Comparable to a “college within a college,” the School of Art enrolls approximately 1,000 undergraduate majors and 40 graduate students.  It offers comprehensive study in studio art, design and art history.  The School employs 26 full-time faculty members and numerous adjunct faculty who are active professionals in their respective fields, and also sponsors a vital Visiting Artists program.  Many School of Art faculty have received grants from prestigious foundations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright Foundation and many others.  Studio faculty have exhibited their works in major museum and galleries around the world.  Design faculty bring the latest technology and design theory to their work both as designers and instructors.  The art history faculty are authors of numerous books and articles, and continue research both in the United States and abroad.

The School of Art views as its chief goal the implementation of program and curricula that are responsive to the needs of visual thinking and expression in the 21st century.  The Bachelor of Fine Arts and the Master of Fine Arts degrees are offered in five studio areas:  Painting, Photography/Digital Media, Graphic Communications, Interior Design and Sculpture (which includes ceramics and jewelry/metalsmithing).  Two Bachelor of Arts majors are  offered : art history and studio art (which leads to all-level teaching certification).  The School works with many of Houston’s outstanding museums, galleries and alternative spaces to make internships available for advanced undergraduate and graduate students.  Exhibition opportunities for students include an annual juried student exhibition and the Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, both held at the Blaffer Gallery in the Fine Arts Building.

Facilities at the School of Art include spacious work areas for painting and drawing; well equipped studios for intaglio, lithography, silk-screen and jewelry/metalsmithing; indoor-outdoor studios for sculpture and ceramics; and state-of-the art equipment in graphics, interior design and photography/digital media.  The School of Art Visual Resources Library includes approximately 100,000 slide images in its collection and continues to advance in the direction of digital technology for classroom and web-based instruction. 

www.art.uh.edu