Art B.A.

Information and Policies

Introduction

The Art Department offers an integrated program of study in theory and practice exploring the power of visual communication for personal expression and public interaction. The department provides students with the means to pursue this exploration through courses that provide the practical hands-on learning skills for art production in a variety of media within the contexts of critical thinking and broad-based social perspectives.

The art program at University of California, Santa Cruz, is composed of courses in drawing, animation, painting, photography, sculpture, print media, intermedia, critical theory, media art, public art, environmental art, social art practice. Baskin visual arts studios provide world-class facilities for art production in these areas. The Art Department is committed to pursuing a continuing dialogue about what constitutes basic preparation in the arts while offering students experience in established practices, new genres, and new technologies.

The Art Department teaches diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as essential to an art education through creativity, innovation, and problem-solving that is inclusive of a diversity of voices, perspectives and experiences. DEI is woven throughout our curriculum to deepen the educational experience and broaden the artistic environment preparing students for creative participation in a multicultural world. The Art Department fosters a community ethos and environment with a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion among all faculty, staff and students. The department embraces diversity, equity, and inclusion and anti-racism as core values by actively opposing all forms of discrimination.

The bachelor of arts degree prepares students for dynamic careers within the visual arts. As a graduate from the program, students go on to pursue careers as professional practicing artists, as well as in arts education, arts management, art direction, social design, web design, photography, social practice and environmental art, curation and consulting, multimedia,  illustration, animation, among other arts-related fields. Many of our students continue to study art and professional practices in graduate and post-graduate programs. 

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who earn a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Art will gain the skills, knowledge, and understanding that will enable them to:

• demonstrate proficiency in a range of techniques and media;

• demonstrate the ability to imagine, create and resolve a work of art incorporating research with an awareness of contemporary and historical practices, approaches and cultural perspectives;

• demonstrate the ability to discuss and revise their own and other students’ artistic process and production based on a foundation in forms and ideas with a knowledge of diversity through multiple historical and contemporary contexts, cultural perspectives and approaches; 

• demonstrate the ability to communicate in writing analysis of a work of art using vocabulary that reflects a foundational knowledge in the diversity of forms and ideas encompassing multiple historical and contemporary contexts, cultural perspectives and approaches.

Academic Advising for the Program

For more information and advising on the art major, please contact the undergraduate advisor at artadvisor@ucsc.edu. For junior transfer students, please also see more detailed information below under Transfer Information and Policy.

Getting Started in the Major: Frosh

Acceptance to the Art Major

This is a course-intensive and/or sequential program, and students who intend to pursue this major must begin taking classes for the major in their first year at UC Santa Cruz. Students should contact the undergraduate art advisor if they are interested in pursuing an art major and should meet with the advisor in their first quarter at UC Santa Cruz if they intend to enroll in art courses their frosh year.  A portfolio is not required for entering frosh. Students are recommended to pass two foundation courses in their first year in order to meet the campus deadline to declare the major. However, all three foundation courses (ART 10D, ART 10E, ART 10F) are requirements for the major. Delaying taking these classes until the sophomore year may delay a student's graduation.

Getting into Studio Classes

Studio art classes are very small (average 25 students) compared to courses from other departments on campus that can accommodate large numbers of students. Frosh may  not take any lower division studios until they complete two of the Art 10 series foundation courses.

General Education Requirements

If you are not able to get into a foundation or studio course in a particular quarter at UC Santa Cruz, you can enroll in courses that fulfill the general education (GE) requirements. You should balance major requirements and GE requirements throughout your career at UC Santa Cruz and not focus completely on your GEs in your frosh or sophomore years, as this could delay your graduation.

Transfer Information and Policy

Transfer Admission Screening Policy

Transfer students interested in the art major must pass a highly competitive portfolio review prior to entering UC Santa Cruz. It is recommended that students have completed a minimum of three lower-division studio art courses and one foundations course prior to entering UCSC for timely graduation (comparable to UCSC art lower-division courses – transferable courses from California community colleges are listed on assist.org). Applicants who do not pass the portfolio review and are accepted to UC Santa Cruz will not be allowed to take art classes at UCSC during the fall, winter, and spring quarters and must pursue another major if they decide to attend the university.

