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The Associate of Fine Arts Degree
DCAD's associate of fine arts (AFA) degree program is offered in six disciplines: Animation, Fine Arts, Graphic Design, Illustration, Interior Design and Photography. It is a concise, comprehensive and demanding curriculum that provides the training and information necessary to compete successfully in today's art and design markets. The program serves highly motivated students who wish to pursue careers in the fields of art and design. Apart from the traditional disciplines of the fine artist, these include diverse design opportunities in publishing, marketing, computer graphics, advertising, packaging, display design, and photography, to name a few.
The AFA program emphasizes studio education in art and design combined with a liberal arts program as mandated by the relevant accrediting agencies. The studio curriculum allows students to develop basic skills, concepts, and values in their respective areas of study. Through an engagement with studio activities, process and environment, students develop both their skills and resourcefulness. The art history/academic studies curriculum instructs students in the liberal arts with particular emphasis on written and verbal expression, critical thinking and history and theories of art and design.
Students enrolled in the associate of fine arts degree program receive thorough preparation for transfer into bachelor of fine arts degree programs at Pratt, the Corcoran or other prestigious art and design schools. Completion of requirements for the AFA may be accomplished through two years of full-time study.
The curriculum consists of 68-70 credits, composed of: 44-46 credits in studio courses, 9-10 credits in art history and 15 credits in academic courses.
The AFA program requires a core group of Foundation courses during the first year. Starting with their second year, students take major-specific courses in addition to academic courses.
The purpose of the Foundation experience is to develop visual literacy and provide basic studio techniques, an introduction to art history, and an understanding of the underlying concepts and principles of the visual arts. Both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms in their optical, technical and symbolic natures are investigated. The Foundation Program is the same for all majors.
Foundation Seminar
The Foundation Seminar is one of DCAD's most innovative and successful curricular introductions. It provides every entering student with an intensive experience of all DCAD's majors, as well as a greater understanding of the disciplines that students will find themselves interacting with as design professionals. The course also provides the opportunity for all incoming students to interact with every area coordinator.
Art History and Academic Studies
A fundamental understanding of the history of art is essential for all aspiring artists and designers in order to situate their own work within a broader context and establish professional credibility; therefore, art history is the foundation of the Academic Studies curriculum. In a three-semester survey of world art, complemented by courses that focus on corresponding literature, students analyze visual and literary works selected to emphasize interdisciplinary relationships. In the fourth semester, students focus on an in-depth academic study associated with their area of concentration. The carefully structured writing curriculum is aimed at building skills incrementally.
Objectives of the Art History/Academic Studies curriculum are:
- To train well-informed professionals who are prepared to undertake further study.
- To develop critical thinking, analytical writing, and quantitative/scientific reasoning skills.
- To develop familiarity with the methodologies of art history as a discipline.
- To build awareness of the history of world art and literature with particular emphasis on the history of practice in students' chosen fields.
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