Belmont University (Department of Art) - Overview
In the Heart of Nashville, Tennessee
Located in Nashville, just a few steps from Music Row, Belmont University is one of the largest private universities in Tennessee. It is dedicated to providing an academically challenging education that enables men and women of diverse backgrounds to engage and transform the world with disciplined intelligence, compassion, courage, and faith. Belmont is large enough to provide a wide array of programs, yet small enough that every individual counts. Its vision is to be a premier teaching university bringing together the best of liberal arts and professional education in a Christian community of learning and service.
The Department of Art is part of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, which includes programs in music, theatre, and dance. The Department of Art provides students with an intensive education in the visual arts in an effort to cultivate their professional, aesthetic, intellectual, spiritual, and personal development. The average class size is 15 per studio and 25 per lecture.
Belmont University Offers a Variety of Art Majors
Design communications is an intensive B.F.A. program that begins during the sophomore year with Intro to Design, an exclusively hands-on course in one of the state-of-the-art graphics labs. In the following years, students progress through the program learning advanced technical and problem-solving skills and building upon the knowledge gained along the way. Typography and Design History are primary courses along with 6 sequential core design courses. Students choose one emphasis area (design administration, studio art, or web development) within the field of design communications. Classes provide exposure to opportunities in the profession, such as corporate work, information design, packaging, and non-profit advocacy.
Studio art provides students with a diverse set to skills to pursue a career in the arts, art-related fields, or graduate schools. Students work closely with an academic adviser and other professors to best plan studies for either a liberal arts B.A. with a minor or a professional B.F.A. degree in Studio Art. The department offers courses and areas of emphasis in drawing, painting, ceramics, sculpture, printmaking, and photography as well as a minor in art history. Each student culminates their experience with a senior exhibition in Gallery 121. Additionally, studio art students have participated in group exhibits at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, created multimedia painting and sculpture based on designs by Red Grooms and his wife Lysian Luong, and assisted local artist Steve Benneyworth with the installation of his sculpture in front of the Leu Center for the Visual Arts.
Art education is an option for those who intend to teach art at the K-12 levels or in a community arts setting. Along with professional art education courses and a studio curriculum to provide a solid foundation in art practices, students participate in supervised teaching in local schools. During their final semester, students will also prepare an exhibition of their studio work in the annual Art Crawl. All art education students are encouraged to participate in volunteer or intern teaching opportunities at local fine arts institutions and non-profit organizations. Students with a B.F.A. in Art Education from Belmont are fully qualified and prepared for a career as an arts educator. Graduates of this program may choose to pursue graduate studies for teaching positions in higher education and museum education.
Art history is a rich and varied field of study that stimulates the imagination and requires intellectual curiosity. It builds critical thinking and visual literacy skills that help students succeed in a wide range of real world endeavors including business and non-profit sectors. Study of art history provides a solid foundation in the study of visual art and architecture through time and across cultures using a process of investigation that is interdisciplinary in approach. A B.A. in this program is suitable for those who wish to pursue further study at the graduate level and/or a career in museum curatorship or education, galleries, library sciences, art organizations, or publishing.
Student Opportunities
Students can participate in many activities at Belmont University that extend beyond the classroom. The Art Student Council hosts the Senior Art Crawl as well as the annual Juried Student Exhibit with jurors from the design and arts community.
BLVD Studios is a fully student-run design and photography studio, managed and operated entirely by design and photography students who work for clients on and off campus. The BLVD Design Studio won one of 10 people's choice awards at the annual AIGA Nashville SHINE exhibition. Nashville is a very active creative arts and design community, providing a rich environment for practical experience in the form of apprenticeships and internships.
The Leu Art Gallery in the Lila D. Bunch Library hosts a series of exhibitions of professional artists. Students are able to interact with visiting artists at opening receptions and additional presentations.
Belmont student are strongly encouraged to study abroad by spending a summer, semester or year in an intensive language or interdisciplinary program. An array of studio, art history, and design classes are available through study abroad programs. Faculty members from the Department of Art regularly lead study abroad trips to Italy and Greece.