The Bachelor of Arts is a studio-based fine art program that offers an investigation into visual studies and various cultures, giving students a way of developing their own vision of creative practice as well as an understanding of the relationship between form and meaning. To achieve this level of consciousness around arts practice, students are offered a balance between studio courses in drawing/painting and digital media with visual studies courses that focus on the historical, theoretical, and critical interpretation of visual art. This exploration of art methods creates a more visually and conceptually astute student through making. Students’ education, experience, and training in understanding creative practices takes full advantage of the remarkable scope of the College of Arts, Media and Design. Some courses in this program are offered in locations abroad including Iceland, Ireland, Japan, and Galapagos, where students have an intensive and immersive creative experience during five-week summer sessions. Additionally, students may opt to enroll in select courses at the University of the Arts London (UAL), fine art at Central Saint Martins campus. This unique opportunity allows students to spend a semester in London while discovering a new culture.
The visual studies concentration examines both the production and public reception of art across regions, contexts, periods, and media, foregrounding arts’ status as both a material artifact and an act of social communication. Courses reflect the active research profiles and professional experience of its distinguished faculty who all prioritize accessibility, collaboration, and cutting-edge research. Lectures and seminars take advantage of Northeastern University's proximity to area museums and cultural centers—including the Institute of Contemporary Art and the Museum of Fine Arts—and campus facilities and initiatives like Gallery 360 and the Center for the Arts. Other dynamic resources include Northeastern’s own renowned archives offering tangible case studies to consider how criticism coalesces into the historical record. Visual studies introduces students to a broad range of creative careers endemic to the fields of design, publishing, curation, conservation, and scholarship.
The Department of Art + Design uses communal studio space to train students in painting and drawing processes. The department also hosts a fabrication lab that supports a wide range of material-based research for the CAMD community. Beyond the foundation-level courses required for all students, the makerspace provides the resources for prototyping processes ranging from model making, woodworking, CAD, as well as digital fabrication through laser cutting, 3D scanning, and 3D printing.
Complete all courses listed below unless otherwise indicated. Also complete any corequisite labs, recitations, clinicals, or tools courses where specified and complete any additional courses needed beyond specific college and major requirements to satisfy graduation credit requirements.
Universitywide Requirements
All undergraduate students are required to complete the Universitywide Requirements.
BA Language Requirements
All BA students are required to complete the BA language requirements.
NUpath Requirements
All undergraduate students are required to complete the NUpath Requirements.
NUpath requirements Creative Expression/Innovation (EI), Interpreting Culture (IC), and Societies and Institutions (SI) are met through the major course requirements.
NUpath requirements Natural and Designed World (ND), Formal and Quantitative Reasoning (FQ), Analyzing and Using Data (AD), Difference and Diversity (DD), and Ethical Reasoning (ER) must be met through general electives.
Art and Design Core
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction | ||
| ARTF 1000 | Art and Design at Northeastern | 1 |
| Fundamentals | ||
| ARTF 1122 | Color and Composition (with optional ARTF 1123) | 4 |
| ARTF 1124 and ARTF 1125 | Form and Structure and Form and Structure Tools | 5 |
| ARTF 2220 and ARTF 2221 | Movement and Time and Movement and Time Tools | 5 |
| ARTF 2223 and ARTF 2224 | Experience and Interaction and Experience and Interaction Tools | 5 |
| Drawing Elective | ||
| ARTF 1120 | Observational Drawing | 4 |
| or ARTF 1121 | Conceptual Drawing | |
| Art History Required | ||
| ARTH 1001 and ARTH 1002 | Visual Intelligence and Seminar in Visual Intelligence | 4 |
| ARTH 3000 | Topics in Visual Studies | 4 |
| ARTH 4000 | Topics in Visual Studies | 4 |
| Art History Elective | ||
| Complete any ARTH course, not taken for the concentration. | 4 | |
| If ARTH 3000 or ARTH 4000 Topics in Visual Studies (or any other topics course in the subject listed above) is completed more than once, the additional completions may be allowed toward the electives. | ||
| Capstone | ||
| ARTD 4530 | Media Arts Degree Project | 4 |
Concentration or Electives
Complete the following concentration or the electives linked below:
Major GPA Requirement
A major GPA of 2.500 is required.
