Art Degrees Online

The B.F.A. program in Photography is designed to prepare students to succeed in the competitive world of professional photography while at the same time maintaining the standards and the aims of a NCA education. The NCA Photography program has an applied emphasis designed to prepare B.F.A. graduates to enter one of several professional fields of photography, including but not limited to advertising, illustration, editorial, portrait, journalistic or a fine art sub-discipline.

Graduates of the program develop photographic skills with fine art aesthetics, visual problem solving, and traditional and digital imaging photographic media as evidenced in their personal portfolios. Students also develop an understanding of both historic and contemporary photographic trends and masters. Collectively these attributes are gained through classroom instruction, work production, exposure to working professionals, and internships.

Students in the Photography program develop quality photographic projects with the final goal of a presentation portfolio.

The Portraiture major is designed to prepare students for jobs in the largest employment field in photography. Portrait photographers can have successful careers in communities of almost any size, and skills in this field can also be applied to other areas of professional photography. The Brooks curriculum reflects how dynamic the portrait industry has become, providing instruction in traditional, documentary, and fine art approaches, using film-based and digital workflow processes. The curriculum emphasizes a realistic awareness of today’s professional market, and it is designed to develop the technical and artistic competence to consistently make saleable photographs of people, whether for personal or business use.

Illustration is the melting pot of the visual arts. In the last 20 years, the lines between illustration, graphic design, and fine art have blurred significantly. New media, expanded applications, and a more sophisticated popular culture make this a very exciting field.

Students majoring in illustration at AAC have many opportunities to incorporate design, digital media, painting, print media, drawing, 3-D arts, and/ or photography, creating a body of work that reflects their personal vision. AAC’s program requires a rigorous studio thesis and professional-practice experience both inside and outside the classroom. Students who graduate with a major in illustration can compete for work in such industries as book and magazine publishing, video games, packaging, corporate branding, retail merchandising, motion graphics, advertising, social advocacy, and entertainment.

Digital Arts at AAC is taught by professional working artists and focuses strongly on problem solving, perceptual acuity, technical/skill acquisition, and conceptual development. The approach is both broad and discipline-specific, placing the work in historical as well as current context.

A Digital Arts degree prepares students for many professional pathways in both fine art and industry application. They include (but are hardly limited to) animation, video gaming, video production, web design, photography, and multimedia production.

The world of animation changes rapidly. And as technology evolves the role of the animator has to change to keep up. But regardless of technological advancements one thing has always remained true.

Whether animating for the web, or for the cinema; whether with hand drawn frames or rendered with powerful 3D computer systems; it takes a trained eye and an artists touch to create the illusion of life.
In our program you will learn about figure drawing, 2D and 3D software, motion studies and production techniques. RMCAD’s animation curriculum, however, goes far beyond this.

Our faculty of professional animators will encourage you to experiment and explore new techniques. While working and living along side our illustration, design and other fine art students you will be exposed to techniques and ideas that are simply not present at most other schools. Courses in the humanities and social sciences will bring new depth and sophistication to your characters and stories.

By the time you graduate you will possess a unique voice and strong visual style, the ability to present your ideas clearly and professionally, an artists ability to see and create the illusion of life, and solid experience with the tools and practices necessary to succeed at any animation firm in the world.

Animation began as a marriage between the artist and new technology. Now, over a century later, the relationship has bloomed into a global media phenomenon, encompassing both the commercial success of cartoons and the establishment of animation as a fine art form.

KCAI’s animation major provides students with the quality education necessary to succeed. Our program embraces traditional, experimental and computer animation while developing strong visual acuity and conceptual skills in the areas of narrative, theme and composition. Personal development and creative exploration is at the heart of our curriculum.

Animators possessing a well-rounded grasp of the medium are in great demand throughout the diverse world of multimedia.

Develop unique skills, insights, and career options in the dynamic field of professional photography. Our Associate of Arts in Photography program lets you explore commercial, fine art, and documentary photography. Specialty courses, hands-on experience, internships, and interaction with nationally and internationally known guest lecturers develop your aesthetic awareness and judgment while expanding your perspective on the visual arts. Master advanced technical skills as faculty members concentrate on furthering your growth, emphasizing a strong portfolio, marketing skills, career and educational opportunities, and assistance with job placement and more. Many students elect to continue their studies at the baccalaureate level, majoring in photography or related fields such as art, media, communications, or journalism.

Develop unique skills, insights, and career options in the dynamic field of professional photography. Our Associate of Arts in Photography program lets you explore commercial, fine art, and documentary photography. Specialty courses, hands-on experience, internships, and interaction with nationally and internationally known guest lecturers develop your aesthetic awareness and judgment while expanding your perspective on the visual arts. Master advanced technical skills as faculty members concentrate on furthering your growth, emphasizing a strong portfolio, marketing skills, career and educational opportunities, and assistance with job placement and more. Many students elect to continue their studies at the baccalaureate level, majoring in photography or related fields such as art, media, communications, or journalism.

How will the Photgraphy minor enhance my degree?
The photography minor is designed to give you experience with a range of camera formats – from a 35mm format up to a 4×5 studio view camera, including digital capture. The minor will help you gain experience in a wide range of pictorial photographic applications.

