B.F.A. in Art
Overview
Art is a gift — a God-given form of expression and communication. In Biola's Bachelor of Fine Arts program in art, you’ll be equipped with the aesthetic, technical and conceptual skills needed for success in various art practices. As you study in the midst of Los Angeles, an international nexus of ideas, images and realities, you'll learn about and respond to contemporary visual arts culture — its social, political, philosophical and spiritual concerns.
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Why Choose Art at Biola?
In addition to its strong curriculum, expert faculty members and biblical studies component, Biola’s B.F.A. program in art offers several key advantages:
- Biola’s art department is a recognized leader in visual arts education, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design. The university offers a vibrant visual arts community including a dedicated, mentoring faculty, a strong student Art League and a diverse student body.
- The innovative Biola University Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts brings renowned artists, exhibitions, film screenings and conferences to campus — offering a wealth of opportunities to students.
- Biola’s ideal Southern California location gives you access to world-class art museums and exhibitions, as well as a wide range of professional internship and exhibition opportunities. The program features a dynamic approach to art history and art criticism that engages students in Los Angeles and the greater Southern California area’s galleries and museums.
- The degree includes a core foundations program that equips students in every aesthetic dimension. Throughout, the program also integrates art making, art criticism and art history with Christian faith.
- Students have opportunities for travel and academic courses in a variety of national and international settings, including Baja, England, Italy, Spain, Japan, France and New York.
- An innovative senior year program encourages students to connect ideas and media through critiques and conversation.
- The art department's new home inside the renovated Bardwell Hall , which opened in 2021, serves an ideal place to create, ideate, congregate and find inspiration.
- Biola offers the Torrey Honors program, which can enhance your art education. This unique honors program immerses you in discussion-based courses that will prepare you to express your creative passions and ideas with clarity and power.
What Will I Study?
The B.F.A. program is the preferred option for students who wish to pursue careers or advanced degrees in the visual arts. The degree is designed to give art students flexibility in constructing their program by allowing them to choose one of six concentrations — animation, design, illustration, painting, sculpture or interdisciplinary. All art majors take the first-year foundation core program in art and then select the concentration that is best suited to their academic and career goals.
Additionally, the program thrives on the interrelationship of biblical Christianity and artistic practice, offering a rigorous visual arts curriculum integrated with a strong liberal arts emphasis and Christian theology.
The Studio Art program has encouraged me to grow in more ways than just art. I have grown spiritually, creatively and personally through the help of the amazing staff and program. It isn't just my major, it is my home.
... Being an artist doesn't begin at graduation. It begins the moment you decide, 'Yeah, I'm an artist, and now I'm willing to put in the work to prove it.'
Studio Art, B.F.A.
Career Paths
Bachelor of Fine Arts students can use their diverse gifts and callings to impact the world for Christ through a wide variety of careers, such as:
- Animator
- Art historian
- Commercial photographer
- Educator
- Fashion designer
- Graphic designer
- Museum curator
- Painter
- Photographer
- Sculptor
- Web designer
What are Graduates Doing Now?
Art alumni are working throughout the United States and around the world in a wide range of art and arts-related fields, using their education and professional training to make a difference in the communities in which they live. Graduates of the Biola's fine arts program have found rewarding careers in many fields as educators, artists and designers as represented in the following areas:
- Advertising designer
- App designer
- Art appraiser
- Art critic
- Art professor
- Art therapist
- Book designer
- Cartoonist
- Ceramic artist
- Costume designer
- Creative director
- Fashion photographer
- Fine art photographer
- Gallery owner
- Illustrator
- Interior designer
- Motion graphics artist
- Painter
- Photojournalist
- Publications designer
- Retail display designer
- Set designer
- Web designer
- Wedding and portrait photographer
Department of Art
