About
The Art & Design Major at Saint Michael’s College is focused on the understanding that the products of art and design are EVERYWHERE. So, the training Art & Design provides can benefit ANY career path— including graphic design, visual art production, photography, or web design, in addition to students who plan to pursue careers where visual communication and project management is vital like business, science, and education. We nurture and guide our students to be people who can think, create, and communicate both analytically and expressively.
Art & Design are interconnected disciplines. Each begins with the same foundational knowledge in visual literacy and creative production. We support each student in their individual journey, with a wide range of courses that include Graphic Design, Sculpture, Painting, Drawing, Digital Image Making, Art & Ecology, Animation and Motion Graphics, Mixed Media, Furniture Design, and Web Design. We help students develop the skills and knowledge vital to careers in art- and design-related fields.
Student Work McCarthy Art Gallery
In addition to teaching the technical skills of making art, we teach creative problem solving, independent thinking, and project management. After completing the core courses, students focus on fine art or graphic design or both. Graduating seniors exhibit a significant body of original work in the McCarthy Art Gallery as a capstone experience of the major.
In addition to creating and hosting a public exhibition of their creative work, students are taught to develop professional skills like creating portfolios, shaping resumes, writing cover letters for applications, developing project pitches, and assembling a professional dossier. Teaching these important professional skills prepares students to apply for a variety of opportunities right after they graduate.
Learn more about the Art & Design program from our Saint Michael’s students in the videos below:
Scholarships
Fairbanks-Paulin and McCarthy Scholarship programs are unique opportunities for both incoming and continuing Art & Design majors to support their studies and creative experimentation while at St. Mike’s.
Careers
Our degree is a pathway to jobs such as art director, animator, curator, multimedia artist, industrial designer, user experience designer, and interior designer. After graduation, our majors go into various careers:
- Graphic Designer
- Artist with commissions and exhibitions
- Web designer
- Marketing
- Art Teacher
- Public Art Coordinator
- Social Media Content Producer
- Studio Assistant
- Gallery Work
- Fashion Designer
- Photographer
If you have an interest in pursuing a career in teaching at the elementary or secondary level, double majoring in art and education at Saint Michael’s is a great option.
Many of our majors have decided to pursue an advanced degree at such graduate schools as the Rhode Island School of Design, Pratt Institute, Northeastern University, Hunter College, Massachusetts College of Art & Design, and the Fashion Institute of Technology
Faculty
In Depth
You will take a variety of courses spanning different art disciplines such as graphic design, painting, digital video, and sculpture. You’ll have the opportunity to examine art history spanning from ancient cave painting to contemporary performance art. You’ll take courses as diverse as Mixed Media, Digital Imaging, Oil Painting, Art & Ecology, Site and Installation Art, and Typography. Our expanded design courses will allow you to take classes on animation/motion graphics or brand design. To further explore your art and design skills, you can take courses in printmaking, digital or darkroom photography, brand design and other artistic media as electives.
Our program is housed in Sloane Art Center on North Campus, and two MacLabs on main campus. Sloane Art Center —unique because it is exclusively used by Art & Design — includes large studio classrooms with high ceilings, shared and private studios for students, and sculpture production studios including a full woodshop. Having our own building creates unique opportunities for creative freedom and a sense of community. We provide van transportation for you to get to and from Main Campus to Sloane for classes. In the two MacLabs, we teach digital image making and a suite of graphic design courses. There, you have access to cameras, drawing tablets, and professional-grade photo printers. You have many opportunities to display creative work across SMC’s campus, in Sloane, and in high-visibility areas like the dining hall and the student center.
Special Opportunities
Fairbanks-Paulin and McCarthy Scholarship programs are unique opportunities for both incoming and returning Art & Design majors to support their studies and creative experimentation while at St. Mike’s
Several of our majors have chosen to study abroad during their tenure at St. Mike’s in cities all over Europe, most especially Paris, Rome, and London with their deep history and connection with the arts, and in countries like Jordan, Ecuador, and New Zealand. Additionally, courses in Kyoto, Japan, Aesthetic Perspective on Place and Summer Study Trip, offer a rich, but shorter international experience.
You’ll also have the opportunity to intern with local artists and designers and at places such as Burlington City Arts.
Because of our proximity to Vermont’s largest city, you can immerse yourself in all sorts of cultural experiences and events such as Burlington’s South End Art Hop, Flynn Performing Arts Center, and Vermont International Film Festival. And you are only a 90-minute drive from Montreal, Quebec, an international, cultural center for the arts.
In Depth
You will take a variety of courses spanning different art disciplines such as graphic design, painting, digital video, and sculpture. You’ll have the opportunity to examine art history spanning from ancient cave painting to contemporary performance art. You’ll take courses as diverse as Mixed Media, Digital Imaging, Oil Painting, Art & Ecology, Site and Installation Art, and Typography. Our expanded design courses will allow you to take classes on animation/motion graphics or brand design. To further explore your art and design skills, you can take courses in printmaking, digital or darkroom photography, brand design and other artistic media as electives.
Our program is housed in Sloane Art Center on North Campus, and two MacLabs on main campus. Sloane Art Center —unique because it is exclusively used by Art & Design — includes large studio classrooms with high ceilings, shared and private studios for students, and sculpture production studios including a full woodshop. Having our own building creates unique opportunities for creative freedom and a sense of community. We provide van transportation for you to get to and from Main Campus to Sloane for classes. In the two MacLabs, we teach digital image making and a suite of graphic design courses. There, you have access to cameras, drawing tablets, and professional-grade photo printers. You have many opportunities to display creative work across SMC’s campus, in Sloane, and in high-visibility areas like the dining hall and the student center.
Special Opportunities
Fairbanks-Paulin and McCarthy Scholarship programs are unique opportunities for both incoming and returning Art & Design majors to support their studies and creative experimentation while at St. Mike’s
Several of our majors have chosen to study abroad during their tenure at St. Mike’s in cities all over Europe, most especially Paris, Rome, and London with their deep history and connection with the arts, and in countries like Jordan, Ecuador, and New Zealand. Additionally, courses in Kyoto, Japan, Aesthetic Perspective on Place and Summer Study Trip, offer a rich, but shorter international experience.
You’ll also have the opportunity to intern with local artists and designers and at places such as Burlington City Arts.
Because of our proximity to Vermont’s largest city, you can immerse yourself in all sorts of cultural experiences and events such as Burlington’s South End Art Hop, Flynn Performing Arts Center, and Vermont International Film Festival. And you are only a 90-minute drive from Montreal, Quebec, an international, cultural center for the arts.
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