Degrees

Students at Kennesaw State University may choose to concentrate in Art History within the BFA in Art, or to complete a minor in Art History. Students in other disciplines also frequently take art history courses. The Art History program in the School of Art and Design will introduce you to visual culture from a broad range of historical periods, regions, and contexts: from the ancient world to contemporary art; and from Africa to Asia. You’ll learn how to analyze both objects and texts as historical evidence and examine all aspects of art and the art world, including techniques, makers, patrons, viewers, and collectors. Students in art history are encouraged to study at least one ancient or modern language associated with your main area of interest.   
 
The Art History program provides marketable skills in critical thinking, in-depth research, and oral and written communication. Kennesaw State alumni have continued their studies in graduate school, or gone on to careers in museums, galleries, and teaching. A concentration or minor in Art History is also useful for students who plan to enter careers such as business, law, non-profit organizations, professional writing, or publishing. 

The Comics and Sequential Art concentration for the Art, B.F.A. degree began in 2017. It was founded as part of an articulation agreement with ESA Saint-Luc in Brussels, Belgium. The innovative pedagogy of ESA Saint-Luc influenced the foundation of the concentration in the School of Art and Design.

The Comics and Sequential Art concentration affords students to be visual storytellers exploring traditional comic art as well as storyboarding, children’s books, self-publishing with zines and many other forms of visual narrative design and development. Students in this concentration learn traditional studio art disciplines along with ample studio time to study sequential media and create their own work. The goal is for students to finish their degree with a strong, practiced style of visual storytelling and a body of work to use towards their portfolio and careers. 

The Illustration concentration for the Art, B.F.A. degree began in 2017. It was founded as part of an articulation agreement with ESA Saint-Luc in Brussels, Belgium. The innovative pedagogy of ESA Saint-Luc influenced the foundation of the concentration in the School of Art and Design.

The Illustration concentration represents a confluence of the traditional studio disciplines of painting and drawing with more commercial applications of image design and development. The applications of studying illustration include preparing for traditional markets like editorial and commercial illustration as well as modern ones such as entertainment media and digital venues. Students studying Illustration are engaged in constant visual problem solving and image creation with the goal of producing a strong portfolio and a distinct style. 

The Photography and Video Concentration is designed for students looking to have photographic fine art, editorial, commercial, and even professional videographer skill set after graduation. Students work with everything from traditional films and papers to state-of-the-art digital cameras, lighting equipment, large format printers, and the extensive Adobe suite of software.  
 
Our new facility will have a dedicated shooting studio with cyclorama wall, green screen, background papers, and both continuous and strobe lights for a variety of applications. We work with several galleries, studios, arts centers, professional photographers, and videographers for student internship possibilities. These give students the opportunity for real world job experience and to be able to see the tools and techniques used by leaders in the field. We also work with the Georgia Film Academy to allow students the opportunity to learn skills directly related to the growing Film Industry in Atlanta. Our program gives students the technical and conceptual skills to be strong competitors in the dynamic industry of Photography and Video Production.  

Our sculpture program provides a practical education in three-dimensional design and conceptualization, hands on contemporary and traditional tool use, fabrication, and professional practices.   
 
Beginning level classes teach students how to work with a broad array of materials, from wood and metal to silicone resins and plastics.  Throughout the course of the program students learn safe ways to work with tools from handsaws and chisels, to table saws, bandsaws, welders, laser cutters, 3D printers and CNC routers.  In mid-level classes students have the opportunity to focus entirely on methods of metal fabrication including plasma cutting, welding, mold making and metal casting.  Students can design and fabricate permanent public works for the city of Kennesaw by taking classes in the Master Craftsman Program, which, counts towards their degree.  Upper-level classes offer students the opportunity to engage in an intensive study within their chosen area of specialization.  It encourages them to consider what kind of work they want to make, how to create in an efficient and well-crafted way, why their work is important and how that work fits into real world applications.   
 
This program offers small class sizes where students work closely with their professors.  During their studies students go on field trips to material suppliers, fabrication companies, and the studios of professional sculptors.  They often join the sculpture club, which, makes and sells work and attends conferences and workshops.  Internships with fabrication companies such as ID3 Group and AFX Studios are available for upper-level students, which, can lead to employment with those companies or companies that need employees with a similar skill set.  Students may also go on to become studio assistants to nationally recognized sculptors, work in the burgeoning film industry, become wood workers, professional welders or sculptors that creating and sell public works. 

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) with a major in Digital Animation will prepare you for various animation and animation-related careers or graduate school by providing a thorough grounding in fundamental principles and techniques. This degree focuses on intensive work in digital animation supported by a program of general studies.

Digital animation includes all animation techniques that are designed exclusively with the use of computers. With digital animation, you can create both 2D (two-dimensional) and 3D (three-dimensional) animation. The five forms of animation are:

• Traditional Animation
• 2D Animation
• 3D Animation
• Motion Graphics
• Stop Motion

Your initial animation degree coursework will include the basics of two and three-dimensional design, color theory, computer applications in art and concept, creativity, and studio practice.  Upper-level coursework includes electronic illustration, foundation animation, character development as well as other digital animation courses.