholarships office.