The Visual Arts program is designed to prepare students for various careers in art; the commercial arts field as graphic designers and commercial artists, the fine arts field as working artists, or the education field as art teachers.

There are three areas of concentrated study within the Visual Arts program:

• Graphic Design
• Fine Arts
• Art Education

In their second year at Tusculum, all art majors select one specific area from the three areas of concentrated study within the Visual Arts program. This three-leg structure is designed so that students receive more concentrated training in their specific area of interest within the broad field of art.

During their four years at Tusculum, students in the Visual Arts program build a strong base of knowledge necessary for graduate school.

In addition to the three major areas of concentrated study, the Visual Arts program offers an Art Minor to students interested but not majoring in art. The Art Minor is designed to compliment and enhance a Tusculum student's education within his or her chosen major field of study. Currently, the Museum Studies program is requiring Visual Arts courses as part of the minor they offer.

Students who choose the concentrated Graphics Design area of study are introduced to commercial typographic, graphic design, and layout considerations, as well as commerical illustration. The use of computers to produce various publications and to prodcue layout work and digital artwork is covered. Special consideration is given to the development of skills and ideas relating to the commercial application of art. Internship opportunities with regional advertising, graphic design, and commerical art businesses are possible as part of our upper level course offerings to Graphic Design concentration majors.

Students who choose the concentrated Fine Arts area of study are grounded in foundation level courses. These courses teach the language and paradigm of the art world. Students are exposed to the flow of ideas and to the history of art studied through the artists and artwork our world's cultures have produced. They progress through the beginning, intermediate, and advanced levels of studio courses we offer and that appeal to them. Our studio course structure is designed to first expose students to the fundamentals of working with a particular medium, such as oil paint. Then in upper level courses, students push forward their command of art and increase their ability to use a medium by learning more advanced techniques and developing higher levels of skills, control, and personal investment.

Students desiring K-12 licensure for teaching art in a public or private school system can complete specified requirements. The Visual Arts department works closely with our Tusculum College Education School to ensure that teaching licensure requirements are met with this Visual Arts program concentration area.

As a degree requirement, all Visual Art majors regardless of their concentrated area of study, must prepare and install an exhibition of their work during the last semester of their studies before graduation.

Art majors have an opportunity to volunteer working in a Visual Arts department sponsored activity off campus at the Green Valley Development Center, an educational center meeting the needs of developmentally disabled adults. Green Valley and Tusculum College work collaboratively on therapeutic art activities involving students from both facilities. It is one of the ways the Visual Arts program involves art majors in the Civic Arts mission of the College.

Facilities for the Visual Arts program are housed within the Shulman Center, the Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building, and the Art Annex on campus. Lecture-based courses, computer-based courses, and foundation courses are typically taught in the Shulman Center. Most studio courses are taught across campus from the Shulman Center at the Art Annex.

The Annie Hogan Byrd Fine Arts Building is the home of The Allison Gallery. This is an on-campus art gallery with an educational mission to expose all Tusculum College students to contemporary fine art. This mission specifically applies to art majors who can choose to become involved in some of the curatorial repsonsibilites associated with any fine arts gallery. There are approximately eight art exhibitions organized and presented to the public each academic school year.