Department of Art and Visual Culture – College of Design
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College of Design

Department of Art and Visual Culture

Student working on easel..

A community of thinkers, makers, educators, and scientific illustrators

In the Department of Art and Visual Culture, we are proud to be the creatives, the makers, and the explorers of the arts. Through our programs, students work with an array of artistic mediums, putting them into conversations and hands-on experimentations with various materials and technologies. In addition, they have opportunities to learn about cultural practices, global exchanges, and holistic methods of teaching art. They challenge the boundaries of artistic exploration and forge interdisciplinary connections through collaboration.

There are so many possibilities and so much to learn. We’ll help you to craft a degree program that makes the most our dynamic curricula and hones your creative and analytical skills to give you a unique, innovative identity in this interconnected world and its crowded marketplaces.

Degree programs

Iowa State’s undergraduate degree programs leading to the Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Art, Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Art,  Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Art History, and Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Integrated Visual Arts are accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design (NASAD).

Three Students Showing Print Making Project

Art studios

As part of the department’s degree programs, students have opportunities to take classes and work with the tools of the trade within art studios. These studios include painting, metals, ceramics, woods, textiles, photography, and printmaking.

Undergrad student Clayton Ross, studying integrated studio arts

The College of Design’s Department of Art and Visual Culture has given me the much-needed ability to approach projects with a specific process in mind, making it possible to conceptualize a final goal for a product, create an actionable plan to reach this goal, and execute the plan effectively.

Clayton Ross – Art, Class of 2024

Success in design

Students in the College of Design graduate career-ready with internships, capstone projects, professional practice, and portfolio classes integrated into each of the design programs, and with support from the Design Career Services Office. The College of Design also hosts an annual Design Career Fair that is focused only on design majors. It attracts more than 125 firms recruiting for jobs and internships, with College of Design alumni making up more than half of the recruiters in attendance.

Student resources and opportunities

A student paints project on the floor.

An Artist in the Making

Find your place at Iowa State University’s College of Design, where we like to ask questions, poke and prod, create something new, and make a difference through design.

Policy and governance