Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art

Students in the fine art Bachelor’s program in Parkville, Mo. received a general introduction to studio work in a variety of media: painting, drawing, photography and ceramics or fiber. Students completing fine arts degrees at our Art and Design school near Kansas City frequently work toward K-12 art education certification in concert with their studio majors, set up their own studios and begin actively producing their artwork while finding employment in related fields.

Within the context of Park University’s strong liberal arts tradition, Art and Design students receive a strong foundation in the studio disciplines and in the history of art. Internships allow upper-level students the opportunity to explore careers in many art and design fields.

Our spacious main studio, the entire top floor of Alumni Hall, overlooks Parkville, the Missouri River, the Kansas City skyline and the scenic Parkville home campus, and provides year-round landscape subjects. Our Sixth Street Studio is a freestanding building that houses the ceramic and fiber studio. Two separate studio complexes in Park University’s underground Mabee Learning Center house the Graphic Design Studio (with state-of-the-art Macintosh workstations, digital cameras, scanners, printers and extensive software) and the Interior Design Studios (with AutoCAD lab, drafting room, and materials resource lab). The Campanella Gallery, located in McAfee Memorial Library, offers a year round cycle of exhibits in all media by professional artists in addition to providing graduating seniors with a professional quality exhibition space for their senior exhibits.

Access to the exhibitions and programs of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and the Spencer Museum in nearby Lawrence, and the numerous commercial and educational galleries in the Greater Kansas City, particularly in Kansas city’s dynamic Crossroads Arts District add depth and variety to the classroom and the studio experience.

Park, a four-year, private, nonprofit, liberal arts institution has helped students break barriers to education since 1875. Our motto, fides et labour (Latin for “faith and work”) is as relevant today as it was in the 19th century. A Park University education is an opportunity to find faith in yourself — by discovering your potential and working to realize it.

Park University’s core values are academic excellence, inclusivity and social responsibility. Diversity is in our DNA — Park’s first graduating class included four women. Today, we welcome more than 260 international students from 60 countries.