What does the minor emphasize?
The Photography minor stresses a fine art approach to photography. It provides the basics of black-and-white as well as color photography and digital imaging. The courses help you to find your inner voice as a photographer.

What kind of photgraphy courses are included in the minor?
Studio courses are technically rigorous, with extensive use of professional photographic tools and equipment. Advanced-level classes concentrate on creative and conceptual approaches to the photographic medium, and help to develop your own personal responses to photographic projects and assignments.

The emphasis on photographic studies as a Plan at Marlboro is fine art in nature, although photography is ideally suited for interdisciplinary work in all fields of study. The course structure emphasizes the study of the medium as a form of personal vision and visual communication. The courses accommodate individual needs and interest and are technically, critically, and historically relevant to contemporary culture. Students explore seeing artistically, production of imagery and the possibilities for presentation most appropriate to content. Courses throughout the liberal arts tradition assist students in exploration and development of personal vision.

Photography provides us with a means to explore the world and our existence within it. John continually strives to heighten his sensitivity in life, and when he photographs, he chooses subject matter that is important to him. The photographs themselves, as with the process of seeing, must strike him on a personal level in order for him to appreciate an image. As Frederick Sommer liked to say, “It is not subject matter, but a subject that matters.”

John has always attempted to find a balance between aesthetic and communicative concerns. At times, he feels like a modernist in a postmodern world. When he considers himself a postmodernist, it’s due to his concern with the social and political implications an image presents from the conception through creation and on to the presentation’s final expression. When he considers himself a modernist, it’s because he is more invested in the metaphorical interpretations in each step of the process and the image that is ultimately created, and he is always searching to be moved by the image’s aesthetic beauty.
Starting Points (Basic and Introductory Courses)

Introduction to Black & White Photography (ART9)
This course will be an introduction to black and white photography with an emphasis given both to visual communication and technique. Students will learn basic procedures of camera operation, film exposure and development and enlargement of the image, while exploring the visual and expressive qualities of the medium. (Introductory)

Intermediate Photography (ART358)
The intermediate photography class is intended to give more technical and visual breadth to the students understanding of the medium of photography. Students will work on three differing photographic genres over a five week period each. The class will explore the medium and its possibilities as an art form. We will discuss issues and methodologies concerning contemporary photographers. (Intermediate)

Constructed Realities (ART701)
The histories of photography and, more recently, sculpture / installation art, are rife with examples of artists who are not content to simply observe reality as it exists but who find it necessary to construct their own. This course will focus on the conjunction of the disciplines of sculpture and photography and provide a venue for students to make work that reflects their own constructed reality. The end product of the work of this class will sometimes be photographs and sculpture at times independent of each other. Both skills will be important. Objects and spaces will be transformed and become the subject of new observations, new work. Students will be encouraged to work collaboratively.

More Than One: Photography & The Visual Book (ART844)
In this course we will consider the various ways images work together in the book format. The word book will be thought of in its broadest terms. Imagery may relate together formally, sequentially or in narrative form, and with or without text. We will research the use of photographic imagery in books from the documentary genre to individual artist books and more. Everyone will be creating his or her own books throughout the course.

The Photographic Image and Word (ART886)
This course is an exploration of image and text relationships in nonfiction and fictional story telling. This intermediate/advanced level course will predominately be taught through digital processes. Class time will be divided between visiting professors and artists, reviewing historical and contemporary works, critiquing of individual and group projects, as well as technical demonstrations. It is likely the group projects will have a service-learning component.

Photographic Methods (ART669)
Successful photography is a fine balance of technical skills with the aesthetic and visual expression. This course will be an exploration of more advanced photographic controls. Throughout the term we will explore various photographic methods through demonstrations and hands on lab work. Technical procedures covered will include camera techniques including view camera use, The Zone System, lighting controls and darkroom processes including liquid light, enlarged negatives, Cyanotypes, Platinum Prints, as well as creation of digital negatives and prints. While experimenting with the various processes we will also view historical photographic works and discuss the artist’s choice of methodology in relationship to the intended visual communication.

Documentary Photography (ART686)
Throughout the history of photography many practitioners have used the medium as a tool for social commentary. Traditionally this has largely been done through the genre of documentary work. We will view historical and contemporary documentary projects, while reading various writings exploring the process, ethics, and value of documentary photography.

Advanced Photography Critique (ART514)
This course will explore the medium of photography and its possibilities as an art form and visual language. We will discuss issues and methods that concern the contemporary photographer. There will be assigned readings from critical theoretical writings. Students will choose one thematic project to photograph. Technical demonstrations will be given as necessary; however, the majority of class time will present a forum for critiques and slide presentations. (Advanced)

Photography Plan Seminar (ART574)
This is a seminar for all students on Plan in photography.

Documentary Photography vs. The Photography of Invention (ART554)
This course will review photography’s use as social commentary through conflicting approaches of documentary, photo as evidence, and constructed realities, a more post-modernist approach. Students will be expected to create personal work from both genres while viewing imagery from photo history and theoretical writings. Traditional photographic processes will be utilized as well as digital imaging.