BACHELOR OF ARTS VISUAL AND CRITICAL STUDIES
The Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Visual and Critical Studies degree program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) allows you to pursue in-depth academic study in the creative environment of an art school. During your work, you will draw connections between the visual arts and history, philosophy, psychology, and the natural sciences.
Alumni of this program go on to graduate work in the humanities, museum studies, arts administration, art-related law, or pursue careers in communications, teaching, public service, social activism, media production, or journalism.
You will share most classes, including a minimum of 39 hours of studio courses, with students in the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program, yet also follow a distinct sequence of courses, seminars, and personal research.
Core courses provide you with diverse critical methods for exploring the cultural meanings of visual phenomena as they relate to social, economic, and material circumstances. You may choose from a variety of courses in studio practice, art history, writing, and the liberal arts and sciences, with special attention to topics such as visual and media literacy, cultural history and theory, and global studies.
The Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Visual and Critical Studies program is based on the assumption that BA in Visual and Critical Studies and Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) students have much to learn from one another. Most of the courses that BA in Visual and Critical Studies students take are part of the regular BFA curriculum, and courses offered through the program are open to all other students. The BA in Visual and Critical Studies requirements include 12 hours of general electives.
This gives students the opportunity to take, if they wish, additional Visual and Critical Studies courses, or to place emphasis on a particular studio or academic area, for example, photography, philosophy, painting, design, or exhibition studies. All students complete a senior thesis project that builds on their earlier work.
A CURRICULUM DESIGNED BY YOU
One of SAIC’s most distinguishing features is our interdisciplinary curriculum. With us, you will not declare a major, but will have the creative freedom to customize your education among our 18 departments or concentrate in one single medium.
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WE ARE SCHOLARS AND ARTISTS Visit the undergraduate admissions website at saic.edu/ug or contact the undergraduate admissions office at 800.232.7242 or ugadmiss@saic.edu
We recognize that successful 21st-century artists, designers, and scholars begin their work with ideas and research, adapting the appropriate media to best realize their visions.