Welcome to Art & Art History

Who We Are

Bring your creative visions to life at UNC Asheville. With a faculty of acclaimed artists and art historians within the thriving arts scene of Asheville, UNC Asheville’s art and art history programs offer rigorous training in the creative sector. Our close-knit, supportive department encourages imagination and experimentation while challenging you to integrate content, concept, and technique to discover your own unique voice. Studio art majors can choose from six areas of concentrations: ceramics, drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, or sculpture. Related majors include art history and arts management and entrepreneurship.

What You'll Learn

Context and communication are key to learning how to be an effective artist, so you'll begin your art education by building a foundation of technical and writing skills in art history, design, and drawing. Through class critiques, you’ll learn how to give and receive valuable feedback on your work from faculty and classmates. Most of your time will be spent working in our facilities, which include six art concentration studios, firing kilns, dark rooms, and digital labs. Our newest interdisciplinary makerspace, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Studio, exemplifies UNC Asheville's liberal arts mission by bringing art and science together to create collaborative pieces of art and technology.

We also have multiple galleries across campus to host student, faculty and visiting artist exhibitions. All senior-level students produce a major body of work in the form of a solo or group exhibition and portfolio, which serves as strong preparation for postgraduate work. All students are also encouraged to learn outside of the studio and gain professional experience through internships at local museums and galleries.