Mary Jo Watson, Director |
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Professors Aebersold, S. Caldwell, Heap of Birds, Jordan, Oliveira, Phelan, Price, Youritzin; Associate Professors E. Anderson, Basic, Dohrmann, Haltman, Hayes-Thumann, Hissey, E. Lee, Mau, A. Palmer, Strout, Watson; Assistant Professors A. Brown, C. Jones, L. Jones, J. Hils, T. Stewart; Instructor Shehada; Artist-in-Residence P. Moore; Filmmaker-in-Residence S. Brittan.
The School of Art includes four broad divisions; studio art, art history, media, and visual communications. Studio Art consists of programs in painting, printmaking, sculpture, and ceramics. Art history is a humanities field that studies the history of art, artifacts and architecture. Media includes the photography, video, and film areas. Visual communications majors become graphic designers, illustrators, production managers and other visual specialists working in advertising and related fields.
The School of Art is the largest, most comprehensive art school in Oklahoma having a faculty of 24 full-time artists, designers, scholars, a full-time Artist-in-Residence, Film Maker-in-Residence, the Russell Pitman Professor of Art History for Native and Western Art and the Charles Marion Russell Memorial Chair of Art of the American West, serving approximately 400 undergraduate and master’s level students. The primary goals of the school are to provide excellent professional education and a focus for the study of visual arts on both the graduate and undergraduate levels. Additionally, the School of Art is dedicated to promoting, pursuing and supporting creative activity and scholarly research in the visual arts.
Students from Oklahoma come to the School of Art from a variety of educational backgrounds — urban, rural and suburban high schools or community colleges — with many students returning to college after other careers to gain new skills. Out-of-state and international students join those native to Oklahoma to provide a stimulating and exciting blend. The School of Art adds to this exciting atmosphere a thought-provoking series of guest artists and scholars with visits to museums and galleries in nearby cities. The school is proud of its many alumni from the undergraduate and graduate programs who have enjoyed outstanding professional success. Even while they are still students, there is ample opportunity for individuals to contribute to the school through exhibition of their work and personal involvement in various aspects of the visual arts on campus.
The primary facility for the school is the Fred Jones Art Center, which contains classrooms, studios, darkrooms, video and film editing rooms, computer labs for undergraduate and graduate programs, faculty offices, the Lightwell Gallery (an exhibition space) and some graduate student studio spaces. Additional studio spaces for faculty and graduate students are located on North Campus adjacent to the Max Westheimer Airport. The Ceramics Studio is located on South Base near the OU Department of Public Safety. The Old Faculty Club building across Boyd Street has been renovated to house the Charles M. Russell Center for Study of the Art of the American West, as well as studio and teaching space for the School of Art Artist-in-Residence.
The Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art is located next to the School of Art on the west end of the Fred Jones Art Center. The museum and the new Mary and Lester Howard Wing houses an excellent and varied collection of art including the Weitzenhoffer Collection of French Impressionism. The museum also offers a rich series of thematic shows and traveling exhibitions. Art school faculty exhibitions and the annual student exhibition are a regular part of the museum’s exhibition schedule.
Across Boyd Street is the Old Faculty Club which houses the Charles M. Russell Center for the Study of Art of the American West. The center is dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge in the field of American art history as it relates to the western United States. Through its library, national symposia, campus course offerings, archives, and related outreach programs, the Russell Center actively engages students and the public in developing a better understanding of and appreciation for 19th and 20th century Euro-American art.
The Russell Center is complemented by the new addition of an Indigenous Art Resource library located in the School of Art. This library focuses on Native American art resources for students who study the wide variety of art history courses on Native arts.
In addition to the Charles M. Russell Center, the School of Art is pleased to offer students the privilege of working with nationally and internationally known artists under the Visiting Artist and Artist-in-Residence programs. Visiting artists come to campus for varying periods offering students and faculty insights into many cultures and professional backgrounds.
The Independent Film Project offers film screenings, workshops and special opportunities (under the direction of the Filmmaker in Residence) to work on selected projects.
The School of Art maintains and has created new faculty and student exchange programs with international universities in England, France, Spain, Korea and China.
Several forms of financial aid are available to qualified students. These include scholarships, graduate assistantships, tuition or fee waivers, and work-study support. Scholarships and graduate assistantships are available on a competitive basis.
