Art

Castleton University offers a bachelor’s degree in Art that nurtures your natural curiosity and inspires a fascination with discovery.

The Art Program is a strongly humanistic course of study in which you develop skills in creative and critical thinking along with aesthetic and historical appreciation. The guiding principle to a career in art is that art is a form of communication, a visual language requiring a course of study that involves imagination, research, and discovery. You will learn to understand a visual language and acquire a visual vocabulary by learning to perceive, analyze, and critically discuss works of art, and the world around you.

Through studio experiments, you will learn to sharpen your senses of perception. Creating artwork means distilling your observations, ideas, and dreams into a physical form. Along the way, the materials, technologies, and methods you use will challenge you to make complex decisions and come up with original solutions.

As a Castleton art student, you will gain insight and self-confidence to describe your own place in the contemporary world, culminating with a senior show.

Highlights of the Art Program

• The Art Department offers many travel opportunities to major art centers on the East Coast. Additionally, studying abroad allows you to experience art from other countries and cultures.
• Concentrations in Art Education, Art History, Photography, and Studio Art. You may wish to double major or minor in compatible disciplines like Business, Communications, or Psychology.
• Understanding today’s visual culture is essential to designing for the future. By investigating art of the past and present, you will gain an understanding of how people throughout history and across cultures have created a visual record of their own societies.
• An excellent student-to-faculty ratio allows for a great deal of one-on-one instruction.

Internship Opportunities in Art

Students are encouraged to pursue internships while completing their Art degree at Castleton.

Castleton students have been awarded internships in the following work settings, as well as opportunities to work alongside nationally recognized artists living in the area.

• Art Organizations
• Public Relation Firms
• Graphic Design Firms
• Chaffee Art Gallery
• Bank Gallery
• Gallery in the Woods
• Glen Campbell Foundry
• Carving Studio & Sculpture Center

Beyond the Art Studio

The proximity of Castleton University to major art centers, such as Boston, Montreal, and New York City makes it easy to gain firsthand knowledge of original, historic, and contemporary works of art.

There are also multiple museums and galleries, such as Hood Museum, Williams College Museum, Clark Museum, Mass MOCA, Middlebury College Museum, and Fleming Museum, which are all within easy reach of the campus.

In nearby Rutland, The Castleton University Bank Gallery exhibits faculty and student shows and showcases regional and national artists. The Christine Price Gallery presents the work of both professional and student artists. The Student Gallery provides opportunities for group and solo exhibitions of student work, including annual Senior Exhibitions. Students have the opportunity to study abroad in Italy, Ireland, Holland, England, Greece, Nepal, Tibet, India, and China. 

The Art Students League, a campus club, sponsors visiting artists, film series, studio visits, and collaborative projects as well as trips.

Art Program Facilities

The creative epicenter of Castleton is the Fine Arts Center on the main campus. The Art Department shares this dynamic space with the Theater Arts Department and Music Department.

The Art Department has five major studio workspaces in the Fine Arts Center:

• Printmaking Studio
• Painting Studio
• Sculpture/Ceramics Studio
• Drawing/Multi-purpose Studio Space
• Photography Darkroom

Additionally, Wooldridge Households the woodshop, welding area, carving benches, outdoor space for sculptural installations, and upstairs studio space for art majors. Students also have access to a state-of-the-art computer lab for graphic design and digital photography.

Art Portfolio

The optional art portfolio is a creative platform for you to present your accomplishments and introduce yourself to members of the Art faculty by highlighting your best creative work. Our faculty members enjoy this opportunity to connect with you, and it allows them to nurture and guide your talents and skills toward the best possible outcome.

Successful Outcomes for Art Majors

Our Art majors are equipped for a variety of successful careers or to continue their education with graduate studies.

Our graduates have found rewarding careers in:

• Graphic design studios
• Art production
• Museums and galleries
• Professorships at colleges and universities

Graduates have also gained licensure to teach art in elementary and secondary schools when combining their art degree with additional coursework in education.