Admission to UC Santa Cruz does not guarantee eligibility to declare the major, nor does passing the portfolio review guarantee admission to the campus.

Transfer students must identify themselves as proposed art majors when applying to the university in order to receive information on the portfolio review deadlines and the materials required for the review. 

For timely graduation, transfer students should also complete two history of art and visual culture courses prior to transfer, including one in Western art and culture and one in non-Western art and culture.

Prospective students are encouraged to prioritize required and recommended major preparation, and may additionally complete courses that articulate to UC Santa Cruz general education requirements as time allows.

Getting Started in the Major: Transfer Students

Transfer students qualify to declare the art major by passing the required portfolio review. Once a student is accepted to the university, has passed the portfolio review and has submitted their Statement of Intent to Register, the undergraduate advisor will be in contact with the student regarding the major declaration petition and an academic plan. An academic plan approved by the art advisor must be on file before the major declaration petition will be processed. 

Major Qualification Policy and Declaration Process

Major Qualification

Students entering UCSC as frosh can qualify for admission to the art major after completing two courses from the list below. 

Students entering UC Santa Cruz as transfer students qualify to declare the art major by passing the required portfolio review. See Portfolio section below for more information.

Portfolio

A portfolio is not required for entering frosh students. Frosh students may refer to the Major Qualification section above for qualification criteria. 

Transfer students qualify for the art major by way of passing the required portfolio review. The undergraduate advisor will contact all UCSC art major transfer applicants by late January with the portfolio review application and instructions. If you are a currently enrolled transfer student looking to switch into the art major, please contact the art advisor as soon as possible.

Appeal Process

Students who are informed that they are not eligible to declare the major may appeal this decision by submitting a letter to the department chair within 15 days from the date the notification was mailed. Within 15 days of receipt of the appeal, the department will notify the student and college of the decision. Appeals should be send via email to artadvisor@ucsc.edu.

How to Declare a Major

Students who complete the major qualification requirements may declare the major by meeting with the academic advisor (artadvisor@ucsc.edu) to update their academic plan and submit the major declaration petition via MyUCSC.

Students should submit a petition to declare as soon as they complete the major qualification requirements or reach their declaration deadline quarter (whichever comes first). Please note that an academic plan must be on file for your petition to declare to be processed. 

Students petitioning when the campus declaration deadline is imminent (i.e., in their sixth quarter, for students admitted as frosh), will either be approved, denied, or provided with conditions (e.g.,  completion of some courses with certain grades)l that will be resolved within at most one more enrolled quarter, even if they have not completed major qualification courses.

Letter Grade Policy

This program does not have a letter grade policy.

Three-Year Pathway

The Art Department has a three-year pathway designed for students who want to complete their Art B.A. in three years. It is an intensive program that includes all of the courses for the current art B.A. major, as well as all of the general education requirements and electives for the university.  Students should begin this pathway in their frosh year to be able to complete the required courses in three years. Summer Session attendance is required for all three years. For more information, contact the undergraduate advisor.

Study Abroad

The UC Santa Cruz Global Learning office offers students the opportunity to study away through a variety of programs. Art students typically participate during their junior year or over the summer, but can participate anytime during their studies after completing their three lower-division studio courses. When considering participation in one or more of these programs, the student should be mindful that only three courses may be substituted in the art major and each must go through a review process upon return to UCSC. 

Honors

Honors in the art major are awarded to graduating seniors whose academic performance demonstrates excellence at a grade point average of 3.95 or above in their upper-division art studio courses and ART 190A. Highest honors in the art major are awarded to graduating seniors whose academic performance demonstrates excellence at a grade point average of 4.0 in their upper-divison art studios and ART 190A.

Materials Fee

Art students should be aware of the materials fee required for some studio courses. The fee is billed to the student’s account for specific course materials purchased by the Art Department through the university. Fees range from $100 to $175 per course. Students may incur additional expense purchasing individual supplies.