The School of Art offers the following scholarships:
For further information, please write to:
School of Art
University of Oklahoma
520 Parrington Oval, Room 202
Norman, OK 73019-3011
or visit the School’s Web site at http://art.ou.edu/.
The major specializations in the BFA in Art program include: studio art (painting, printmaking, ceramics, and sculpture), media (photography and film/video), and visual communications. In addition, a BA program is offered for art history majors.
The School of Art accepts the admission requirements of the University of Oklahoma for incoming freshman and transfer students in the fall semester. In addition to these general requirements for admission, all students seeking entry into the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art programs must successfully complete a portfolio review prior to admission. All students with the exception of art history are required to take Foundation courses. These courses are sequential in nature and can only be started in the fall semester. All students entering the Foundations program enter the School of Art as an Art Undecided major.
Admission to an area of specialization (Studio Arts, Media, or Visual Communications), is by portfolio review during the spring semester of the Foundations program.
Students who have taken studio coursework at another institution must meet with a Foundations adviser to determine if courses can be substituted for the Foundations requirements. These students must then go through a portfolio review and be accepted into an area of specialization as outlined above.
The School of Art requires all BFA students to complete the Foundation Program and to participate in the portfolio selection process in order to be accepted into a field of emphasis, and into the appropriate professionally directed educational experiences. Studio BFAs require a minimum of 125 semester hours with approximately 80 semester hours in the art or design area of emphasis. In art history, the BA degree program requires some studio art, but more liberal arts within the 124 hours required for the degree. The art history major requires successful completion of 15 hours in a foreign language. All art majors must maintain an OU retention and combined retention grade point average of at least 2.50, with a grade of C or better in his/her major and must complete at least 40 semester hours of upper-division coursework. Successful completion of a senior capstone experience is required of all undergraduate art students.
The School of Art offers a minor in Art History that is open to all undergraduates in the university. Students must complete a minimum of 15 hours of Art History coursework guided by an Art History adviser. A grade of C or better is required for each course with an overall 2.50 minimum GPA. For additional information, please contact the School of Art office or the Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts Dean’s office.
The requirements for admission into the MA program in art history are a bachelor’s degree in art history or a related field with a 3.00 cumulative grade point average. Students must submit a letter of intent, three letters of reference, GRE scores and a copy of one or more art history papers to the School of Art along with the internal School of Art application.
The OU application and transcripts should be sent directly to the Office of Admissions. International applicants are required to demonstrate an appropriate mastery of English and submit satisfactory TOEFL scores.
The requirements for admission to the MFA program normally include: a BFA degree with a 3.00 grade point average (or equivalent credentials), submission of a portfolio of visual work in the form of slides, video tapes, films, computer disks or original work, a letter of intent, and three letters of reference should be sent directly to the School of Art along with the internal School of Art application.
Application and transcripts should be sent directly to the Office of Admissions. International applicants are required to demonstrate an appropriate mastery of English and submit satisfactory TOEFL scores.
The degree requirements for the MA in art history include completion of a minimum of 36 credit hours with a 3.00 grade point average, including at least 21 hours in the major area, nine hours in a minor field or 30 hours in their major field, two hours of thesis proposal, four hours of thesis research and successful completion of the thesis. Students must also demonstrate reading proficiency in a foreign language, usually French or German, through successful completion of a University-administered exam.
Students are required to present a formal thesis proposal to their full committee and graduate liaison prior to the approval of final thesis work. A thesis defense is required of the art history MA candidate.
The degree requirements for the Master of Fine Arts include completion of a minimum of 60 credit hours with a 3.00 grade point average. Requirements include studio hours, nine hours of art history, theory or directed readings, three hours of graduate seminar, one hour of thesis proposal and successful completion of four hours of thesis exhibition with an appropriate written document accompanying that exhibition. Visual documentation of the thesis work must also be submitted (traditionally by slides, but video tape or another format will be accepted if appropriate to the work).
Following the completion of approximately 30 credit hours in the MFA program, the student undergoes a rigorous midway review which includes a formal presentation to the graduate faculty. If demonstrating satisfactory progress, the student will be allowed to proceed towards the degree. The student’s progress will again be reviewed by their graduate committee prior to the final thesis exhibition. Thesis exhibition and defense includes a formal presentation to the graduate faculty, a written component, and approval by the thesis committee.