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Contact us 325 TERRACE DR. KENT, OHIO 44242 WWW.KENT.EDU/ART (330) 672-2192 ARTINFO@KENT.EDU
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School of Art You can feel it. It’s a shared vibe, a confluence of passionate people, united in living a life in the arts. We can be our own, and each other’s worst critics — and we’re cool with that. We’re also our strongest advocates. Support and criticism both provoke growth. Growth transforms.
WHERE
YOUR PASSION
IS AT
HOME
The School of Art at Kent An accredited member State University offers
Transform
Your world
one of the largest and most comprehensive university art programs in the state of Ohio.
of
the National Association of Schools of Art and Design, we offer degree programs in art history, art education and studio art*, helping to foster the creative and entrepreneurial spirit needed for success as a professional in the arts. Our students are critical thinkers and independent learners, and our alumni worldwide go on to transform lives through the arts.
Undergraduate and graduate degrees are offered in all areas. Undergrads begin with our Foundations program, which is a series of courses that reveal the underlying visual rules and artistic strategies that run throughout all of our school’s majors. Coursework is supplemented by our renowned visiting artist and scholar program as well as travel study and exhibition opportunities.
*Concentrations in ceramics, drawing, glass, jewelry/metals/ enameling, painting, print media and photography, sculpture and expanded media, and textiles.
Art Education The School of Art prepares art education students to engage learners in the complete process of artistic thinking, promoting learnercentered pedagogy and creative expression.
Students organize and evaluate teaching activities for creating and analyzing works of art and design while gaining a deep understanding of how to meet the needs of all students across diverse populations. As one of the foremost art education programs, Kent State faculty members are active leaders in the field. Enthusiastic instruction in classes under 25 students provides you with personal attention and feedback on your growth and learning. The art education program prepares you for licensure for pre-K-12 visual art instruction and boasts a near 100% job placement rate.
Get hands-on experience in the classroom before graduation. KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Art History The art history program challenges students to examine both the creative expressions of individual artists and the cultures that supported them, spanning American, Asian, African and European traditions. The program provides a pathway to opportunities in teaching, research, publishing and curating, and lends student artists a wellspring of forms, symbols and ideas to stimulate their creative endeavors. The program is supported by access to world-class museums (including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Akron Art Museum and Butler Institute of American Art) and study-away offerings worldwide.
Open your world to new perspectives and cultures through art history.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Ceramics Artisans have been firing clay to create ceramic vessels and sculptures for tens of thousands of years.
As a ceramics student, you will find new ways of practicing an ancient craft, drawing on traditional and contemporary thought and practice, experimental techniques and digital hybridization. Coursework investigates practices from around the world, providing you with a global context for understanding the medium as you hone your command of ceramic material to create artistic and functional forms.
Get your hands dirty while shaping your artistic skills.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Drawing The drawing program cultivates foundational and advanced observational, conceptual and experimental approaches to enable students to explore ideas across media and disciplines.
All majors in the School of Art complete a required sequence of drawing courses to strengthen their drawing as a basic tool for visual thinking and recording. The program encourages students to work with a wide range of drawing materials and to pursue drawing in diverse contexts. Works from drawing classes are regularly on display throughout the Center for the Visual Arts. Make your mark on the world with guidance from talented faculty.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Glass The glass program challenges students to explore glass as a creative medium, both technically and conceptually, within the broader context of contemporary art. In addition to mastering the fundamentals of glassblowing, students learn methods of glass casting, slumping, fusing, flame working, enameling, cold-working and assembly, resulting in a rich technical fluency. Building on the legacy of the American Studio Glass Movement, the program fosters artists who will be on the forefront of redefining studio glassmaking into the future. Learn from visiting professional artists in every discipline.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Jewelry/Metals/ Enameling The program in jewelry/metals/enameling provides a forward-thinking education rooted in distinguished traditions. The program’s fully equipped Mel Someroski Studios in the Center for the Visual Arts support a wide variety of technical processes, complementing student exploration of historical and contemporary concepts. While absorbing a range of techniques, including opportunities to learn technological processes like 3-D printing and use of specialized equipment such as a large-scale Ferro kiln, students are guided in developing their own artistic signatures. Apply contemporary art practices while learning about entrepreneurial and artisanal professions. KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Color the world the way you see it and learn the concepts needed to achieve your vision.
