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MSU Denver
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Program Options
- BA in Art
- BA in Art History, Theory and Criticism
- BFA in Art
- ➖ Ceramics
- ➖ Drawing
- ➖ Jewelry & Metalsmithing
- ➖ Painting
- ➖ Photography
- ➖ Printmaking
- ➖ Sculpture
- BFA in Art Education
- BFA in Communication Design
- Art Minors
- K-12 Art Teacher Licensure
- Art Foundations
- Integrated Media
- Course Options for Non-Art Majors
- Study Abroad
- Visiting Artist, Scholar & Designer Program
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Academic ProgramsAre you ready to make art — and inspire creativity in young people?
The bachelor of fine arts degree in Art Education at Metropolitan State University of Denver gives you the studio art background you need to thrive as an artist, and the education courses necessary to help others begin their artistic journeys.
MSU Denver offers you two pathways toward earning your K-12 certification in art:
- The bachelor of fine arts in Art Education program including coursework leading to licensure. This program is for those of you who have yet to complete your bachelor of fine arts in art degree.
- Post-baccalaureate program for those who already have a B.F.A. in art and are seeking licensure.
Why choose to get your Art Education training at MSU Denver?
You will be prepared to bring about creative change in the world through the lives of your students. MSU Denver’s accredited B.F.A. in Art Education program fuses a progressive approach in Art Education with your development as an artist, combining artistic practice, educational studies and field experience as an educator. Learn how to build curriculum to help students in today’s multicultural classrooms become critical, creative thinkers and makers.
Though a master’s degree is not required to teach at the elementary or secondary level, some of our students do go on to graduate school.
Benefits of Earning Your Degree at MSU Denver
As an MSU Denver Art Education student you will have the chance to:
- Complete fieldwork experiences observing and assisting in diverse classrooms.
- Teach in your own classroom as an art teacher as part of your student teaching.
- Take part in a capstone experience that includes a senior exhibition and thesis.
- Work with youth through the educational programming at MSU Denver’s off-campus gallery, the Center for Visual Art.
- Learn from well-known artists through MSU Denver’s Visiting Artist, Scholar and Designer Program.
- Get involved in art-related student clubs and organizations that include the Art Education Club, the Art Guild, The Elements (for Ceramics), Future Leaders of Design, Metalmorphosis, Vicious Ink and Metrosphere — MSU Denver’s art and literary journal.
As an MSU Denver Art student you will have the chance to work in our outstanding facilities that include the following:
- Ceramics Studio is equipped with 18 pottery wheels, six electric Skutt kilns, three glass kilns and one raku kiln.
- Communication Design Studio features state-of-the-art digital technology, printing and production facilities, design library copy stand for photographing artwork as well as digital equipment available for check-out including video cameras, digital cameras, microphones, tripods and headphones. The program also has a small letterpress printing facility.
- Drawing Studio has professional-quality drafting tables, mat cutter, computer and printer.
- Jewelry Design/Metalsmithing Studio provides 18 individual work stations and equipment such as torches, fume exhaust hoods, sandblaster, vulcanizer, lathe and more.
- Painting Studio is equipped with professional grade Klopfenstein easels, individual lockable taborets (for advanced students) and two computer stations.
- Photography Studio has traditional wet process labs, individual color darkrooms, alternative process labs and digital photography lab.
- Printmaking Studio with presses and equipment for intaglio, lithography, screenprinting, relief and the various photo-mechanical processes.
- Sculpture Studio is a 5,000-square-foot facility with fully equipped wood and metal studios, a state of the art ceramic shell investment room, separate sanding and metal finishing studios and a fully equipped tool room with hand, power and pneumatic tools and assorted supplies.
- Coming Soon: Digital Fabrication Lab with equipment for use by students in classes across the curriculum. This digifab lab will have multiple 3-D printers, 3-D scanners, laser engraver and large format printers.
- Creative Technology Commons at the Auraria Library serves as a creative hub for teaching and learning with capabilities for digitation for image, video and audio content, large-format printing and more.
Career Opportunities for Our Graduates
Graduates from MSU Denver’s Art Education program go on to become working artists and art teachers in public and private schools and in community organizations throughout Colorado.
Featured Faculty
Rachel Delaney
Associate Professor Rachel Delaney is the Art Education coordinator at MSU Denver. A seasoned educator herself, she has taught in Boston, New York, Seattle and Boulder. Her recent work focuses on how collaboration and learning through collective experiences can inform perceptions and the development of meaning.
Anne Thulson
Associate Professor Anne Thulson directs the School of the Poetic City, a contemporary art camp for Denver children, and she has taught at The Odyssey School in Denver and the Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass, Colo. Her expertise and research is in arts integration, local WPA murals, contemporary art education, assessing elusive acts of creativity, visual art standards, social justice art practices, the democratic classroom, Reggio Emilia documentation and Expeditionary Learning art curriculum.