Why study Fine Arts at Benedictine?

The Fine Arts major at Benedictine University at Mesa leads to a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree and is a professional visual arts education rooted in the liberal arts with an emphasis upon the Benedictine values of a balanced life, the stewardship of intellectual and technical artistic gifts, and the full development of an artist’s role within the greater community.

• You will utilize the varied facilities and diverse teaching staff of Benedictine, local art centers and community colleges to develop as an artist.
• You will be engaged in intellectual and spiritual discovery through a chosen medium.
• You will be taught from a variety of philosophical and stylistic approaches to contemporary art.
• Your professional training of the visual arts will be combined with the analytical depth of a rigorous liberal arts curriculum.
• You will be prepared for continued study in a Master of Fine Arts program of your choosing.
• You will be prepared for an exhibition career and the life of an artist.

What does a degree in Fine Arts at Benedictine offer?

• Traditional Art Foundation Core: 18 semester credit hours of foundation courses that stress the Mimetic tradition of Western Art, coupled with the Modernist tradition of abstraction.
• 15 semester credit hours of Art History covering prehistoric through contemporary art.
• Readings in Criticism and Aesthetics expands the intellectual foundation for a practicing artist. The content of these two courses is rarely taught in B.F.A. programs elsewhere making our program distinctive.
• 6 semester credit hours of a 300-level language.
• 12 semester credit hours of Advanced Studio courses focusing in one specific area of choice. Each studio will build upon the knowledge and skills of the previous course.

Michael Tole
Associate Professor
B.F.A., University of Texas at Austin
M.F.A., University of North Texas