Art

As the visual arts component of the most comprehensive predominantly black university in the world, the Department of Art recognizes its unique responsibility to reflect, affirm and perpetuate the visual expression of the black experience. The department seeks to continuously create and maintain an atmosphere conducive to developing skilled and professionally mature artists, designers and art historians. Emphasis is placed upon instruction from a multicultural perspective and recognition of the dynamic reciprocity of art and life in the preparation of students for careers in the visual arts. The Howard University Art Department is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design.

Undergraduate Admission Requirements

In addition to the University’s admission requirements, applicants to the B.F.A. degree programs must submit a portfolio of artwork to the Department of Art. Program areas that traditionally required slides will now require digital images instead of slides. A portfolio of 12-15 digital images of original creative works (with no more than 2-3 views of any one work), must be prepared and presented on a CD Rom or flash drive (URL’s are also acceptable if the work is presented online in quality form). Each image must be clearly labeled with the title of the work, materials or media of creation, size, and date of creation. These original creative works must be prepared according to the guidelines:

  1. Static Two-Dimensional imagery: JPEG Format in a Powerpoint Presentations Slideshow (.ppt or .pps);
  2. Three-Dimension Pieces (i.e. sculpture, ceramics, fashion, 3D modeling): JPEG Format including 2-3 views of the work;
  3. Motion graphics and video: Use MP4 Format along with pixel dimensions;
  4. Size of digital images: no less than 800 x 600 ppi
  5. Please include with each slide of your presentation:
    • Title of the work
    • Materials or media used to create the work
    • Size of actual piece of work represented by the digital images. Size of work should be relative to the media with which it was created (for traditional media, use inches; for static digital media, use pixel dimensions; and for motion graphics and video use pixel dimensions and time in minutes and seconds)
    • Date of creation
  6. Physical portfolios are still being accepted.

Mail portfolios to:

Department of Art
Division of Fine Arts
College of Arts and Sciences
Howard University
2455 Sixth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20059

Special Degree Requirements

Students seeking degrees offered by the Art Department must complete core courses in the Foundation Program upon which concentration courses are built. A student must complete 18 to 21 credits in the Department of Art, with the approval of a faculty advisor, in order to obtain a minor. In selecting electives, students may choose within the following guidelines:

  • University electives in humanities – any courses in the humanities area (literature, drama, music, classics, English) for which the student can qualify;
  • Art electives– any courses in the practice or history of art; fashion merchandising or interior design;
  • Studio electives– any courses in the practice of art or design for which the student qualifies.

Art History

In addition to providing students with a broad understanding of world art, the Art History program focuses upon African American art and the art of the African Diaspora. In beginning and advanced courses and seminars, students are encouraged to engage in scholarly investigation and analysis of visual styles, cultural movements, and social evidence in the history of art, especially original scholarship in African American and African Art History. The program’s strong research focus provides a virtual road map for students who wish to pursue careers as art historians in academia or in museums as curators and educators.

 

Ceramics

The Ceramics Program provides students with a technical foundation in basic hand and wheel formation, glaze calculation, clay formulation, and a range of finishing and firing techniques. Advanced students are encouraged to explore the full range of possibilities in clay. The ceramics unit is designed to train students to become the traditional production potter; the ceramic sculptor and the visionary artists who want to combine and experiment with state of the arts ceramic materials and technology to create their visual voice.

 

Design

The goal of the Howard University Design Program is to develop an immense range of knowledge, skills and competencies in the area of visual communication through cross-curricular experiences. This is achieved through the study of theory and the practical application of learned techniques. This program reacquaints the student artist with foundation principles that are central to design. Through an intensive curriculum in visual and technologically-mediated communication students will learn how to identify, research, analyze, and solve problems at various levels, providing multiple solutions, mechanicals and prototypes. Students will also develop the ability to produce the following visual forms as solutions to studio and related real life problems:

  • two-dimensional
  • three-dimensional
  • printed
  • digital
  • motion
  • interactive

Ideally, this program will cultivate competency in problem solving abilities, proficiency in conceptual skills and mastery of craftsmanship within each graduate.

Electronic Studio

The Electronic Studio program is designed for students preparing for careers as web designers, two- and three-dimensional animators, special effect artists for TV and Film, product design, and motion graphics. The curriculum combines the fundamentals of visual arts: drawing, painting, illustration, and two-dimensional and three-dimensional design. Photography and video, with intensive applied computer technology and software techniques as applied to visual communications and design. Course work is designed to incorporate prerequisite visual arts courses to prepare students to be competitive in the visual arts and computer-aided art and design fields.

Painting

The Painting program is designed to introduce students to traditional and contemporary painting techniques with an emphasis on the control of paint and the painted form. In the intermediate and advanced level courses, students are encouraged to experiment with various media and thematic approaches.

Photography

The Photography program provides students with skills, techniques, and principals of conventional darkroom practices, which form the framework for digital imaging in advance courses. Color photography, taught in combination with Photoshop, adds another dimension to creative control and expression along with multi-media applications. Advance courses in Studio Lighting, Alternative Processes, and Independent Study, are designed to allow the student to produce portfolios from collective experiences and photographic knowledge.

The photography program embraces modern technologies while enforcing the principles of light, color and image capture for print and the Web. We ground the student in the fundamentals of basic darkroom techniques with black and white film and chemistry in producing a finished print. Other courses challenge your approach to thematic concepts where you express ideas illustrated through the images you produce. Through digital applications you’ll learn about basic color theory, characteristics and behaviors and how color impacts the image. The program rounds out with studio lighting, alternative processes and multimedia production giving the student necessary skill sets and collaborative working environments reflecting the current trends of the global market.

Printmaking and Sculpture

The Sculpture program provides students with a variety of sculpting experiences. The program offers courses in figure and character modeling, welded and forged steel fabrication, multi-media assemblage, wood and stone carving, woodworking, cement, and mold making and casting. B.F.A. candidates may specialize in one or a combination of areas depending on their personal direction and career path. Graduate and undergraduate students work side-by-side in a 5600 sq. ft. studio facility which houses three shop areas, graduate studios, an outside gated work area, and a 3D modeling computer lab.

 

 

 

Classes