Bachelor of Fine Arts
The Department of Fine Arts helps our student artists explore the artist's role in our world through an atmosphere of stylistic freedom. Through one-on-one relationships with faculty members and the ability to work on real-world projects, our community of artists allows students to refine their artistic work and broaden their knowledge while training with professionals currently working in the field.
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The Bachelor of Fine Arts degree is a professional degree designed for students who wish to pursue the visual arts as a profession or for the student wishing to pursue graduate study. Areas of emphasis include ceramics, drawing, expanded media, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, jewelry/metals, and video. Students may choose a single or dual discipline.
The ceramics concentration is an exciting and energetic area. Students are expected to become proficient with the basic techniques of handbuilding and the use of the potter's wheel before they are allowed to develop their own creative direction as upperclassmen.
The goal of the Drawing concentration is to develop artists with a strong personal vision who connect what they do in the studio to their life, their communities, and the larger culture. With this vision in mind, the concentration provides a solid foundation in both traditional and contemporary approaches to drawing, with an emphasis on intellectual curiosity and creative thinking–whether it be observationally based studio work or explorations of drawing's intersections with new media and other disciplines.
The expanded media curriculum provides a solid foundation that combines video, installation, performance, and digital media with an emphasis on research-based modes of making. This interdisciplinary concentration addresses the fact that contemporary fine art practice is often located between or beyond traditional disciplines. Explorations are encouraged to be driven by concept, rather than medium.
The jewelry and metals curriculum is designed to meet the diverse interests of the students investigating the contemporary field of Fine Arts in metals and jewelry design. By focusing the concentration toward a spectrum of processes and methodologies associated with the craft, a student experiences numerous projects that deal with form, function, concept and technique. Students are exposed to both traditional and non-traditional processes and materials, including computer-aided design, three dimensional printing and other emerging technologies. The constructions of ideas are carried out through the practice of the projects which include, but are not limited to traditional fabrication, finishing, casting, mold making, forging, enameling, digital modeling, and three-dimensional printing output processes.
Studies in painting at Winthrop look in depth at conceptual interests along with the development of technical skills to enable personal and collaborative visions to be realized. Traditional still life and figurative painting are only part of a structured program of study which examines all levels of contemporary trends and styles.
Studies in photography consist of a careful balance between the development of the student's personal interests and the acquisition of technical skills. As each student moves through the concentration they build a command of technique, meet the challenges of aesthetic debate, learn about opportunities for work after graduation and are given some of the essential business information which will help them survive and prosper in the professional market.
The printmaking concentration is designed around a thorough technical education in the traditional techniques of etching, lithography and the relief processes of woodcut and linocut. This, combined with a challenging questioning environment towards subject-matter and its relevance to contemporary art and the student's personal interests, is founded on strong drawing skills.
The sculpture concentration at Winthrop is designed to introduce students to both traditional and contemporary ways of making sculpture. The concentration emphasizes the development of technical, creative and cognitive skills through an energetic hands on approach to creating sculpture.
Students can also select videography or interdisciplinary studio concentrations.
The facilities we provide on campus include advanced technology studios in all the arts.
Winthrop is the only institution—public or private—in South Carolina with all five of its arts programs nationally accredited.
Students benefit from personalized attention in small classes taught by internationally acclaimed faculty, all of whom are practicing professionals in their fields.
"Coming here has really helped me grow as an artist, but also as a person… I came here not really feeling like an artist, but now having graduated, I’m confident in where I’m going with my life."