Requirements and Planners

Course Requirements

The minimum requirements for art majors who were admitted to UC Santa Cruz in their frosh year are completion of nine lower-division and eight upper-division courses (consisting of seven upper-division studio courses and ART 190A) and satisfaction of  the senior comprehensive requirement. Junior transfer students complete seven lower-division and eight upper-division courses and their senior comprehensive requirement. The comprehensive requirement may be fulfilled by ART 190B, Senior Project, as part of the required seven upper-division studios. The comprehensive requirement may also be fulfilled by a review of the students artwork by a ladder rank faculty. If the latter choice is selected, the student must then complete seven upper-division studios. A maximum of three courses total from outside the Art Department (including UC Education Abroad Program [EAP] courses) may be substituted for regular art courses with the approval of a major advisor. In courses taken outside the UC Santa Cruz Art Department, students must have received a grade of C or higher (or P, as long as the school at which the course is taken equates a P grade to a C/2.0 or higher).

Students plan their course of study in consultation with a faculty advisor.

Lower-Division Courses

Students complete nine courses as follows:

The Foundation

All of the following (two of the ART 10 series are waived for junior transfers):

Introduction to Contemporary Art Practice

Three of the following (junior transfers should complete them at community college):

Digital Tools

Students must take:

Critical Theory and Historical Context

Students complete two courses from History of Art and Visual Culture (HAVC), one in Western Art and Culture and one in non-Western Art and Culture. Students take one course from each of the sections below:

Western Art and Culture: HAVC 30-HAVC 46, HAVC 48, HAVC 85, HAVC 133A-HAVC 143B, HAVC 143D-HAVC 143G, HAVC 157B-HAVC 157D, HAVC 186, HAVC 190O-HAVC 190S, HAVC 191B-HAVC 191N, HAVC 191P-HAVC 191S.

Non-Western Art and Culture: HAVC 10-HAVC 27, HAVC 50-HAVC 80, HAVC 110-HAVC 127F, HAVC 143C, HAVC 151-HAVC 155, HAVC 160A-HAVC 179, HAVC 190A-HAVC 190N, HAVC 190T-HAVC 191A, HAVC 191O.

Note: Students may use Advanced Placement (AP) in Art History in lieu of the Western-emphasis HAVC requirement.

Students may contact the undergraduate advisor for updates to these lists.

Upper-Division Courses

Students complete eight courses as follows:

Studio Work

Students take seven upper-division studio courses. These include courses numbered ART 101—ART 189, ART 190B, ART 194, ART 196, ART 198, and ART 199. ART 190B satisfies both an upper-division studio as well as the comprehensive requirement.

Transfer students are strongly encouraged to take ART 194 during their junior year.

Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement

Students of every major must satisfy that major’s upper-division Disciplinary Communication (DC) requirement. The DC requirement in art is satisfied by completing:

Comprehensive Requirement

All art majors satisfy the capstone/comprehensive requirement with the following:

Plus one of the following options:

• Presenting an exhibition and, by appointment, meeting with a faculty member for review and critique of the exhibition; or
• Submitting a portfolio and, by appointment, meeting with a faculty member for review and critique of the portfolio; or
• Completing the following course:

No course credit is given for either the exhibition or portfolio submission. Consequently, students choosing one of these options must complete seven upper-division studios. Students utilizing ART 190B, Senior Project, for their comprehensive requirement may use this as one of their seven upper-division studios.

Senior majors should meet with their faculty advisor about this requirement.

Planners

The tables below are for informational purposes and do not reflect all university, general education, and credit requirements. See Undergraduate Graduation Requirements for more information.

Art Major Planner (Incoming Frosh)

The following is a recommended academic plan for students to complete:

*Courses from history of art and visual culture (HAVC) (one with a Western emphasis, one with a non-Western emphasis). See Course Requirements section.

** WRIT 2 should be taken in or before spring quarter of the second year.

In addition to the specific courses shown in these planners, a student must complete courses satisfying the CC, ER, MF, SI, SR, TA, and C General Education requirements.

Art Major Planner (Junior Transfers)

The following is a recommended academic plan for junior transfers who have completed three lower-division studios across three different media and partial IGETC:

† Art 10 series:  Only one of the three ART 10 series courses is required for junior transfers. Other Art 10 series courses are offered in winter and spring.

*Courses from history of art and visual culture (one with a Western emphasis, one with a non-Western emphasis). It is highly recommended that junior transfers take history of art and visual culture courses at the community college. Western emphasis courses are listed as “Europe and the Americas,” all others are non-Western on assist.org.