Art does not only enrich individual lives—it is essential to the health of any society, as it is practiced and experienced collectively. Governors State’s Bachelor of Fine Arts offers an interdisciplinary approach in the visual arts with concentrations in Studio Arts or Film, allowing students to explore and create within the discipline of their interests. Moreover, the GSU campus is located within the internationally renowned Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park. This “museum in the prairie” serves as a living laboratory for the union of art, nature, and university life.

With coursework in art history, ceramics, drawing, digital imaging, film, graphic design, glass, painting, printmaking, photography and sculpture, students are free to explore one or several disciplines as they begin to formulate their individual vision. And in the senior year, BFA students conclude their studies by presenting a senior project of their creative work, which provides an opportunity to share the visual result and evidence of their creative investigations and research.

Reach your career goals

A BFA prepares visual artists with an emphasis on the lifelong production of professional creative work. Graduates who continue to produce often go on to build a professional exhibition record, showing in galleries and museums, while others choose to enter careers utilizing skills developed in the program, such as entrepreneurship, critical thinking, marketing, and problem solving. Advanced study at the master’s and Master of Fine Arts level is also common, especially for students interested in teaching at the university level.