Art
Offered as a major (B.A.) and a minor
Grow your artistic skills, cultivate your personal style, and develop a professional portfolio.
Study the many forms of art
No artistic medium exists in a vacuum — they all influence and draw inspiration from each other. By exploring forms of art outside your main discipline, you’ll become a stronger artist. You can take courses in:
- Sculpture
- Drawing
- Watercolor
- Photography
- Painting
- Ceramics
- Printmaking
- Digital art
- Design
Know your history
Historical perspective is crucial to understanding even modern styles of art. By studying art from prehistoric to contemporary times, you’ll be well prepared to offer insightful analyses and critiques. If art history is your main passion, then you can take additional classes to explore different time periods more in depth.
Create a strong portfolio
Over the course of your studies, you’ll produce a solid body of artwork that will serve as the basis for your professional portfolio, which you’ll assemble in your final year. This portfolio will allow you to present your unique style through pieces connected by theme, technique, subject, or concept — a key selling point for your skills.
Showcase your artwork
As a senior, you’ll collaborate with your classmates to plan, design, implement, and install an exhibit of your collective artwork in an on-campus gallery. This hands-on experience will utilize the multidisciplinary skills you’ve acquired, making sure you’re fully prepared to enter the professional art world.
In the actual doing or making of art, encouraging students to experiment usually leads them to choosing content motivated by distinct interests. What they care about becomes clear as they invest time, materials and themselves—therefore, the creative process serves as a catalyst for personal transformation, assisting the self to purpose.
Larkin Higgins
Professor
There’s nothing better than seeing a student who’s never made a drawing ‘get it’ and recognize that they’re a creative person inside. So often our creativity has been suppressed in our youth — brining it out can be life-transforming.
Michael Pearce
Associate Professor
In addition to being self-employed artists, our art majors also work in movies, television, theater, and animation. Those who’ve chosen the design concentration will typically begin careers in computer graphics, or with advertising agencies or design studios.
Our alumni study at:
- Academy of Art University
- Claremont Graduate University
- Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising
- Gnomon School of Visual Effects
- Loyola Marymount University
- Millersville University
- University of Northern Colorado
They work for:
- Walt Disney Animation Studios
- California Oil Museum
- Image Entertainment
- Mission Renaissance Art Studio
- Brainforest Digital Animatics
Career paths:
- Character Technical Director
- Museum Educator
- Graphic Designer
- Art Teacher
- Marketing and Design Assistant
- Web Designer
- Designer/Animator
of Cal Lutheran graduates find a job or enroll in graduate school within nine months
Harold Muliadi ’14The atelier-inspired approach used by Cal Lutheran art professors gives students the opportunity to learn not only through instruction, but also by observing their professors in practice — displaying and modeling the skills, techniques, and conduct of an active artist.
Artist