Program Requirement
129 total semester hours required
Concentration in Visual Studies
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Art and Design History Electives | ||
| Complete five of the following courses as long as prerequisites have been met. At least one must be at the 4000 level. | 20 | |
| Courses in architectural history and media and screen studies may also be used upon approval by the program coordinator. | ||
| If ARTH 3000 or ARTH 4000 (or any other topics course in the options listed below) is completed more than once, the additional completions may be allowed toward the electives. | ||
| Interactive Media and Society | ||
| Topics in Design History | ||
| Modern Art and Design History | ||
| Contemporary Art and Design History | ||
| Survey of the Still and Moving Image | ||
| History of Graphic Design | ||
| Topics in Visual Studies | ||
| Topics in Visual Studies | ||
| Contemporary Art Theory and Criticism | ||
| Special Topics in Art and Design History | ||
| Art and Design Abroad: History | ||
Electives
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Arts, Media and Design Electives | ||
| Complete any five courses from the following lists as long as prerequisites have been met. At least one must be at the 4000 level. | 20 | |
| Art + Design | ||
| If a topics course is completed more than once, the additional completions may be allowed toward the arts, media and design electives. | ||
| Narrative Basics | ||
| Introduction to Photography and Photo Tools | ||
| Animation Basics and Animation Tools | ||
| Video Basics and Video Tools | ||
| Topics in Media Arts | ||
| Photography: Concept + Process | ||
| Animation 1 | ||
| Virtual Environment Design | ||
| Character Design for Animation | ||
| Animation for Games | ||
| Video: Sound and Image | ||
| Photography: Visual Strategies + Context | ||
| Animation 2 | ||
| Animation 3 | ||
| Studio Photography | ||
| Photography: Experimental Processes | ||
| The Graphic Novel | ||
| Art and Design Abroad: Studio | ||
| Art and Design Abroad: History | ||
| Art and Design Special Topics | ||
| Special Topics in Art and Design Studio | ||
| Design Process Context and Systems | ||
| Typography 1 and Type Tools | ||
| Graphic Design 1 | ||
| Interactive Media and Society | ||
| The Science of Art, the Art of Science | ||
| Topics in Design History | ||
| Contemporary Art and Design History | ||
| Modern Art and Design History | ||
| Topics in Visual Studies | ||
| Topics in Visual Studies | ||
| Contemporary Art Theory and Criticism | ||
| Figure Drawing | ||
| Painting Basics | ||
| Drawing in Mixed Media | ||
| Architecture | ||
| Buildings and Cities, A Global History and Recitation for ARCH 1310 | ||
| Understanding Design | ||
| Architecture and the City in the Nineteenth Century | ||
| Modern Architecture | ||
| Communication Studies | ||
| Introduction to Communication Studies | ||
| Game Design | ||
| Games and Society | ||
| Journalism | ||
| Understanding Today’s News | ||
| Media and Screen Studies | ||
| Media, Culture, and Society | ||
| Introduction to Film Production | ||
| Understanding Media | ||
| American Film and Culture | ||
| Music | ||
| Film Music | ||
| Theatre | ||
| Introduction to Theatre | ||
| Introduction to Theatrical Design | ||
| University of Arts London | ||
| Optional London study abroad for fine art at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. Complete the following: | 16 | |
| Studio Practice and Exhibition | ||
| Critical Disclosures | ||
| Studio Practice, Cross-Pathway, and External Projects | ||
Sample Four Years, Two Co-ops in Spring/Summer 1 Plan of Study Optional
| Year 1 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer 1 | Hours | Summer 2 | Hours |
| ARTF 1000 | 1 | ARTF 1124 and ARTF 1125 | 5 | Foreign language | 4 | Elective | 4 |
| ARTF 1122 (with optional ARTF 1123) | 4 | ARTF 2223 and ARTF 2224 | 5 | Elective | 4 | Elective | 4 |
| ARTF 2220 and ARTF 2221 | 5 | Art history elective 2 | 4 | ||||
| ARTH 1001 and ARTH 1002 | 4 | Foreign language | 4 | ||||
| ENGW 1111 | 4 | ||||||
| 18 | 18 | 8 | 8 | ||||
| Year 2 | |||||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer 1 | Hours | Summer 2 | Hours |
| ARTF 1120 or 1121 | 4 | Co-op | 0 | Co-op | 0 | Elective | 4 |
| ARTH 3000 | 4 | Elective | 4 | ||||
| Arts, media and design elective | 4 | ||||||
| Foreign language | 4 | ||||||
| EEAM 2000 | 1 | ||||||
| 17 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||||
| Year 3 | |||||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer 1 | Hours | Summer 2 | Hours |
| ARTH 4000 | 4 | Co-op | 0 | Co-op | 0 | Elective | 4 |
| Arts, media and design elective | 4 | Elective | 4 | ||||
| Elective | 4 | ||||||
| Elective | 4 | ||||||
| 16 | 0 | 0 | 8 | ||||
| Year 4 | |||||||
| Fall | Hours | Spring | Hours | Summer 1 | Hours | Summer 2 | Hours |
| Arts, media and design elective | 4 | ARTD 4530 | 4 | Vacation | Vacation | ||
| Arts, media and design elective | 4 | Arts, media and design elective | 4 | ||||
| Elective | 4 | Elective | 4 | ||||
| Elective | 4 | Elective | 4 | ||||
| 16 | 16 | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Total Hours: 133 | |||||||
Notes:
Optional study abroad with University of the Arts London, based in the heart of one of the world's creative capitals, London. Students from this program will have the opportunity to spend their second spring semester in London studying fine art at Central Saint Martins.