Welcome to the School of Art + Art History

We are thrilled you are interested in pursuing a major within the School of Art and Art History (SA+AH)!  We offer majors in Art, Art History, and Graphic Design. We also have a Certificate program in Art Education, so students who want to teach art can pursue our BA Art major with the Art Education Certificate.

Preview Orientation/First Year Scheduling with the Arts (including the SA+AH!)

As College of the Arts students have unique first year schedule requirements, we do our own advising at Preview. Just be sure to tell your Small Group Leaders, or Preview Staffers that you are interested in learning about majoring within the Arts, and they'll be sure to get you to the right place. And we will take care of you! Your first semester schedule will usually have six credits of Art/Design coursework, and 6 credits (or more) of coursework that meets general education requirements or requirements for another major you are considering.

Why Not Both? aka Shoot for the Moon!

We offer a range of degree programs from the professional Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) to the more flexible Bachelor of Arts (BA). Many of our students earn dual degrees or pair their majors with minors and certificates in other areas across the university to create a unique educational path. At the point of Orientation, we often tell students to "Shoot for the Moon" - as you never know! We realize it can be challenging to have it all figured out from the get-go, so if you are unsure, or interested in many things, just let us know.  Our advisors are specifically trained in helping you craft a schedule that will help you explore different possibilities and keep your options open. So definitely, shoot for the moon! Students continually amaze us with their ambitions - we look forward to helping you discover the path that works best for you!  We often find that students aren't sure whether they want the BFA or BA (learn more about the differences from your advisor in Small Group 2 on Day 1 at Preview!). This is not at all a problem. Generally speaking, the studio art or design coursework the students take in the first year can be applied to either option.

Popular Combinations Include

Art, Graphic Design, Art History and the following:

• Advertising
• English
• Political Science
• Psychology
• Business Administration
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Marketing
• Journalism

We've even had Art and Engineering! Art History and Chemistry! Art and Wildlife Conservation! And we've had Art and pre-health, too!

Graphic Design at UF

In the BFA in Graphic Design, students learn how to be creative, conceptual, and process-oriented in addition to aesthetically and technologically sophisticated. Built around a core of design thinking, design process, and creative investigation, the graphic design program is grounded in the exploration of research, concepts, critical thinking, and the contemporary discourse in the graphic/communication design discipline. We teach the skills and abilities you need to build a creative career in a dynamic and changing world. Graduates of our program are prepared to enter a competitive market and embark on careers in areas they choose, such as branding, experience, UX/UI, and other areas of design. As a program, our core values focus on building community; fostering independent, critical, and design thinking; and empowering students to be leaders in design.  Want to see what Graphic Design students actually create?  Each year the Graphic Design student organization, Vox Graphis (the voice of graphic design!) puts together an annual design symposium (Ligature!) with visiting designers who lead lectures, workshops, and a juried exhibition of student work. Check out the 2023 Ligature Student Work here.  And you can learn more about the graphic design program here.

Studio Art at UF

We take a contemporary, interdisciplinary approach to art practice and research. Students will experiment with a wide array of media and ideas across the first two foundation years of study as well as through the more advanced upper-division coursework. We offer courses in Painting, Drawing, Printmaking, Ceramics, Sculpture, Creative Photography, and Art + Technology (digital imaging, video, animation, installation, AI).

Learn More About SA+AH Art programs

Painting Every blank canvas is an opportunity. A dream. A vision. A story to tell. Translate your imagination with paintbrush and palette.

Drawing Drawing is your true calling, since you first picked up a pencil. Now it’s time. Refine your perspective. Expand your visual language.

• Follow UF Painting and Drawing on Instagram!

Printmaking No two prints are exactly alike. Those subtle differences are what drive you. Printmaking has its own unique history, function and aesthetics. Do the research. Revel in the process and the practice.