Painting The painting program is rooted in observation and technique, while stimulating abstract, conceptual or material-driven ideas about painting. The program supports a variety of specific approaches — including collage, figural, landscape and abstraction — while simultaneously promoting interdisciplinary or hybrid practices. As a painting student, you will work closely with faculty advisors to pursue individual directions and advance your abilities in the medium.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Print Media and Photography The print media and photography studio space in the Center for the Visual Arts offers a wealth of tools, supporting print techniques such as intaglio, lithography, serigraphy, relief and large-format digital printing. Additionally, students can explore traditional and experimental photography in the state-of-the-art darkroom and develop print matrices at the school’s digital fabrication lab. In the program, you will learn how to develop printed and photographic works of art through layering, problem solving and thoughtful material applications.
Our studio spaces are filled with natural light, providing a great atmosphere for exploring the possibilities of print media.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Sculpture and Expanded Media
The sculpture and expanded media program provides students with an interdisciplinary approach for making dimensional and spatial work. Students learn to work in traditional materials as well as expanded media, including installation art and timebased practices such as sound, video, participatory and socially engaged art. The Center for the Visual Arts facilities include a woodshop, metal shop, plaster and clay studios, a digital fabrication lab, and an outdoor workspace, allowing sculpture students to fully explore a wide range of approaches, strategies and techniques that will assist students in defining what it means to be an artist and a maker in the 21st century.
Conversations between peers, professors and visiting artists help students develop critical thinking.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Textiles In the School of Art textiles program, digital design and technology go hand-in-hand with traditional techniques built on repetition, geometry and order. The highly disciplined processes unique to the field provide a distinctive vocabulary for designing and creating art, as well as a springboard for experimentation and innovation. Explore offerings in hand-manipulated, loom-controlled and digital weaving, along with felt-making, surface design and screen printing. The techniques learned in textiles propel students into the world of art making and design.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Graduate Programs Recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of America’s top graduate programs in the visual arts, the School of Art provides abundant opportunities for graduate students to advance their skills in all areas. We offer the only M.F.A. program in Northeast Ohio, and the only program in the state of Ohio to offer this breadth of studio specialties. Graduate students in studio art receive studio space in the Center for the Visual Arts while they complete their M.A. or M.F.A. Master of Arts degrees are also offered in art history and art education. The M.A. in Art Education program is also offered 100 percent online and as a hybrid degree with courses taken online and on campus. Graduate assistantships with teaching or research opportunities are offered in each major program.
Facilities All School of Art classrooms and studios are housed in the Center for the Visual Arts (CVA), which had its grand opening in 2016.
in unique labs at CVA. This includes the photography darkroom, one of the few wet labs for processing film in the region, and the ARTech Studio, our digital fabrication lab which makes The 127,900-square-foot facility — new tech equipment available for twice the length of a football field — is student use, including a lase0r cutter, LEED registered (Leadership in Energy 3-D printers, plotter and digital CNC & Environmental Design), obtaining router. More equipment is available silver certification. next door to CVA at the Design In addition to learning in wellInnovation (DI) Hub and at other DI equipped studios and classrooms, Nodes across campus. students have opportunities to work
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Faculty The School of Art faculty is composed of accomplished artists, art historians and art educators. Faculty members are published authors, award-winning artists and leaders in their fields, pushing boundaries in art practice, writing and education. Professors at the School of Art have
shown their work in museums and galleries locally, nationally and internationally. Faculty artwork has been acquired in collections at galleries, museums and private collections around the country and all over the world.
work with awards such as Cleveland Arts Prize, Governor’s Award for the Arts, United States Artists Award, Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award, Outstanding Teaching Award and Ohio & National Higher Art Educator of the Year.
In addition, our faculty members have been recognized for their outstanding
See more at WWW.KENT.EDU/ART/ FACULTY-STAFF
School of Art Collection and Galleries The School of Art Collection and Galleries comprise seven gallery spaces located on the Kent Campus, in downtown Kent and at Blossom Music Center. The galleries exhibit art from local, regional, national and international artists with new exhibitions every four to six weeks. Students also have opportunities to exhibit their work in many of these spaces. The collection consists of over 4,000 historical and contemporary art objects contained in an open storage space located at the Center for the Visual Arts.
The space is easily accessible to classes so students can get up close and even handle objects. The mission of the School of Art Collection is to aquire objects important to the history of the school, as well as works created by women and artists of color.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Travel Study The School of Art offers several travel-study programs each year. Trips to New York City, London, Paris, Florence and China are offered each semester, annually or bi-annually. Each program is designed to enhance the student’s learning experience by modeling professional practice, museum study and other cultural experiences.
Kent Blossom Art Intensives Kent Blossom Art Intensives (KBAI) is a series of two-week studio intensives conducted each summer at Kent State University by resident School of Art faculty and an exciting array of visiting artists. Each intensive is specific to one medium. KBAI provides students and individual artits with two weeks of focused learning, experimentation and creation under the guidance of experienced artists from around the country. Students may continue their explorations of the medium most familiar to them;
experienced artists are equally encouraged to discover new modes of creating. We are proud to invite an outstanding roster of visiting artists to complement the instructional insights of our resident faculty. Visiting artists also present public talks on their work, giving participants and the greater public an opportunity to learn more about contemporary issues and ideas in the visual arts.
