About Our BFA Program

School of Fine Art

About Our BFA Program

Student Galleries: Fine Art and Sculpture

The Academy of Art University has a strong commitment to the fine arts, offering the most prestigious faculty and most impressive resources of any fine arts program in the nation. Our expansive fine arts curriculum gives students the opportunity to specialize in their areas of choice and to explore their interests in other mediums. The School of Fine Arts offers non-figurative and figurative painting, drawing, printmaking, jewelry design, and several other curriculum options. There is also a separate sculpture center, with its own developed curriculum and designated faculty, which is one of the best sculpture facilities in the nation (click here to read more about the sculpture center).

It is the objective of the School of Fine Art to provide students with the creative and technical skills needed to thrive in today’s art world. Students will leave with professional level portfolios of well-crafted artwork that provides them with a solid foundation for careers aligned with Fine Arts. Courses are taught by a faculty of established artists and consist of lectures, rigorous studio work, critiques, field trips and guest artists.

The Academy has four galleries that total more than 4000 sq. feet. All of these galleries are equipped with professional track lighting to illuminate work for the public. Other facilities include printmaking presses, silkscreen and book arts equipment. We have several large painting classrooms with professional lighting and easels. Our prop room contains hundreds of interesting items and fabrics for still life compositions. Each room has model stands to elevate and view different poses for students. Six days a week we offer workshops for students to practice their painting skills. We also utilize the entire Bay Area for our landscape, watercolor and figure drawing classes.

Potential Careers: Gallery Painter/Printmaker/Sculptor, Art Consultant, Art Administrator, Commission Painter, Portrait Artist, Sculptor, Muralist, Gallery Owner, Museum Curator, Art Critic, Art Educator, and Prototype Designer. Film Industry – Art Director, Visual Effects Artist, and Background Painter.

BFA Program Learning Outcomes

School of Fine Arts

Graduates of the School of Fine Arts will meet the following student performance criteria:

1. Portfolio

   • Ability to produce a professional-level portfolio of well-crafted artwork demonstrating personal and critical vision. Ability to produce a body of work that holds together in style, group, and concept, as demonstrated by the portfolio.

2. Conceptual Development

   • Ability to explore ideas and generate creative possibilities working within a given topic or subject.
   • Ability to think about and articulate concepts and ideas before producing work.

3. Attention to Detail / Pride in Work

   • Demonstrate care about the aesthetic details and finished quality of their work.

4. Presentation of Work

   • Ability to display their artwork professionally.

5. Self-motivation

   • Ability to self-direct projects with enthusiasm.

6. Aesthetic Sensitivity

   • Ability to work with skill in a specific medium or mediums.
   • Ability to choose appropriate materials for their concept.
   • Willingness to work to achieve the desired aesthetic quality.
   • Awareness of styles and directions in their field, both contemporary and traditional.
   • Demonstrate mastery of visual language and aesthetic vocabulary.

7. Professional Responsibility and Business Skills

   • Ability to set priorities, manage workload, and meet deadlines.
   • Demonstrate professional work ethic and concern for the quality of their work. Recognize the importance of attention to detail.
   • Ability to build a portfolio and a business plan.
   • Ability to understand and target their market.
   • Ability to articulate business goals and write a business plan.
   • Ability to negotiate contracts.
   • Understanding of business nuts and bolts, such as taxes and resale.
   • Ability to build contacts through networking.

8. Critical Analysis

   • Ability to embrace objective criteria and to discuss work intelligentlyand critically, including describing facts, analyzing composition, interpreting content, and judging results. Ability to be self-critical.
   • Ability to give and receive constructive criticism, and to benefit from critiques by improving upon errors, and using mistakes as building blocks for growth.
   • Recognizing the importance of open-mindedness/embracing another’s point of view.

9. Oral Presentation Skills

   • Ability to participate effectively in interviews, discussions, presentations and question and answer sessions.

10. Broadened Interest in the Field and the Work Around Them

    • Broadened interest in other artists’ work and exploring new ideas, techniques, mediums, and approaches.
    • Recognize the need to grow and improve constantly, both technically and aesthetically, and seek out opportunities to do so.



Sculpture students will meet the following additional criteria:

11. Communication with Three-Dimensional Form

    • Ability to communicate visually in 360 degrees, including making preliminary drawings/ sketches and creating 3-D models (maquettes). Appropriately use materials to communicate and problem solve effectively.

12. Sculptural Language

    • Ability to develop concepts & embrace specific sculptural criteria.
    • Ability to understand and work effectively with ‘Sculptural (Visual) Language’, including:
    1. Elements of Context - Opportunities for sculptural expression amp&; meaning:
    2. Form - the Shape of things
    3. Function – the use of things
    4. Scale – the size of things
    5. Site – the place of things
    6. Surface – the skin of things
    7. Material – of what it is made? Why?
    8. Craft – the care in making, precise attention to detail
    9. The Viewer – who is looking? For whom is it made?
    10. Intention – the idea of a thing, artist’s goal
    11. Time – historical (art history) / chronological (ephemeral vs. permanent)
    12. Historical and Cultural – embracing diversity of vision
    13. Process – revealing the way a thing is made
    14. Chance / Intuition – use of inner voice
    15. Simplicity / Abstraction – getting to the essence
    16. Kinetics – use of movement
    17. Repetition / Replication – power of repeated form

13. Oral, Written, and Visual Presentation Skills

    • Ability to articulate their idea and demonstrate it using clear, compelling, visual communication.
    • Ability to research their idea and organize their information to advance an argument.

14. Visual Storytelling & Communication Skills

    • Ability to engage an audience.
    • Understanding the role of an exhibiting artist in educating an audience.
    • Understanding of metaphor & symbols.

15. Professional Skills

    • Ability to understand and define a sculptural project, commission, or client’s problem, and to generate professional-level creative solutions.
    • Ability to write a sculpture proposal and create cost/materials projections.
    • Ability to photograph objects competently, write an artist statement, and create a resume.

16. Collaboration Skills

    • Ability to work effectively in a team.

17. Artistic Mastery

    • Mastery of foundation skills, media-specific skills, and figure disciplines.

Academy of Art University Learning Outcomes

Graduates of the Academy of Art University will demonstrate the ability to:

1. Produce a body of work suitable for seeking professional opportunities in their chosen field of art and design.
2. Solve creative problems within their field of art and design, including research and synthesis of technical, aesthetic, and conceptual knowledge.
3. Communicate their ideas professionally and connect with their intended audience using visual, oral, and written presentation skills relevant to their field.
4. Execute technical, aesthetic, and conceptual decisions based on an understanding of art and design principles.
5. Evaluate work in their field, including their own work, using professional terminology.
6. Recognize the influence of major cultural and aesthetic trends, both historical and contemporary, on art and design products.
7. Learn the professional skills and behaviors necessary to compete in the global marketplace for art and design.

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