PLACEHOLDER — insert a quote from a Graphic Design graduate about the portfolio they built, the real projects they worked on, and where the degree took them.
Bachelor of Arts
(staging) Art
Major | Minor
Where Does an Art Major Actually Take You?
Behind the potter’s wheel, behind the welding mask, into a classroom, and onto the wall of your own senior exhibition.
The Art major at Goshen College is a four-year bachelor’s degree that prepares you for careers in studio art, design, education, and architecture, or for top graduate art programs. The program is hands-on from the start. For example, you’ll gain real-world experience through internships in galleries, studios, and museums. You’ll also travel for professional studio visits, public art installations, and courses like Arts in London. Ultimately, everything builds toward a senior exhibition. There, you mount and present a body of your own work. In turn, that opens doors to studios, classrooms, design firms, and graduate school.
A Small Studio That Sends You Out
Each year, the Eric Yake Kenagy Visiting Artist Program brings internationally known artists to campus. They come to lecture and teach, so you work directly with people building careers in the field. Class sizes also stay under 30, and your professors are artists who produce, exhibit, and sell their own work. Beyond campus, half of Goshen students study abroad, and every art student can join the Study-Service Term. There, you live and work in another culture. For international students, that wider world is already here. Here at Goshen, you join a campus community of students from across Indiana and around the globe.
Built on Hands-On Learning
Studio time, real audiences and a senior exhibition that puts your work on the wall.
During your senior year you’ll plan and produce an exhibit and develop a portfolio in preparation for your career. Along the way, you’ll sharpen your graphic design skills designing the layout for the student newspaper, The Record, and creating posters for departments and clubs across campus.
You’ll also engage with different cultures through Goshen’s signature Study Service Term and take on internships with nearby businesses, galleries and studios. Learn more about our emphasis on experiential learning.
What You’ll Study
You’ll learn to communicate in the media that suits you best. Specifically, the department offers concentrations in graphic design, art entrepreneurship, studio art, visual arts education (K–12), pre-architecture, and art administration.
For example, possible courses include Design Aesthetics, Senior Exhibit, Jewelry, and History of Art, as well as Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Photo Communication, and Arts in London. Then, during your senior year, you plan and produce an exhibit.
You’ll build a portfolio for future employment. Along the way, you can also put your graphic design skills to work, by laying out the student newspaper, The Record, or designing posters for campus departments and clubs. You can take internships with nearby businesses. Finally, teacher certification is available in visual arts through the education department. View the complete program requirements in our catalog
Career Paths for Art Graduates
Art and design shape every part of our world — and our graduates help shape it.
From branding and architecture to education and fine arts, Goshen College art alumni have built careers as:
- Practicing studio artists — painters, ceramicists, jewelers, printmakers, sculptors
- Graphic designers, photographers, illustrators and art directors
- Architects, interior designers, fashion designers and product designers
- Art teachers (K–12 and higher education) and art therapists
- Arts administrators, curators and museum educators
- Small business owners and creative entrepreneurs
You’ll graduate with both creative and practical skills, ready to pursue an imaginative and rewarding career. Where will your creativity take you? For more on career possibilities, explore the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the American Institute of Graphic Arts or the American Art Therapy Association.
Art Concentrations
Five concentrations let you tailor your degree to your artistic passion and career path.
Teaching Art (K–12 Certification)
If you’re passionate about inspiring the next generation of artists, this track is for you. You’ll take a combination of art and education courses while gaining hands-on experience through student teaching in local classrooms. When you graduate, you’ll be certified to teach art in grades K–12.
Art Entrepreneurship
Want to turn your art into a business? This concentration blends business and marketing courses with specialized studio projects and internships in fields like jewelry, ceramics and photography, helping you build the skills to succeed as a creative entrepreneur.
Studio Art
If you dream of becoming a gallery artist, pursuing graduate studies or teaching art, this track gives you the opportunity to develop your artistic focus. You’ll work closely with faculty mentors — who are practicing artists themselves — to refine your skills and build your portfolio.
Pre-Architecture
A pre-professional program that blends visual design, communication skills, math and physics, preparing you for graduate studies in architecture.
Pre-Art Therapy
A pre-professional program that combines studio art experience with coursework in psychology. This path prepares you for graduate studies in art therapy.
Where You’ll Create
Real studio space to make real work — across whatever media speak to you.
Art at Goshen is a hands-on, making discipline. You’ll throw pots at the wheel, shape and weld sculpture, pull prints, set jewelry, paint, work behind the camera and design on screen — building genuine fluency in the media that fit your vision.
By your senior year, you’ll bring it all together in your own public exhibition and a portfolio built for what comes next, whether that’s a studio, a classroom or a graduate program.
Paying for It
Scholarships make up a large portion of Goshen financial aid packages, which average almost $26,000 per student, not counting work-study or loans. Full-time junior and senior art or graphic design majors can also apply for two department scholarships, the Arthur L. and Cordelia Sprunger Scholarship and the Raymond A. Yoder Scholarship. To see your own price after aid, run the net price calculator and talk with a real person in the financial aid office.
Common Questions About the Art Major
The Goshen College art department offers concentrations in graphic design, art entrepreneurship, studio art, visual arts education (K–12), pre-architecture, and art administration. You can major or minor in art or graphic design, and teacher certification in visual arts is available through the education department. The full plan of study is in the course catalog.
Out into the world. Half of Goshen students study abroad, and art students can join the Study-Service Term in another culture. The Eric Yake Kenagy Visiting Artist Program brings internationally known artists to campus each year, and internships place you in galleries, museums, studios, and nearby businesses while you study.
Goshen financial aid packages average almost $26,000 per student, not including work-study or loans, and scholarships make up a large share. Junior and senior art or graphic design majors can apply for the Arthur L. and Cordelia Sprunger Scholarship and the Raymond A. Yoder Scholarship. For your real after-aid number, contact the financial aid office.
Yes. Goshen is a small, values-centered college in Goshen, Indiana, where students arrive from across Indiana and around the world. Advisors, support offices, and small studio classes under 30 students mean you are known by name. The art studios, The Record newspaper, and campus design work give you a place to belong from week one.
Courses include Design Aesthetics, Senior Exhibit, Jewelry, History of Art, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Photo Communication, and Arts in London. You also build skills with faculty who exhibit and sell their own work. Then, in your senior year, you plan and produce your own exhibit. Finally, see the course catalog for the full list and degree requirements.
Sara Method
Associate Professor of Art
Tiffany Wyse-Fisher
Associate Professor of Art