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Our students are critical thinkers and independent learners, and our alumni worldwide go on to transform lives through the arts in various roles as educators, administrators, artists, makers and historians.
Alexandra Nicholis Coon Executive Director, Massillon Museum B.A. ART HISTORY ’01
Cleveland and Akron Area Arts Communities
Diana Al-Hadid
Missy Higgins-Linder
Benjamin Johnson
Internationally-known artist B.F.A., SCULPTURE, B.A. ART HISTORY ’03
Director of Learning and Engagement Cleveland Museum of Art B.A., ART EDUCATION ’98 M.A., ART EDUCATION ’17
Assistant Professor + Chair of Glass Cleveland Institute of Art B.F.A., GLASS ’05
Alumni
Curlee Raven Holton Professor Emeritus, Lafayette College Founding Director, Raven Fine Art Editions M.F.A., PRINTMAKING ’91
Hilary Gent
Jennifer Ling Datchuk
Lyneise Williams
Amy Klainer
Liz Maugans
Owner/operator of HEDGE Gallery, artist, event planner B.F.A., PAINTING ’03
Award-winning artist, Assistant Professor of Ceramics Texas State School of Art and Design B.F.A., CERAMICS ’04
Associate Professor of Art History University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill M.A., ART HISTORY ’96
Sculptural Forms Studio Manager Maryland Institute College of Art B.F.A., JEWELRY/METALS/ENAMELING ‘06
Director, YARDS Project, Curator, Dalad Collection Founder - CAN Journal, Zygote Press B.F.A., PRINTMAKING, PAINTING ‘89
“The School of Art at Kent State University provided an engaging and challenging environment that motivated me to experiment with a variety of mediums and apply new techniques. The coursework encouraged me to view art from all perspectives, which I apply in my current job as a gallery director and artist. The professors gave me the reinforcement to continue making art after college and to
“When the time was right for me to start graduate studies, I discovered that once again, Kent State offered the best fit for my personal needs and professional goals. Extensive fieldwork opportunities during my undergraduate studies opened doors that led to my first classroom teaching position, which in turn provided access to other exciting professional opportunities in K-12 and art museum education and now,
“Going to graduate school at Kent State profoundly affected my creative practice. The studio faculty at Kent State are truly experts in their field, with an acute understanding of the art world and a great willingness to help students figure out how they fit into that world.”
“The learning environment at Kent State fostered a strong work ethic and sense of personal responsibility that have benefitted me in my professional life since graduating. The skills and relationships I formed during undergrad helped me evolve as an artist through graduate school and my career in the arts.”
“The time I spent in the Kent State textiles department was extremely informative to the development of my ideas about art. The faculty at Kent State, and Janice Lessman-Moss in particular, were professors who really connected with their students and aided in the development of technical skill as well as conceptual advancement through critical thinking.”
Kent is a just short drive from many wonderful arts organizations in the Cleveland and Akron areas. These organizations enrich the local culture and provide employment, internships and support for our students and alumni: CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART, AKRON ART MUSEUM, SPACES, ZYGOTE PRESS, PRAXIS FIBER WORKSHOP, BRICK CERAMIC + DESIGN STUDIOS, SUMMIT ARTSPACE, RUBBER CITY PRINTS, MASSILLON MUSEUM, TRANSFORMER STATION, CLEVELAND PRINT ROOM, CANTON MUSEUM OF ART, CANTON ARTS DISTRICT, 78TH STREET STUDIOS, MOCA CLEVELAND, BUTLER INSTITUTE OF AMERICAN ART
KENT STATE UNIVERSITY
School of Art
Living-Learning Community and Student Organizations The Living in the Arts Community is a Living-Learning Community located in Verder Hall and targeted toward students who are interested in fine arts. Verder Hall offers extra studio space and Art Studio Mentors who are special staff members available to offer guidance in the art studios. Programs for participating students include gallery shows, fashion shows, academic support, meet-ups and more. Student organizations are another way to get to know like-minded peers. Some examples include: Art Club, Gallery Club, United Print Alliance, Ceramics Club, Glass Club, Sculpture Club, Textiles Club, Jewelry/Metals Co-op, Art History Club and the National Art Education Association Student Chapter. Each organization helps students connect with others in their field, explore professional practices, attend conferences and exercise their creative entrepreneurial skills with vending opportunities.