• Follow UF Printmaking on Instagram

Ceramics Work with the oldest of materials while making the newest form of art. Explore a world of knowledge, aesthetics, technical approaches and invention.

• UF Ceramics Instagram
• HOT Clay is the student group supporting ceramics at UF.

Sculpture Sculpture is a practice that evolves with each realization. Start with a material foundation. Incorporate other non-traditional media, such as video and performance. Let your sculpture shape you.

• UF Sculpture Instagram

Creative Photography We are an international faculty of contemporary artists working with innovative students on the campus of UF to build and utilize the power and excitement of media images!

Art + Technology You are innately technological, so Art + Technology is there to develop your conceptual, critical practice. Whether it is installation, film and video, computing, networks, performance, social practice, participatory media: it’s all fair game!

• Digital Arts Media Network (DAMN) is the student group supporting Art + Technology at UF.

WARP (ART1803c Workshop in Art Research and Practice)

WARP is our multi-faceted, 6-credit foundations course that every single Art and Graphic Design student must take in their first year. BFA Art students will usually take WARP In the first fall semester, and Graphic Design students will take WARP in the Spring semester (and will take two separte design courses in the first fall semester). Some BA Art students will take WARP in fall and some in spring. WARP is designed to expose students to a variety of styles, approaches, and debates in contemporary art and design. Students are expected to take risks, discover unconventional points of view, and develop original ideas to solve problems. It's primarily studio-based, but does have a lecture component as well. It's an exciting and unique course that will stretch your comfort zones (in a good way!) and get you thinking much more deeply about the visual world we live in to create amazing work that can make a difference!

On the Fence? Start with Art (and Design)!

It is very common for first year students to be unsure of their major. Here's our best advice: if you are at all thinking that art, art history, or graphic design may be something you want to pursue at UF, Start with Art! Here's why:

Why Start with Art? (or Design!)

• Our advisors are specifically trained to help you create a schedule that keeps the option of Art, Graphic Design, or Art History as a possibility, alongside other majors you may be interested in pursuing.
• Actually taking the first semester's required coursework in Art or Graphic Design will help give you experiences that will help you decide if it's something you want to pursue further.
• It's much easier to switch out of Art or Graphic Design into another major than the reverse (as our intensive coursework starts right away in the very first semester!).
• If you decide that Art or Graphic Design is not the major for you (after taking the first semester's required coursework), the Art/Design coursework from that first semester will count towards the art minor!
• Remember, a major in art or graphic design doesn't necessarily mean you have to have a career in those fields. Your major does not at all necessarily equal your career.  An Art or Design major can help prepare you for a variety of other career options. You learn creative problem-solving, visual communication, how to give and receive feedback, project management, and more!

PaCE Admits

If you have been admitted to UF through the PaCE program, you likely have a lot of questions! We have a unique exception with the PaCE program where our Art and Graphic Design majors are able to (and must) take their studio art and design classes on campus, even in the first semester. About 30% of our students began with us in the PaCE program, and it's been working out great! They really appreciate the high-touch campus engagement of the art and design courses balanced with the flexibility of online general education and elective courses.

Learn more about how PaCE works for our SA+AH students

Please read more about how PaCE works for our SA+AH students here.

PaCE Visual Arts and Design

What Happens After Preview?

Mark your calendars for Convocation - the kick-off to your UF SA+AH Adventures! You'll get a chance to meet some SA+AH Student Ambassadors, your fellow incoming students, advising staff - and get all your last-minute questions and anxieties addressed.

Convocation is Wednesday, August 21st; 3:00-4:30 PM; Computer Science/Engineering (CSE) Building; Room A101

Have Questions?

Contact your SA+AH Undergraduate Advisors at SAAHAdvising@arts.ufl.edu. One of them will be running your Small Group 2 session on Day 1 of your Preview Orientation this summer!

Connect with SA+AH Student Ambassadors!

Look out for messaging from your SA+AH Ambassadors this fall! You can read their profiles here.