First Year Experience
Begin your Studio Art journey here
The First Year Experience is an engaging variety of four thematic workshop-structured art courses, designed as an experiential initiation into professional artistic practice, creative methodology and studio work ethic. First Year Experience courses are required for:
- BA Studio majors
- BFA Studio majors
- BFA Art and Visual Culture Education majors
You not only will engage in the making of art but also in a critical dialog with faculty and peers to explore how your art communicates what it does — as well as strategies to sharpen this connection between the art object and its meaning.
- Courses
- Facilities
- Faculty
Courses
The First Year Experience consists of four full-semester courses that introduce students to a broad range of creative approaches, materials, technologies and ways of thinking:
ART 101: The Drawing Lab
• Provides students with a comprehensive exploration of drawing techniques, emphasizing traditional methods, contemporary experimental practices, and figure drawing.
ART 102: Pigments and Pixels
• Offers a comprehensive exploration of traditional painting techniques, color theory principles, the fundamentals of design and digital painting.
ART 103: Spatial Dynamics
• Introduces students to the conception and execution of three-dimensional art (height, width, and depth), including sculpture and mixed-media.
ART 104: Photo, Video, Experience
• Explores the intersection of photography, video, performance and sound in contemporary art practice.
The courses may be taken in any order, although students are encouraged to take two during the fall semester and two during the spring semester. Through hands-on projects, group and individual critiques, collaborative learning, and written reflection, students develop foundational technical skills, critical thinking, and the ability to communicate effectively about art and design. Together, these courses provide an engaging and interdisciplinary foundation for continued study while encouraging experimentation, curiosity, and the development of an individual creative practice.
• For a full description of these courses, please review the University of Arizona General Catalog.
• Contact an academic advisor to learn more about School of Art programs and admissions.
Facilities
Our state of the art First Year Experience studios — digital, 3D, Drawing and 2D — are ready for making, and most are accessible to FYE students 24 hours a day.
View Our FYE Studios
Faculty
Our engaging First Year Experience faculty will work closely with you — from the generation of the idea through the realization of the object.
